Republican Lawmakers Hope to Modify Tennessee’s Historical Commission During Upcoming Legislative Session
Image: Confederate Soldiers Monument (Centennial Park, Nashville, Tennessee) Image Credit: Corey Seeman / CC
The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –
Sen. Joey Hensley’s (R-Hohenwald-District 28) legislation from earlier this year, to decrease the number of members on the Tennessee Historical Commission, looks like it will be making a resurgence during Tennessee’s upcoming 2024 legislative session.
This won’t be the first time Sen. Hensley has brought this bill to the table. It was originally filed in 2021 and was reintroduced during the 2023 legislative session before being moved to next year.
Right now the Tennessee Historical Commission is made up of 29 members and typically has final say on the handling of the state’s historical monuments.
The legislation would vacate all current commission seats and bring the number of members down to 20.
Five of these member seats would then be appointed by the Lt. Governor, five by the Speaker of the House, and six by the Governor. The remaining seats would consist of the state historian, state archeologist, state librarian and the Commissioner of Environment or their designee.
“Just felt like 29 members on a commission is too many,” stated Sen. Hensley. “So, probably bring that back and try to decrease the number.”
This legislation was first filed in the aftermath of the controversial removal of a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from display in the State Capitol back in 2021.
Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville-District 25) and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge-District 5) both opposed this removal at the time.
Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) was in favor of the bust’s removal and following the event, replaced six of the sitting commission members with his own appointees.
“Not that the governor makes bad choices but [I] just feel like the legislature should have some say in boards and commissions,” said Sen. Hensley. “Most of them now are appointed by the governor, and this is just a large commission. Twenty-nine members are just hard to work with.”
According to Sen. Hensley, the goal is to get more state commissions in general to a point where the super majority Republican state legislature “has more input.”
Yet some remain skeptical of the intentions behind Sen. Hensley’s bill.
“You’ve got the consistent just pulling and tugging in between the legislature and the governor,” stated Rep. John Ray Clemmons (R-Nashville-District 55). “The governor has basically ceded all power and responsibility to the state legislature.”
Media outlets and Democrat lawmakers have also speculated that Tennessee’s GOP is trying to “scramble” the historical commission in order to keep monuments related to the Confederacy.
“What are you trying to protect, what are you trying to rush through?” asked Rep. Clemmons. “How do you intend to use that board once you have control of it?”
In addition to the potential modification of the Tennessee Historical Commission, it is worth noting that a new “Monuments Commission” was established earlier this year to focus specifically on historical monuments and memorials, seemingly taking over that responsibility from the historical commission.
Members of this “Monuments Commission” are meant to be appointed by the Lt. Governor or Speaker of the House.
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.
“Not that the governor makes bad choices but”…he just does so regularly.
Every confederate and historical monument must be replaced at State Expense. It was an abomination that the Forrest statue was taken down, in typical marxist fashion. The Governor promised – and broke his promise – to keep it, yet vested-interest fearmongers and hatred our history, combined with envy at our military statues, evidently brought enough pressure to make him cowtow to this idiocy. He is not forgiven and if my prayers are answered, he will be ever sorry he did such a dark deed and those who were complicit in it. Also the statue that the rioters knocked over in one of their ‘peaceful protests,” in front the WCTU memorial must be replaced. I am frankly sick of such hypocrisy and setting up ‘new gods.’ Those who have not the courage to fight in the military and who are afraid of war but burn buildings and hate the police feel bad when they see real men who fought bloody battles without cowardly fear and who laughed at lawyers. Shame on every person who had anything to do with these removals. And while it is nothing to set up statues to Communists, change the street name to accommodate special interests legal groups, and honor atheists, such as the abomination in front of the Rhea County Courthouse, this flood of evil is coming to an end. The sooner the better. The God of our Fathers isn’t pleased.
AMEN!!!!!
What happened to the “Heritage Preservation Act” that was supposed to protect all of this stuff in the first place??