The Tennessee House and Senate yesterday approved a $42.6 billion annual spending plan for 2022, the Tennessean reports. Highlights include $2.4 million to create a statewide chancery court, designed to take constitutional challenges to state laws out of the hands of the Davidson County Chancery Court, and increased funding for the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office. With regard to the professional privilege tax, lawmakers rejected Gov. Bill Lee’s proposal to reduce the tax from $400 to $300, opting instead to enact a more robust reduction, or possible elimination, next year. The bill also includes $784,000 for the District Attorney's Conference to make technology improvements that will complete and expand a new case management system for electronic discovery. The group has begun conversations with the Administrative Office of the Courts and Tennessee Department of Correction on how the system could be used in other ways such as expanding electronic judgements.

The approved plan also includes $121,000 for Lipscomb University’s LIFE Program, which provides opportunities for traditional students to study and learn alongside residents of the Tennessee Prison for Women. Finally, the bill provides a week-long sales tax holiday for groceries and prepared food, funding for a state commission to study medical marijuana, $250 million for a mental health trust fund, $250 million for the state’s retirement fund, and $5.3 million for nonprofit organizations working on sex trafficking issues. Having now passed a budget, lawmakers plan to return to Nashville next week to complete selected remaining legislation, including the “behind the budget” bills that were included in the final appropriations bill. Adjournment is expected to take place sometime the middle of next week.

Longtime Tennessee state senator Thelma Harper will lie in state from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. CDT Wednesday at the state capitol, becoming the first African American woman to receive that honor. Harper, the first African American woman elected to the state Senate and longest serving female senator in state history, died April 22 at the age of 80. A four-day celebration is being planned next week at locations around Nashville that were important in her life: a community viewing at Schrader Lane Church of Christ on Monday, viewing at the Historic Metropolitan Courthouse on Tuesday, and a celebration of life, internment and barbecue in her honor on Thursday. WKRN has the schedule.

A medical marijuana bill that was the main remaining vehicle for advancement of cannabis legislation in 2021 failed in a House committee this week, Nashville Post reports. The bill, which would have decriminalized possession of limited amounts of medical marijuana for certain conditions, lost on a 8-9 vote in the House Criminal Justice Committee despite support from committee chair Rep. Michael Curcio, R-Dickson, and Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville. The legislation had previously passed the Senate Judiciary Committee.

An amendment to HB1072/SB915 that was set for discussion by the Senate today has been pushed to May 3. The legislation from Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, and Rep. Michael Curcio, R-Dickson, would ban local governments from filing lawsuits to challenge the constitutionality of state laws. It would also allow the state to file an interlocutory appeal in any case in which the constitutionality of a statute is challenged and stay any injunction issued by the court pending the final outcome of the appeal. TBA has been expressing concern to bill sponsors and committee members.

The resolution to add Tennessee’s “right to work” law to the state Constitution today cleared the General Assembly and will now appear on the 2022 ballot, the Associated Press reports. The resolution’s sponsor, Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, says the constitutional amendment is needed because it will make it harder to repeal or weaken the “right to work” law. Opponents counter that the measure discourages workers from joining unions, while others argue that right-to-work states have more workplace fatalities and lower wages. To amend the state Constitution, changes must pass by a majority in both chambers during one two-year General Assembly, and then pass by at least two-thirds of the vote in the next. The amendment would then go before the voters in the year of the next gubernatorial election.

A new episode of the TBA’s Legislative Updates Podcast is now streaming. In today’s episode, TBA Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs Berkley Schwarz and TBA lobbyist Brad Lampley of Adams and Reese discuss SB868/HB1130 that would create a statewide chancery court, successful efforts to help kill SB282/HB1386 that would have capped attorney’s fees in lawsuits brought by county officials and TBA-sponsored SB881/HB1190 concerning a conveyance to a trust, which has just passed the state House and Senate. Finally, they also discuss news regarding the professional privilege tax. Instead of reducing the tax gradually over the next four years, Senate and House leaders have instead opted to lay out a plan to completely eliminate the tax next year. Tune in to find out more on the TBA’s Facebook page, website or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

The state Senate approved legislation last week that would reduce the amount of time a person must serve before becoming eligible for parole, the Tennessean reports. Under current law, a person convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole must serve 51 years in prison before being considered for release. Bipartisan legislation, sponsored by Sen. Janice Bowling, R-Tullahoma, and Rep. London Lamar, D-Memphis, would reduce that time to 25 years. No action has been taken on HB1532/SB0561 in the House yet.

Legislation restricting the governor’s ability to issue a state of emergency for more than 60 days is meeting different fates in the Senate and House this year, Tennessee Lookout reports. Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, sent his bill, SB859, to summer study, meaning it is on hold for the year. In the House, HB869 sponsored by Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, was slated to be heard today in the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee. State law currently gives the governor wide authority to issue executive orders and suspend laws and regulations at his discretion. The bills would limit that power to 60 days. If at the end of that time, the governor wanted to extend an order, the General Assembly would have to approve it. The bills also would give the legislature the authority to end a state of emergency or executive order based on a public health emergency.

Legislation from Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, and Rep. Michael Curcio, R-Dickson, that would ban local governments from filing lawsuits to challenge the constitutionality of state laws, was to have been re-considered by the Senate today after being rejected on Monday. The legislation, being offered as an amendment to HB1072/SB915 has now been moved to tomorrow's agenda. The legislation also would allow the state to file an interlocutory appeal in any case in which the constitutionality of a statute is challenged and stay any injunction issued by the court pending the final outcome of the appeal. TBA has been expressing concern to bill sponsors and committee members.

The day after the House passed its version, former Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice William Koch, now dean of the Nashville School of Law, told Tennessee Lookout that he is “not exactly sure what the statute is designed to fix.” Under current law, the state can make an interlocutory appeal if a judge places an injunction on a state law involved in a constitutional challenge. “What this [bill] does is say there is an automatic stay,” Koch said. In essence, he said, the legislation “takes the judges out of the equation.” He also said he thinks there is some question about the constitutionality of the proposal since it could “violate the separation of powers” by appearing to tell “courts how to try cases.”

Today, the House Local Government Committee was scheduled to consider SB282/HB1386, sponsored by Rep. Chris Todd, R-Madison County, and Sen. Paul Rose, R-Covington. The bill would have capped attorneys’ fees and expenses for attorneys in lawsuits brought by county officials if counties refuse to provide the resources required to perform their duties. TBA lobbied committee members and they were prepared to kill the bill. Additionally, Matt Grossman, an attorney with Frantz, McConnell & Seymour in Knoxville, was ready to testify against the bill and the amendment on behalf of TBA. However, Todd sent the bill back to the clerk’s desk before the committee could vote on it. We would like to sincerely thank all of the attorneys who called committee members and asked them to oppose HB1386. It definitely made an impact!