Know Before You Vote: Tennessee’s Constitutional Amendments #2 and #3 Explained
The next two amendments on our ballot address property taxes and victims’ rights. As voters, we have a responsibility to educate ourselves before voting on changes to our state’s highest governing document.
Unlike ordinary statutes, constitutional amendments establish or change provisions that the General Assembly cannot simply revise through ordinary legislation. If approved by voters, these amendments become part of our state constitution, and future legislators may enact laws to implement them within the boundaries of it.
The Question of Amendment One, When to Withhold the Right to Bail?
Our state constitution is purposefully set up to be very difficult to amend. Our state founders, and those who participated in the two subsequent conventions, knew that the supreme law of our state needed to be secured and protected from hasty or temporary changes.
This year, we have three amendments that have worked their way through the legislative branch, and now require the approval of us, the voters.