Tennessee voting rights law needs to be repealed for the sake of civil liberty | Opinion – Tennessean

Randy Brockway, Guest Columnist Published 4:00 p.m. CT Oct. 8, 2020

As Tennesseans who believe in truth, equality, and liberty, we cannot allow this Senate Bill 8005 to continue existing in its current form.

Randy Brockway(Photo: Submitted)

On Aug.20 Gov. Bill Lee quietly signed Senate Bill 8005 into law.

There was no public announcement, not even a tweet.

The lack of announcement signals that Gov. Lee knows this is a bad bill aimed at stifling Tennesseans First Amendment rights by enforcing unnecessarily harsh sentencing for protesters.

To understand the silence, the bill itself needs a bit of unpacking. At a high level, the bill calls for harsh sentencing for what are essentially acts that are protected by the First Amendment.

For example, an individual who is caught camping on state property can now be charged with a Class E felony which includes up to sixyearsin prison and loss of voting rights.

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Due to the vagueness of this statute, in addition to preventing individuals from camping during a peaceful protest, a homeless person caught sleeping in a park, or a family setting up an evening or early morning picnic could potentially be charged in the same fashion.

In contrast, an individual would be charged with a Class A misdemeanor for simple assault on a first responder.

This bill implies it is a more heinous crime to camp on state property than it is to spit on, or physically push a first responder. Does that seem just? Do we truly value state property more than our first responders? One could assume so with the consequences as defined in this bill.

To add to the general vagueness of the bills intent, individuals or groups could be charged and handed a mandatory sentence for disturbing public meetings. This disturbance could be interpreted many ways, however the most obvious would involve being too loud.

For example, those who were peacefully assembling outside of the state capitol and requesting an audience with Gov. Lee, could be charged with a Class A misdemeanor.

The bill does call for harsher penalties for property damageas a result ofaggravated rioting and aggravated assault on a first responder. Rightfully so, the state is calling for this harsher sentencingin an attempt todeter these acts that would move a peaceful assembly or protest to an escalated situation, where bodily harm and property damage could be realized.

Despite the necessary components of this bill, the bill has very severe and questionable unintended consequences for individuals or groups that are exercising their First Amendment right to peacefully assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Does the majority Republican legislature recognize the potential unintended consequences of the bill? Are our elected officials intentionally trying to curb any sort of gathering that would be considered protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution?

It is likely we will never know the exact motivations of our elected officials and Gov. Lee with respect to Senate Bill 8005.However, it is clear that this bill needs to be repealed or amended, atminimum.

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As Tennesseans who believe in truth, equality, and liberty, we cannot allow this bill to continue existing in its current form.

Please write your district legislator urging them to raise a bill at the next General Assembly, which convenes in January of 2021, to repeal Senate Bill 8005 or, at a minimum, amend it.

Randy Brockway isDirector ofHuman Resources at ServiceSource and State Leader for Stand Up Republic Tennessee,residing in Franklin, TN.

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Tennessee voting rights law needs to be repealed for the sake of civil liberty | Opinion - Tennessean