TBA's Legislative Updates podcast is back with a new episode this week. TBA lobbyist Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorney and TBA lobbyist Ashley Harbin discuss Gov. Bill Lee's State of the State address; HB2710/SB2254, the TBA Conservatorship bill; HB2645, the adoption birth certificate bill; and HB2644, TBA's adoption clean-up bill. Legislative Updates airs each week on the TBA’s Facebook page. It is also released as a podcast on the same day and can be found on the TBA’s website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

The state House on Thursday passed HB1644/SB1679, legislation that would require all schools, public or private, to develop emergency procedures to determine the cause of an activated fire alarm, reports the Tennessean. Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, filed the bill in response to the Covenant School shooting, and the House first passed a version during the August special session. After the legislation failed to advance during a House and Senate stalemate, Lamberth refiled a new version earlier this year. In other news, Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, is sponsoring a bill to ban all but a narrowly defined list of flags from display in Tennessee public schools. Two heated committee meetings drew protestors on both sides of the issue. Broadly, HB1605, bans displays that “represent a political viewpoint, including but not limited to, a partisan, racial, sexual orientation, gender, or other ideological viewpoint.”

Shelby County Criminal Court Division 10 Judge Jennifer Mitchell has ruled that a jury from outside Shelby County will be brought in to hear the case of two men accused of killing Memphis rapper Young Dolph. According to the Daily Memphian, the request was made by defendant Justin Johnson’s lawyer, who argued at a hearing last week that Johnson can not get a fair trial before Memphis jurors due to “public visceral outrage” over the slaying. Shelby County Deputy District Attorney Paul Hagerman told reporters after the ruling that he has not yet determined the Tennessee jurisdiction from which  the jury will be pulled. The trial will still be held in Memphis.

Join colleagues on March 27 at 9 a.m. CDT for Learn By Doing: An Hour of Legal Writing Exercise. The webcast, featuring the CLE performer Stuart Teicher, will include individual exercises and group discussions on how to become a better legal writer. Topics will include the best way to integrate sources into legal writing, writing in plain English and reworking complicated passages.

The federal trial for four former police officers accused of killing Tyre Nichols last year has been pushed back four months to Sept. 9, reports the Daily Memphian. U.S. District Judge Mark Norris granted the motion after defense lawyers asked for more time to effectively prepare their case, a process they say includes reviewing 800 gigabytes of video, documents and other evidence given to them by prosecutors. Lawyers for the officers as well as federal prosecutors agreed that the trial will take about three weeks.

Nashville Law Director Wally Dietz told members of the Metro Arts Commission in a letter Wednesday that the commission needs greater financial oversight and an outside law firm has been hired to investigate multiple complaints made against the body. The letter, described by the Nashville Banner, includes an update from Metro Finance Director Kevin Crumbo, who says that completion of an internal audit ordered in December is still weeks away, but that surplus funds from the fiscal year 2023 budget “will not be made immediately available until the Arts Commission can demonstrate its operations are stable and that its financial affairs are in good order.”

In honor of Black History Month, the Tennessean is featuring profiles of 16 Black Americans who helped shape the arts, politics and culture of Nashville. Highlights include musician and early Grand Ole Opry star DeFord Bailey, surgeon Dorothy Lavinia Brown, attorney Z. Alexander Looby and attorney Avon N. Williams Jr., who became the first Black American elected to the state senate, where he served from 1968-1990. Read more from the Tennessean.

Francis M. Hamilton III, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, announced that his office collected $12,352,268 in fiscal year 2023. Of that amount, $3,130,283 was collected in criminal actions and $9,221,985 was collected in civil actions. Additionally, the office, working with partner agencies, collected $1,610,245 in asset forfeiture actions, including $11,345 for victim compensation. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and other law enforcement purposes. Read more in a press release.

Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti this week joined a 23-state coalition protesting the Biden administration and the Department of Energy’s temporary “pause” on the export of liquified natural gas (LNG). “The Administration’s LNG export pause is illegal and will hurt America’s national security,” Skrmetti said in a statement. The attorneys general also warned that the Department of Energy lacks authority to issue blanket denials for export permits without an act of Congress. The United States is the world’s largest producer of LNG, according to the group. Read the full letter.

The Nashville Bar Association has released the results of a member poll of applicants being considered to serve as Davidson County Fourth Circuit Court judge. Members were given the names of applicants who are being considered for the position as of Jan. 19, through an online survey ballot. The NBA reports that 292 responses were received by the deadline of Feb. 7. All results are reported as raw data with no attempt to extrapolate results. NBA President Bahar Azhdari explained why the poll is conducted saying, "Releasing our membership’s assessment of the candidates offers valuable insight to those casting their ballots and helps to ensure voters have the information necessary to make an informed choice.”