Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton can now ban a spectator from the public House gallery for up to two years under a new rules package adopted Thursday that Republicans designed to curtail vocal protests in the chamber.
The rule implements a two-strike procedure for spectators in the public gallery whose behavior Sexton, R-Crossville, deems “detrimental to the orderly business of the House.” A first ejection would lead to a ban for the remainder of the day and the next legislative day.
A second ejection could then lead to up to a two-year ban. A spectator could also be banned outright immediately for “especially egregious conduct.”
The rule gives broad discretion to Sexton to determine what is objectionable conduct and the length of any ban. Democrats have criticized Sexton and the GOP in the past for wielding their supermajority power to inqueitably apply rules to the minority party and their supporters in the past.
Rep. Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, prepares to gavel-in the first legislative session of the Tennessee General Assembly at the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025.
It’s not yet clear how exactly the policy will be enforced. When asked, Sexton said his office would release details later this week.
Large, heated protests became a mainstay at the General Assembly in 2023 in the wake of the Covenant School shooting and subsequent expulsions of two Democrats, Reps. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, and Justin Jones, D-Nashville. Both have been reelected to the chamber
Protestors have particularly clashed with House Republicans, who have implemented an escalating set of public rules in an effort to control what takes place in the House gallery and committee rooms. During a 2023 special session on gun safety, three women were removed from a committee meeting for holding paper signs. They later sued over the policy.
Last year, in an apparent effort to cut down on protestors in the House, GOP leadership closed public access to the West gallery in the chamber. It can now only be accessed via a ticketing system distributed to House members.
Republican lawmakers also approved a new remote voting option for House members who have been repeatedly ruled out of order, or disruptive, in the chamber. After several escalating punishments, which would include limited speaking time and then no speaking time on the House floor, a lawmaker repeatedly found in violation of the rules would be removed from the chamber.
The lawmaker would then be allowed to vote remotely from a committee room.
During a House Rules Committee meeting earlier in the week, Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, D-Chattanooga, raised concerns about the new rules.
“If the representative can’t be heard, if they can’t express themselves, and then the people are being put out, who are you listening to?” Hakeem said.
Sexton on Thursday said other states have implemented similar rules, while lawmakers have repeatedly referenced gallery rules in the U.S. Congress as a model for their new system.
When Republican lawmakers sought to expel three Democrats they found to be disruptive on the House floor in 2023, Sexton said leadership was asked why Republicans couldn’t have found another option to deal with the situation.
“Well, our rules didn’t allow us to do anything other than expulsion or a censureship,” Sexton said Thursday. “Now we are trying to get our rules up to allow us to have more options at our disposal for those instances, without having to move to expulsion.”
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Republicans adopt new House rules on spectator ejections
