Tennessee Resource Guide
Sam Adams State Resource Guides are designed to help citizens get involved in their home state.
Do you have additional information that you'd like to see on this list? Please email your tips to resources@samadamsalliance.org.
BACKGROUND
Tennessee, like most states in the South, typically supports the Republican Party. Its votes went to Bush in each of the past two presidential elections, even though Al Gore was a former Tennessee Senator.
Tennessee is more moderate than many southern states, though, especially in urban areas like Nashville and Memphis. Five of its nine congressional districts are represented by Democrats and the governor is a Democrat as well. Both Senators are Republican.
In the State General Assembly, there are 33 Senators and 99 State Representatives. The Senate is split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, with 1 Independent. The House is controlled by the Democrats, who hold a 53 to 46 majority. The Assembly serves part-time.
ISSUES
Citizen Initiative and Referendum:
There is no statewide citizen Initiative and Referendum process and no statewide recall in Tennessee. However, there is widespread local I & R and some local recall processes in place throughout the state. There were two amendment placed on the 2006 ballot and both were passed. One was a defense of marriage amendment and the other exempted senior citizens from property tax increases.
Tax Burden:
Tennessee residents have a very low tax burden compared to the rest of the country. In fact, the state is ranked 46th. There is also no state-level property tax collected, which puts Tennessee at 41st nationally for the amount of property taxes collected per capita.
Think Tank
Tennessee Center for Policy Research
www.tennesseepolicy.org
Action Groups
Tennessee Coalition for Open Government
http://www.tcog.info/news/roundup.htm
Tennessee Tax Revolt
http://www.tntaxrevolt.org
Citizens for Home Rule
http://www.citizensforhomerule.com/
Tennessee Association of Independent Schools
http://www.taistn.org/
TnHomeEd.com
http://www.tnhomeed.com/NewsOp.html
Blogs
Tennessee Politics Blog
http://www.tnpoliticsblog.com/
Taxing Tennessee
http://taxingtennessee.blogspot.com/
Bill Hobbs’s
http://www.billhobbs.com/
Voluntarily Conservative
http://voluntarilyconservative.blogspot.com/
Tennessee Ticket
http://civicforum.chattablogs.com/
Kay Brooks (All Education)
http://kaybrooks.blogspot.com/
Drinkin the Franklin KoolAid
http://franklinkoolaid.blogspot.com/
Frankly Speaking
http://terryfrank.net/
Knoxville Tennessee Blog
http://knoxvilletennesseeblog.com/
Tennessee Conservative Watch
http://tncwatch.com/
Resources
Show Me the Spending
http://www.showmethespending.org/Tennessee.html
Politics1.com
http://politics1.com/tn.htm
Tennessee Government Home
http://www.tennessee.gov/
