There are currently three parallel efforts to fight for the liberty of Tennessee’s citizens in regards to mask mandates, vaccine mandates (public and private), and the abuse of emergency powers. All three efforts seek to have a special session called in which legislation can be passed to deal with the problems that have been building since March of 2020.
In Tennessee, the Speaker of the House and the Speaker of the Senate may jointly issue a call for a special session upon the written request of of two-thirds of the members of each chamber – that is, 66 or more State Representatives, and 22 or more Senators. Please note, to the best of our knowledge the bodies cannot force their respective speaker into calling a session. Thus, Senators and Representatives can request and place pressure on the Speakers; there is no trigger.
The first effort is in the form of an ultimatum by Speaker Cameron Sexton in response to regional health departments, school districts and municipalities proclaiming mask mandates. We took the below image directly from Speaker Sexton’s Facebook page:
We support Speaker Sexton and the 73 house members who joined him in calling for the Governor to call a special session.
Governor Lee is unlikely to call a special session with a broad agenda that would limit his powers. If he does support this and partner with Speaker Sexton, we anticipate him calling a special session with a very narrow agenda. For example, Governor Lee might focus on one topic only, such as the power of County Health Departments to issue emergency orders or the power of school districts to issue mask mandates, while completely closing the door to legislation on the emergency powers unconstitutionally given to the Governor over the last twenty years.
The second effort is one that can ally itself with any other efforts: Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles has called for a special session.
We commend Mayor Ogle’s effort to limit the powers of the Governor’s office, protect the rights of parents to make medical choices for their children, and to protect the citizenry from forced vaccinations and other abuses. Mayor Ogles is a powerful voice of authentic conservatism in our state. His leadership in Maury County has clearly shown how he would lead Tennessee. An aside: as a result of his actions, we have encouraged him to oppose Bill Lee in the 2022 elections.
The third effort is a combination between some true conservatives in both the House and in the Senate, with the goal of forcing both Speakers to support a special session. The Republican membership of the house itself is fully onboard with the call for a special session. The Senate is a different story. Lt. Governor/Speaker McNally carried the earliest versions of the emergency powers laws now being abused. We have it on good authority that he believes a special session to repeal or heavily modify those laws would be to admit a mistake. It appears the Lt. Governor thinks he would be tarnishing his legacy by supporting a special session. It is thus the opinion of Conservative Christians of Tennessee that our most likely path to the restoration of our liberties at this point is for the citizens of Tennessee, especially those in rural counties, to contact their State Senator and respectfully state that you demand a special session. Specifically, you must tell them to oppose Lt. Governor McNally. Please, make your Senator understand that Lt. Governor Randy McNally must either support a broadly focused special session to deal with the emergency powers abuses, medical freedom, and health department madness, or lose the support of the Republican Caucus in the Senate. We need 22 good senators.
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[…] days ago, we penned an article summarizing the efforts in the Tennessee General Assembly, which includes both houses of the Tennessee State legislature) to hold a special session to […]