Tennessee House adopts special‑session rules, sets 24‑hour deadline for floor amendments amid minority objections

The Tennessee House adopted the permanent rules governing its first extraordinary session of the 114th General Assembly after a floor vote that followed extended debate over amendment deadlines and the pace of business.

The rules package, the House’s ad hoc committee on rules report, was adopted after the clerk recorded the vote as, “Aye, 71, 20 2 nays,” and the speaker declared the report adopted.

The new rules require members to file floor amendments at least 24 hours before a bill is scheduled for floor consideration; committee amendment deadlines were set at two hours before committee proceedings begin. That scheduling framework applies as the House prepares to consider seven bills filed for the special session, several members said.

“There's a the committee sent that on their own, but ordinarily, there's a practice of the committees for there to be a 2 hour 2 hours before the committee begins, deadline to have any amendments in. The 24 hours is for the floor,” Chairman Clemens said during debate on the rules.

Several minority members said the 24‑hour floor deadline and a compressed timetable for committees risked limiting meaningful debate and last‑minute, responsive amendment work. Representative Hardaway said, “My less my concern is that we're not gonna be able to introduce amendments in a timely manner, that we're gonna have limited debate.” Representative Mitchell raised similar concerns about the ability of members outside committees to respond to changed bill language on short notice.

Leader Blair Lambert defended the rules as consistent with the committee’s judgment and the special session’s purpose, noting that the seven filed bills “will now go through the committee process” and that he expects the bills to be largely the same as filed. “After all of that long process then 24 hours prior to the floor seems amble enough time for anyone to file an amendment on those bills,” Lambert said.

The House clerk clarified the practical filing point for floor amendments: the clerk’s office will accept floor amendment filings after a bill has finished going through all of the substantive committees to which it is assigned — calendar-and-rules is not counted as a substantive committee for that deadline. “After if a bill goes to, for example, goes from transportation to finance, then we can accept those amendments after finance,” the clerk said.

Members also discussed public access to proceedings. The rules preserve a ticketing system for gallery access and allow the gallery to be closed and reopening times set by the body; Leader Lambert said tickets are issued for the day of session and schedules are posted online. He warned that repeated egregious behavior by gallery attendees can result in being barred for the remainder of the two‑year General Assembly term.

Votes at a glance

- Adopted: Report of the ad hoc committee on rules as the permanent rules for the first extraordinary session of the 114th General Assembly. Clerk recorded: “Aye, 71, 20 2 nays.” The speaker declared the report adopted. - Passed first consideration: House bills 1 through 7 were read and passed first consideration and were assigned to the special‑session committees named on the floor.

The clerk and House leadership also announced committee schedules and deadlines tied to the rules: the amendment filing deadline for committees is two hours before each committee’s start time; the deadline to request to testify is two hours in advance as well. Tomorrow’s announced schedule included Education and Disaster Relief committees at 1 p.m.; Finance and Transportation at 4:30 p.m.; Calendar and Rules immediately following Finance. Immigration was scheduled for 8 a.m. on Wednesday, with Finance and Calendar and Rules immediately after. Members were warned that bills must exit their last substantive committee more than 24 hours before the House is scheduled to take them up in order for floor amendments to be timely filed.

House members moved the chamber into recess following adoption of the rules; the body is scheduled to reconvene at 9 a.m. Tuesday for continued consideration of special‑session business.