State Rep. Ronnie Glynn will hold the first public town hall meeting of his term on the future of public education on Thursday from 5:30-7 p.m. CST at Burt-Cobb Recreation Center, the former site of historic Burt High School. During the forum, Rep. Glynn will discuss the three education-related bills he introduced upon entering office. MainStreet Clarksville has more information on the bills; participants are encouraged to RSVP for the event on Rep. Glynn’s Facebook page.

Tennessee Lt. Gov. Randy McNally is asking a federal judge to consider the life circumstances and young family of former state Sen. Brian Kelsey when determining the former lawmaker’s sentence in a federal campaign finance conspiracy, Mainstreet Nashville reports. Kelsey, 45, pleaded guilty to two campaign finance conspiracy charges last November, admitting he illegally shifted "soft money" from his state campaign to his federal campaign account during his unsuccessful 2016 bid for Congress. McNally is one of several people to submit letters in support of Kelsey to Judge Waverly Crenshaw for consideration ahead of sentencing.

The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance has filed suit against former state senator Katrina Robinson to collect financial penalties stemming from failure to timely file financial disclosures, Tennessee Lookout reports. Court filings show the registry first assessed Robinson a $7,500 fine in August 2021 for failing to file the required early year-end supplemental campaign disclosure for 2020. In November 2021, the registry added a $10,000 fine after Robinson failed to submit a 2021 mid-year campaign finance disclosure. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office is prosecuting the case, which will be heard in Davidson County Chancery Court.

Lt. Governor Randy McNally returned to work yesterday after having heart surgery last week, NewsChannel 5 reports. McNally talked with the station, saying, "I'm doing great. I am just glad Sen. [Richard] Briggs told me to get to the hospital right away. He's a cardiovascular surgeon in addition to being one of our senate chairmen. I had the procedure done, woke up and felt 100% better." McNally had a pacemaker installed last week after experiencing an irregular heartbeat.

A bill that would allow voters to recall Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert more easily has cleared a state House subcommittee, the Daily Memphian reports.  The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis, reduces the number of signatures needed to hold a recall election from 15% of registered county voters to 1%. White presented the bill last fall amid the controversy over a backlog of car titles and other work in Halbert’s office. Twice in a month, Halbert closed the office for a week to catch up on that work. She received harsh criticism after she vacationed to Jamaica during the first of those shutdowns. The measure cleared the House Elections and Campaign Finance Subcommittee this week and goes next to the House Local Government Committee.

Legislation that would allow the state’s school voucher program to expand beyond Davidson and Shelby counties passed the Tennessee Senate last week, the Tennessean reports. Sponsored by Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, SB12/HB433 expands the program to include school districts that have five schools identified in the bottom 10% of schools in the state. The law currently includes districts with 10 schools in the bottom 10%. Gardenhire said today he wanted to exclude Hamilton County from the program in 2019, but the county now has eight "failing" schools. "I want to give the parents and the students the opportunity to have a choice and not be trapped in failing schools," Gardenhire said.

TBA’s Legislative Updates podcast is new with TBA Director of Public Policy & Government Affairs Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorney and TBA lobbyist Ashley Harbin. Schwarz and Harbin discuss HB176/SB124, which would require all documents recorded with the Register of Deeds to be in 12-point font size, and SB528/HB551, a measure that would make a variety of changes to adoption law. Legislative Updates airs each week on the TBA’s Facebook page. It is also released as a podcast on the same day and can be found on the TBA’s website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Plan now to take part in the Tennessee Bar Association’s TBA Day on the Hill on March 22. The event gives TBA members an opportunity to meet with their legislators and talk to them about issues important to the profession, such as the professional privilege tax and funding for indigent representation. Activities begin with a luncheon, followed by meetings with legislators in the afternoon, and the annual Big Shrimp legislative reception that night. Sign up now to take part.

A state House subcommittee yesterday approved a narrow exception to the Tennessee Human Life Protection Act, which took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Dobbs case. The amended bill, HB883, would clarify that termination of a pregnancy for the following reasons would not constitute a criminal abortion: medical emergencies, disposal of unimplanted fertilized eggs, removal of ectopic or molar pregnancies, medically futile pregnancies or lethal fetal anomalies. The state currently has no explicit exception in its abortion ban. Instead, the law allows doctors to argue that an abortion was medically necessary. The bill approved by the subcommittee would remove this “affirmative defense” language, WJHL reports.

The state Senate on Monday overwhelmingly passed a bill banning gender transition health care for minors in Tennessee, the Tennessean reports. SB1 bans minors in Tennessee from accessing gender dysphoria and transition treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapies as well as surgeries. Those who received such treatments as minors also would be able to sue parents, guardians and physicians for authorizing that care. The legislation includes a 30-year statute of limitations. Ahead of the vote yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union threatened legal action if the bill becomes law.