House Speaker Cameron Sexton is facing questions about his residency. Here’s what to know.

Reports that House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, bought a home in Nashville have sparked accusations that one of Tennessee’s most powerful leaders no longer lives in the district he represents and has inappropriately received thousands of dollars in state-funded expense payments.

So what are the rules about residency for lawmakers and did Sexton run afoul of them?

The Tennessean talked to legal and ethics experts and pulled property and utility records to understand the issues at play, why it matters where Sexton lives, how other lawmakers pay for lodging in Nashville and how Tennessee law determines the legal residence of someone who owns more than one home.

Why are we talking about this? 

Sexton bought a $589,000 condo in Nashville in September 2021 through a trust, the Substack newsletter Popular Information, published by Judd Legum, a former Clinton aide and founder of ThinkProgress, reported this month. The property was not purchased under Sexton’s name, and was instead bought by “The Becanni Trust.”

House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, presides over the state House on Monday, April 10.

The report also noted Sexton’s young daughter attends a school in the Nashville area, alleging that because Sexton owns a home in Nashville, and sold a longtime residence in Crossville, he is no longer qualified to represent his district, and should not be allowed to claim expense payments for lodging in Nashville. The report follows the Sexton-led effort to expel two Democrats from the House.

In response to Popular Information’s reporting, two county Democratic Party groups in Sexton’s district – led by a rival for his District 25 seat in last November’s election – have called for the speaker to resign. Nearly 20,000 people have signed an online petition calling for his resignation.

Sexton has no intention of stepping down from the speakership, he told reporters Thursday. No current member of the House Republican Caucus has publicly called for Sexton to resign or called for a vote of no confidence.

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Where does Cameron Sexton live? 

Sexton told reporters he considers his Crossville condo – which is roughly half the size of the Nashville condo – his home.

“I live in Crossville,” Sexton told reporters Thursday. “As you know, we’re here five months out of the year and then we go back on the weekends and then, so forth. But I live in Crossville. My home is in Crossville.”

Sexton bought a condo about 10 miles from his longtime house in Crossville with his wife Lacey in July 2020 for $184,900, according to property records. Then in October 2020, the Sextons sold that house for $420,000, leaving them with their condo as the only property in Crossville. Nearly a year later, they would purchase the Nashville condo using their trust.

Sexton told The Tennessean in an interview that he and his wife purchased the Crossville condo to be close to other family members.

Why didn’t Sexton purchase his Nashville condo under his own name?

It is not uncommon for public figures to purchase property in a trust for liability, privacy and estate planning purposes. Sexton declined to comment on the record regarding his decision to purchase the Nashville property through a trust.

Where does state law require elected representatives to live?

Article II, Section 5a of Tennessee’s Constitution requires state lawmakers to be qualified voters of the district they represent. Candidates who are not qualified voters in their district could face legal challenges before an election. Likewise, results could be challenged immediately after an election.

Lawmakers also receive reimbursement for expenses, known as per diems, based on their residence’s proximity to the state Capitol.

Where is Cameron Sexton registered to vote?

Sexton is registered to vote in Crossville. He has voted in Republican primaries there since at least 2008, according to his voting record.

How does Sexton describe splitting his time between Crossville and Nashville?

While his young daughter attends school in the Nashville area, Sexton said he considers his family condo in Crossville to be his primary residence.

“Even the mortgage will say that’s my primary mortgage,” Sexton told The Tennessean.

Sexton, his wife Lacey and young daughter Greer spend weekends, summers and holidays in Crossville, and are active locally, he said.

“We go to church in Crossville,” he said. “Greer played Upward basketball this year and I reffed Upward basketball this year. I get my hair cut in Crossville. I play golf in Crossville. People see me out to eat when I’m in Crossville.”

How does the law determine someone’s residence if they own two homes?

For the purposes of election law, “you can only have one residence,” said Nashville attorney David Raybin. But under Tennessee law, a residence does not transfer from one property to another based on how much time a person spends at one location.

“What you’re looking for here is a change of residence,” Raybin said. “It’s not whether [Sexton] is a resident of one county or another. The question is has he changed his residence to Davidson County?”

To determine if a person’s residence has changed, a court would weigh several factors laid out in statute. The size or value of the property, however, is not one of those factors.

A factor cited by Sexton’s critics states that “the place where a married person’s spouse and family have their habitation is presumed to be the person’s place of residence.”

Another part of that same law states that “a person does not gain or lose residence solely by reason of the person’s presence or absence while employed in the service of the United States or of this state.”

The law also says that a court could look at where a person is licensed for activities such as driving, where they register property, like a car, or the location of the person’s occupation to determine if residency has been changed.

“I’m not going to render an opinion,” Raybin said. “But I will say it’s a close question.”

The law doesn’t mention the consumption of utilities like electricity or water as a deciding factor, but water bills for the Crossville condo show water usage there did not decline after the Sextons’ purchased their Nashville home. For example, in August 2021, the month before the Nashville purchase, records show 2,800 gallons were billed to the address. In August 2022, that number actually grew to 7,700.

Water consumption was also lower during the legislative session than in the following months, the records showed. In 2022, the property used 6,100 gallons from January to April and 14,200 gallons from May to August.

How does the state reimburse lawmakers for travel to and from Nashville? 

In addition to their base salary, Tennessee law requires the state to reimburse lawmakers at a set per diem allowance related to lodging, meal, and incidental costs for days worked on official legislative business.

Members who live more than 50 miles away from the state Capitol are entitled to a higher per diem rate ($313 per day in 2023) than members who live within a 50-mile radius ($79 per day in 2023), to cover the cost of staying overnight.

The state also reimburses a member’s mileage to and from the state Capitol at 62 cents per mile.

Because the speaker of the House of Representatives travels with a state driver and a Tennessee Highway Patrol security detail, Sexton has not collected state-paid mileage expenses since being elected speaker in 2019, legislative records show.

But after buying his Nashville house, Sexton received $9,156 in out-of-town per diem expenses in late 2021, $49,454 in 2022 and $14,085 through the first quarter of 2023, according to legislative records. Critics have argued that Sexton should not be receiving those funds if his residence is in Nashville.

Are lawmakers allowed to collect per diem if they own a home in Nashville? 

Yes. State law does not specify what type of lodging lawmakers are permitted to spend per diem allowance on.

“What they choose to do with that is really up to them,” said Doug Himes, ethics counsel for the Tennessee House. “Some of them have condos. Some of them get Airbnbs. Some of them rent an apartment year-round.”

“In the old days, people got a lot of hotels. But that was before hotel prices went to $500 a night,” Himes said.

When Jimmy Naifeh served as House speaker from 1991 to 2009, he traveled to Nashville from his district just north of Memphis. The last Democrat to hold the speaker’s gavel, Naifeh told The Tennessean he started his career staying in downtown Nashville hotels before he began renting a Nashville condo. Eventually, the condo went on the market and Naifeh decided to buy it, he said. Property records show Naifeh bought the condo in 2005 under his own name.

Property records also show that Naifeh purchased property in Nashville with his ex-wife, lobbyist Betty Anderson, while serving as speaker.

Naifeh used his per diem to pay for his Nashville condo, he said.

“I had to,” Naifeh said. “That’s what per diem is for.”

Naifeh traveled home to Covington every weekend and his kids attended Tipton County public schools, he said. He declined to speculate on Sexton’s situation but noted that it’s up to the voters in Sexton’s district to decide if his living arrangements are a problem.

Is Sexton claiming more out-of-town per diem than rank-and-file House members? 

During 2022, Sexton billed the state for 52 office working days while the legislature was not in session, according to the legislative House per diem ledger.

Five House members collected more per diem days outside of session than Sexton did: Rep. G. A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, claimed 128 per diem days; Rep. Torrey Harris, D-Memphis, claimed 100 per diem days; Rep. Jesse Chism, D-Memphis, claimed 84 per diem days; Rep. Scott Cepicky, R-Culleoka, claimed 61 per diem days; and Rep. Mary Littleton, R-Dickson, claimed 60 days.

Does Sexton feel having a residence in Nashville has impacted his ability to advocate for his district? 

Democrats in his home district have argued Sexton hasn’t spent enough time in his district.

“Even if it’s determined Sexton merely violated the ‘spirit’ of the residency requirement, his absence from the district means he and his family don’t experience the consequences of his actions or failures to act in the House,” said Cumberland County Democratic Party Chair Anne Ferrell Quillen in a statement last week. “Those of us who live here do.”

Sexton has spent more time in Nashville since he was elected speaker in 2019, but he said the additional responsibilities have not hindered his ability to represent his district of 12 years.

“I think people back home appreciate that I am their representative – I think they appreciate that they’re represented by the speaker,” Sexton said. “I think their confidence and their votes for me over the years shows that that’s the case – because the percentage keeps going up.”

Sexton first won the district earning 67% of the vote in 2010. Last November, he won with 83% of the vote.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: House Speaker Cameron Sexton faces questions over residency