NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tennessee members of the House voted to tighten the rules of decorum for the 114th General Assembly by limiting the number of bills each lawmaker can sponsor, and allowing the Speaker of the House to eject lawmakers and members of the public deemed repeatedly disruptive.
House members passed the rules package Thursday.
One of the rule changes gives the Speaker of the House the power to eject a member from the chambers if they have been repeatedly ruled out of order or have caused a disturbance multiple times. The member can still watch proceedings remotely and vote on legislation virtually.
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Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) said he didn’t have this option during the “Tennessee Three” expulsions when two of the three Democratic lawmakers who protested on the House floor were expelled in 2023.
“Our rules didn’t allow us to do anything other than expulsion or censorship, so now we’re trying to get our rules up to allow us to have more options at our disposal,” Speaker Sexton said. “I think it enhances what we’re doing and allows us varying options for bad behavior.”
Another new House rule allows the Speaker to kick a spectator out of the gallery who he deems “detrimental to the orderly business of the House.”
House Majority Leader, Rep. William Lamberth (R-Portland) told reporters repeated, disruptive behavior from the public wasn’t an issue until a couple of years ago.
“There are 10 or 12 people who like to go up in the gallery and holler and shout little insults and cause a scene and make it all about them,” Leader Lamberth said. “It’s literally a few bad apples that try to spoil the bunch, so all this rule does is pluck those bad apples out and say, ‘Unfortunately, for a short time, until you can learn to behave yourself in common decent culture and public, then you’re just not going to be able to be in the observation gallery.'”
Any member of the public who is kicked out of the gallery will be banned from returning for the remainder of that legislative day and the following legislative day, according to the rules. On their second offense, the person could be banned for up to two years.
“I think that’s what was made on the House floor with Leader Lamberth talking about, ‘You’re up there to observe, not participate,’ so we do have a few, every now and then, who are repeated offenders, so this is for repeated people,” Speaker Sexton said.
In addition, House members will be limited to 12 bills each, down from 15 bills last session. Republicans said the change will make things more efficient, but Democrats argued the new rules give the Republican supermajority even more power.
“All we have is our voice, and you’ve restricted that saying, ‘We’re going to limit welcoming and honoring because we don’t want to hear your voice, we’re going to limit you to five minutes because we don’t want to hear your voice, we’re going to limit your bills now because we don’t want to hear your voice,'” Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) said. “That does not sound like a body that is confident in their power. That sounds like a body that is fragile in their power.”
Democrats submitted several proposed rule changes, including one that would have given Democratic Minority Leader, Rep. Karen Camper (D-Memphis) and House Democratic Caucus Chair, Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) five additional bills to sponsor. However, all of the Democrat’s proposals were shot down.
The Senate also passed its rules for the legislative session. Both the House and the Senate are in recess until Jan. 27, the first day of the special legislative session on school vouchers, Hurricane Helene relief, and illegal immigration, which Gov. Bill Lee announced Wednesday.
