Bill To Block Congressional Newcomers Passes House Committee; Raises Constitutional Concerns

Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov

The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –

An amended Tennessee bill that originally would have stymied the campaigns of District 5 Republican candidates Robby Starbuck and Morgan Ortagus has been passed out of the House Local Government Committee and now heads to the House floor for a vote.

The Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Senator Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains- District 8), passed last Monday in the Senate with an overwhelming 32-1 vote.  The original bill had been amended from requiring that congressional candidates have voted in the three previous elections in Tennessee to requiring a three-year minimum residency in the state when they enter a primary election.

In the House Local Government Committee meeting yesterday (March 8th), the House sponsor of the bill, Representative Dave Wright (R-Corryton-District 19), submitted that the House version of the bill be amended to conform to the Senate version of the bill.

Wright read the new amended version of the bill, “In order to qualify as a candidate in a primary election for the United States Senate or for a member of the United States House of Representatives, a person shall meet the residency requirement for State Senators and Representatives contained in the Tennessee Constitution.”

“If this bill is passed out of this Committee and moves to the House floor, that my motion on the floor would be to conform with the Senate bill.  And if there is any change to that, I will bring this bill back to this committee,” Wright said.

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Last week, it was reported that Wright was planning to amend the measure by postponing the effective date of the bill until after the November election making anyone who qualifies before the April deadline for the primary election eligible for the Fall vote.

However, no such amendment was submitted with the House bill only being amended to match the Senate bill.  Therefore, if the bill passes the House vote and gets Governor Lee’s signature, District 5 candidate Morgan Ortagus will be ineligible to run in the primary.  Robby Starbuck would still qualify to run since he passes the three-year residency requirement.

Amendment 14083 was voted on and approved with Ayes prevailing, no Nays were heard or recorded. 

Before the vote was taken to move the bill forward, Representative Tim Rudd (R-Murfreesboro-District 34) objected.

“I’ve always had an issue with the Senate version, which is blatantly illegal and it’s been overturned by the Supreme Court before.  We can’t tell political parties how to conduct their primaries or interfere with their nominating process. I don’t know if it would have made it out of the subcommittee if we’d done this. So, if we adapt to the Senate, it’s going to be unconstitutional.  It’s going to be against current Supreme Court decisions.  I can’t support it now for that reason,” Rudd said.

Representative Ryan Williams (R-Cookeville-District 42) retorted, “It’s within the purview of this committee, or any committee of the House to send any bill to the House floor for a vote.  It’s not up to us to determine the Constitutionality of a bill.  It’s up to the courts to decide. And so, this body has the ability to make decisions based upon its best interests and what they think going forward and in this instance, as it relates to this bill, I think that’s what the people would expect us to do.  I don’t think we should ever, as legal counsel or as members of the body, seek to adjudicate a bill before it’s even passed.”     

Representative Rudd replied, “It is a regular course of action on all committees that if we feel something is not a sound bill or is not Constitutional, or has already been ruled on in the courts, that we can object to it and base on votes on that in multiple committees throughout this capitol.  Also, the party has blatantly said they are against this and they are a private organization, we can’t tell them what to do in this process.”

With no other comments being made, the Committee voted on passage of the bill and the Ayes had it with no Nays heard or recorded.

The House bill now moves to the House Calendar and Rules Committee for scheduling to be heard on the House floor.  

About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative  ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career.  Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others.  He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History.  Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com