Tennessee government Bill Lee (R) has signed a bill into law that would increase penalties for certain types of protests, including loss of voting rights.
The state’s GOP-controlled state assembly last week reviewed the measure in a special three-day legislative session and was signed earlier this week without an announcement.
Among other things, the new law stipulates that people who camp illegally on state property will commit a Class E crime, punishable by a maximum of six years in prison. People convicted of a crime in Tennessee lose their right to vote.
The new law also introduces a mandatory 45-day sentence for aggravated rape, increases the fine for blocking highway access to emergency vehicles and improves the penalty for aggravated assault against a first responder to a Class C crime.
The leader of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee told The Associated Press, which was the first to report on the signing of the bill, that it would observe law enforcement.
“We are very disappointed in Governor Lee’s decision to sign this bill, which cools freedom of speech, undermines the reform of criminal justice and fails to address the greatest problems of racial justice and police violence by the Protestants who are directed, “Tennessee Executive Director ACLU Hedy Weinberg said in a statement. “While the governor often talks about reforming the ordinance, this bill is in conflict with those words and wastes valuable taxpayer funds to criminalize dissent.”
The bill passed the General Assembly after nearly two months of ongoing protests outside the state capital, where protesters called for reforms on racial justice in the wake of the assassination of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis in May.
Lee and Republicans from the state defended the legislation, pointing to fires that broke out inside and outside a courthouse in May, though Lee acknowledged there were parts of the bill he would have done “differently. . “
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