Embattled Legislator Jeremy Durham Ousted from Tennessee House of Representatives [UPDATE]

Update: Embattled State Rep. Jeremy Durham has been expelled from the Tennessee House of Representatives, The Tennessean reported. Durham is under investigation by the attorney general's office for allegedly harassing multiple women and the IRS for campaign finance irregularities.

NASHVILLE, TN — State Rep. Jeremy Durham may not be able to run out the clock and collect his pension after all.

The embattled Franklin Republican legislator — subject of an attorney-general's investigation into serial harassment of women at the Capitol, under investigation by the IRS and state for campaign finance irregularities, and, unusual for an incumbant, the loser of the Republican primary for his House seat — could be ousted from the legislature during the upcoming special session.

Gov. Bill Haslam called the session, to be gaveled in later this month, to save $60 million in federal road funding under threat because of a change in the state's DUI law, and said the General Assembly is free to do whatever it wants about Durham after it takes care of the road money.

Wednesday, Speaker Beth Harwell's office confirmed to the Associated Press "that House rules would still permit a procedural move to oust a sitting member." In an email to The Tennessean, she said she fully expects the House to make such a move and that she hopes it does.

"There will be a motion and a vote on expulsion, and I welcome the opportunity to vote for it," she wrote.

As a practical matter, Harwell said expulsion, being procedural, is always permissible, even in a special session, the scope of which is typically limited by the call of the session.

If Durham is not expelled before November, he would qualify for a pension of roughly $340 a month for the rest of his life. It takes a vote of two-thirds of the House to expel a member.

Image via the State of Tennessee