How did we get here?

This amendment passed as a Senate joint resolution in 2019 and 2021 as required by Tennessee law with overwhelming bipartisan support from members of both the State House and State Senate.

In 2019, SJR0159 was sponsored by Senator Raumesh Akbari. The Senate Co-Sponsors were Senators Robinson, Lundberg, Kyle, Bowling, Gilmore, Dickerson, and White. The House Co-Sponsors were Representatives Towns, Hardaway, Clemmons, Stewart, Hodges, Potts, G. Johnson, Thompson, Freeman, Coley, Lamar, Love, Faison, Camper, and Dixie. It was approved by the State Senate on March 25, 2019 and by the State House on April 22, 2019.

In 2021, SJR0080, the companion resolution, was again sponsored by Raumesh Akbari. The Senate Co-Sponsors were Senators Gilmore, Campbell, Rose, Robinson, Stevens, and Walley. The House Co-Sponsors were Towns, Parkinson, G. Johnson, Chism, Shaw, Hardaway, Warner, Hakeem, Stewart, McKenzie, Love, Camper, and Dixie. It was approved by the State Senate on March 15, 2021 and by the State House on May 4, 2021. As a result, it will now appear on the November 8, 2022 ballot as Amendment 3. Please vote Yes on 3 so we can finally remove slavery completely from Tennessee’s Constitiution.