Make plans now to log in for a May 2 webcast produced by the TBA Tax Law Section to learn more about the state's franchise and excise tax. Join Nashville lawyer Jeffrey Foster with the Tennessee Department of Revenue for this one-hour program beginning at noon CDT and offering one hour of general CLE credit.

TBA’s Legislative Updates podcast is back for another week with attorney and TBA lobbyist Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorneys and TBA lobbyists Brad Lampley and Ashley Harbin. Special guest TBA Executive Director Sheree Wright also joined the episode to promote TBA’s upcoming Day on the Hill and Big Shrimp Reception on March 20 and talk a little about her background. The group discusses the Administrative Office of the Courts’ (AOC) budget presentation before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which included significant discussion of the reimbursement rate for indigent representation and impromptu testimony by Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Rob Philyaw about how the low rate is impacting his courtroom. Lampley says it was the “best conversation on this issue ever … in this public of a setting.” Watch the AOC testimony here beginning at 54:56. The vote to advance the governor’s proposed AOC budget to the Senate Finance Committee happens at 1:32:21.

Also in this week's episode, the group recaps the two school voucher bills moving through the House and Senate and provides an update on three TBA-supported bills: HB2710/SB2254 (conservatorship bill), HB2645/SB2632 (adoption birth certificate bill) and HB2644/SB2633 (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 Tennessee House yesterday passed a bill that would block local governments from reforming their traffic stop policies, the Commercial Appeal reports. HB1931/SB2572, sponsored by Memphis Republican Rep. John Gillespie, has faced opposition from Memphis' local elected officials, activists and the family of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who was fatally beaten by Memphis police officers following a traffic stop in January 2023. Gillespie amended the bill on the floor in an attempt to narrow its focus so it would not apply to the "pretextual" stop ordinance passed by the Memphis City Council last year, but opponents say the change will not have the intended effect. That ordinance directed police to not make traffic stops solely for low-level offenses like improperly placed license plates or a single broken brake light.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has announced that Solicitor General Andrée Blumstein will leave the office to return to private practice. She will be succeeded by Matt Rice, current special assistant to the solicitor general. In a news release, Skrmetti said, “It’s nearly impossible to express sufficient gratitude to Solicitor General Blumstein for her extraordinary contributions to the great State of Tennessee.” He noted that Blumstein served in the office for nearly a decade and was the first woman solicitor general for the state. Rice, a Johnson City native, joined the AG’s office in June 2022. He previously worked at the Washington, D.C., firm Williams & Connolly and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He earned his law degree from University of California Berkeley School of Law.

Grant requests from the Knoxville Bar Foundation (KBF) are due tomorrow. Awards will be announced in May. The KBF’s goal is to facilitate and support projects and programs that seek to improve the administration of justice, enhance the public’s understanding of and confidence in the legal system, support access to the legal system, and serve the legal profession. Since 1997, the KBF has awarded approximately $560,000 in grants for local law-related projects. In 2023, the KBF board approved 12 grant requests totaling $25,000.

In a new analysis of data from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Tennessean found that for every 100,000 people working in the state in 2022, 89.5 filed formal charges with the EEOC. Only Illinois had a higher rate. An analysis of data from 2021 had found Tennessee had the highest rate of workplace discrimination charges in the nation. For both years, the most common type of complaint was for retaliation.

Tennessee lawmakers have scheduled a joint convention for Monday to vote on Gov. Bill Lee’s nomination of Shelby County Circuit Judge Mary Wagner to fill an upcoming vacancy on the state Supreme Court, the Tennessee Journal reports. Lee chose Wagner on Feb. 1 from a list of three candidates that also included Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Ross Dyer and Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Camille McMullen. Wagner will fill a vacancy that will occur when Justice Roger A. Page retires on Aug. 31. Wagner, 39, is a TBA member and alumna of the association's Leadership Law Program. She earned her law degree from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law and was appointed to the circuit court in 2016 by then-Gov. Bill Haslam. She won reelection in 2018 and 2022.

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously advanced a bill today that would require TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance to divest the app or face a U.S. ban, The Hill reports. The “Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” advanced out of committee with overwhelming bipartisan support just two days after it was introduced by Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisconsin, and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Illinois, the top lawmakers on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. TikTok has pushed back on allegations that it poses national security risks based on its ownership by a Chinese company.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has issued an order soliciting comments on proposed changes to its Rule 13. The proposed revisions do not include any adjustments to the compensation rates and/or caps for appointed attorneys representing the indigent. But they do address the financial obligations of a child's parents, legal custodians or guardians when a guardian ad litem is appointed. The changes also address the crimes that affect the maximum compensation allowed for appointed criminal cases. Comments should be submitted by May 6 and should reference docket number ADM2024-00227.

Committees in the state House and Senate yesterday advanced two “vastly different” versions of a statewide school choice program that would allow students to use public dollars for private school. The House Education Administration Committee passed HB1183, a 39-page proposal that would also overhaul Tennessee's standardized testing requirements for public school students, make changes to teacher and principal accountability, and shut down the state’s Achievement School District by 2026. The Senate Education Committee approved SB503, a version of Gov. Bill Lee's plan, with additional accountability measures. The Senate version also allows "open enrollment to any school," permitting students to attend public schools outside of the districts for which they are zoned. The House version now goes to the House Government Operations Committee, while the Senate bill goes to the Senate Finance Ways and Means Committee. Read more about the bills in the Tennessean.