Tennessee Senate

The upper house of the legislature of Tennessee, United States

Senate of Tennessee
Tennessee General Assembly
Type
Type	Upper house
Term limits	None
History
New session started	January 8, 2019
Leadership
Speaker of the Senate	Randy McNally (R) Since January 10, 2017
Speaker pro Tempore	Ferrell Haile (R) Since January 19, 2018
Majority Leader	Jack Johnson (R) Since January 8, 2019
Minority Leader	Jeff Yarbro (D) Since January 8, 2019
Structure
Seats	33
Political groups	Majority party      Republican (26)      Independent (1) Minority party      Democratic (5)      Vacant (1)
Length of term	4 years
Authority	Article III, Tennessee Constitution
Salary	$19,009/year + per diem
Elections
Last election	November 6, 2018 (17 seats)
Next election	November 2, 2020 (16 seats)
Redistricting	Legislative Control
Meeting place
State Senate Chamber Tennessee State Capitol Nashville, Tennessee
Website
www.capitol.tn.gov/senate

The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly.

The Tennessee Senate, according to the state constitution of 1870, is composed of 33 members, one-third the size of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Senators are to be elected from districts of substantially equal population. According to the constitution, a county is not to be joined to a portion of another county for purposes of creating a district; this provision has been overridden by the rulings of the Supreme Court of the United States in Baker v. Carr (369 U.S. 182, 1962) and Reynolds v. Sims (337 U.S. 356, 1964).

The Tennessee constitution has been amended to allow that if these rulings are ever changed or reversed, a referendum may be held to allow the senate districts to be drawn on a basis other than substantially equal population.

In 1921, Anna Lee Keys Worley became the first woman to serve in the Tennessee Senate.^[1]

Until 1966, Tennessee state senators served two-year terms. That year the system was changed, by constitutional amendment, to allow four-year terms. In that year, senators in even-numbered districts were elected to two-year terms and those in odd-numbered districts were elected to four-year terms. This created a staggered system in which only half of the senate is up for election at any one time. Districts are to be sequentially and consecutively numbered; the scheme basically runs from east to west and north to south.^{[citation needed]}

Republicans attained an elected majority in the Senate in the 104th General Assembly (2005-2007) for the first time since Reconstruction; a brief majority in the 1990s was the result of two outgoing senators switching parties.

Contents

• 
  1 Senate Speaker
  


• 
  2 Composition of the 111th General Assembly 2019–2021
  


• 
  3 Senate Leadership and Members
  
  
  
  • 
    3.1 Members, 2019–2021
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  4 Senate Committees
  


• 
  5 Past composition of the Senate
  


• 
  6 References
  


• 
  7 External links
  

Senate Speaker

The Senate elects one of its own members as Speaker; the Speaker automatically becomes Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee. The current Speaker of the Senate and Lieutenant Governor is Randy McNally, who was elected to the position in 2017. One of the main duties of the Speaker is to preside over the Senate and make Senate committee appointments. The Speaker also controls staffing and office space with Senate staff. The Speaker serves as an ex-officio member of all standing committees.

Composition of the 111th General Assembly 2019–2021

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)			Total
	Republican	Independent Caucusing with Republicans	Democratic		Vacant
End of previous legislature	26	0	4	33	3
Begin	26	0	5	31	2
January 18, 2019[2]	26	1	5	32	1
Latest voting share	84.4%		7001156000000000000♠15.6%

Senate Leadership and Members

Senate Leaders

• Speaker of the Senate/ Lieutenant Governor: Randy McNally
  


• Speaker Pro Tempore: Ferrell Haile
  


• Deputy Speaker: Janice Bowling
  

Majority Leadership (R)

• Majority Leader: Jack Johnson
  


• Caucus Chairman: Ken Yager
  

Minority Leadership (D)

• Minority Leader: Jeff Yarbro
  


• Caucus Chairman: Raumesh Akbari
  

Members, 2019–2021

District	Name	Party	Residence	Counties represented
1	Steve Southerland	Rep	Morristown	Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, and part of Sevier
2	Art Swann	Rep	Maryville	Blount and part of Sevier
3	Rusty Crowe	Rep	Maryville	Washington, Unicoi, and part of Carter
4	Jon Lundberg	Rep	Bristol	Johnson, Sullivan, and part of Carter
5	Randy McNally	Rep	Maryville	Anderson, Loudon, and part of Knox
6	Becky Duncan Massey	Rep	Knoxville	Part of Knox
7	Richard Briggs	Rep	Knoxville	Part of Knox
8	Frank Niceley	Rep	Strawberry Plains	Claiborne, Grainger, Hancock, Hawkins, Union, and Jefferson
9	Mike Bell	Rep	Riceville	Polk, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, and part of Bradley
10	Todd Gardenhire	Rep	Chattanooga	Parts of Hamilton and Bradley
11	Bo Watson	Rep	Hixson	Part of Hamilton
12	Ken Yager	Rep	Kingston	Campbell, Fentress, Morgan, Rhea, Roane, Pickett, and Scott
13	Dawn White	Rep	Murfreesboro	Part of Rutherford
14	Shane Reeves	Rep	Murfreesboro	Bedford, Lincoln, Marshall, Moore, and part of Rutherford
15	Paul Bailey	Rep	Sparta	Cumberland, Jackson, Overton, Bledsoe, Putnam, and White
16	Janice Bowling	Rep	Tullahoma	Coffee, Franklin, Grundy, Marion, Van Buren, and Warren
17	Mark Pody	Rep	Lebanon	Cannon, Clay, DeKalb, Macon, Smith, and Wilson
18	Ferrell Haile	Rep	Gallatin	Sumner, Trousdale, and part of Davidson
19	Brenda Gilmore	Dem	Nashville	Part of Davidson
20	Steven Dickerson	Rep	Nashville	Part of Davidson
21	Jeff Yarbro	Dem	Nashville	Part of Davidson
22	Rosalind Kurita	Ind	Clarksville	Stewart, Houston, and Montgomery
23	Jack Johnson	Rep	Franklin	Williamson
24	John Stevens	Rep	Huntingdon	Benton, Carroll, Gibson, Henry, Obion, and Weakley
25	Kerry Roberts	Rep	Springfield	Cheatham, Dickson, Hickman, Humphreys, and Robertson
26	Dolores Gresham	Rep	Somerville	Chester, Decatur, Fayette, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, McNairy, and Henderson
27	Ed Jackson	Rep	Jackson	Madison, Crockett, Dyer, Lake, and Lauderdale
28	Joey Hensley	Rep	Hohenwald	Giles, Lawrence, Lewis, Maury, Perry, and Wayne
29	Raumesh Akbari	Dem	Memphis	Part of Shelby
30	Sara Kyle	Dem	Memphis	Part of Shelby
31	Brian Kelsey	Rep	Germantown	Part of Shelby
32	Vacant			Tipton and part of Shelby
33	Katrina Robinson	Dem	Memphis	Part of Shelby

Senate Committees

The Tennessee State Senate has 12 committees in total: 9 standing Committees and 3 Select Committees. During the 111th General Assembly, they are:^[3]

Standing Committees

Committee Name	Chair
Commerce and Labor	Paul Bailey (R)
Education	Dolores Gresham (R)
Energy, Agriculture, and Natural Resources	Steve Southerland (R)
Finance, Ways, and Means	Bo Watson (R)
Government Operations	Kerry Roberts (R)
Health and Welfare	Rusty Crowe (R)
Judiciary	Mike Bell (R)
State and Local Government	Steve Dickerson (R)
Transportation and Safety	Becky Duncan Massey (R)

Select Committees

Committee Name	Chair
Calendar	Ed Jackson (R)
Ethics	Richard Briggs (R)
Rules	Bo Watson (R)

Past composition of the Senate

Main article: Political party strength in Tennessee

References

1. 
   ^ "Anna Lee Keys Worley". National Women's History Museum. Retrieved August 5, 2018..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
   


2. 
   ^ "Newly-appointed Senator Rosalind Kurita accepts invitation to caucus with Republicans in Tennessee Senate". Tennessee Senate Republican Caucus. 2019-01-15. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
   


3. 
   ^ "Legislative Senate Committees - Tennessee General Assembly". www.capitol.tn.gov. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
   

External links

• Official website

v t e Members of the Tennessee State Senate
110th General Assembly (2017–2019) Speaker of the Senate: Randy McNally (R) Speaker pro Tempore: Majority Leader: vacant (R) Minority Leader: Lee Harris (D)
Steve Southerland (R)    Art Swann (R)    Rusty Crowe (R)    Jon Lundberg (R)    Randy McNally (R)    Becky Duncan Massey (R)    Richard Briggs (R)    Frank S. Niceley (R)    Mike Bell (R)    Todd Gardenhire (R)    Bo Watson (R)    Ken Yager (R)    Bill Ketron (R)    Shane Reeves (R)    Paul Bailey (R)    Janice Bowling (R)    Mark Pody (R)    Ferrell Haile (R)    Thelma Harper (D)    Steven Dickerson (R)    Jeff Yarbro (D)    Mark Green (R)    Jack Johnson (R)    John Stevens (R)    Kerry Roberts (R)    Dolores Gresham (R)    Ed Jackson (R)    Joey Hensley (R)    Lee Harris (D)    Sara Kyle (D)    Brian Kelsey (R)    vacant (R)    Reginald Tate (D)
Republican (26)    Democratic (5)    Vacant (2) Tennessee General Assembly Tennessee House of Representatives Tennessee State Senate

v t e Legislatures of the United States
United States Congress	United States House of Representatives United States Senate
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Other legislatures	District of Columbia American Samoa (H, S) Guam Northern Mariana Islands (H, S) Puerto Rico (H, S) U.S. Virgin Islands
List of U.S. state legislators

v t e Officers of the State of Tennessee
Executive offices	Governor Lieutenant Governor
Legislative offices	Speaker of the Senate Speaker of the House of Representatives Secretary of State State Treasurer State Comptroller
Judicial offices	Tennessee Supreme Court Attorney General

v t e  State of Tennessee
Nashville (capital)
Topics	History Geography Tennesseans African Americans Media Newspapers Radio TV Constitution Elections Governors Lieutenant Governors General Assembly Supreme Court Tennessee National Guard Law Enforcement Tourist attractions	Seal of Tennessee
Grand Divisions	East Tennessee Middle Tennessee West Tennessee
Regions	Blue Ridge Mountains Cumberland Mountains Cumberland Plateau Highland Rim Mississippi Plain Nashville Basin Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians Tennessee Valley Tri-Cities
Largest cities	Bartlett Bristol Chattanooga Clarksville Cleveland Franklin Hendersonville Jackson Johnson City Kingsport Knoxville Memphis Murfreesboro Nashville
Counties	Anderson Bedford Benton Bledsoe Blount Bradley Campbell Cannon Carroll Carter Cheatham Chester Claiborne Clay Cocke Coffee Crockett Cumberland Davidson Decatur DeKalb Dickson Dyer Fayette Fentress Franklin Gibson Giles Grainger Greene Grundy Hamblen Hamilton Hancock Hardeman Hardin Hawkins Haywood Henderson Henry Hickman Houston Humphreys Jackson Jefferson Johnson Knox Lake Lauderdale Lawrence Lewis Lincoln Loudon Macon Madison Marion Marshall Maury McMinn McNairy Meigs Monroe Montgomery Moore Morgan Obion Overton Perry Pickett Polk Putnam Rhea Roane Robertson Rutherford Scott Sequatchie Sevier Shelby Smith Stewart Sullivan Sumner Tipton Trousdale Unicoi Union Van Buren Warren Washington Wayne Weakley White Williamson Wilson

Coordinates: 36°09′57″N 86°47′03″W / 36.1658°N 86.7843°W / 36.1658; -86.7843

Authority control	GND: 131798-2 LCCN: n80147663 VIAF: 266906412 WorldCat Identities (via VIAF): 266906412

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