Looking through a copy of the 2021-22 edition of the Tennessee Blue Book recently left me surprised by the number of new faces in the state General Assembly.
By new faces, I mean lawmakers with less than eight years of experience on Capitol Hill.
These new faces will likely be joined by even more newcomers following the November election.
When I began working for this paper in 1987, one of my editors handed me a copy of a Blue Book (which actually has a blue binding) and told me I would be given a test on it.
There was no test, but I did learn many things about Tennessee from reading it. I learned there are 95 counties in this state.
I learned how each branch of government works in this state, as well as the names of the people who make state government work.
Within its pages are listings of all the historic sites in Tennessee (Rocky Mount and the Chester Inn are among them), a rundown of all the governors of this state (including Carter County-born siblings Bob and Alf Taylor) and the origins behind the names of each county in Tennessee.
Washington County, by the way, was the first county in any state to be named after George Washington.
I learned that the raccoon is Tennessee’s official wild animal.
How about Tennessee’s official airplane? Yes, Tennessee has an official airplane, and it’s one of the new items you’ll find in this edition of the Blue Book.
The state General Assembly voted in 2017 to designate the Memphis Belle, the legendary B-17 “Flying Fortress” from World War II, as Tennessee’s official airplane.
The Blue Book is published by the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office every two years. It is released at the beginning of the second year of the General Assembly’s two-year legislative term. Tennessee remains one of the few states that still produces such free guidebooks.
It includes photos and biographies of all 99 members of the state House and 33 members of the Senate, which makes the Blue Book very popular in election years such as this. State legislators often distribute copies to schoolchildren, libraries and civic clubs.
You can obtain an autographed copy of one by contacting your legislator, or by calling the Secretary of State’s publications office at (615) 741-2650.
You can also go the Secretary of State’s website at tn.gov/sos and click on publications to get a hard copy or read one online.
The 132 members of the General Assembly are considered to be citizen legislators. That means they are not paid to be full-time lawmakers. Most have jobs or professions that they must tend to back home in their districts.
As such, being a state legislator is not the most glamorous job one can hold in Tennessee politics.
The hours during the legislative session are long and the travel for legislators, particularly those who live in Northeast Tennessee, can be tedious and exhausting.
In looking through the biographies of lawmakers in the new Blue Book, I found the many have listed “business owner” as their primary occupations. A majority of those doing so — at least 25 — are in the House of Representatives.
There are more than 26 lawmakers who have put down “retired” as their occupation. Seven of them are in the state Senate.
Six of the General Assembly’s 25 attorneys of the law are also in the Senate.
One profession that I have seen decline among the ranks of the General Assembly in the last three decades is that of farmer. Only six have listed farming or ranching as their chief occupation in the latest Blue Book.
