Tennessee lawmakers have adjourned for the year and with that comes the end of the TBA's 2022 Legislative Updates podcast season! TBA Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs Berkley Schwarz and TBA lobbyist and Adams and Reese attorney Brad Lampley are here to recap the biggest highlights and news from the 112th General Assembly. The two discuss redistricting, the truth in sentencing bill and more. In final discussions about the professional privilege tax, Lampley urges listeners to “keep the heat on” your legislators about repealing the tax. “This is really the time for one-on-one contact with your elected official,” Lampley says. “Develop those relationships and by all means continue to be a resource for them going forward and advocate for the issues you believe in.” You can catch Legislative Updates live and in-person at the TBA Annual Convention in June.

A bill that critics say criminalizes homelessness will become law without the approval of Gov. Bill Lee, the Tennessee Journal reports. The measure, House Bill 978, makes camping on public property a misdemeanor punishable by a $50 fine or community service. It defines camping as erecting temporary structures, cooking, or sleeping outside of a motor vehicle. Lee earlier this week expressed concerned about “unintended consequences” contained within the bill, but didn’t elaborate.

The 112th Tennessee General Assembly came to a close Thursday afternoon, capping a two-year term that saw lawmakers convene five different times to address education, COVID-19 and major tax incentives for Ford Motor Co. Breaking with tradition, Gov. Bill Lee was not on hand at the Capitol to mark the end of session after his office added two out-of-town appearances to his schedule for the day, the Tennessean reports. The paper looks back at the major legislative initiatives considered and the stories that dominated the session.

The Tennessee General Assembly has passed legislation that prevents candidates who have been censured from becoming judges, The Greeneville Sun reports.  An amendment to Senate Bill 2478/House Bill 2538 bars attorneys who have been publicly censured by the Board of Professional Responsibility within 10 years from holding a judgeship. The bill has an Oct. 1 effective date, meaning it will not affect current races. Rep. Andy Farmer, R-Sevierville, said the bill was the first step in ensuring honesty in candidates for all positions.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee “quietly signed” legislation on Friday that imposes penalties on public schools that allow transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports, the Associated Press reports. Last year, the governor signed a measure mandating that student athletes must prove their sex matches what is listed on their “original” birth certificate. This year’s bill adds penalties to that ban, which already has been challenged in the courts. Under the new law, the Tennessee Department of Education would withhold a portion of state funds from local school districts that fail to determine a student’s gender for participation in middle or high school sports. The measure does not specify exactly how much money should be withheld by the state. The law will go into effect July 1.

Bradley County attorney Rex Wagner has announced his candidacy for the Tennessee House of Representatives in District 24. He is running in the Republican primary. A 1993 graduate of the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, Wagner spent more than 25 years as a sole practitioner in Bradley County. He is also a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Cleveland State Community College, according to an announcement today.

The General Assembly has passed a number of bills that now await Gov. Bill Lee’s signature. Among them are measures to strictly limit the shackling of pregnant inmates, outlaw mail delivery of abortion pills and hold drunk drivers who kill a parent responsible for child support. The Associated Press and The Hill have more on each of these bills.

As a new campaign finance and ethics bill works its way through the legislature, Senate Speaker Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, is hitting back at what he calls “blatant untruths” being spread about the legislation. McNally said efforts to get nonprofit “dark money” groups to disclose how much they are spending has caused the most furor with some groups accusing lawmakers of forcing them to identify their donors. “It is amazing that various seemingly ‘legitimate’ groups are resorting to such disingenuous tactics,” he said. McNally argues that the bill “does not censor or otherwise curtail conservative activism or free speech in any way” and is designed to crack down on bad actors “like the fictitious Matthew Phoenix and the various shell companies and shadowy PACs used by certain legislators.” The Tennessee Journal has McNally’s full statement.

A criminal justice bill that would effectively lengthen some prison sentences in Tennessee cleared the General Assembly yesterday after legislators made last-minute adjustments to assuage concerns from Gov. Bill Lee, the Tennessean reports. The so-called "truth in sentencing" legislation originally mandated that people convicted of certain felonies serve 100% of their sentences, eliminating eligibility for parole through good behavior or programming credits. Lee had expressed concerns that the bill would roll back some of the reforms he pushed last year. Last minute changes cut the list of felonies subject to the bill’s requirements in half and reduced the time to be served to 85% of the sentence for the remaining crimes.

In the most recent episode of the TBA Legislative Updates podcast, TBA Public Policy & Government Affairs Director Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorney and TBA lobbyist Brad Lampley cover the final word on the professional privilege tax. Unfortunately, the state budget, which has now passed the House and Senate, did not include language that would reduce or eliminate the professional privilege tax for attorneys. House and Senate leadership did eliminate the doctors from the list of professions that have to pay this tax as a thank you to the doctors for being on the front lines of the pandemic for the last two years. The TBA will continue the push to eliminate the professional privilege tax and to encourage members to bring up the need to eliminate the tax any time when in contact with members of the legislature. On a positive note, it appears that the extra $3 million the governor allocated to indigent representation stayed in the budget that passed the House and Senate.