Tennesseans have a rare opportunity on Nov. 3 to shape the state’s future by writing three key principles into our state constitution. These amendments will help preserve what makes the Volunteer State a place where families thrive, businesses grow and generations stay to build a future.
Each one advances common-sense priorities: keeping dangerous criminals off the streets, shielding homeowners and businesses from a state property tax and giving crime victims clearer, stronger constitutional rights.
Each one has passed the most difficult test our state constitution sets: approval by a majority of the General Assembly in one session, then by two-thirds of both chambers in the next. These are not impulse measures. They are carefully drafted, thoroughly
debated protections for public safety, for taxpayers and for crime victims.
Amendment 1: Vote yes to keep the most dangerous criminals off our streets
Today, our state constitution entitles anyone charged with a crime to bail except in capital cases. Why does that matter? When Austin Drummond walked out of prison in 2024 after serving a 10-year sentence for armed robbery, he still faced new charges for crimes allegedly committed behind bars, including attempted first-degree murder.
Our constitution required that he be offered bail, and he posted bonds for multiple crimes totaling $130,000. While he was free on those bonds, Drummond was arrested and charged with thehorrific murder of four people, including 15-year-old Braydon Williams, in West Tennessee's Lake County.
Amendment 1 gives judges the constitutional authority to hold career criminals like Drummond without bail before trial when evidence of guilt is strong and certain standards are met. The power applies to a narrow list of serious offenses: capital crimes, acts of terrorism, second-degree murder, aggravated rape of a child, aggravated rape, grave torture and any serious crime that requires an offender to serve at least 85% of the sentence. And when judges make a decision to hold without bail, they must explain their reasons on the record.
Amendment 1 offers a targeted safeguard against the most dangerous defendants, not a blanket denial of bail. Families should not have to worry that someone charged with heinous crimes will be back in the community before trial simply because a judge’s hands are tied.
Amendment 2: Vote yes to permanently ban a state property tax
Tennessee has not levied a state property tax since 1949. Amendment 2 ensures it never will.
Tennesseans in 2014 voted to permanently ban a state income tax in our constitution. Our state has thrived because families and employers know the government will never come after their paychecks. That assurance has made our state one of the nation's strongest economies. We consistently rank among the top states forfiscal stability with one of thelowest tax burdens in the nation.
Amendment 2 extends that same certainty to homes, farms and small businesses.
Opponents argue the amendment is unnecessary because no such tax exists. That is exactly the point. The time to lock the door is before someone opens it. Times change. Revenues rise and fall, budgets tighten. A future General Assembly could be tempted to stack a state levy on top of the local property taxes you already pay. Amendment 2 takes that option off the table. It leaves property taxation where it belongs: with county and city governments accountable to local voters.
Amendment 3: Vote yes to give victims a voice
Tennesseans added victims’ rights to our constitution in 1998.
That was an important first step, but too many victims and their families still find themselves in the dark, caught off guard by parole hearings, blindsided by early releases and left vulnerable to continued harassment by the very people who harmed them. It’s time to build on that foundation and ensure victims’ rights are protected not just in principle, but in practice.
Amendment 3, also known asMarsy's Law, strengthens those protections. Victims would gain the right to be heard in any proceeding involving release, plea, sentencing or parole; to be protected from harassment and intimidation by the offender; and to be informed of the minimum sentence an offender will actually serve and the scheduled release date.
It also reaffirms existing rights to restitution, to notice of escapes and transfers and to a prompt conclusion of the case.
Due process for the accused is protected. Amendment 3 cannot be used to overturn a conviction. It does not limit prosecutors or judges, and it creates no new lawsuits against the state. Amendment 3 only ensures victims who have suffered a terrible crime are not treated as an afterthought.
Finish the ballot
Every voter should know an amendment passes only if “yes” votes outnumber “no” votes and exceed half of all votes cast for governor. Leaving a question blank works the same as voting “no.”
So, please take a few minutes.Read the amendments. Then vote yes, yes and yes: for safer streets, for taxpayers and for victims who deserve to be heard.
William Lamberth serves as the House Majority Leader for the 114th General Assembly. He represents Tennessee House District 44, which includes part of Sumner County.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why Tennessee voters should vote yes on all three amendments | Opinion
