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PrintNASHVILLE - Today, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee released the following statement regarding his signing of a Proclamation calling the Tennessee General Assembly into a special session on August 23:
"It is in the best interest of our State to select a new Speaker of the House, and so I am calling a special session of the General Assembly for August 23 to accomplish that purpose. I have also asked the General Assembly to take up approval of the recent amendments to the Supreme Court rules, in addition to settling these leadership matters. Any other procedural business would be at the discretion of the General Assembly."
STATE OF TENNESSEE
PROCLAMATION
BY THE GOVERNOR
WHEREAS, it is anticipated that a vacancy in the office of Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives will occur because the Speaker has stated that he will resign as Speaker effective August 2, 2019; and
WHEREAS, numerous members of the House of Representatives, including but not limited to the Majority Leader and the Majority Caucus Chair, have requested the Governor to convene an extraordinary session, in part, to facilitate a determination by the House of Representatives pursuant to its rules of who shall serve as Speaker of the House of Representatives; and
WHEREAS, Senate Resolution Nos. 13, 14, 15, and 16, adopted on March 25, 2019, ratified and approved pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-3-404 the amendments and revisions to the Tennessee Rules of Evidence, Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure, Tennessee Rules of Juvenile Procedure, and Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure, which were promulgated by the Supreme Court of Tennessee on January 8, 2019, and reported and filed with the General Assembly by the Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court on January 15, 2019; and
WHEREAS, House Resolution Nos. 55, 56, 57, and 58 proposed that the House of Representatives of the One Hundred Eleventh General Assembly ratify and approve pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-3-404 the amendments and revisions to the Tennessee Rules of Evidence, Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure, Tennessee Rules of Juvenile Procedure, and Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure, which were promulgated by the Supreme Court of Tennessee on January 8, 2019, and reported and filed with the General Assembly by the Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court on January 15, 2019; these resolutions were recommended for passage by the Standing Committee on the Judiciary, but no further action was taken by the House of Representatives; and
WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of Tennessee that the General Assembly convene so that the House of Representatives may determine who serves as its Speaker pursuant to its rules and so that the General Assembly may ratify and approve the amendments and revisions to the Tennessee Rules of Evidence, Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure, Tennessee Rules of Juvenile Procedure, and Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure.
NOW THEREFORE, I, Bill Lee, Governor of the State of Tennessee, by virtue of the power and authority vested in me by Article III, Section 9 of the Tennessee Constitution, do hereby call the One Hundred Eleventh General Assembly of the State of Tennessee to meet and convene in extraordinary session at the Capitol in Nashville on August 23, 2019, at 10:00 a.m., Central Daylight Time, to facilitate a determination by the House of Representatives pursuant to its rules of who shall serve as Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to consider and act upon resolutions necessary to ratify and approve pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-3-404 the amendments and revisions to the Tennessee Rules of Evidence, Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure, Tennessee Rules of Juvenile Procedure, and Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure, which were reported and filed with the General Assembly by the Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court on January 15, 2019.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Tennessee to be affixed at Nashville on this 27th day of June, 2019.
