GKar

Just watched the videos of both floor sessions - no real big surprises.  The usual conflagrated arguments by the reps from the blue cities.  But, for those of you who remember and vote, this little tidbit: Madame Speaker Harwell and Sen Overbey both voted "no" to final passage of the amended bill/majority conference committee report...but in their own words, they support the Second Amendment...

At 4:35 ET, the website shows that the conference report was adopted by the House.  I would assume (always dangerous when talking about the Gen Assy) it means the majority report.  I got back just in time for the house to recess until Monday at 3pm CT.

Dear Lord, will these gasbags never quit their grandstanding? 

Now on House floor Message calendar for tomorrow morning, 4/16.  Also., links to the conference committee reports are up:   Majority report is here.   Minority report is here  (laughable).   The wording regarding "known or should have known" is still cumbersome and ill-conceived...par for this bunch of stumble-bums.  They could not write themselves out of a wet paper bag.

On a slightly related topic:  I noticed today that the legislature is advancing a proposal to change driver's license renewals from every 5 to every 8 years...coincidentally, in Feb 2015 TN instituted a change in HCP renewals from every 4 to every 5 years to align with DL renewal sequences...am I missing something, or can these dumb bastards not even remember what they did just one session ago???

Hmmm...now states that it has been placed on the House Message Calendar #2 for today's floor session, 4/15...which is going on now.  The reports do not seem to be on the website, though.

And thus, it would have died in this session...assignment to Fnce - where it either would never have been heard, or placed "behind the budget".

Watching archive now.  Steven's opening remarks seem to address the major concerns - removes opt-out, eliminates the "use" trap by limiting the prohibition to "being used (implying current use), creates a defense to unknowingly being in the immediate vicinity of a school event by creating another couple of exceptions, retains the grandfather clause about signs to keep the fiscal note from reappearing.

I missed the details of the conference report...do I really want to know?

  My heart breaks for them...   To add salt to the wound - Ramsey allowed the vote to non-concur with the House action to be a voice vote, so there is actually no record of who voted yes or no...then laughed about it immediately afterwards.

We all realize that the end of the session is a totally self-imposed, arbitrary deadline - right?  The GA decides for themselves how long they will "work", and how big a hurry they will be in to get home for another 8 months or so...and couches that behind the "but we are saving taxpayers money" facade...

  I would beg to point out that, in TN, "Super Majority" and "conservative" do not belong in the same sentence.  Hell, not even in the same paragraph...

HB0995 is now on the Senate Message calendar for Monday's session (4pm CDT).  Bet it heads to committee after that...

Norris (Sen Majority leader and Establishment clone) has been quoted more than once of late saying that the Senate will NOT concur with the House version.  That will send it to conference committee, and whatever comes out of there will be the only version allowed for consideration - no amendments allowed. Do you really want three Ramsey-picked Senators (of which the bill sponsor, Stevens - not exactly a friend to recent 2A legislation - will be one) and three Harwell-appointed Reps (including the House sponsor, Harrison, who likewise is not exactly in the Beavers/Goins class for 2A support) making the final decision on the bill?    And with regards to a veto - the delay in getting anything approved now is playing right into Haslam's hands.  If Harwell and Ramsey fail in their role to preclude this legislation from ever getting to this desk in the first place, whatever does land there will almost assuredly not require action by the Gov until well after the GA has adjourned for the summer.  In that instance, he gets a free veto, in that any attempt to override the veto would first require both Harwell and Ramsey to order the GA to return in special session - and if you believe that either one of them would actually do that, I have some beachfront property here in the fingertip I'd love to sell you...   BTW - nothing RE Senate consideration of the bill has yet been scheduled for tomorrow's floor session, so the earliest it could conceivably come up would be in either Monday's or Wednesday's floor session.  That would be the point at which the Senate would not concur with the House, and actions to send to conf committee would BEGIN.  You can do the math from there to see when a version might possibly come out of such a committee, then go to each Chamber floor for a vote, and if passed, then be signed by both Speakers, then be engrossed for transmission to the Gov, then give him up to 10 days to act...are we in May yet, with the GA being gone for over a week at least???

Not appearing on any of the Senate calendars for the rest of the week at this point.

I think it will be handled initially as part of a Senate message calendar.  So far, it does not appear on the floor message calendar for tomorrow's Senate session, and Thursday's floor agenda has not yet been posted...but things can change very quickly...

Yeah, lets hold our breath for the NRA to do that.  They didn't even have the nerve to properly shame Haslam - instead, took the PC "we just don't have room on our schedule, otherwise he would speak" way out.  Other than the $$ the convention will funnel to their coffers, NRA doesn't give a big rats a$$ about what goes on in TN, and hasn't for several years.  Their sorry excuse for a liason here is plenty of evidence of that.

  Prolly won't actually die today.  If it dies (and personally I wouldn't be surprised if it does, but then I'm a cynical curmudgeon), it will be from either (1) Ramsey and Harwell playing who-can-screw-the-other-last and ending the session without ever coming to resolution on a version agreeable to both Chambers, or (2) because of ll this back-and-forth, it is passed very late in the session, the GA recesses for the summer, and King Billy finds out that he, too, has a pen, just like his buddy Obasm...

  For the parking lot bill, not a whole lot.  While it does open the door to legal action by the employee, it places the entire burden of establishing that the ONLY reason they were terminated was because of otherwise legal possession in the employer's parking lot on the employee.  Only then does any burden shift to the employer.   Makes a nice talking point/sound bite come next election, though...

House takes it up on the floor as part of their message calendar.  As it currently stands, they will consider the version as amended by the Senate, likely stripping the Senate amendment by Yarbro that added carry on the Capitol grounds.  Two other amendments were filed today, and I presume they will be considered as well. One establishes a rebuttable presumption that anyone carrying ia park that discharges a firearm in the presence of or within the line of sight of children without just cause would be civilly liable for assault and an additional fine of $5000.  The other adds a defense to prosecution for carry in a park that is "used" by school if (i) no school activity is taking place, or (ii) if the HCP holder is reasonably unaware that such a school event is occurring and takes reasonable steps upon becoming aware.   I'm assuming the latter amendment is aimed at Casada's melon-headed remarks over the weekend indicating that if a school ever once used a park, that said park would always fall under the "used" provision and thus be permanently off-limits...which appears to run diametrically opposed to the AG opinion from 2009...   Link to amendment pack is here.   You can get to the video of the proceedings (starting at 5pm CDT, 6pm EDT) here

When you upgrade, I'd check out Blackhorn 209 powder if you get one using 209 primers for ignition.  Clean-up is MARKEDLY easier, and you will be able to get 5 shots or more without even a dry patch in between.

  And that is the best place for her to be during any GA session...

That would fall outside of the caption rule, and kill the amendment in its tracks.

Look at the vote counts - it is likely that a veto would be overridden.  Not something King Billy would like to have hanging around his neck.

After MItchell and Fitzhugh offered up 11 different failed amendments trying to disembowel various aspects of the bill as previously amended in CJ, it did pass 65 Ayes, 21 Nays, 6 Present not Voting.  The PNVs:  H Brooks, Ramsey, Smith, Swann, M White, and...the illustrious Madam Speaker Harwell.  Your Republican leadership at work...