The Tennessee Court of Appeals heard arguments on Thursday over whether or not a state law taking control of Metro’s airport authority violated the Home Rule Amendment of the Tennessee constitution.
In October 2023, a three-judge panel unanimously ruled to strike down the law, but the state filed an appeal one month later. The law, passed during the 2023 legislative session, came during an onslaught of legislation targeting Nashville. The wave also included a bill to cut the Metro Council in half, a bill that would have undone part of the fairgrounds charter and a law that would have given the state control of Metro’s sports authority board. So far, Metro has been successful in getting all four laws thrown out.
“Metro Nashville challenged each of these statutes on Home Rule Amendment grounds,” Metro Legal attorney Melissa Roberge said. “And as we stand here today, all of those statutes have been enjoined.”
The Home Rule Amendment of the Tennessee Constitution says that the state legislature cannot pass laws targeting one single local government. The three-judge panel agreed with Metro that this bill, which vacated a mayor-appointed board and replaced it with a board appointed by Gov. Bill Lee and the speakers of the House and the Senate, violated the Home Rule Amendment.
“[The bill] starts by using metropolitan airport authorities, that’s Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga,” Roberge said, explaining how the bill singles out Nashville. “And then the funnel gets more narrow with a population threshold of 500,000 so now we just have Nashville and Memphis, and then they use the form of government classification, and now we just have Metro Nashville.”
The state argued that in the future, other jurisdictions, such as Shelby County, could consolidate to become a metropolitan form of government, therefore being affected by the law. But the questioning by Thursday’s three-judge panel — comprised of Jeffrey Usman, Neal McBrayer and Thomas Frierson — was skeptical of this argument.
“Does that render the substantive provision of the Tennessee constitution then little more than a drafting hurdle for the legislature if you can draft it in such a way that theoretically, it’s possible you don’t have to change anything, but realistically it’s never going to apply to any other jurisdiction?” Usman asked.
Shelby County has attempted to consolidate on three occasions and failed each time.
Assistant Solicitor General Philip Hammersley also argued that the oversight of the airport is a matter of statewide concern and therefore should not be affected by the equal protection guarantee in the Tennessee Constitution, which “ensures that similarly situated entities receive equal treatment.”
BNA is, by far, the busiest commercial airport in the state, and one of the legislature’s big arguments in passing the bill was that the state should have some say in oversight of such an essential part of Tennessee’s economy.
“That new traffic creates unique problems among metropolitan airports, including an unprecedented need for more gates, more concourses, more parking, and more amenities,” reads the state’s brief. “Along with the singular regulatory problems that growth in traffic creates for Nashville International Airport, it also generates unparalleled economic growth.”
But again, this seemed to raise some eyebrows from Usman, who questioned if this argument contradicted the state’s Home Rule argument.
“In your brief, as you transition into the equal protection analysis, the first arguments you make are specific to Nashville’s airport,” said Usman. “Now to say that the idiom of having your cake and eating it too comes to mind here in terms of can you argue at the local legislation based upon population, type of government and then argue in equal protection analysis, in terms of Nashville’s airport? Doesn’t it have to be one way or the other here?”
The judges gave no indication of when they might release an opinion, but as of now Metro will retain control of the airport authority board unless the appellate court overturns the trial court’s opinion.