Patsy Hazelwood Misrepresents Her Voting Record About Sanctuary Cities To GOP Women

Image Credit: Hamilton County Republican Women / Facebook

The Tennessee Conservative Staff –

During a recent meeting of Republican women in Hamilton County, incumbent Representative Patsy Hazlewood (R-Signal Mountain-District 27) addressed her voting record calling out what she called “misinformation” about her votes that have been made public during this campaign season.

One of the bills called out by Hazlewood had to do with the banning of so-called “Sanctuary Cities” in the state of Tennessee.

From the 2018 legislative session, House Bill 2315 (HB2315) was sponsored by Representative Jay Reedy (R-Erin-District 75).

In summary the bill reads:  Immigration – As enacted, prohibits state and local governmental entities and officials from adopting sanctuary policies; enacts other related provisions. – Amends TCA Title 4; Title 7; Title 8; Title 9; Title 38; Title 39 and Title 40.

Hazlewood said, “There’s a website, you might have heard about, and it says that House Bill 2315, that I did a bad thing and voted for sanctuary cities.”

Hazlewood went on to say, “This bill has nothing to do with sanctuary cities, it has something to do with juvenile crime.”

However, the Tennessee law on the books (Public Chapter Number 973) resulting from the passage of HB2315 matches the original bill language put forth by the bill sponsor, meaning the bill was not amended to do something different during the legislative process. The law on the books has nothing to do with “juvenile crime.”

In reality, Representative Hazlewood voted against the passage of the Sanctuary Cities bill (HB2315) at every opportunity.

Looking at the bill history of HB2315 on the General Assembly website, Hazlewood requested to be counted as voting NO on the bill in the House Finance, Ways and Means Subcommittee. She then repeated her request to be recorded as voting NO in the full House Finance, Ways and Means Committee. And finally, Hazlewood voted No on HB2315 on the House floor in the final vote.

However, there have indeed been other bills with the HB2315 designation in other sessions of the General Assembly since Hazlewood has been in office.

In 2014, HB2315, as introduced, required annual reports of the office of the repealer to be posted on the repealer’s web page.  This bill did not progress to the voting stages.

In 2015-2016, HB2315 had to do with cosmetology but this bill was taken off notice.  

In 2021 – HB2315 was also known as the “Tennessee Natural Gas Innovation Act.” Hazlewood voted Yes on this bill.

In 2024, HB2315 had to do with pensions and retirement benefits. Hazlewood voted Yes on this bill as well.

The bill that most closely matches the “juvenile crime” legislation that Hazlewood may have been redirecting attention to came in 2020 when the HB2315 bill designation referred to legislation that sought to authorize municipalities to create a fund that provides grants for the study of juveniles involved in prostitution and homicides committed by juveniles. This bill was taken off notice before any votes were taken.

Hazlewood expressed to the GOP women at the recent meeting that illegal immigration is not a state-level problem and that all the responsibility falls solely at the federal-level.

She said, “If anyone stands up here and says that state and local government can fix that (illegal immigration) problem, they’re just wrong, uninformed, whatever.”

She went on to say that the only way the problem can be fixed is to “Get Joe Biden out of the White House, we get a significant Republican supermajority in the House and we turn the Senate. And we put this man (Donald Trump) in charge.”

During the same session Hazlewood voted against banning sanctuary cities in Tennessee, she also voted against legislation (HB1239) that would ban government entities from contracting with a person who does not provide evidence of work authorization status.

And in 2022, Hazlewood voted for legislation (HB2309) to give illegal aliens professional licenses. During the GOP women’s group meeting, Hazlewood defended this vote saying, “this just makes sense to me.”

Hazlewood says that the reports of her voting records are “misinformation” but all votes that have been reported on come directly from the Tennessee General Assembly website.

The Hazlewood reelection campaign has also allegedly been blocking constituent comments from appearing on her social media pages, likely because these comments attempted to call the GOP incumbent out on her voting record.

In addition, Signal Mountain locals report that yard signs highlighting Hazlewood’s voting record are “mysteriously disappearing,” getting run over or being stolen.