Tennessee Legislature Returns Tuesday

NASHVILLE, TN -- Sessions of the Tennessee General Assembly in even-numbered years are typically a whirlwind, particularly since changes to ethics laws prohibit lawmakers from raising funds while the legislature is under the gavel, and 2018 may prove an even more extraordinary case.

A heavy rate of turnover is likely during November's elections, as a number of lawmakers have already announced they won't be back and others - including House Speaker and gubernatorial hopeful Beth Harwell - seeking higher office. In addition, term-limited Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has indicated his legislative agenda will be less robust and ambitious in the past, when he's tackled higher-education reform and transportation funding (successfully) and his health-care proposal, InsureTN (unsuccessfully).

There will be precious few pro forma preliminaries when Harwell and her Senate counterpart, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, call their chambers to order Tuesday morning; in fact, there are bills already on the calendar for consideration.

Among the issues that are likely to be addressed is the on-going opioid crisis. A legislative task force recommended increasing the number of state enforcement agents and setting limits on opioid prescriptions. As deaths continue to climb in Tennessee, it's likely opioids will be an issue in the gubernatorial election.

In education, there may be movement once again on extending in-state tuition to students who were brought to the United States illegally as children - the so-called DREAMers - but with reform to the DACA program marking time in Washington, lawmakers may adopt a wait-and-see approach. Though many of the initiative's most vociferous supporters in Tennessee have been Republicans, the legislature has stalled repeatedly in enacting the change. On the more nuts-and-bolts side of education, the governor recently indicated he might seek to reduce the number of trustees for the University of Tennessee.

Medical marijuana got closer than ever to becoming a reality in Tennessee last year through a joint effort between rock-ribbed conservative Rep. Jeremy Faison, a Cosby Republican, and Nashville moderate Sen. Steve Dickerson. Faison took the bill off-notice last year, saying that the Senate "bless their heart" was scared of its constituents, despite the fact that polling indicates most Tennesseans, even the most conservative ones, are comfortable with prescribed pot. The bill was sent to summer study, which is often a euphemism for the legislative graveyard, but it was, in fact, studied with Faison bringing in dozens of people to testify about the benefits and himself being reduced to tears during testimony. The biggest hurdle is likely to be the recent reversal of an Obama-era policy which had allowed marijuana legalization - recreationally and medically - to flourish.

AP Photo by Mark Humphrey