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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, On March 27, 2023, three children and three | ||||||
| 3 | adults were killed in a mass shooting at The Covenant School in | ||||||
| 4 | Nashville, Tennessee; and
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| 5 | WHEREAS, The loss of lives spurred thousands of | ||||||
| 6 | Tennesseeans to make their voices heard through protests at | ||||||
| 7 | the Tennessee State Capitol, advocating for reform of laws | ||||||
| 8 | governing firearm access and availability; and
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| 9 | WHEREAS, Channeling the voices of their constituents who | ||||||
| 10 | were among those demonstrating, Reps. Justin Jones, Justin | ||||||
| 11 | Pearson, and Gloria Johnson attempted to speak in support of | ||||||
| 12 | reforming gun laws but were denied, and their microphones were | ||||||
| 13 | cut off, preventing them from speaking on that topic and on any | ||||||
| 14 | measure or order of business; denied the ability to speak | ||||||
| 15 | using their desks and microphones, they instead echoed the | ||||||
| 16 | chants for reform from Tennesseans present at their capitol; | ||||||
| 17 | and
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| 18 | WHEREAS, Immediately, the Tennessee House of | ||||||
| 19 | Representatives majority began an extraordinary campaign of | ||||||
| 20 | retaliation against Reps. Jones, Pearson, and Johnson, | ||||||
| 21 | including stripping them of committee assignments, removing | ||||||
| 22 | their access to their office space and parking, and | ||||||
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| 1 | threatening expulsion, the most extreme action a legislative | ||||||
| 2 | body can take against one of its members; and | ||||||
| 3 | WHEREAS, Expelling a member from the legislative body is | ||||||
| 4 | an act so extraordinary that, since the Civil War, the | ||||||
| 5 | Tennessee House had only previously used it to remove members | ||||||
| 6 | attempting to block ratification of the 14th Amendment to the | ||||||
| 7 | United States Constitution, which granted citizenship to | ||||||
| 8 | formerly enslaved people and equal protection of the law to | ||||||
| 9 | all Americans, and to remove members for bribery and sexual | ||||||
| 10 | misconduct; and
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| 11 | WHEREAS, Even pursuing the extraordinary step of | ||||||
| 12 | expulsion, the Tennessee House majority never intended to have | ||||||
| 13 | a fair proceeding for Reps. Jones, Pearson, and Johnson, with | ||||||
| 14 | one member of Tennessee's House leadership referring to Rep. | ||||||
| 15 | Jones as a "former representative" prior to the filing of any | ||||||
| 16 | expulsion resolution, any hearings, or proceedings on | ||||||
| 17 | expulsion and without pursuing any other form of conflict | ||||||
| 18 | resolution for alleged violations of decorum; and
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| 19 | WHEREAS, On April 6, 2023, after less than a day of | ||||||
| 20 | proceedings, Reps. Jones and Pearson were expelled from the | ||||||
| 21 | Tennessee House for these alleged violations of decorum, but | ||||||
| 22 | Rep. Johnson was not; this, despite lawmakers from the | ||||||
| 23 | majority party admitting that the expulsion resolutions | ||||||
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| 1 | contained "deficiencies", dishonored the legislative process | ||||||
| 2 | and occurred without the Tennessee House's normal step of | ||||||
| 3 | empaneling an ethics committee to review alleged violations of | ||||||
| 4 | their rules; therefore, be it
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| 5 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
| 6 | HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 7 | we condemn the expulsion of Tennessee State Representatives | ||||||
| 8 | Justin Jones and Justin Pearson and condemn the attempted | ||||||
| 9 | expulsion of Tennessee State Rep. Gloria Johnson from the | ||||||
| 10 | Tennessee House of Representatives; and be it further
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| 11 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
| 12 | presented to Reps. Jones, Pearson, and Johnson as a symbol of | ||||||
| 13 | our respect and esteem.
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