I hope everyone had a blessed and safe Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. It was certainly one to remember, as I kicked off the day at the Tennessee State Museum before marching with my family and hundreds of others from Jefferson Street Missionary Baptist Church to the Gentry Center at TSU. The opportunity to hear Sen. Cory Booker speak at two separate events certainly added to the special day.

The Clemmons boys, John, Finn and Henry join the march on MLK Day 2023

And So It Begins
The 113th Session of the Tennessee General Assembly convened on Tuesday, January 10th at 12pm. The first order of business was to take and sign our oath of office. It is often worth reminding legislators of the oath to which we swore, particularly the portions about voting without prejudice and not proposing or assenting to any bill that is injurious to the people or that will lessen or abridge their constitutional rights.

Henry joined his dad on the House floor for his swearing in.

The next item on the House’s agenda was the adoption of the House rules. Among our concerns was a new rule to limit each member’s time for questions and debate on bills on the House floor to 5 minutes. The previous time limit was 15 minutes. Given that debate is already limited in committees, this seems to run afoul of the very purpose of our elected body. Each of us was elected to thoughtfully consider the legislation on which we vote. If members don’t have the time, patience or desire to thoroughly discuss and consider legislation that will have a direct impact on every Tennessean, they should find a job for which they are better suited.

HIV Funding
Almost as quickly as my colleagues started filing harmful legislation, Gov. Lee unilaterally decided to cut CDC funding for HIV prevention, detection and treatment programs that are not affiliated with metro health departments as of May 31, 2023. The CDC grants for HIV-related services will continue for other states, but the state of Tennessee will not receive the money going forward. Sen. London Lamar and I immediately voiced our strong objections to this decision, and Sen. Jeff Yarbro and I filed legislation in response by week’s end.

Derailing the State’s Economic Engine
As expected, my colleagues across the aisle wasted little time filing legislation targeting Nashville with their bill to cut our Metro Council in half. Next, they are rumored to be seeking state appointments to both the Metro Nashville Airport Authority and the Metro Sports Authority. If word in the hallways is true, there are additional bills in the works to restrict our mayor’s authority and take further aim at our public schools' funding.

With Nashville providing such a large percentage of this state’s total sales tax collections to the Department of Revenue, one would think the party in control would at least enact some legislation that could facilitate our regions' continued economic growth. Apparently, a need as obvious as a comprehensive, forward-thinking transportation infrastructure plan is too big of a task for them.

Proudly rep'ing the teachers and students of Antioch High on the House floor.

Public Meeting with TVA and NES
On January 12th, Councilwoman Joy Styles and I held a public meeting at the Southeast Community Center with officials from TVA and NES to discuss the holiday power outages that hit Cane Ridge and Southeast Nashville the hardest. Almost all those in attendance had questions for our guests and raised substantive concerns. Councilwoman Styles and I will be working together to hold these agencies accountable for their representations to our constituents and holding followup meetings in the coming months to get updates on their work to secure our grid. Watch the entire meeting on Facebook Live here.

TVA and NES officials respond to residents' questions at Southeast Community Center

Joint Retreat
This past week, the Democratic House and Senate Caucuses held our joint retreat where we heard from advocates, state officials and others who are working to move Tennessee forward on a variety of key issues, including reproductive healthcare, children and youth, transportation and school funding. We capped the day-long event by presenting a surprised Rep. Joe Towns, the House sponsor of Amendment 3, with a framed poster and signed House roll-call vote.

Rep. Joe Towns of Memphis accepts a well-earned gift honoring his work on Amendment 3.

Four More
The House’s organizational session wrapped up on Saturday with the second inauguration of Gov. Bill Lee. Never, in the course of modern Tennessee history, has someone done so little with so much.

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