5 Years Since Introduction Of Legislation To Give Tennesseans The Ability To Recall Elected Leaders, Citizens Are Still Stuck With No Recourse For Accountability

Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov

The Tennessee Conservative [By Kelly M. Jackson] –

As the General Session winds to a close likely in the next couple of weeks, the opportunity for a law that will allow for Tennesseans to recall elected leaders they feel have failed to live up to promises they made when they were campaigning for their constituent’s vote will again fail to become a reality. 

HB1818/SB1580 simply states, “Public Officials – As introduced, creates a recall process for elected non-constitutional public officials. – Amends TCA Title 2 and Title 8.”

The desire for such legislation was born out of what many Tennesseans felt was an egregious abuse of power by elected officials in many different capacities, brought about and concentrated by the Covid pandemic. 

The complete history of the bill in its various forms, starts back in the spring of 2019 with HB983/SB185, which had several fatal issues as well as obstacles that led to its ultimate demise in a chancery court in Madison County. 

For the bill to successfully pass through the legislative process, Representative Chris Todd (R-D73-Madison County) had to amend it in such a way that it would ultimately only apply to his own county.  The reasons for this were likely due to school boards lobbying their Representatives to cut their county out of the bill.

The bill was passed and the law was used to extricate a member of the Madison County school board from their seat. It was a lawsuit filed by that member that led to the determination of unconstitutionality by a chancery court judge.

However, the law was still on the books and all that it needed was an amendment to remove the offending language (§ 49-2-213 subsection e) in order to redeem its constitutional status and thus be applicable to the entire state. 

In 2020, and 2022, Representative Todd filed HB2139, and HB2388 to amend the law, restoring its eligibility under the Tennessee Constitution.

Both times the bills failed in their respective committees receiving only 1 vote both times the bill was presented.

In 2023, Freshman lawmaker Bryan Richey filed HB595. The bill passed in the House Education Administration Committee with only Democrats on the committee voting NO. 

However, as the bill was making its way through the House, Sen. Adam Lowe (R-D1-Calhoun) sent SB 635 (the companion bill) to General Sub before it could be passed on to Calendar and Rules Committee where it would have been scheduled to be heard on the senate floor.

General Subcommittee (or general sub) is known as the place where bills are sent to essentially be taken off notice, stopping the legislative process in its tracks.

In the 2024 General Session, SB1580 was presented by Senator Lowe.

This bill went at it from a different angle. Instead of once again filing a bill to simply remove the language from the initial law that would remedy its unconstitutional status, Senator Lowe’s bill would have added a new chapter to a different area of the code, implementing a recall process for non-constitutional officers (which includes school board members).  

Last week, the companion bill for SB1580, HB1818 (carried by Representative Ed Butler, R-D41-Rickman) passed in the House State Government Committee with the only no votes coming from the Democrats on the committee as well as Representative Iris Rudder (R-D39-Winchester). 

However, that same day in the Senate State and Local Government Committee, due to a conflict with another part of the code, SB1580 was taken off notice so the issues with the bill could be addressed before sending it to the floor for debate and a vote. 

Based on a review of the committee video footage, there was some question as to whether a municipal government within the state which might already have their own recall process in place, would be usurped and compelled to follow the law of the state instead. According to research, there are 346 municipalities in the state.

For the past 5 years, the state has seemingly endeavored to put a mechanism in place for the people of Tennessee to have the ability to hold elected officials accountable for what their constituents determine as negligence or gross misconduct through an abuse of power. 

The need for such a process was never more evident as it has been in the past 4 years. 

The past 2 years, the bills that have made it past the House committees, and then set aside to be held over for the next session the following year. 

Alongside this information, the fact remains that there are enough Republicans in our state government that if not even a single Democrat attended general session on any given day, the Republicans have the numbers to get done whatever it is they set their minds to. 

And yet, after a period of 5 years, a process to enable the people to hold their elected officials accountable by recall still does not exist. 

Regardless of the reasons given, this is an objectively observable pattern. 

The Tennessee Conservative reached out to Senator Lowe for comment, and he had this to say:

“I encourage you to watch the video and see my appeal for why we need this legislation.  There is evidently a conflict in the code with regard to the threshold standard and being the last calendar, the committee was not comfortable allowing me to take it to the floor and fix that small piece with a floor amendment despite my petition to do so.  This was not intentionally held and has been on notice for weeks but it customary to roll committee member bills to the last calendar to accommodate nonmembers…the legislation will need to address this fix next year.  I believe we have the votes to move this and will have it back next year.” 

He continued, “Though I am frustrated, we were able to move a recall process even further than before and I believe my colleagues are seeing the necessity.” 

Sources tell The Tennessee Conservative that Lowe was urged to once again revive HB595/SB635, still alive in the 113^th General Assembly, and appeal for a removal of offending language which would be a simple remedy. But when asked, Lowe rejected the suggestion opting for a different course of action.  

Many Tennesseans hope that, as promised by Lowe’s comments, next year’s General Assembly will finally address the recall issue and in a way that is realistically accessible to Tennesseans, regardless of the size of their communities. 

About the Author: Kelly Jackson is an escapee from corporate America, and a California refugee to Tennessee. Christ follower, Wife and Mom of three amazing teenagers, she has a BA in Comm from Point Loma Nazarene University, and has a background in law enforcement and human resources. Since the summer of 2020, she has spent any and all free time in the trenches with local grassroots orgs, including Mom’s for Liberty Williamson County and Tennessee Stands as a core member.  An outspoken advocate for parents rights, medical freedom, and individual liberty, Kelly also has a YouTube channel @Tennessee_Truth_Teller and is planning on expanding out to other channels soon. Kelly can be reached at kelly@tennesseeconservativenews.com.