Mark Hall

Vice Chairman Mark Hall, (R) Vice-Chairman of the House Transportation Committee. He voted with TLRC on all but one of our scored bills, earning him a 94% vote score.

Chairman Hall sponsored SB1593/HB1120 – Hall/Bailey – which requires review of Presidential Executive orders. If found unconstitutional, Tennessee declares exemption on that basis (passed in the house and never taken up in the senate). This was an ambitious and important bill; it should have passed.

He co-sponsored nine of our favored bills:

SR0023 – Rudd – Resolution creating a bi-cameral panel to research the recall of Judge Ellen Hobbs Lyle (failed in House Civil Justice subcommittee).

A media story on the subject

SB0115/HB0116 – Garrett/Haile – Human/sex traffickers often transport groups of victims in trucks. Under this law commercial driver’s license (CDL) will be denied for life for those convicted of human/sex trafficking (passed).

SB0187/HB0013 – Bowling/Hulsey – Prohibits forced vaccines within state and local government entities. It does not prohibit private business from requiring vaccines for employment (passed with weakening amendments).

SB0228/HB0003 – Hensley/Cepicky – Protects female athletes by prohibiting biological males from participating in women’s sports (passed).

SB318/HB18 – Hensley/Griffey – Real Constitutional Carry. This bill would be totally compliant with the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution (placed behind the budget in the house and deferred in the senate).

SB0451/HB0881 – Bell/Terry – Increases penalties for rioters from out of state (“Aggravated” rioter) (passed).

SB0623/HB0580 – Bell/Ragan – The teaching of Critical Race Theory is prohibited in TN public schools (passed).

SB0828/HB1181 – Rudd / Bowling – Fetal remains must be disposed of by burial or cremation, making it prohibitive to harvest or sell fetal body parts (passed).

SB843/HB513- Rose/Gant – Increased penalties for various lawless activities when protesting/rioting (deferred to Summer Study). Passed in house. Rose sent to Summer Study.

SB0858/HB0575 – Ragan/Bowling – Limits county health officer’s quarantine powers/prohibits government requiring COVID vaccines (passed).

SB1593/HB1120 – Hall/Bailey – Requires review of Presidential Executive orders. If found unconstitutional, Tennessee declares exemption on that basis. (Passed in the house and never taken up in the senate).

SJR2 – Kelsey – Puts Right-to-Work into our Tennessee constitution, making it much more difficult to rescind (passed).

Also, to his credit, Mark Hall voted against HR110 – Hardaway – Resolution to honor Pastor William J. Barber II (sent to Summer Study). Barber is a black theologist CRT advocate whose rhetoric is anti-American in the tradition of Jeremiah Wright.

Hall lost points by supporting:
HJR0010 – Parkinson – A Resolution to declare racism as a public health issue (sent to Summer Study). The passing of this resolution would have labeled Tennessee as a self-identified systemically racist state; we are not! “Systemic racism” has been conscripted and construed into a bludgeon to divide Americans. We must resist the comfortable path of acceptance, which implies assent.

SB0736/HB0141 – Johnson/Lamberth (a Governor’s bill with which we take issue) – Special tax exemption for the film and video industry which was supported by a large majority of the General Assembly (passed). TLRC does not support special carve-outs for cherry-picked industries. The government should not be picking winners and losers.

SB0783/HB1204 – Massey/Zachary – Authorizes a special sales and use tax allocation to finance Randy Boyd’s Baseball stadium in Knoxville at the expense of Tennessee taxpayers—Boyd is a mega-millionaire (passed).

Media stories on the subject:
Boyd Sports to Profit from Events Held at Taxpayer-Funded Stadium – Tennessee Star

Member of Senate Committee Considering Legislation for Randy Boyd’s Taxpayer-Funded Baseball Stadium is Employee of Law Firm That Could Benefit From Bill’s Passage – Tennessee Star

Five Sponsors of Bill Enabling Randy Boyd’s Taxpayer-Funded Baseball Stadium Received More Than $90,000 in Campaign Funds from Individuals with Ties to the Project – Tennessee Star

We are grateful to have Vice-Chairman Hall representing District 24 and all Tennesseans that must live under the laws passed in the General Assembly. Mark Hall is one of the good guys and can be one of the courageous leaders essential to the defense of Tennesseans under the onslaught of unconstitutional, destructive policies and executive orders coming out of Washington D.C.