Flurry of Activity this Week

This week marks the organizational session of the Tennessee General Assembly. New members have been sworn in. The Speaker of the House and Lieutenant Governor of the Senate have been elected. Other leadership positions have been filled.

There were no surprises at the top in either chamber. Ron Ramsey returns as Lt. Governor. Beth Harwell was elected the Speaker of the House 98-0 when the Democrats choose not to nominate a candidate. (The one missing vote was due to the vacancy that resulted from the death of long-time Representative Ulyssses Jones of Memphis.)

In joint session, the legislature returned David Lillard to the position of State Treasurer and Justin Wilson to the office of Comptroller of the Treasury. Secretary of State Tre Hargett still has two years remaining on his term.

Today, standing committee appointments were named. There were few changes in the State Senate, except that Sen. Ken Yager was named chair of the State and Local Government Committee. Sen. Yager takes the post after Sen. Ketron moved to the position of Republican Caucus Chair with the departure of former Sen. Diane Black to Congress. Sen. Yager has extensive experience in county government, having served several terms as County Executive of Roane County.

In the House on the other hand, virtually every committee has new leadership. One exception is the State and Local Government Committee, where Rep. Curry Todd of Shelby County continues to serve as chair. Rep. Bob Ramsey of Blount County will serve as Vice Chair and Chair of the general subcommittee of the State and Local Government Committee. Speaker Harwell instituted the first major change under her leadership today when she revamped the subcommittee structure in the House of Representatives. Previously, every House committee had 2 or 3 subcommittees and all bills moved through a subcommittee before passage in a full committee. Now, each committee will have only one general subcommitee and not all bills will be referred to a subcommitee. The Speaker announced the change as a means of streamlining the legislative process.

The full leadership and membership of commitees and subcommittees should be available on the General Assembly's website soon.

This week's events will culminate Saturday with the innauguration of Governor-Elect Bill Haslam. After that event, the General Assembly is expected to recess for a 3 week break so that offices can be moved and staff can prepare for the many changes.