Bill Enabling Violent Tennessee Offenders Who Murder Kids To Escape Accountability Moves Forward By Voice Vote Called By Chair Kelly Keisling (Update 2.23.24)

***Update 2.23.24 – HB1695 is scheduled to be heard in the House Government Operations Committee on Monday, February 26th. To voice your support or opposition to the legislation, find and contact the Committee members HERE prior their meeting.***

Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov

The Tennessee Conservative [By Kelly M. Jackson & The Tennessee Conservative Staff] –

This week a bill that will keep the autopsy reports of children killed at the hands of violent crime offenders from being public record moved through the Tennessee House State Government Committee by voice vote, led by Chair Kelly Keisling. 

For the vote in the House State Government Committee, Chair Kelly Keisling (R-Byrdstown-District 38) chose to use a voice vote to hide the voting records of committee members from public scrutiny. We can only assume Chair Keisling supports HB1695 and is responsible for its passage. Chair Keisling could have used a transparent roll call vote but opted for a voice vote to shield committee members and himself from accountability.

The voice vote was recorded solely as “Ayes Prevail”.

According to a statement made by Representative Jody Barrett (R-Dickson-District 69) on the Mill Creek View Tennessee Podcast, all a legislator has to do in order to have their voice vote recorded is give a thumbs up or a thumbs down to the clerk. This means that it is very easy for legislators to put their vote on the record and create transparency with their constituents if they choose to.

However, according to the General Assembly website and associated video of the State Government Committee meeting, no member requested to have their votes counted.

The House State Government Committee members include:

Kelly Keisling (R) – District 38

Rick Eldridge (R) – District 10

Rebecca K. Alexander (R) – District 7

Rush Bricken (R) – District 47

Ed Butler (R) – District 41

Michele Carringer (R) – District 16

Jesse Chism (D) – District 85

Vincent Dixie (D) – District 54

Kirk Haston (R) – District 72

John B. Holsclaw (R) – District 4

Chris Hurt (R) – District 82

Darren Jernigan (D) – District 60

Curtis Johnson (R) – District 68

Tom Leatherwood (R) – District 99

Mary Littleton (R) – District 78

Jake McCalmon (R) – District 63

Larry J. Miller (D) – District 88

Justin J. Pearson (D) – District 86

Jason Powell (D) – District 53

Dennis Powers (R) – District 36

Iris Rudder (R) – District 39

Bryan Terry (R) – District 48

Even though a voice vote was taken, in watching/listening to the video, no NAYS were audible.

House Bill 1695 (HB1695), carried in the House by Representative Rebecca Alexander (R-D7-Jonesborough) states: “Autopsies – As introduced, specifies that reports of county medical examiners and autopsy reports of victims of violent crime who are minors are not public documents; allows a parent or legal guardian of a minor victim of a violent crime to consent to the release of the report of the county medical examiner or autopsy report of the minor victim if the parent or legal guardian is not a suspect in the circumstances of the minor’s death. – Amends TCA Title 10, Chapter 7; Title 38; Title 39 and Title 40.”

As the law currently reads, all reports of the county medical examiners, toxicological reports, and autopsy reports are public documents, without exception.

The bill, if made law, will add a caveat to any of those documents that pertain to minors who are the victims of violent crimes and will exclude them from public consumption with two new exceptions. 

 The exceptions enumerated in the bill are: 

1) The minor’s parent or legal guardian is not a suspect in the circumstances of the minor’s death and the parent or legal guardian consents to the release; or

2) A court orders the release of the report upon a showing of good cause.

In other words, these documents will always be excluded from public access so long as the suspected responsible party for the death is not the parent or legal guardian of the child, and the parents or legal guardians’ consent to the records being made public.

The presumptive motivation for this legislative effort, which first saw the light of day during the special session this past spring just after the shooting at Covenant School, is the parents of the victims of that crime are endeavoring to keep their child’s records from being made public.

Present at the hearing was Deborah Fisher, Executive Director of Tennessee Coalition For Open Government, who once again spoke in opposition of the bill, explaining that such a bill would shield violent perpetrators who have murdered a child, from receiving a just consequence.

Fisher echoed many of her statements from her presentation in the House Public Service Subcommittee.  

“This bill assumes that police and prosecutors always get it right. Every couple of years, a story emerges in which a local journalist has used an autopsy — often working with a frustrated extended family member and not necessarily the parent — to shine line on both mistakes and attempted coverups,“ Fisher said.

More on the history, motivations and progression of this legislation HERE and HERE.

Should anyone wish to take action on this bill, and make their opinion known to those who will be voting on whether this bill should become law, you can do so here at this link.

HB1695 will now move forward to the House Government Operations Committee.