Палата представителей штата Теннесси: структура и функции

Lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly

The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U. S. state of Tennessee.

According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consist of 99 members elected for two year terms. In every even numbered year, elections for state representative are conducted simultaneously with the elections for U. S. Representative and other offices; the primary election being held on the first Thursday in August. Seats which become vacant, such as through death, resignation, or expulsion, are filled either: by the county commission (or metropolitan county council) of the home county of the member vacating the seat if less than a year remains in the seat's term; if more than a year remains in the term, a special election is held for the balance of the term.

Members are elected from single member districts. The districts are traditionally numbered consecutively from east to west and north to south across the state; however, in recent redistricting this convention has not always been strictly adhered to, despite a constitutional provision requiring districts to be numbered consecutively. Districts are required to be reapportioned every ten years following the federal census in order to be of substantially equal population. However, from 1902 until 1962, the General Assembly ignored this provision. It was estimated that by that point that some districts in the Memphis area had approximately ten times the population of some in rural areas. In 1962 this issue was taken to court. Despite U. S. courts having traditionally declined to rule on such issues, the U. S. Supreme Court opted to hear this case and ruled that the legislature had to comply with the state constitution, as its failure to do so was in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution (see Baker v. Carr). Subsequent litigation has further refined the rules regarding this; in the late 1990s a majority black district in rural West Tennessee was required to be created. The 1960s redistricting was credited by some observers with creating the first Republican majority in the Tennessee House since Reconstruction in 1968; this situation lasted only until the next election in 1970. 1970 also marked the first election of a Republican governor in a half century and saw both houses of the legislature begin to assert themselves as a counterbalance to executive authority; prior to this time legislators had not had their own staffs or even their own offices and were largely at the mercy of what the governor's staff chose to tell them and in many ways were often something of a "rubber stamp."

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the House. The Speaker is elected to a two year term at the beginning of the 1st half of each session of the Tennessee General Assembly. Additionally, the Speaker is second in line for succession to the governorship, after the Speaker of the Senate, in the event of such need. The Speaker appoints members to all committees as well. Even though the Speaker does not have to make committee assignments proportional to the party composition, usually that discretion is used when determining such. Usually, consideration of the abilities, preferences, party representation, and seniority of the members are taken into account. The chairperson, vice chairperson, and secretary of each committee also are chosen by the Speaker and must be given the same considerations in their selection. The Speaker is a voting member of all standing committees of the House, as is the Speaker pro Tempore. The Speaker also serves as co chairperson of the Joint Legislative Services Committee and must approve, in concurrence with the Speaker of the Senate, the directors of the offices of Legislative Information Services, Legal Services, Legislative Administration, and Legislative Budget Analysis. Additionally, the Speaker is in charge of all facilities, professional and clerical staff, and custodians and security personnel of the House. The current speaker is Cameron Sexton, who represents Tennessee's 25th district.

AffiliationParty (shading indicatesmajority caucus)Total RepublicanDemocraticVacantBeginning of 113th General Assembly7524990April 6, 20237522972April 10, 20237523981April 12, 20237524990April 20, 20237424981May 11, 20237524990June 4, 20237423981June 20, 20237524990Latest voting share75.7624.24

District Name PartyFirst elected ResidenceCounties represented 1 John Crawford Republican2016 KingsportPart of Sullivan 2 Bud Hulsey Republican2014 KingsportPart of Sullivan 3 Timothy Hill Republican2023 BlountvilleJohnson and parts of Carter, Hawkins, and Sullivan 4 John Holsclaw Jr. Republican2014 Johnson CityUnicoi and part of Carter 5 David B. Hawk Republican2002 GreenevilleGreene 6 Tim Hicks Republican2020 JonesboroughPart of Washington 7 Rebecca Alexander Republican2020 JonesboroughPart of Washington 8 Jerome Moon Republican2017MaryvillePart of Blount 9 Gary Hicks Republican2016 RogersvilleHancock and parts of Claiborne and Hawkins 10 Rick Eldridge Republican2018 MorristownGrainger and part Hamblen 11 Jeremy Faison Republican2010 CosbyCocke, and parts of Jefferson and Hamblen 12 Dale Carr Republican2012 SeviervillePart of Sevier 13 Robert Stevens Republican2022 SmyrnaPart of Rutherford 14 Jason Zachary Republican2015 KnoxvillePart of Knox 15 Sam McKenzie Democratic2020 KnoxvillePart of Knox 16 Michele Carringer Republican2020 KnoxvillePart of Knox 17 Andrew Farmer Republican2012 SeviervilleParts of Jefferson and Sevier 18 Elaine Davis Republican2022 KnoxvillePart of Knox 19 Dave Wright Republican2018CorrytonPart of Knox 20 Bryan Richey Republican2022 MaryvillePart of Blount 21 Lowell Russell Republican2018 VonoreParts of Loudon and Monroe 22 Dan Howell Republican2014ClevelandMeigs, Polk and part of Bradley 23 Mark Cochran Republican2018 EnglewoodMcMinn and part of Monroe 24 Kevin Raper Republican2022 ClevelandPart of Bradley 25 Cameron Sexton Republican2010 CrossvilleCumberland and part of Putnam 26 Greg Martin Republican2022HixsonPart of Hamilton 27 Patsy Hazlewood Republican2014 Signal MountainPart of Hamilton 28 Yusuf Hakeem Democratic2018 ChattanoogaPart of Hamilton 29 Greg Vital Republican2021 HarrisonPart of Hamilton 30 Esther Helton Republican2018 East RidgePart of Hamilton 31 Ron Travis Republican2012 DaytonBledsoe, Sequatchie, Rhea and Van Buren 32 Monty Fritts Republican2012 KingstonParts of Roane and part of Loudon 33 John Ragan Republican2010 Oak RidgePart of Anderson 34 Tim Rudd Republican2016MurfreesboroPart of Rutherford 35 William Slater Republican2022 GallatinTrousdale and part of Sumner 36 Dennis Powers Republican2010 JacksboroCampbell, Union and part of Claiborne 37 Charlie Baum Republican2018 MurfreesboroPart of Rutherford 38 Kelly Keisling Republican2010 ByrdstownMacon, Clay, Pickett, Scott, and part of Fentress 39 Iris Rudder Republican2018 WinchesterFranklin and Marion 40 Michael Hale Republican2022 SmithvilleCannon, DeKalb, Jackson, Smith, and part of Wilson 41 Ed Butler Republican2022 CookevilleOverton, Morgan and parts of Anderson, Fentress, and Roane 42 Ryan Williams Republican2010 CookevillePart of Putnam 43 Paul Sherrell Republican2016SpartaWarren and White 44 William Lamberth Republican2012 PortlandPart of Sumner 45 Johnny Garrett Republican2018 GoodlettsvillePart of Sumner 46 Clark Boyd Republican2018 LebanonPart of Wilson 47 Rush Bricken Republican2018 TullahomaCoffee and Grundy 48 Bryan Terry Republican2018 MurfreesboroPart of Rutherford 49 Mike Sparks Republican2010 SmyrnaPart of Rutherford 50 Bo Mitchell Democratic2012 NashvillePart of Davidson 51 Aftyn Behn Democratic 2023 NashvillePart of Davidson 52 Justin Jones Democratic2023 NashvillePart of Davidson 53 Jason Powell Democratic2012 NashvillePart of Davidson 54 Vincent Dixie Democratic2018 NashvillePart of Davidson 55 John Ray Clemmons Democratic2014 NashvillePart of Davidson 56 Bob Freeman Democratic2018NashvillePart of Davidson 57 Susan Lynn Republican2013 Mt. JulietPart of Wilson 58 Harold M. Love Jr. Democratic2012 NashvillePart of Davidson 59 Caleb Hemmer Democratic2022 NashvillePart of Davidson 60 Darren Jernigan Democratic2012 Old HickoryPart of Davidson 61 Gino Bulso Republican2022 BrentwoodPart of Williamson 62 Pat Marsh Republican2009 ShelbyvilleBedford, Moore, and part of Lincoln 63 Jake McCalmon Republican2022 FranklinPart of Williamson 64 Scott Cepicky Republican2018 CulleokaPart of Maury 65 Sam Whitson Republican2016 FranklinPart of Williamson 66 Sabi "Doc" Kumar Republican2014 SpringfieldRobertson 67 Ronnie Glynn Democratic2022 ClarksvillePart of Montgomery 68 Curtis Johnson Republican2004 ClarksvillePart of Montgomery 69 Jody Barrett Republican2022 DicksonHickman, Lewis and part of Dickson 70 Clay Doggett Republican2018 PulaskiGiles and parts of Lawrence and Lincoln 71 Kip Capley Republican2022 SummertownWayne and parts of Hardin, Lawrence, and Maury 72 Kirk Haston Republican2018 LobelvilleHenderson, Chester, Decatur, Perry, and part of Hardin 73 Chris Todd Republican2018 HumboldtPart of Madison 74 Jay Reedy Republican2014 ErinBenton, Houston, Humphreys, Stewart, and part of Henry 75 Jeff Burkhart Republican2022 ClarksvillePart of Montgomery 76 Tandy Darby Republican2020 GreenfieldWeakley and parts of Henry and Carroll 77 Rusty Grills Republican2020 NewbernDyer, Lake and part of Obion 78 Mary Littleton Republican2012 DicksonCheatham and part of Dickson 79 Brock Martin Republican2022 HuntingdonParts of Carroll, Gibson and Henderson 80 Johnny Shaw Democratic2000 BolivarParts of Hardeman, Haywood and Madison 81 Debra Moody Republican2012 CovingtonTipton and part of Haywood 82 Chris Hurt Republican2018 HallsCrockett, Lauderdale and parts of Gibson and Obion 83 Mark White Republican2010 MemphisPart of Shelby 84 Joe Towns Democratic1994 MemphisPart of Shelby 85 Jesse Chism Democratic2018 MemphisPart of Shelby 86 Justin J. Pearson Democratic2023 MemphisPart of Shelby 87 Karen Camper Democratic2008 MemphisPart of Shelby 88 Larry Miller Democratic1992 MemphisPart of Shelby 89 Justin Lafferty Republican2018 KnoxvillePart of Knox 90 Gloria Johnson Democratic2012 KnoxvillePart of Knox 91 Torrey Harris Democratic2020 MemphisPart of Shelby 92 Todd Warner Republican2020 LewisburgMarshall and part of Williamson 93 G. A. Hardaway Democratic2006 MemphisPart of Shelby 94 Ron Gant Republican2016 RossvilleFayette, McNairy and part of Hardeman 95 Kevin Vaughan Republican2017 ColliervillePart of Shelby 96 Dwayne Thompson Democratic2016 CordovaPart of Shelby 97 John Gillespie Republican2020 MemphisPart of Shelby 98 Antonio Parkinson Democratic2011 MemphisPart of Shelby99 Tom Leatherwood Republican2018 ArlingtonPart of Shelby

The Tennessee House of Representatives requires a two thirds majority of the total membership to expel another representative. Since the Civil War, ten representatives have been expelled. Six representatives were expelled in 1866 for attempting to prevent passage of the 14th Amendment, which granted citizenship to former slaves. In 1980, Republican representative Robert Fisher was expelled for bribery. Republican representative Jeremy Durham was expelled in 2016 for sexual misconduct. Representatives Justin Jones and Justin J. Pearson were expelled in 2023 for violating decorum rules by leading a gun control protest on the House floor during a legislative session. Both Jones and Pearson were later reinstated. Representative Gloria Johnson also participated in the demonstration, but avoided expulsion by one vote.

Among Republicans, around 30% of all members hold no degree beyond high school completion, less than 20% hold a Master's or other post baccalaureate degree, and less than 10% have a law degree. Among Democrats, of whom there are a substantially lower number, 15% hold no degree beyond high school, around 30% hold a Master's or other post baccalaureate degree, and 25% have a law degree.

November 2020 saw the election of first openly LGBT people ever to hold seats in Tennessee's state house of representatives, Democrat Torrey Harris and Republican Eddie Mannis. Before November 3, 2020, Tennessee was one of just five states in the nation (others being Alaska, Delaware, Louisiana and Mississippi) to have never elected an out LGBT person to its state legislature. Eddie Mannis did not seek reelection after a single term, citing bullying by the Republican caucus. Of its 99 members, twenty one were women in 2020. Representatives Harold Love and Raumesh Akbari hold leadership roles in the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, in which eight Tennessee state lawmakers are members. Akbari is also a State Director with Women in Government, as is Brenda Gilmore.