Mark Hall

Credit to Rep. Hall for voting the right way on some bills that were lobbied hard by special interests and the leadership:

• HB2309 – a popular bill that passed into law that allows illegal immigrants to obtain professional licenses in Tennessee.
• HB0204 – The Crown Act- protecting ethnic hairstyles in the work place.
• HB2886 – $500,000,000 for the Tennessee Titan’s new stadium.

We wish he had shown the same good judgement on two others.  As did 92% of our House members, Representative Hall fell short by supporting a couple of corporate-welfare handouts:

• HB2609 extending an 80% tax break to the Cincinnati Reds’ farm team in Chattanooga
• HB8002 giving $678,218,300 of taxpayer money for Ford to build an electric vehicle plant in West Tennessee

We oppose corporate welfare in all forms. Our state government should not be giving economic advantages to any public or private entities. Leave the economics to the free market.

Bills Rep. Hall supported with his vote:

• HB1137/SB1197  No restrictions on church activities in declared emergency

• HB1867/SB1823  Vaccine exemptions protected

• HB1871/SB1982  Recognition that natural immunity is equal or superior to vaccine

• HB1960/SB1884  No government vaccine mandates

• HB2128/SB2245  Election integrity measures

• HB2316/SB2153  No males in girls’ sports

• HB2331/SB2558  Auditable paper trail voting machines

• HB2454/SB2292  Redefines “obscene” to include educational material in K-12 making it unlawful

• HB2666/SB2247  Requires Textbook Commission to provide a list of approved material to GA members

• HB2742/SB2728  Requires public high schools to teach virtues of capitalism and constitution

• HB2746/SB2188  Makes Ivermectin available over the counter

Hall failed to accrue leadership points this year, lacking in sponsorships and co-sponsorships of critical legislation. There may have been other actions worthy of merit. TLRC can only count what is recorded or what we see personally. His sixteen merits earned him a D. We know he is better than that.

We hope Mark Hall returns to the General Assembly and look forward to working with him in the 113th session.