TN General Assembly to Convene Next Week
The Tennessee General Assembly will return to Nashville next week for its organizational session following the election. Our Constitution provides that every session start on the second Tuesday in January. The two chambers will meet separately to select a Speaker of the House and Lt. Gov. as Speaker for the Senate. Later in the week, the chambers will meet jointly to elect constitutional officers.
The State Treasurer and Comptroller are both elected to two-year terms and will be chosen by the General Assembly next week. The Secretary of State is elected to a four-year term. Secretary Hargett was last elected in 2021 and is in the middle of his term. There is no expectation that there will be a challenge to Lt. Gov. McNally, Speaker Sexton, Treasurer David Lillard or Comptroller Jason Mumpower, with all four men expected to continue in their current leadership positions for two more years. Committee chairs for each chamber are usually named by the two speakers toward the end of the week.
While it hasn’t yet been announced, the tradition has been for the General Assembly to have at least a one-week recess after the organizational session. This allows time for offices to be assigned, new legislators to get settled in and new committee chairs to get organized. After that, there will be a rush of new legislation filed. That process has already begun, with a little over 100 bills filed in the two chambers combined. It is expected that number will balloon to more than 1000 in each chamber by the end of the month. Association staff will be reviewing and analyzing all these proposals to track those that could impact county governent.
If you’re interested in the bills that affect county legislative bodies, please follow along with TCSA’s weekly Capitol Updates. These updates will be included in weekly e-newsletters, and the full archive will be available on TCSA’s website under the “Advocacy and Policy” tab on the main menu.
