Tennessee Senate Bill 3123 Update

Tennessee Senate Bill 3123 mentioned in the pervious post on Tennessee’s state recognition of tribes failed to pass the State & Local Government Committee vote yesterday, 15 April. Senators voting aye for the bill were Tim Burchett and Joe Haynes. Burchett was the primary sponsor of the Senate Bill. Senators voting against the bill were Steve Roller and Bo Watson. There were three Senators present who did not vote, Lowe Finney, Bill Ketron, and Mark Norris.

The failure to pass is notable since Representative Vaughn was given a lengthy period during a recess that was provided to him for defense of the Bill. Community members watching the televised session were quick to point out numerous inconstancies in his statements as they pertained to the Bill.

This effectively killed the Bill for this year, as it did not make it out of the Committee. As a result, the House version of the Bill that had been created by Representative Nathan Vaughn was taken off of the House calendar on 16 April.

Given the continued past attempts of some of the fabricated “tribes” to gain recognition by hook or crook, I doubt that it will be too long before similar bills are introduced. If nothing else, we can look forward to having the same Bills introduced next year.