Brian Kelsey is an American politician and a member of the Tennessee State Senate. Kelsey is the only legislator in Tennessee history to sponsor two successful amendments to the state constitution: one forever prohibited a state income tax, and the other followed a Founding Fathers model for selecting appellate judges. He was elected to represent District 31, which encompasses the following parts of Shelby County: Cordova, East Memphis, and Germantown.
Kelsey works as a constitutional lawyer for the Liberty Justice Center, representing clients throughout the country for free whose constitutional rights have been violated. Liberty Justice Center, Oct. 2018–present The Kelsey Firm, PLLC, Aug. 2009 - Oct. 2018 Federalist Society, Memphis Lawyers Chapter Board Member and former Law School Chapter President University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, Fall 2017 Adjunct Law Professor on Lobbying University of Memphis, Fall 2010 & Fall 2011 as an Undergraduate Adjunct Professor of Constitutional Law
Eighty-Third House District
Brian Kelsey was first elected as a state representative to the 104th Tennessee General Assembly. He served on the House Children and Family Affairs Committee; the House Commerce Committee; the House Domestic Relations Subcommittee; and the House Utilities, Banking and Small Business Subcommittee. Kelsey was the former chairman of the House Civil Practice Subcommittee.
Thirty-First Senate District
Kelsey ran for the District 31 seat vacated after the resignation of former Senator Paul Stanley. In 2010, Kelsey won re-election for a full term as the Senator from the Thirty-First District. In the 106th General Assembly, Kelsey served on the Senate Government Operations Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee. In the 107th General Assembly, Kelsey was assigned to the Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee; the Senate Judiciary Committee; and he was named Secretary of the SenateEducation Committee. Kelsey was also admitted to the Joint Committee on Fiscal Review, which consists of members from both chambers who oversee the Fiscal Review Office. During the 110th General Assembly, Kelsey serves as the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He supported Rick Perry for Republican primary of the presidential election of 2012. Kelsey is a member in the American Legislative Exchange Council, having attended meetings of the organization. Kelsey ran unopposed in 2014 for the District 31 seat.
Political positions
Kelsey is the only legislator in Tennessee history to sponsor two successful amendments to the state constitution: forever prohibited a state income tax, and the other followed a Founding Fathers model for selecting appellate judges. He also sponsored the governor's comprehensive tort reform act in 2011, and passed a law to prohibit ObamaCare Medicaid expansion in Tennessee in 2014. In 2019, his conference committee report instituting an Education Savings Account program was signed into law by Governor Bill Lee.
