Thu
Feb 22 2007
12:16 pm
Subterfuge afoot in Nashville?
By: R. Neal

Here's a curious bit of legislation being proposed over in Nashville. SB1761:

County Officers - Clarifies that the duties of constitutional county officers shall not be altered or abolished under a county charter form of government and failure to specifically create or specify duties of such officers shall not be deemed to abolish the offices. - Amends TCA Section 5-1-210.

Wonder what that's all about? I suppose it prevents future confusion such as the argument that Knox County's charter is deficient because it doesn't enumerate the constitutional officers.

But that part about "shall not be altered", uh, altered like as in imposing term limits? This could be interesting.

Topics:
Bbeanster's picture

Woot, THERE IT IS! The

Submitted by Bbeanster on Thu, 2007/02/22 - 12:23pm.

Woot, THERE IT IS! The infamous CAPTION BILL!!!!!!

This is the bill that Mike Lowe, Steve Hall, et al believe will put them back in office. It's sponsored by Memphis legislators, but will be amended to have broad enough application to include home rule counties exactly the size of Knox.

The thing will probably slid through the General Assembly in the last days of the session when everybody's too busy to keep track of it.

But this bill needs to be carefully tracked.
Call your legislators!

Great work, Randy.

Patricia's picture

Wow

Submitted by Patricia on Thu, 2007/02/22 - 4:03pm.

To think I moved out of Maryville a few years ago to live in Knox County, I am sure the politics are bad in Blount County but I doubt any worse than this.

bill young's picture

interesting

Submitted by bill young on Fri, 2007/02/23 - 11:20pm.

There has been much debate on this issue.Is defining the const.officers duties(unless other duties are given),per home rule charter,redundent,because the const.defines them.Or,the charter must define the duties, because it is a "new form of government"(Art.VII Sec.1).This bill would end that debate.However,the bill may have a trap door effect because,term limited folks who want to get back in,could begin laying down this argument;It aint about me;it's about the constitution;per this bill & Art.VII Sec 1;clearly county officials"qualifications & duties shall be presribed by the General Assembly."& not a home rule charter.Just a thought.

Mark Siegel's picture

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar

Submitted by Mark Siegel on Thu, 2007/02/22 - 1:17pm.

The bill could well be a poison pill, to be transformed for the benefit of Knox County politicians at the last minute.

It could also be an attempt by Shelby County officials to inoculate themselves against Knox County Disease.

Remember, Shelby County and Knox County's charters were both technically deficient in the same ways. In light of the Jordan litigation, Knox County took some steps to "correct" deficiencies in its charter. Shelby County hasn't "corrected" theirs.

The bill could be Shelby County's effort to make sure they don't get sued because they didn't outline the constitutional officers' duties in their charter.

Or not.

Tamara Shepherd's picture

I don't get it...

Submitted by Tamara Shepherd on Thu, 2007/02/22 - 1:39pm.

Hmmm. Siegel's read is making sense to me.

Bean, how could this proposed bill put term-limited Constitutional officers back in office after the TN Supreme Court already validated the "will of the voters" in that question?

Bbeanster's picture

This bill will be amended to

Submitted by Bbeanster on Thu, 2007/02/22 - 2:40pm.

This bill will be amended to include Knox County and allow the just-ousted constitutional officers to run again.

Something tells me, however, that their successors might not be so willing to step aside a year from now.

R. Neal's picture

It wouldn't, but they could

Submitted by R. Neal on Thu, 2007/02/22 - 1:40pm.

It wouldn't, but they could run again. And they are pretty good at getting reelected. Or re-reelected in this case?

Andy Axel's picture

Sponsored...

Submitted by Andy Axel on Thu, 2007/02/22 - 1:42pm.

Sponsored by Jim Kyle, chair of the TN Senate Democratic Caucus and Senator Wilder's BFF.

Interesting.

____________________________

Recursive blogwhore.

Amish's picture

The Weaver decision seemed

Submitted by Amish on Thu, 2007/02/22 - 2:31pm.

The Weaver decision seemed to make a pretty sharp distinction between duties and qualifications. Can't remember if the S. Ct. followed a similar logic in their decision--but if they did, such a suit would appear a non-starter.

rikki's picture

This is true. In all the

Submitted by rikki on Thu, 2007/02/22 - 3:17pm.

This is true. In all the various rulings, term limits have fallen under the rubric of qualifications for office, not duties.

This bill seems completely redundant with the enabling legislation under which home-rule charters are defined. I don't get it.

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