Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – Leahy was joined on the newsmaker line by Tennessee State Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, who weighed in on the pending residency bill lawsuit, school choice, and the challenger for his senate seat.
Leahy: On the newsmaker line, our good friend, State Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson. Good morning, Jack.
Johnson: Good morning, Michael. Good to be back with you.
Leahy: I saw that a bill that has been passed by the state Senate and the state House apparently has been signed by Lieutenant Governor McNally, on its way today, apparently for signature, by speaker of the House Cam Sexton, the bill that sets up the three-year residency requirement to run in a primary.
That bill, there’s already been a lawsuit filed in federal court against it. In your time in the state Senate and representing Williamson County in the Tennessee General Assembly, have you ever seen a federal lawsuit brought against a bill that has passed the legislature but it’s not yet been signed into law?
Johnson: No, I haven’t, Michael, and I’m completely mystified by that. I’m not a legal scholar by any stretch of the imagination, but if you’re going to file suit about something, doesn’t that something have to actually exist?
And here’s what I mean by that. I have no idea what the governor plans to do with that legislation, but the governor could veto it and the General Assembly not override the veto, meaning it never becomes law.
There’s any number of things that could happen. It is not the law of the state of Tennessee yet. So why they’re suing over something that hasn’t even come into effect, it just completely bumfuddles me.
Leahy: Yes. I think that’s my reaction as well, Jack. So that particular bill would establish a requirement for a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate to have lived in the state for three years prior to the filing deadline for the primary, but it would allow them to run as an Independent in the general election.
My question to you is, I think, has Lieutenant Governor McNally signed that bill?
Johnson: I don’t know if he has or not. If he has not, Michael, I feel confident that he would do so today. And as you reported earlier, the lieutenant governor, the Speaker of the Senate, needs to sign it as the action of the Senate, and Cameron Sexton needs to do the same thing on behalf of the House.
And then the bill is, “transmitted” is the term we use, to the governor. And then that starts the 10-day clock. Once it arrives on the governor’s desk, there is a 10-day clock during which the governor can sign the bill and it becomes law.
He could veto the bill, in which case we then have the opportunity to consider overriding that veto. Or he can simply let that 10-day clock run out, and the bill becomes law without his signature.
Leahy: Has the governor communicated to you, directly, whether or not he intends to sign that bill?
Johnson: He has not, Michael. He has kept his cards very close to the vest on this particular matter. In fact, perhaps he has said something in the media, but the only thing I’ve heard reported about him saying is that he would review the legislation once it reached his desk.
There is an interesting component here … the filing deadline to file and get on the ballot for the United States Congress, we don’t have a U. S. Senate race this year, but if you want to run for United States Congress, that filing deadline is noon on Thursday.
And so he could draw this clock out beyond noon on Thursday, when the filing deadline actually occurs. What that does to any legal implications, I’m not certain.
Leahy: Crom Carmichael has a question for you, Jack, about education.
Carmichael: Senator, are you following the legislation that’s working its way through? I guess its version of the General Assembly in Iowa on school choice.
Leahy: Is that a big pro-school choice?
Carmichael: Yes. It’s very similar in that in this case in Iowa they’re trying to pass legislation that gives up to $10,000 scholarships that can be used for private school tuition. And in Iowa, the Republicans control both the House and the Senate, as well as the governor’s office.
In Iowa, the governor, Kim Reynolds, is pushing this bill very hard, because like in Tennessee, especially our major cities, our government-run schools are failing us. I know you are working on a piece of legislation for Tennessee where the money will follow the student.
And I’m hoping that eventually that idea means that the money follows the student to whatever school that student and the parents choose and that there is, in fact, choice. So I’m interested in where that bill stands.
Johnson: I believe that bill, Crom, is still in the Education Committee and I’ll have to double-check. I don’t serve on the Education Committee, so I’d have to double-check on that. Certainly I would be supportive.
As you know, I sponsored the school choice legislation we passed in 2019 that created 7,500 education savings accounts that can be utilized for private school for kids trapped in failing schools in Davidson and Shelby County.
Now, I will say that legislation has been enjoined and the lawsuit is sitting on the desk of the Supreme Court as we speak. And there has been some sentiment that we need to wait to see if that bill is going to be, what we’ve already passed to create school choice in Tennessee, and if that’s going to be upheld by the Supreme Court.
Because if they strike it down as being unconstitutional over home rule because it only applies to Davidson and Shelby, then that would need to inform us when we make another run at it so that we can do something that will withstand judicial scrutiny.
Leahy: Jack, you have a challenger in the Republican primary for the very first time. His name is Gary Humble. And his argument, Jack, is that you’re not conservative enough and that in your role as state Senate majority leader you’re carrying, if you will, the agenda of the governor. What’s your response to that criticism?
Johnson: I’m very excited about my re-election campaign. I’m excited to go and talk to the voters of Williamson County about everything that we’ve accomplished, in what has relatively been a short period of time, about 10 to 11 years of Republican control in the state of Tennessee.
We’ve become the least-indebted state in the nation. We’re one of the least-taxed states. We’ve got a very small business-friendly business climate in the state of Tennessee. We have passed school choice, we’ve passed the most comprehensive heartbeat, pro-life, sanctity-of-life legislation in the history of our state, and certainly advanced Second Amendment rights in Tennessee.
So there’s a lot to talk about. I’m excited about the campaign and looking forward to it. I actually enjoy campaigning very much and I’m very proud of our record in Tennessee over the last few years.
Listen to the full interview here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 am to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
