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1/06/2021 - After years of Mid-South voters hitting the polls to decide if first responders should be required to live where they work, Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey of Germantown is hoping state lawmakers will decide the issue once and for all.
Kelsey filed a bill Wednesday that would let first responders, such as police officers, live wherever they choose. It would ban residency requirements statewide for law enforcement and firefighters.
Supporters of residency requirements argue first responders better serve their communities when they live in the area where they work.
In August 2020, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland pushed to allow voters to decide whether to relax Shelby County residency requirements, which say officers and firefighters must live in Shelby County. Strickland supported changing that to within 50 miles of Memphis. The city council voted to remove the issue from the November ballot, but the mayor vetoed that in an effort to get it back on the ballot. The council then vetoed the mayor’s veto, keeping the issue off the November ballot.