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CLINTON GLOBAL INITIATIVE
MARCH 16, 2023 | VOLUME 35 | NUMBER 11
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Nashville suing state over Metro Council reduction BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT
Tennessee State Capitol Building
PHOTO BY MATT MASTERS
Governor signs bill slashing Metro Council BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT
Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday signed legislation capping metropolitan legislative bodies in the state at 20 members. The language as written strictly applies to Nashville-Davidson County’s Metro Council. Lee signed the bill almost immediately after the state Senate voted to approve it, a departure from standard procedure in which it can take days for a governor to approve legislation. The Senate voted 23-7 in favor of the legislation, with Democrats and one Republican, Wilson County Sen. Mark Pody, opposing it. Pody picked up a portion of Davidson County in the latest redistricting process and is the only Republican in the legislature to represent any part of Nashville. Republican Sens. Kerry Roberts of Springfield and Frank Niceley of Strawberry Plains abstained.
The Senate vote followed House approval earlier this week. Metro Legal Director Wally Dietz issued a lengthy statement condemning the legislation Thursday. He wrote that the law contains “several serious legal defects which will make [it] impossible to legally implement.” Among his criticisms of the law: It is too late in the Metro election process, with a May qualifying deadline and July early voting, to completely redraw districts and allow time for candidates to campaign. One possible avenue should Metro officials be unable to draw new districts in time for elections later this year is delaying Metro Council elections until 2024, with current members serving an unprecedented fifth year. “The confusion and uncertainty that follows will be prime for legal challenges from a range of affected >> PAGE 2
PHOTO BY MICHAEL W. BUNCH/METRO
Mayor John Cooper addresses the Metro Council in 2022. The Metro Government is seeking to halt or delay a required halving of the Metro Council. As expected, the city filed suit Monday in Davidson County Chancery Court, alleging that the new law, which caps metropolitan government legislative bodies at 20 members, illegally targets Nashville and is impossible to implement in time for elections later this year. In the suit, Metro makes multiple arguments against the law, arguments that were also made by members of the Nashville delegation during debates at the state legislature. The city argues that the law violates the state constitution’s home rule amendment, which prohibits legislation targeting a single local government. While the law applies generally to metropolitan governments, the other two metro governments in the state already have legislative bodies with 20 or fewer members. Additionally, Metro argues in the suit that the timeline proscribed by the bill is both impossible to comply with and illegal. It’s too late in the 2023 election cycle to
implement new districts, according to Metro, as dozens of candidates are already running for office and qualifying petitions will be available later this month. The qualifying deadline is in May, and any new districts would require notification of voters. Metro officials are already working on a new map and informational meetings are scheduled later this week. One provision in the new law would allow Metro Council elections to be delayed for a year if new lines could not be finalized in time for this year’s election. But Metro argues in its suit that extending current Metro councilmembers’ terms by a year and electing new members to three-year terms in 2024 would violate a constitutional requirement that local legislators serve fouryear terms. Republican supporters of the legislation deflected similar concerns during debate at the Capitol. “If the General Assembly can unilaterally unwind an existing metropolitan government’s legislative body, the Home Rule Amendment’s >> PAGE 2
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