Beginning of Tennessee General Assembly Update II

Between meeting new policymakers, reading recently filed bills, and monitoring session, this has been a busy week for the Butler Snow Government Relations Team, and we wanted to provide you with another update on the Tennessee General Assembly’s first week in session.

Yesterday, Tennessee’s three constitutional officers were elected in a joint session of the House and Senate.  As expected, Treasurer David Lillard and Secretary of State Tre Hargett were re-elected.  Former house member Jason Mumpower became the newest constitutional officer as he succeeded retiring Comptroller of the Treasury Justin P. Wilson.

Next, both chambers of the 112^th General Assembly convened and announced committee appointments.  While the Senate committees saw few changes to their makeup, the House committee rosters include several new chairmen and significant shuffle. The House will also have fewer total committees and subcommittees than the 111^th General Assembly, with Speaker Cameron Sexton making changes to streamline committee work.  House and Senate committees and their membership are attached.

After announcing committees, the chambers quickly completed the organizational session, and the General Assembly hit the ground running by introducing and debating SJR 25/HJR 18.  These resolutions will authorize Governor Lee to implement the TennCare III demonstration waiver, often referred to as the “Medicaid Block Grant.”  In 2019, the State of Tennessee requested that federal Medicaid funds be received in the form of a block grant.  Just last week, the federal government approved this request.  The plan must be approved by the legislature, and Republican lawmakers are aiming to gain approval before President Trump leaves office next week.  It is anticipated that the resolution will pass in both chambers today.

Looking to next week, the legislature will be convened for a Special Session called by Governor Lee to take up K-12 education legislation in response to COVID-19.

Thus far, approximately 200 bills have been filed, and we are reviewing each one to assess its application to you.  We will provide a report with the bills filed today starting next week. If you have any questions or would like to discuss the beginning of session further, please reach out to any member of the Butler Snow team.

112th House Committees

112th Senate Committees