Representative William Lamberth’s, R-Portland, is hoping the second time is the charm for legislation designed to help improve school safety during an active shooter situation.Lamberth tried unsuccessfully to pass the bill during last year’s special session on public safety, but it wasn’t among the four Tennessee Senators approved.The bill would require each school district to develop specific procedures to follow if an unannounced fire alarm goes off. Lambert told the House K-12 Subcommittee Tuesday afternoon that this type of planning could save lives in an active-shooter situation.

The Tennessee House of Representatives formally adopted new rules for this year’s legislative session Wednesday that limit debate time and silence members for speaking out of order.Representative William Lamberth, R-Portland, brought forward the change involving the amount of time members are able to speak on a topic. Under the new rule, both the Democratic and Republican caucuses each get 30 minutes total to speak on bills.Caucus leaders are responsible for dolling out how much time each individual member can speak during those 30 minutes.

The first week of the special session on public safety may have seen more criticism for what lawmakers didn’t do than what they did.Only a bill to fund the special session made it through both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly and members are unexpectedly opting to return for a second week.

For the second straight day, members of the Tennessee State Senate continued to table the vast majority of bills they’ve filed in the special session on public safety.Members of the Senate Education, Health and Welfare, and State and Local Government Committees tabled every bill on their agenda Wednesday. 

Members of the Tennessee General Assembly have filed more than two dozen bills in advance of Monday’s special session on public safety.  More legislation is expected to be filed before the session begins at 4 PM, but bills filed so far deal with mental health facilities, gun locks, and extra penalties for threatening a mass shooting.

In a surprising move, members of the Tennessee House re-included the paycheck protection provision of legislation to raise teacher salaries minutes after voting it down.That provision would prevent unions and professional organizations from deducting dues from teacher paychecks.  The section has faced opposition from the Tennessee Education Association (TEA) and a House committee added an amendment to the legislation in the committee process to remove the provision.

Thursday morning two House Democrats used what would otherwise be a routine vote to reauthorize the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission to take swipes at public charter schools despite academic success in their own counties.

Legislation to make the HOPE Scholarship accessible to graduate students received support from two key education leaders in the State House on Monday.

Tennessee students may soon be able to use their HOPE Scholarship to obtain a master’s or other advanced degree.Legislation filed earlier this month by State Representative William Lamberth and State Senator Bo Watson would open the scholarship program to students who’ve completed their first baccalaureate degree early.