Image Credit: Jody Barrett Tennessee State Representative / Facebook & Antony-22 / CC
The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –
Over 150 people showed up in support of Conservative Representative Jody Barrett (R-Dickson-District 69) as he officially launched his reelection campaign from the patio of Katie’s Ice Cream in downtown Dickson on Tuesday.
Rep. Barrett assumed office in November of 2022 and is currently running for a second term in District 69 which includes Hickman, Lewis, and part of Dickson Counties.
So let’s take a look at what Barrett has been up to during his first term in office.
The first bill Barrett presented on the House floor.
In 2023, Barrett solidified a name for himself in homeschool communities across the state by sponsoring HB0252, to protect the medical and religious freedoms of Tennessee homeschoolers in regard to immunization and health examination requirements typically imposed as the standard for school-aged children.
“The first bill that I presented on the House floor was the homeschool immunization bill,” Barrett told The Tennessee Conservative on Tuesday. “I was proud of that one. We got that one passed.”
Shouted out as a “Conservative Fighter.”
Barrett appeared in The Tennessee Conservative’s 2023 RINO Report as a “Conservative Fighter” for sponsoring HB0246, which would have standardized the timeframe of when the Coordinator of Elections must obtain information regarding the deceased, if the bill had not been killed in committee.
The 2023 RINO Report also highlighted Barrett’s vote against HB1109 which could take away parental rights and due process by criminalizing parents based on anonymous allegations of child abuse or neglect, as well as Barrett’s vote against global currency via HB0316 or “The Money Transmission Modernization Act.”
Other action Barrett took during the 2023 legislative session includes:
• Writing to Gov. Bill Lee in opposition of red flag gun laws.
• Co-sponsoring legislation that permanently extended protections from Covid-19 mandates and masking in Tennessee (HB0002).
• Voting in favor of pro-life legislation that prohibited local governments from expending funds to assist a woman in obtaining a criminal abortion (HB0090).
• Co-sponsoring legislation to protect children from obscene materials in schools (HB0841) and from being exposed to drag show performances (HB0009).
• Co-sponsoring legislation to protect parental rights by requiring the written consent of a parent or guardian before a healthcare professional can provide a vaccine to a minor (HB1380), as well as before a student may receive gender identity instruction or health services through a coordinated school program (HB0727).
• Voting in favor of protecting girls’ sports in private schools (HB0306).
• Voting in favor of banning “gender affirming” surgeries for minors in Tennessee (HB0001).
• Co-sponsoring legislation to uphold state sovereignty by limiting foreign ownership of real property in Tennessee (HB0040).
• Voting in favor of banning public schools, colleges and the Department of Education from requiring employees to participate in implicit bias training (HB0158).
• Voting in favor of legislation stating that public school faculty and staff are not required to refer to students by preferred pronouns (HB1269).
• Voting in favor of banning ESG investment strategies by the State of Tennessee (HB1286).
• Sponsoring legislation that would have helped more conservatives run for office (HB0636).
• Voting in favor of prohibiting Tennessee from adopting or implementing policy that infringes or restricts private property rights without due process (HB1346).
Barrett also co-sponsored legislation to codify the definition of “sex” as male and female within state law (HB0239) and voted in favor of local government transparency (HB0023).
During the 2024 legislative session Barrett kept up the momentum by:
• Sharing with Tennesseans how easy it is for lawmakers to have their votes recorded during a voice vote for more transparency.
• Speaking up about the state’s illegal immigration crisis at The Tennessee Conservative’s Protect Tennessee’s Borders Rally in March.
• Co-sponsoring pro-life legislation to criminalize the abortion trafficking of minors (HB1895).
• Co-sponsoring illegal immigration legislation that increases penalties up to life in prison without parole for illegal immigrants convicted of violent crimes (HB1872).
• Co-sponsoring legislation requiring Tennessee law enforcement to report illegal immigrants in their custody to the federal government (HB2124).
• Co-sponsoring legislation that allows individuals who traffic minors across state lines for sex reassignment procedures to face civil penalties by the minor’s parents (HB2310).
• Voting to protect children by increasing the penalty for child endangerment by a parent or guardian of a child eight years or younger (HB1817).
• Co-sponsoring legislation that would have banned Pride Flags and other ideological and political flags from public school classrooms (HB1605).
• Co-sponsoring legislation that authorizes the death penalty for child rapists (HB1663).
• Voting in favor of school safety measures that don’t infringe on the 2nd Amendment rights of Tennesseans by allowing certain faculty and staff members to conceal carry “subject to certain conditions” (HB1202) and requiring public schools to provide students with age-appropriate firearm safety instruction (HB2882).
• Voting in favor of allowing law enforcement to assign SROs to schools that fail to request one (HB1664).
• Co-sponsoring legislation allowing private schools to adopt their own handgun carry policies (HB1631).
• Co-sponsoring the “Laken Riley Act of 2024” which removes the criminal offense of carrying a non-lethal self-defense weapon on college campuses (HB1909).
• Co-sponsoring legislation to protect religious exemptions and prohibit DCS from requiring immunizations in order to place children in foster and adoptive homes (HB1726).
• Co-sponsoring legislation clarifying that a person is not required to “solemnize” a marriage if that person objects due to conscience or religious beliefs (HB0878).
• Voting in favor of the “Tennessee Foster and Adoptive Parent Act” which prohibits DCS from requiring potential foster and adoptive parents to support policies concerning sexual orientation or gender identity (HB2169).
• Voting in favor of banning chemical weather modification (HB2063).
• Co-sponsoring legislation to protect patient and family rights regarding hospital visitation under a declaration of disaster or emergency issued by the state (HB1883).
• Co-sponsoring legislation to prohibit credit card companies and banks from requiring firearms retailers to be identified by a separate code or denying a legal firearms purchase based on that code (HB2762).
• Voting against an attempt to limit government transparency (HB1692).
• Voting against what critics deemed to be a “red flag gun law” (HB1625).
• Voting in favor of election integrity (HB0835 & HB1955).
• Voting against opportunity schools (HB2922).
• Voting in favor of the “Protecting Children from Social Media Act” (HB1891).
• Voting in favor of legislation that defines food containing a vaccine or vaccine materials as a drug for the purposes of the Tennessee Food, Durg and Cosmetic Act (HB1894).
• Voting in favor of legislation to prohibit healthcare providers from coercing individuals to consent to a vaccination for themselves or a person they have legal authority to make medical decisions for, under the guise that it is required by state law, and prohibits the misrepresentation that a newborn screening test is required by state law (HB2861).
• Voting in favor of protecting children and parental rights by requiring student requests regarding affirmation of gender identity to be reported to a school administrator and the student’s parent (HB2165).
The Tennessee Legislative Report Card gave Barrett a score of 90 for 2024. He maintains a lifetime score of 91 and a leadership grade of A+.
According to the report, only 17.22% of his campaign contributions come from special interests.
Barrett also sponsored HB2031 this year, which goes into effect on July 1st, aims to disincentivize road blockages by allowing lawsuits for damages due to a Tennessee roadway being illegally blocked.
“Now you can sue someone that causes you damages by going out and doing this protest stuff or intentionally blocking a bridge or a roadway which will be huge,” Barrett told The Tennessee Conservative. “The key element of that from a legal standpoint, it’s not so much the protestors […] but you get to start digging into where the money came from that’s paying them to be there.”
Another bill sponsored by Barrett that received passage in the legislature this year was HB2035.
This legislation is meant to prevent red flag gun laws by preempting the entire field of legislation regarding extreme risk protection orders or ERPOs and was modeled off of similar legislation in Oklahoma.
“If there’s gonna be a red flag law in Tennessee it has to originate in the state legislature, which we’ve proven at least currently, that there’s no desire to do that whatsoever,” Barrett stated. “And if [a red flag law] does get passed through the legislature I feel confident that there will be enough voices and input into that to make sure that due process is checked and protected.”
Barrett added that his biggest disappointment this year was probably what happened with HB2159, a bill he sponsored to create a civil right of action against distributors of obscene materials.
“You’re talking about the worst of the worst, child pornography and things like that,” he said. “But for whatever reason some of the members of the Senate were more concerned about those companies and distributors being subject to frivolous lawsuits than they were about protecting Tennessee kids, and they killed it. They refused to negotiate.”
Barrett said everything that went into these three bills was his “year in a nutshell” but that there was “obviously much more going on behind the scenes.”
“Pretty much, if there was a fight going on for conservative values or involving a conservative issue, I was probably in the middle of it the last two years,” Barrett noted.
“I think some of the best work that gets done is killing bad bills and making sure some bad stuff didn’t happen,” he continued. “Doing whatever they tell you [that] you need to vote for…That’s not me.”
When asked what he expects the focus to be over the next two years if he gets reelected, Barrett brought up 2nd Amendment issues and election integrity, stating that he thinks illegal immigration specifically will continue to be a big issue as well.
“It’s related to everything. It’s related to employment. It’s related to elections. It’s related to entitlement programs, the budget of the state…What we’ve gotta do at the state level is start changing the laws here in Tennessee [to make] it less attractive for people coming here illegally,” said Barrett.
He went on to say that there are currently some elements of state law that are not being enforced when it comes to employment and illegal immigration, specifically in regard to temp agencies.
“There’s some requirements that are not being enforced and some other things that need to be strengthened a little bit…so that the temp agencies are under the same obligation to report as the actual employer,” Barrett explained. “Right now that’s not the case and so it’s a loophole that the big employers are using.”
Rep. Barrett faces no Democrat opposition and only one GOP challenger in the upcoming election, Ronny George, who has not been actively campaigning according to locals.
EARLY VOTING: JULY 12-27 2024 ELECTION DAY: AUGUST 1, 2024
About the Author: Adelia Kirchner is a Tennessee resident and reporter for the Tennessee Conservative. Currently the host of Subtle Rampage Podcast, she has also worked for the South Dakota State Legislature and interned for Senator Bill Hagerty’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee. You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
3 Responses
Jody is our State Rep and we couldn’t be more pleased with this TRUE CONSTITUTIONAL CONSERVATIVE.
He’s extremely accessible, truly listens to his constituents, and actually does what he can to solve their issues or take up legislation that is meaningful to them. Not sure how Dickson, Hickman, and Lewis Counties got this lucky to have such a WINNER as Jody Barrett! Mark my words…he’s going to continue to ascend in legislative influence yet never lose his humility, dedication and true constitutional conservative values. THANK GOD!
This is a good man with good ideas please keep him in your prayers and vote for him.
I have found Rep Barrett to be a man of his word, to be faithful, to be straightforward. He is a rare politician who can look people in the eye because he is a man of integrity.
I don’t agree with every vote but I firmly support him because he is professional and friendly when I ask about his votes + he always has his facts and reasons to support his votes.
He is very active in his community and has remained accessible to voters despite attacks from the leadership of the Republican Party in public. I have witnessed the Tennessee Republican Party SEC Chris Morris attack him when he wasn’t even there to defend himself and Chris had never even spoken to him about the issues. Sad that he is attacked by party insiders. Why must some be so divisive?! And why doesn’t the SEC support elected Republicans instead of tearing down their own?
Jody Barrett is a good man and a Strong Conservative who works very hard. I am grateful for his leadership and to have a man conservative and man of integrity as our Representative.