Report: Hill pressed ‘kill lists’ on committee chairmen

Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis), right, and Sen. Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) attend an NFIB event in Nashville on Feb. 19, 2019. (Erik Schelzig, Tennessee Journal)

Rep. Matthew Hill, a Jonesborough Republican who wants to succeed resigning Glen Casada as House speaker, pressed “kill lists” on committee chairman to try to control the flow of legislation through the chamber this year, the Daily Memphian‘s Sam Stockard reports.

Education Chairman Mark White (R-Memphis) says Hill would give him a list of bills that House leadership wanted to “survive” or “not survive” in his committee.

Hill “handed those to me, yeah. I don’t know where it came from there,” White told the publication. Hill would explain “leadership said these bills are not good for us,” he said.

“I’m not saying that’s right or wrong. I’m saying that did happen,” White said, adding that most of the instructions would be delivered during pre-meetings run by Hill and not attended by the general public.

Hill in a statement didn’t deny the existence of “kill lists.”

“The Speaker’s office would examine legislation in order to determine whether it was beneficial or harmful to Tennessee. While some of these initiatives were deemed harmful and were ultimately defeated in their respective committees, other advanced,” Hill told the Daily Memphian.

White said he declined to try to influence the votes of his colleagues.

“I left that up to each individual member, and I would judge each bill on its own merit,” he said.

Read the full report here.