Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed (R) TN State Representative Jason Zachary to the newsmakers line to talk about current bills in the General Assembly and the passing of the transgender sports bill.
Leahy: We are joined on our newsmaker line right now by our good friend State Representative Jason Zachary who’s going to give us a little bit of an update about what’s going on as the Tennessee General Assembly continues and begins to wind down I think. Welcome, Representative Zachary.
Zachary: Good morning. How are you guys?
Leahy: We are great. Of course in studio Roger Simon from The Epoch Times and Andy Ogles the mayor of Maury County. So Jason, what are the big bill’s there that you expect to be passed in the next week or so in the House of Representatives?
Zachary: Sure. Thanks for having me on and mayor, good to know that you’re on. It has been a while since I’ve talked to you. Guys, the great news last night from the Senate is that the Transgender Sports Bill passed. And so that’s a big step. It’s going to be on the House floor probably next Monday. And so that’s a big move forward. I’ve got a piece of legislation to protect our children and to protect our little girls who are in restrooms and locker rooms.
I’ve got that legislation. We’ve got constitutional carry coming down the pike. I’ve got my bill Wednesday to move the health boards to advisory roles in four of our six large counties. The health boards are basically ruling as an oligarchy as a fourth branch of government. I’ve got a bill to address that. And we’ve taken big steps regarding education.
The mayor, I’m sure is very interested in our broadband initiative and expansion that we’re looking that I’m involved in because it’s what I do for a living. So really good thing going on. Revenue for our state, we are one of seven states that have grown economically since March of last year. And that’s because conservative principles work. We’re not perfect. We can always do better and always take big steps forward, but we’re in a really good place in Tennessee and I think we’ve got some really good initiatives this year that we’ll be able to pass over the next couple of months to really further our conservative principles.
Leahy: Walk us through the path of this transgender bill that would be continuing to allow girls to compete only in girls’ sports. A common-sense bill and we won’t have transgender men, women, and men competing in women’s sports. It passed in the Senate very handily. Now, what is the path in the House of Representatives of that bill or a companion-related bill?
Zachary: Sure. It passed sub last week. I believe it’s in full, I believe that today. I’m not on education, but I think that’s today. It’s being carried by Representative Cepicky who is the mayor’s representative. He’s done an awesome job championing this and he was my seatmate last year. So I know him and this bill really well. When it passes, I believe it’s today.
It’ll pass today come to my committee, which I chair on Thursday, which is calendar and rules and we’ll get that scheduled for Monday. So by Monday of next week, this transgender sports bill protecting the integrity of girls high school middle school sports in our state should be passed Monday by the House overwhelmingly and then the governor will sign that right away. And that will be a big win in a big step forward for our state.
Leahy: Now that bill, will you pass exactly the same bill as the Senate, or will there have to have to be some back and forth on it?
Zachary: And that’s a good question. I have not seen the Senate version. We have so many bills coming through that were responsible for over here. I have not seen that version. I actually texted Rep. Cepicky this morning asking some questions about it. So I don’t know if we’re going to substitute or conform to theirs or move forward with ours. I’m not sure how that will work. We’re going to get it passed and there may be some tweaks that need to be made. But it’s going to pass the House next week.
Leahy: So the governor will sign it into law. Let me ask you this. Will the lawsuits begin from the left?
Zachary: As they typically do. Unfortunately, that’s the pattern we’re in of which we could do a whole show on the judiciary and the judiciary overreach. And there’s a reason our founders listed that as the third branch of government mentioned in the Constitution because it was meant to be the weakest. And we the people have allowed it to become more powerful the most powerful.
So there’s no doubt that there will be legal challenges. But we’re prepared for that. And I think that bill was written in a way knowing there would be legal challenges and there was some meeting of the minds and support from the Alliance Defending Freedom out of Washington for this piece of legislation. So it’s written in a way and should be able to withstand any lawsuits that come our way.
Ogles: Yeah, Jason by the way, this is a real ghost. Thank you for all that you’ve done. This is an important bill. The ACLU has already announced that they plan on suing the state once this passes. So yeah buckle up buttercup because here they come. Again, it’s important for states like Tennessee, and like other conservative states to lead on these issues and really provide and interject some common sense into this culture that we’re in now, where Dr. Seuss can no longer be read to children.
Zachary: It’s absurd guys. Mayor, you are right. It’s absurd that we’re having to legislate common sense again. I have a bill coming up that I’ll probably put on notice next week that again protects the integrity of our dadgum restrooms and locker rooms for our little girls. I mean that’s basically what this bill does. The fact that we’re having to do this and spend the time legislating common sense is mind-blowing, but this is where we are.
And we as a conservative state of Tennessee we need to plant our flag in the ground say we’re not moving from this. Period. Truth is truth. The most basic truth is that God created us, man and woman. And we don’t move from that. We don’t shy away from that. We boldly do what we need to do to firewall and protect Tennessee from the lunacy that we see coming from Washington and other areas of our country. We’re not doing that crap here.
Simon: Not just Tennessee, I think America’s going to thank you for passing this. This is a case where the left overreach is almost laughable. I mean not really laughable, disgusting maybe. I think that most Democrats probably are rolling their eyes at this and keeping their mouths shut to be good boys. But I think people are going to thank you for it.
Zachary: And to your point, it’s interesting, without divulging names I have talked to members of the other side of the aisle who are friends of mine that are Democrats who have said dude, I’m not saying anything. I’m just going to quietly vote. I may not even be in the room, but you won’t hear me say a word in opposition to this. Because again guys, it’s common sense.
And we all have daughters, nieces and, moms. We all have women in our lives that we love and we know we know exactly what’s going to happen. Whether it’s an elementary school robbing our little girls of their innocence when boys are going in the bathroom. We know exactly how it’s going to go down in high school.
I’ve got a high school in the district next to mine, Bearden High School, one of the largest high schools in Knox County already having a problem. Two weeks ago I had a parent reach out to me that has a high school daughter because they are having problems with boys coming into the girls’ restrooms.
Leahy: What a shock that is. That’s what is going on. State Rep. Jason Zachary, thanks so much for joining us and giving us an update. We really appreciate it.
Zachary: Absolutely guys. Thanks for having me on.
Listen to the full third hour here:
– – –
Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
