When the Tennessee General Assembly reconvenes in January, Republican state Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis, plans to propose a slate of criminal justice bills, including measures that would change bail laws, require law enforcement to report illegal immigrants and reclassify stolen gun charges, among others. 

Taylor also hopes to revive several related bills that didn’t pass during the state’s last legislative session, including a blended sentencing proposal and legislation that would close a loophole in 2022’s truth-in-sentencing law for people charged with aggravated assault. 

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Taylor announced his legislative priorities Wednesday, Dec. 20, from a press conference at Germantown City Hall alongside leaders from Germantown, Bartlett, Collierville, Lakeland and the Memphis Police Association. 

“This crime that we have is unsustainable,” Taylor said. “And unless we do something about it, it will hollow out what’s a great American, Southern city. So I want to do my part to not only pass laws in Nashville that will deal with that but also encourage it to nudge the local elected officials to do what they should be doing and do what they were elected to do in terms of fighting crime.”

One of Taylor’s planned proposals would take power away from local jurisdictions to ban pretextual traffic stops, a move he described as taking “handcuffs off the police department to allow them to do their job.” 

In the past few months, Taylor has repeatedly expressed concerns about Shelby County’s criminal justice system; in November, he called on Gov. Bill Lee to send additional Tennessee Highway Patrol officers to Memphis. In December, he invited State Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, to town to assess local crime.

“We have everything we need in this community to have a safe community,” Taylor said Wednesday. “We’ve got parents; we have the school system; we have law enforcement; we have prosecutors; we have courts and judges; and we have prisons. But, unfortunately, none of these things are working together.”

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Taylor has also sent a series of letters to leaders — including to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee; Stephen Crump, executive director of the Tennessee District Attorneys Conference; Marshall Davidson III, disciplinary counsel of the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct; and Sandy Garrott, executive director of the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility — about his concerns. 

Most recently, on Tuesday, Dec. 19, Taylor sent a letter to Michelle Long, administrative director of the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts, asking for five years of detailed court data for Shelby County.

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In his letters and public statements, Taylor has also criticized Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy for his partnerships with restorative justice organizations and what Taylor considers a lack of prosecution. 

Taylor said he and Mulroy met Monday, Dec. 18, and the DA emphasized his dedication to combating violent crime. 

Mulroy held a press conference Tuesday, Dec. 19, to lay out his own plans to improve public safety, including an initiative that would prioritize prosecuting the perpetrators of 12 types of crime, including murder, carjacking and retail smash-and-grabs. 

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“I will tell you that I was pleased yesterday with the District Attorney for his muscular approach to prosecutions,” Taylor said. “If my efforts contributed to his nudging in the direction of more law and order, then all of this will have been worth it.”

Taylor’s priorities 

• Finish the blended sentencing law
• Close the aggravated assault loophole in 2022’s truth-in-sentencing law
• Create a new crime: Felony possession of a stolen firearm 
• Hold parents accountable for criminal acts carried out by their children by creating civil penalties and strengthening statutes that can lead to parents being charged for aiding in delinquency 
• Allow retail business owners to report thefts right away to law enforcement 
• Enact various bail reforms 
  • Mandate bail minimums for judicial commissioners who set bail for Class A or B felonies
  • Remove the financial condition from consideration in the bail reform that took effect in 2023
  • Make someone’s status as a danger to the community the first consideration when setting bail
  • Authorize pre-trial services to monitor and enforce bail conditions 
  • Mandate a misdemeanor charge for people who violate bail conditions
  • Rotate management of the judicial commissioner program
• Restrict local bans on minor traffic offense stops by law enforcement
• Require an outside DA in the prosecution of law enforcement officers
• Require sheriff’s departments to enter an agreement with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to notify the federal government when illegal immigrants are in custody