NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Chamber of Commerce is replacing its president following two years of spirited legislative debate over business measures ranging from firearms at the workplace to discrimination against gay employees.
The chamber announced Monday that Deb Woolley’s last day as president of the state’s largest trade association was May 31. No reason was given for her departure, and Woolley did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Business groups this year raised serious concerns over a National Rifle Association-backed bill to guarantee workers the right to store guns in vehicles parked on company lots — regardless of their employers’ wishes.
The measure ultimately failed, but the debate dragged on through most of the legislative session, pitting two key GOP constituencies — firearms and business advocates — against each other.
In a speech to the chamber in April, Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey of Blountville chided the group for making its opposition to the gun-in-parking lots measure its main legislative priority of the year.
“I realize you put G-U-N in a sentence and the subject becomes emotional,” he said. “But let me assure you there are issues that affect us more every day than this that we could use your help on.”
Ramsey also criticized the chamber for its strong support for expanding funding for the state’s public pre-kindergarten program. Haslam has since said that he is mulling an expansion of the pre-K program,.
Haslam told The Associated Press last month that he didn’t think the chamber’s strong opposition to the guns measure would hurt its other legislative initiatives, including on pre-K.
“On the guns deal you could say that they made their point,” Haslam said. “I don’t know that the business committee came out of that with any big scars.”
Last year, the chamber first supported a bill seeking to halt local governments from enacting anti-discrimination standards for contractors that are stricter than the state’s. After the bill passed, several large companies including FedEx, AT&T, Whirlpool and Nissan, spoke out against the measure. The chamber eventually changed its position to oppose the measure.
Haslam nevertheless signed the bill into law, saying that while he is opposed to all types of discrimination, he believes “businesses should get to decide for themselves what they have in their policies.”
The law came in response to a Nashville ordinance that required businesses seeking to do business with the city to ban discrimination against gay and lesbian employees.
Bill Ozier, the chairman of the chamber’s board of directors, said in a statement that the association hopes to name a replacement for Woolley before year’s end who will “work with the administration and legislators to uphold Tennessee’s well-deserved reputation as a prosperous and business-friendly state.”
Wayne Scharber, the chamber’s vice president for environment and taxation, has been named interim president.
