Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed three executive orders, changing former Gov. Bill Haslam’s policies on gifts to state employees, ethics disclosures for interactions with the General Assembly, and government hiring, among others.

Lee added to Haslam’s policy on gifts by including “beverage” and “refreshment” on the list of banned gifts that can be accepted by a state employee from those intending to conduct business with the state agency where the employee works.

Lee’s Executive Order 2 expands the scope of employees required to file ethical disclosures by adding senior members and all employees who regularly interact with the General Assembly.

Lee’s Executive Order 3 requires human resources and labor officials to train executive branch managers on nondiscrimination employment practices within 120 days and with “reasonable frequency” afterward.

Under Executive Order 4, Lee’s anti-discrimination policy in government hiring practices changes “gender” to “sex” and adds pregnancy, veteran’s status, and any other “category protected and/or federal civil rights laws”.

The executive orders were issued on January 24.

A special primary election will take place on March 7 to fill a vacancy in Senate District 22.

Rep. Mark Green vacated the office to serve as U.S. Rep. for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District.

Senate District 22 represents Montgomery, Houston and Stewart counties.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam announced a special election to fill the vacancy in Senate District 32, which includes Tipton County and part of Shelby County.

The seat was formerly held by Mark Norris, who resigned after being appointed by the president as a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Tennessee.

The special primary election will take place on January 24, 2019, with early voting starting January 4, 2019.

The special general election for the seat will be held on March 12, 2019, with early voting beginning February 20, 2019.

The people of Tennessee voted to elect Republican Bill Lee as governor, defeating Democrat Karl Dean.

26 Independents also ran for governor, each receiving 0.2 percent or less of the vote.

Many of the Independents were part of the Libertarian Party, which placed 15 candidates on the ballot to protest Tennessee law which has fewer restrictions on Independent candidates being added to the ballot.

Lee has worked for his family’s construction business, the Lee Company, serving as CEO and Chairman prior to his candidacy. He also helps run the family’s Triple L Ranch.

Lee is native to Tennessee, continuing to live in Franklin.

Sen. Majority Leader Mark Norris was appointed as judge to a U.S. District Court on October 11.

Norris announced on October 16 that due to time restraints and official duties he won’t be able to step down from his District 32 Senate seat by Election Day on November 6.

This will trigger a special election and potentially a temporary appointment until the seat is filled.

A judge in Tennessee’s Davidson County Chancery Court ruled against the state today, striking down a law prohibiting political action committees from making contributions to candidates after the 10^th day before an election. Under the law, only political party committees can contribute to candidates in the 10-day window.

Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle ruled in favor of plaintiff Tennesseans for Sensible Election Laws based on insufficient facts from the state to overcome the plaintiff’s argument.

In asserting the prohibition was an overbroad speech restriction, the plaintiff argued elected officials and political parties were “reserving special treatment in the political process for themselves.”

Attorneys for the state announced their intention to file an appeal immediately.

Sen. Bill Ketron submitted his resignation for the 13^th District seat on Monday, effective August 31.

His resignation is taking effect about two months before his term was set to expire.

He is set to become the Rutherford County mayor on September 1.

The Tennessee Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday requiring the Davidson County Election Commission to expedite a special election for Nashville mayor.

The office was left vacant following Mayor Megan Barry’s resignation on March 6. Barry pled guilty to felony theft of property exceeding $10,000 for misappropriating city funds over the course of two years; she used the money to bankroll an affair with the head of her security detail.

A special election will be held May 24 with a potential runoff election scheduled for June 28.

A special election for Metro Council District 1 will also be held May 24. The seat was left vacant after former councilman Nick Leonardo was appointed General Sessions judge in January.

Nashville Mayor Megan Barry resigned yesterday, March 6, after pleading guilty to felony theft of property exceeding $10,000.

Barry misappropriated city funds over the course of two years to bankroll an affair with the head of her security detail.

As part of a plea deal, Barry agreed to reimburse the city $11,000 and serve three years of unsupervised probation.

Vice Mayor David Briley was sworn in as mayor immediately following her resignation.

Gov. Bill Haslam has called a special election for state Senate District 14.

Sen. Jim Tracy vacated the seat to become the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development director in Tennessee.

The special general election will be held on March 13, 2018 and the special primary election will be held on January 25, 2018.

Gov. Bill Haslam recently issued a writ of election to fill a vacancy in Tennessee Senate District 17.

Mae Beavers recently resigned from the seat to dedicate her time to running for governor.

A special primary will be held November 7. The special general will be held on December 19.

The 2017 session of the 110^th Tennessee General Assembly adjourned on Wednesday, May 10.

Hesitant to make a last-minute decision on such a significant matter, lawmakers postponed a bill to increase campaign contribution limits for legislators. Legislation did pass requiring lawmakers to report contributions or funding from private sources for trips and other items.

The General Assembly will reconvene at noon on Tuesday, January 9, 2018.

The Tennessee House voted unanimously last week to require legislators to disclose travel expenses provided by anyone with an interest in public policy if the travel was for the purpose of educating a legislator with respect to said policy.

The bill, as originally introduced, would cover national organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), or other organizations where corporations provide scholarship funds for legislators to attend a conference.

The bill would require disclosure of the corporation or entity providing the scholarship or funding, but would not require specific dollar amounts.

The Senate passed an amendment to the House bill to exclude from the definition of travel expense any expense paid for by an organization of elected or appointed state government officials, or any other established and recognized organization serving as an umbrella organization for legislative officials and staff.

It has been placed back on the House calendar for early May.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam issued a writ yesterday ordering a special election to fill a vacant seat in state House District 95.

The seat was left vacant after Rep. Mark Lovell resigned in February amid allegations of inappropriate sexual contact.

A special primary election will be held Thursday, April 27, with a special general to follow on Thursday, June 15. The winning candidate will serve out the remainder of Lovell’s term.