TN special session: Controversial guns in schools bill fails to advance in House

Tennessee lawmakers are back today for the third day of their special legislative session on public safety, mental health and guns.

On Tuesday, the House and Senate slowly got to work. But by afternoon, lawmakers are tabling dozens of bills and narrowing the legislation they advanced. On Wednesday, Senators continued to table bills and took up just four at their afternoon floor session.

Meanwhile, tensions began rising as activists pushing for gun reform were removed from a committee hearing. The ACLU filed a lawsuit in the morning and won a temporary injunction on the House rules.

Follow for the latest updates.

Controversial guns in schools bill fails to advance in House

A controversial bill to relax restrictions on who could bring guns on public school campuses died on a tie vote after a dramatic, four-hour committee meeting in the Tennessee House on Wednesday.

The bill was nearly voted on without debate due to a parliamentary move to shut down debate, an action that riled Democrats on the committee and members of the audience, which included parents from the Covenant School waiting to testify. The committee temporarily shut down to cool tempers.

Covenant parents vehemently opposed HB 7064, sponsored by Rep. Chris Todd, R-Madison County, who argued more guns at schools will make children safer.

Several Covenant parents temporarily left the committee room in disgust after Todd suggested that the guns used by the Covenant shooter weren't the issue in the tragedy, and the shooter probably would have "driven over" the kids at recess if a gun wasn't available.

Abby Mclean, a Covenant mom, questioned how she should tell her kids that lawmakers want to allow more guns into school, when her children are still scared of firearms.

“How do I explain to these children that that’s your solution? I want an answer,” McLean said.

— Melissa Brown, The Tennessean

Covenant victim's mom pleads for alarm standards

Through a statement read by a friend, the mother of Covenant victim William Kinney urged lawmakers to support a proposed bill that would establish standard rules for school protocol in the event of a fire alarm outside of a scheduled fire drill.

Erin Kinney said many at Covenant initially believed the active shooter situation was a fire due to a blaring fire alarm, masking the initial sounds of gunfire. William, as line leader of his class, followed protocol to lead his classmates out of the classroom ahead of the teacher, who is trained to stay behind and sweep the classroom in the event of a fire emergency.

"Fire alarms can be deadly, forcing kids toward a shooter and not away from one," Kinney, who was not at Wednesday's hearing, said in the statement. "At Covenant, for example, the thick haze of smoke released by a rapidly fired rifle automatically triggered a fire alarm."

"He was fulfilling his duty to lead his class to safety from a possible fire. Within seconds of the building being breached, his class encountered the shooter and he and two of his classmates were lying dead."

HB 7002 was sponsored by House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland. Lamberth said there are different ways schools can differentiate between alarms through alerts and technologies, and his bill is simply requiring each school board to have procedures in place that make sense for their schools.

The Education Administration Committee advanced the bill.

— Melissa Brown, The Tennessean

Lawmakers debate controversial bill allowing minors to be tried as adults in certain offenses

As the Senate wrapped for the day, House committees remained in session to consider a number of bills related to crime and school safety.

The House Criminal Justice Committee passed a controversial bill that would that allow minors to be tried as adults for certain offenses, despite opposition from Democrats and some juvenile court judges. The bill, introduced by House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville.

The Senate has not advanced the bill.

Juvenile justice advocates testified that the law would increase recidivism for young people pushing into the adult system and it doesn’t include exceptions for youth with disabilities.

Lawmakers who supported the bill said it would be a strong deterrent for young people committing crimes. House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, said the bill is a “good balance” because it gives judges the discretion to keep youth in juvenile court longer.

But Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, said the bill doesn’t focus on rehabilitation.

“There’s an art and science to juvenile justice reform. This bill fails on both,” he said. “We can lock folks up until the cows come home, but if we haven’t given them the proper a rehabilitation program, they will come out worse then they went in.”

The bill didn't sit well with those in the audience.

“Shame on you!” demonstrators shouted as they left the room after the vote.

— Kelly Puente, The Tennessean

'You've done nothing': Demonstrators slam Senate as it concludes initial work

After passing four bills, including one to fund the special session, the Senate adjourned until Thursday morning at 9 a.m. CT.

As the chamber adjourned, demonstrators in the gallery broke out in chants of “you’ve done nothing! You’ve done nothing!” and unfurled a banner that read “no gun reform, no peace!” They were escorted from the chamber.

An appropriations bill, including $16.3 million in bonus funding for mental health workers, $3 million for mental health scholarships, and $10 million for a stop-gap measure to allow for more security officers in schools, passed 26 to 0, with several members voting present.

The Senate also overwhelmingly passed bills to codify Lee's executive order requiring swift updates to the state's background check database, tax incentives for safe gun storage, and to require the TBI to make a new report on the state of human trafficking in Tennessee.

— Vivian Jones, The Tennessean

Bill to exempt gun safes from sales tax passes; PSA campaign on safe gun storage expanding

Senate members passed a bill backed by Gov. Bill Lee to provide gun locks, exempt gun safes and similar tools from sales tax, and expand a PSA campaign on safe gun storage.

Senators adopted the bill in a vote of 28 to 1. Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, cast the lone opposing vote. Sens. Bowling and Lundberg abstained from the vote.

"It's a step in the right direction. It's not the last step that we will take, but it is an important step forward," said Republican Caucus Chairman Ken Yager, R-Kingston.

Ahead of the start of the Senate session, members of the Senate Republicans caucus sought to assuage the concerns of hesitant caucus members by arguing the bills proposed would do very little.

“This just eliminates very low-hanging barriers,” Lowe explained to caucus colleagues ahead of the meeting.

Lowe explained that the free gun locks program is already in place at the Department of Safety, and the agency already has a surplus of locks left over from previous years that have not yet been distributed.

“There is no mandate in this bill, there is no requirement or anything,” said Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, prior to the session. “This is to encourage you to safely store your weapon, and provide you with the means to do so should you choose to use them.”

“I got the impression that this is something we’re already doing,” said Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson. “It doesn’t require anybody to do anything.”

— Vivian Jones, The Tennessean

Senate leadership to discuss plans for adjournment

After reviewing the four bills that will be on the Senate floor this afternoon, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, announced that the chamber’s leadership plans to meet with House leaders to figure out a path to adjourn the special session.

“As you know, we’re in a sort of Mexican stand-off with the House,” McNally told caucus members, during a bill review meeting in his conference room.

“I brought my shovel,” joked Sen. Janice Bowling, R-Manchester, who noted that this is the second wedding anniversary she has had interrupted by a special session.

“We’ve learned that they would like to discuss some things with us,” McNally said.

“Hopefully it will provide a path to adjourn. It takes both houses to agree on adjournment resolutions, otherwise you just keep going and going and going.”

McNally said members should make plans to be at the Capitol in the morning, and could not say whether adjournment would happen before Friday.

“If they’re reasonable, I think it behooves us to come to an agreement,” said Sen. Becky Duncan Massey, R-Knoxville.

“Just tell them they’re lucky to get the three bills we gave them,” said Sen. Rusty Crowe, R-Johnson City.

“I didn’t really want to be here in the first place,” added Sen. Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, “I don’t want to go much more on giving to the house.”

— Vivian Jones, The Tennessean

Senate finance committee adjourns after passing 2 bills 

The final Senate committee closed less than 48 hours after the session gaveled in, having passed only two funding bills.

Senators unanimously passed a bill backed by Gov. Bill Lee to permanently suspend sales tax on gun safes and storage items, and expand a two-year-old program to provide free gun locks and public service announcement campaigns to encourage safe storage of guns.

No part of the bill requires the Department of Safety to measure or report success of the gun locks or PSA efforts to the legislature.

“If this program has been in place for two years, and we still have gun locks left over, what are we going to do to make sure that the gun locks are actually distributed across the state?” asked Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis. “What are we going to do different to make sure this program is going to work differently?”

Included in the appropriations bill funding the session is a stop-gap measure to allow school districts to place school safety officers and use other safety measures in schools, building on a funding allocation this spring designated specifically for POST-certified sworn School Resource Officers.

“The intent is to allow the School Resource Officer program to build capacity,” Senate Finance Chairman Bo Watson, R-Hixson said.

— Vivian Jones, The Tennessean

'A terrible thing': Protesters get heated as bill allowing more guns in schools passes committee vote

Sobs echoed through a Tennessee House committee room Wednesday morning as Becky Hansen described how her 5-year-old son's Covenant School teacher told her class they had to race to see who was fastest when she realized someone had opened fire inside the school on March 27.

The teacher wanted to get her pre-K class into their safe space as fast as possible without scaring the children.

Hansen and fellow Covenant mom Melissa Alexander testified in opposition of HB 7064, which would allow any active or retired law enforcement, military and enhanced handgun permit holders to carry handguns on public school grounds. The gun-carriers would not have to identify themselves to school authorities, who would have no authority to block carriers.

Hansen and Alexander said they do not want more guns on school campuses, describing how Covenant teachers' hands shook so severely during the March shooting that they struggled to lock the doors.

Rep. Chris Todd, R-Madison County, is sponsoring the bill and argued more guns in schools and their grounds would make children safer, alleging shooters seek out "gun-free" zones."

A retired teacher and Vanderbilt University student planning to be a teacher also testified against the bill.

"We had armed representatives in the Covenant School. That was not a deterrent for the shooter," Hansen said. "Expecting a handgun to go up against a semi-assault rifle that can expend multiple rounds is going to add another death. It's unreasonable to expect a small gun to go against that powerful of a weapon."

Despite the emotional testimony, Republicans on the committee voted to advance the bill, though the measure will likely stall without similar movement in the Senate.

The vote sparked widespread condemnation from the audience. As protesters stood to leave, several yelled "y'all are disgusting" and "you're sick" to lawmakers seated at the dias.

Jim Polk, a 74-year-old former Davidson County educator, stood after the vote, pointing his finger toward lawmakers as he clutched his hat in his right hand. Polk called it "ridiculous and absurd" to pass legislation that would override school administration's authority to control activity on their campuses.

"This should never happen in America. You are wrong, fellas," Polk said, jabbing his finger toward lawmakers. "You are wrong to have made this decision."

Security asked Polk to leave, which he agreed to do.

"I'll leave, but I'll be back," Polk said. "You are wrong, you have done a terrible thing today, a terrible thing."

— Melissa Brown, The Tennessean

Committee: State's revenue slowing, $330 million needed to make expected gap

The final Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee kicked off with an update on the state’s financial outlook from Finance and Administration Commissioner Jim Bryson.

Bryson asserted that the state’s revenue growth is slowing, and noted the ongoing three-month sales tax holiday, which is impacting state revenues. Finance officials said that the state would need $330 million more in revenue next year to make up for a projected gap.

No mention was made of the $3.2 billion rainy day fund, or a $153.5 million revenue surplus reported last month, but the presentation seemed to impact members on the committee.

“We are probably moving into a period of more disciplined spending control and more sensitivity to spending than we have been in the last 10 years,” said Finance Committee Chair Bo Watson, R-Hixson.

Two of the four bills on the committee's calendar were scuttled, while the two remaining bills – an appropriations bill to cover the costs of the special session, and a proposal backed by the governor to do a public service announcement on safe storage, provide firearm locks and exempt gun safes from sales tax – sparked the longest discussion of any bill taken up in the Senate so far this week.

Elizabeth Stroeker, legislative director for the Tennessee Department of Safety, told members that the agency has already done similar PSAs on safe storage in the past, and already has a program to distribute free gun locks. They’ve already distributed 44,000 locks.

“What we’re going to do is kind-of robust that program,” Stroeker said, adding that it would be advertised on the agency’s website.

Committee recessed briefly to reconcile a fiscal discrepancy.

— Vivian Jones, The Tennessean

Gun-control group calls lawmakers 'petulant'

With frustration brewing, members of the Tennessee chapter of Moms Demand Action held a news conference Wednesday calling Republican lawmakers “petulant” children for their inability pass any meaningful gun legislation.

Senate members have so far passed just three bills, while scuttling dozens more in meetings that have lasted less than two minutes. Many of those bills, though, did not deal directly with firearms.

Moms Demand Action member Jason Sparks, whose brother was killed in a road rage incident, said the lawmakers are still bitter over becoming a national embarrassment last spring when they expelled two House members.

“This is like a petulant child,” he said. “They carry animosity and it just shows how little importance they have for their job. It’s a waist for taxpayers and it’s a slap in the face to these poor victims.”

The Senate is set to meet for a  final floor session at 2 p.m.

— Kelly Puente, The Tennessean

Bill limiting autopsy records tabled by Senate committee

A bill that would have blocked public release of the autopsies and medical examiner reports for child victims of violent crimes is effectively over in the Senate.

In the third seconds-long Senate committee meeting of the day, the State and Local Committee tabled Senate Bill 7090, which would have made those changes, when the bill sponsor, Majority Leader Jack Johnson, did not appear to present the bill.

The committee scuttled two other bills on its consent calendar during the whirlwind meeting.

Ahead of the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee only three bills remain alive in the upper chamber.

— Vivian Jones, The Tennessean

Judge issues temporary restraining order against new sign rule

A Davidson County judge issued a temporary restraining order Wednesday against the Tennessee House of Representatives, blocking the chamber's new rule barring signs in the galleries.

The order, signed by Chancellor Anne Martin, comes as part of a lawsuit filed earlier in the morning by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee.

"Defendants are not harmed by issuance of this motion as they have no legitimate government interest in violating First Amendment rights or enforcing patently unreasonable rules—and Plaintiffs’ conduct of silently holding small signs cannot be said to have disrupted the proceedings of the House of Representatives," the attorneys wrote in the motion for a temporary restraining order. "The public interest is extremely great: nothing less than the constitutional rights of Tennesseans to participate in their government is at stake."

The lawsuit stems the removal of three activists from a House committee hearing for holding paper signs supporting gun reform. The residents were removed by state troopers on Tuesday after being told to lower paper signs and not clap during the House Civil Justice Subcommittee hearing.

A temporary injunction hearing for the matter is now scheduled for Sept. 5 at 10 a.m.

— Angele Latham, The Tennessean

Senate Health and Welfare Committee tables all bills

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee tabled all 20 bills on its calendar, and adjourned in a matter of seconds after the roll was taken.

Tabled bills included proposals to expand physicians’ “duty to warn” of specific threats of harm shared by patients, and increased coverage for mental health and psychiatric services.

Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville – who is the only democrat on the committee – objected to the tabling motion, but the Republicans on the committee all supported tabling the bills.

— Vivan Jones, The Tennessean

'It was not funny': Ostrich egg stunt riles up legislators

Senatorial obstinance over taking up bills has roiled House GOP leadership.

House Republican Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, presented Senate Republicans with an ostrich egg late Tuesday, posting a photo of the token on the speaker’s dais in the Senate chamber.

“It must be egghausting sending so many bills to Gen Sub instead of doing the work people sent us here to do,” the House Republican Caucus wrote in a social media post late Tuesday.

Senators didn’t find the stunt funny.

“This would be a lot more compelling if these guys didn’t think ‘the work people sent us here to do’ was arming teachers, locking up juveniles, and bullying moms w/the temerity to hold up paper signs,” said Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville. “But sure enough, we should be doing more real work around here.”

Wednesday morning, Faison wrote an email apologizing to members of the Senate GOP, obtained by The Tennessean.

“Members, I have offended you with my actions yesterday and I want to offer you my sincerest apologies,” he wrote. “My only intention was to provide some levity while we are dealing with some very serious matters. It was not funny at all.”

“You should be apologizing to the moms that were unjustly removed!” responded Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta.

—- Vivian Jones, The Tennessean

ACLU files lawsuit on behalf of people booted from subcommittee meeting

The ACLU of Tennessee filed a lawsuit Wednesday against House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, alleging House leaders violated the constitutional rights of three people removed from a subcommittee meeting.

Tennessee Highway Patrol removed the three on Tuesday for holding paper signs during the meeting, which House Republicans had banned from the session in new rules passed on Monday night.

"These rules are unreasonable," said ACLU-TN Legal Director Stella Yarbrough. "The Tennessee House’s ban on silently holding signs in House galleries directly undermines Tennesseans’ First Amendment right to express their opinions on issues that affect them and their families."

— Melissa Brown, The Tennessean

Senate Education Committee steamrolls remaining bills

Members of the Senate Education Committee tabled all 21 bills on the calendar Wednesday morning, effectively killing them for the session.

Gavel to gavel, the committee meeting lasted 54 seconds, about half of which was roll call.

Among the scuttled bills were proposals to allow school faculty to carry handguns on school campuses, permit police and corrections officers to carry on campus, and a bill to create a student loan forgiveness program for psychiatrists, psychologists and counselors.

With only three bills considered and passed on Tuesday, the Senate looks to be plowing ahead for an early adjournment. The body is set to return for a floor session at 2 p.m., and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, has filed resolutions to adjourn as early as today.

Without passage of a companion bill in the Senate, any legislation passed in the House is also essentially barred from moving forward. So while House committees are expected to meet throughout the day, any bill without a Senate companion will likely, ultimately, be unsuccessful.

— Vivian Jones, The Tennesean

Bill limiting public access to autopsy records passes committee

As the State Government Committee passed HB 7007, lawmakers advanced a bill to make autopsy records and medical examiners' reports of minors excluded from public records law. Under the law, records of underage victims of violence like mass shootings could be requested by the public or media.

The parents of Covenant victims Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney urged lawmakers to pass the bill via written statements read by Mary Joyce, the mother of a 9-year-old who was in the classroom shot at by the active shooter in March.

"If Hallie had only been wounded, there would be no public access to the medical trauma her body sustained," the Scruggs said in the statement. "Why should that be any different when her injuries resulted in death?"

Erin Kinney, William's mother, said in her statement the availability of records retraumatizes and revictimizes "those of us who had to go to the hospital and identify the broken bodies of our children, shot through with multiple holes they could not survive."

— Melissa Brown, The Tennessean

Catch up on Tuesday's news

• On second day of special session, tensions begin to rise as legislative work slowly begins

• Tuesday updates: Key Senate panel passes just three bills, tables 52 others

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TN special session updates: Controversial guns in schools bill fails