The first day of the Tennessee General Assembly’s special session Monday called by Governor Bill Lee, revealed the legislation related to COVID-19 liability, telemedicine expansion and protesting that will be considered.
Only legislation related to the topics specifically contained in the governor’s proclamation can be considered during the special session, which began at 4 p.m. on Monday with both the House and Senate going into a floor session.
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The special session of Tennessee lawmakers scheduled for the week of August 10 will likely cost Tennessee taxpayers more than $100,000.
Legislators were called to the special session by Governor Bill Lee through an August 3 proclamation to address three issues, the first two which could have been addressed during the previous legislative session.
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Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed public affairs strategist Clint Brewer to weigh in on the Tennessee Valley Association and Governor Lee’s call for a special session.
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Tennessee lawmakers will return to Nashville on August 10 for a special session to consider legislation to provide COVID-19-related liability protections for health care providers, businesses and schools.
Gov. Bill Lee signed a proclamation Monday afternoon calling for the legislative special session.
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Gov. Tim Walz said he plans to extend his COVID-19 peacetime emergency declaration for another 30 days when lawmakers return to St. Paul Monday for a special session.
The governor announced Friday night that he has convened a special legislative session for July 13, the same day his peacetime emergency declaration is set to expire. According to Minnesota law, the governor must convene both houses of the Legislature if he wishes to extend a peacetime emergency when the Legislature is not in session.
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Gov. Tim Walz is expected to call another special session by the end of the week in order to extend his peacetime emergency powers.
House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) alerted members and staff in a Monday email about the likely special session.
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The Minnesota Legislature’s recent special session ended with no major accomplishments, but the eight-day session will still cost taxpayers an estimated $108,000.
The special session concluded on June 20 after Republicans in the Senate and Democrats in the House failed to reach an agreement on police reform legislation, the allocation of federal coronavirus relief funds, and other leftover business from the regular session, such as a borrowing package for public infrastructure projects.
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Minnesota legislative leaders traded barbs Saturday after a special session collapsed with no deal on revamping policing following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, a session that one group called “a train wreck.”
The two sides may be back at it in another special session next month.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – During the Special Session of the Tennessee General Assembly on August 23, Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) was elected as the new Speaker of the House with 94 votes.
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The day following the House Republican Caucus set a meeting to select a new Speaker, Governor Bill Lee issued a Proclamation calling for a special session of the General Assembly on Friday, August 23 at 10 a.m. On Thursday, Governor Lee issued a statement regarding the signing of the proclamation calling for the extraordinary session, “It is in the best interest of our State to select a new Speaker of the House, and so I am calling a special session of the General Assembly for August 23 to accomplish that purpose. I have also asked the General Assembly to take up approval of the recent amendments to the Supreme Court rules, in addition to settling these leadership matters. Any other procedural business would be at the discretion of the General Assembly.” The Proclamation itself states that the Governor was requested to convene an extraordinary session by numerous members of the House of Representatives, including, but not limited to the Majority Leader, who is William Lamberth (R-Portland), and the Majority Caucus Chair, who is Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville). As reported, Leader Lamberth announced Wednesday that the House Republican Caucus would meet on Wednesday, July 24 to select a new Republican nominee…
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A meeting of the Tennessee House Republican Caucus has been scheduled for Wednesday, July 24, to select a Republican nominee for Speaker of the House. The meeting was called by House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland). In a statement issued by Leader Lamberth Wednesday, he said his call for the caucus meeting came, “following conversations with our members of the last several days.” Lamberth retweeted his announcement, which was picked up by Cameron Taylor of WSMV. NEW: @WilliamLamberth says a caucus meeting will be held next month to choose a Republican nominee for speaker. Date on special session to elect the next speaker hasn’t been announced yet. @WSMV pic.twitter.com/OtxBdUnHgV — Cameron Taylor (@CameronKSHB) June 26, 2019 The purpose of the caucus meeting is to select the Republican nominee for Speaker of the House, who will eventually replace current Speaker Glen Casada (R-Franklin). In a closed meeting and by secret ballot, Casada received a 45-24 vote of no confidence by the House GOP Caucus on May 20. At an impromptu press conference following the three-hour meeting, Lamberth said that the House Republican Caucus vote “sent a clear message” that sexist racist and similar behaviors is not acceptable in leadership, the…
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As the chief officer of the Republican Party in the House, Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) told The Tennessee Star that he will not run for the role of Speaker after Glen Casada (R-Franklin) steps down. Casada, who was elected into the role of Speaker of the House in January 2019, became embroiled in a media frenzy that started in the last days of the first session of the 111th General Assembly and lasted about three weeks. After several private texts with racial and sexual content with his chief of staff were released, the chief of staff was accused of altering the date of an email to frame a regular protestor at the Capitol, allegations of surveilling committee rooms and wrongdoing on the vote to pass the Education Savings Account, the House Republican Caucus held a private meeting that resulted in a vote of no confidence in Casada as Speaker. “I’m not interested in running as Speaker at this time,” Lamberth told The Star. He further elaborated, “I ran for State Representative for a two year term – and that’s a blessing. I love serving my community.” “I also ran to serve as Majority Leader for a two-year term,”…
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State Rep. Mike Carter (R-TN-29) has written a letter to his Tennessee House colleagues asking that he be considered for Speaker of the House, multiple media outlets reported. According to The Tennessee Journal: On the Hill, the Ooltewah Republican’s letter included the following: Today I am writing to request your support to serve as your Speaker. I am not asking you to serve me. I am asking for the high honor to serve you and the state of Tennessee. I state this now, no Chairmanship, no Vice-Chairmanship, nor any other title or position currently held shall be removed. To allow that would give our opponents an opportunity to claim that any removal of a title is reflective of some conduct unbecoming of that representative. Considering what we have been through and realizing that conservative leadership is essential to the progress of Tennessee, we must balance every appearance against the effect on the reelection of our members. I will form a PAC for the benefit of the members and work diligently to restore confidence with our contributors. I will assist the Caucus Chairman whenever he feels the office of Speakership is helpful for raising money. The entire letter is available…
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In response to the State House Republican Caucus meeting which delivered a 45-24 vote of no confidence in Glen Casada (R-Franklin) continuing as Speaker, Casada and House Republican leadership issued divergent statements. Casada, who has been under tremendous public scrutiny as the first year of the 111th Tennessee General Assembly came to a close with him as the Speaker, after receiving 75 votes in January including two from Democrats, as sexist and racists texts involving his now-former Chief of Staff and another staffer from 2016 came to light. Along with the texts, there were allegations of modifying the date of an email in an effort to frame activist Justin Jones who was restricted from being in the presence of Casada following assault charges, followed by accusations of surveillance of committee rooms in the Cordell Hull legislative office building, installation of white noise machines in the Speaker’s office, and attempting to influence the outcome of a House Ethics Committee advisory opinion. In a three-hour, closed-to-the-public meeting held Monday, the House Republican Caucus emerged with a 49-24 secret vote on a resolution of no confidence in Casada as Speaker. Shortly after, Casada issued a very brief statement: I’m disappointed in the…
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Despite the controversies that have surrounded Tennessee Speaker of the House Glen Casada the last two weeks and the relentless partisan drumbeat of the local mainstream media, the legal path to force his removal as Speaker by his political opponents remains unclear. The controversies erupted a little more than two weeks ago when NewsChannel 5 interviewed Justin Jones, the 23-year-old Vanderbilt University student who had been arrested in October for refusing to leave a private Marsha Blackburn fundraiser and resisting arrest, and was subsequently arrested on February 28 when he allegedly assaulted Speaker Casada and State Rep. Debra Moody at the State Capitol. In that interview, Jones, who is represented by NewsChannel 5 legal analyst Nick Leonardo, claimed that Speaker Casada and his staff had attempted to frame him when they reported an email from him that arrived in their office email on March 1 to the Davidson County District Attorney’s office as a violation of a court order prohibiting him from contacting the Speaker or his staff. In that same report, NewsChannel 5 showed a series of text communications between Casada, his chief of staff Cade Cothren, and an unidentified former staffer that included vulgar texts that objectified…
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