Campaign Finance Bill That Could Be Detrimental To Conservatives & To All Tennesseans To Be Heard In Committee

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The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –

A campaign finance bill that has the potential to be detrimental to underfunded conservative campaigns will be heard in the House State and Local Government Committee on Wednesday, March 5th, 2025.

Sponsored by Representative Tim Hicks (R-Gray-District 6), the six pages of House Bill 0653 (HB0653) makes numerous changes to existing state law with regard to the financing of political campaigns. 

Senate sponsor of the corresponding Senate Bill 0229 (SB0229) Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville-District 7) was asked to carry the bill by the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance. 

The bill’s proposed changes may prove harmful to conservatives who are running for political office in light of the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance (TREF) board’s penchant for targeting true conservative candidates and organizations.

While the bill funnels more money toward the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance, and makes other subtle yet extensive shifts to the state’s complicated campaign finance laws, there may be more to the bill than initially meets the eye.

According to an article published last week by The Tennessee Journal,  the ultimate aim of the bill is to invite a lawsuit that will lead to the demolition of all PAC contribution limits.

The Blountly Conservative had this to say:

“Make no mistake: Now that the cat is out of the bag, any elected official who votes in favor of this bill from this point forward is *knowingly* voting to put their public office and their own local communities up for sale to out-of-state influence-buyers, dark money-funded lobbyists (like the school voucher groups), PACs, and every other big-money purchaser of public policy that could never pass political muster with local voters back home.

This bill is dangerous. If the laws that closely restrict how much money politicians can pocket from PACs, lobbyists, and special interest groups are erased under this bill, there will be *no safeguards* to protect us from rampant corruption and influence-buying. Many of your state elected officials will likely cease to care about any local issue of any value to our community here at home, but instead will sell, trade, and auction away everything that isn’t nailed down in state government to cash in on the unlimited flow of lobbyist and out-of-state PAC money into their campaign coffers.”

As reported last July, candidates across the state received substantial amounts of money from out-of-state “dark money” PACs.

Americans for Prosperity Action, School Freedom Fund, Team Kid PAC, and American Federation for Children spent millions of dollars on just 8 candidates, none of which enjoyed Tennessee grassroots support, but who were all in favor of Governor Bill Lee’s pet project: school vouchers.

Anyone with concerns about HB0653 may contact members of the House State and Local Government Committee before Wednesday.

Contact information for committee members can be found below.

Rep.john.crawford@capitol.tn.gov, rep.dave.wright@capitol.tn.gov, rep.rush.bricken@capitol.tn.gov, rep.jeff.burkhart@capitol.tn.gov, rep.ed.butler@capitol.tn.gov, rep.michele.carringer@capitol.tn.gov, rep.jesse.chism@capitol.tn.gov, rep.vincent.dixie@capitol.tn.gov, rep.rick.eldridge@capitol.tn.gov, rep.dan.howell@capitol.tn.gov, rep.tom.leatherwood@capitol.tn.gov, rep.mary.littleton@capitol.tn.gov, rep.greg.martin@capitol.tn.gov, rep.jake.mccalmon@capitol.tn.gov, rep.larry.miller@capitol.tn.gov, rep.bo.mitchell@capitol.tn.gov, rep.jerome.moon@capitol.tn.gov, rep.jason.powell@capitol.tn.gov, rep.dennis.powers@capitol.tn.gov, rep.tim.rudd@capitol.tn.gov, rep.iris.rudder@capitol.tn.gov, rep.gabby.salinas@capitol.tn.gov, rep.todd.warner@capitol.tn.gov

About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.