Members of the Tennessee State House of Representatives on Thursday voted to approve Senate Bill 29, which would allow first responders to live where they choose.
State Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) sponsored the legislation. The bill would ban residency requirements for police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical services workers.
The Tennessee state Senate approved the bill last year.
“The Senate version of the legislation applies statewide, while the House version only applies to Memphis,” according to a statement from Kelsey.
“These two versions will now go through a reconciliation process that could take place as early as one week from today.”
Kelsey said his proposal will increase public safety and fight rising crime rates.
“In 2021, the city of Memphis recorded a record-breaking 346 homicides,” Kelsey said.
“At least 31 of these victims were under 18, with homicide claiming more lives of children in Shelby County than the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Thomas Malone, president of the Memphis Fire Fighters Association, said last year that “this law will help us keep our citizens safe by allowing us to hire an untapped group of the best and brightest candidates from across the entire region.”
“Potential fire fighters won’t need to weigh their desire to protect the public against forcing their family to uproot and move due to an antiquated residency requirement,” Malone said.
Memphis Police officers learned in 2020 that they must live within city limits, whether they like it or not.
Memphis City Council members approved an ordinance that year that removed the question of residency from the November 2020 ballot.
Memphis City Council Chairwoman Patrice Robinson announced this in an emailed newsletter to her constituents that year.
“In short, the Council believes that individuals protecting our diverse neighborhoods should also call these places home, full-time. At present, we support current residency requirements allowing public safety employees to live within Shelby County, and no further,” Robinson said.
“However, the possibility of specified personnel within the Divisions of Police and Fire Services living in Arkansas or Mississippi does not align with our long-term goals, namely working to reform public safety policies to help achieve improved outcomes, and relationships, between public safety employees and our local citizenry, many of whom have lost public trust in our public safety institutions.”
Robinson went on to say that the city would focus on recruiting police rather than retaining them.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star and The Georgia Star News. Follow Chris on Facebook, Twitter, Parler, and GETTR. Email tips to [email protected].
