Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, won a vote of confidence by the state Senate Republican Caucus, the Nashville Scene reports. Caucus members voted 19-7 in a closed meeting Monday in favor of McNally’s continued leadership of the Senate. The vote followed a flurry of local and national media attention focused on his supportive comments on a young gay man’s Instagram page. "I have always been honored, humbled and grateful for the support of my caucus,” McNally said via a spokesperson. “I remain so today." Critics have called McNally hypocritical for making the social media comments while leading a body that has passed legislation restricting drag and trans health care, among other anti-LGBTQ positions.

The Associated Press reports that the Tennessee House advanced legislation that would add a narrow exemption to the state’s strict abortion ban, despite concerns raised by Democrats and medical experts that the bill does not go far enough to protect doctors and pregnant patients. The legislation was drastically reworked from its original version that was introduced in February. The proposed exemption allows doctors to use a “reasonable medical judgment” when determining if an abortion is necessary to prevent the death of a pregnant patient or to spare her from the irreversible, severe impairment of a major bodily function.

Governor Bill Lee’s plans for adding express toll lanes to some Tennessee highways won Senate approval Monday, the Associated Press reports. The bill would allow construction of express toll lanes on existing highways aimed at attracting drivers willing to pay a fee to avoid congestion. The state could contract with private entities to develop, build, finance, maintain or operate the lanes. Opponents criticized the bill for only adding highway space without addressing broader transportation issues in the state.

A new Legislative Updates podcast was released today with TBA Director of Public Policy & Government Affairs Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorneys and TBA lobbyists Brad Lampley and Ashley Harbin. This week they discuss HB854/SB919 and HB855/SB921, TBA's adoption bills; HB647/SB1313, medical records legislation; HB1162/SB775, the Tennessee Revised Uniform Arbitration Act; and HB1177/SB710, the Tennessee Domestic Relations Arbitration Act. Legislative Updates airs each week the legislature is in session on 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.

An amendment added to HB1029/SB1159 is making its way through the state legislature that would send 17-year-olds to adult criminal court first, rather than juvenile court. The bill’s primary sponsors are Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, and House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville. The proposed amendment requires juvenile petitions to be filed in the appropriate criminal court for all children who are 17 at the time of the alleged conduct. It requires the same for children ages 14 to 16 at the time of the alleged conduct who are charged with specific offenses. 10News in Knoxville has the story.

Mayors of Shelby County, Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga are calling on the legislature to pass a bill (HB1233/SB1029) that would impose penalties on gun owners who leave firearms in cars irresponsibly. It also would require owners to report the theft — which has resulted in a decrease in illegal gun movement in other states that require it. The bill makes it a misdemeanor criminal penalty for failing to safely store a gun or for failing to report a stolen gun to law enforcement.

Multiple Tennessee child advocacy experts say they are alarmed by a sudden move to dissolve an independent children's advocacy commission and distribute its responsibilities to other state agencies, reports the Tennessean. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, was set to present Senate Bill 282 on Wednesday to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, but the legislation, backed by Gov. Bill Lee's administration, was ultimately delayed to next week. The bill essentially strips any mentions of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth from state code. The commission released a report in January finding Tennessee foster kids experience the highest levels of instability in U.S. Nearly 34% of foster cases meet that definition in Tennessee, according to the report, more than double the overall U.S. national average of 14.9%.

The Associated Press reports that 18- to 20-year-olds in Tennessee may soon be able to carry handguns in public without a permit, with or without Gov. Bill Lee’s approval. After the law was passed in 2021 that allowed gun owners aged 21 and up to carry handguns in public without a permit, the Firearms Policy Coalition sued, arguing that the age limit should be lower. In late 2022, then-Attorney General Herbert Slatery moved to negotiate a settlement, citing 2022’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling expanding gun rights. In January, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti proposed a deal that would allow 18- to 20-year-olds to carry handguns publicly. A judge put the arrangement on hold for a 30-day period that ends tomorrow.

Tennessee Right to Life is supporting a measure that would add two narrow exceptions to the state’s abortion law, WPLN reports. The group announced support for the change after working with legislators and doctors to craft new language that would allow doctors to terminate ectopic pregnancies and provide treatment for miscarriages. The exclusions are narrower than what was included in a bill that stalled last month.

Legislation to allow the public to understand how Tennessee buys lethal injection drugs is floundering as the state correction department lobbies against it behind the scenes, Tennessee Lookout reports. HB870 would remove an exemption in Tennessee public record law, which allows the state to hide how it procures drugs for lethal injection. The exemption allows the state to protect the names of pharmacists and the manufacturers of the drug cocktail used in implementing capital punishment. The bill comes on the heels of intense public scrutiny over Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol. Last year, the state halted executions because it failed to appropriately test the execution drugs.