Matthew Hill

Hill was first elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2004 as a member of the Republican Party. Hill was then a member of the Children and Family Affairs Committee, the Transportation Committee, the Domestic Relations Subcommittee, and the Public Safety and Rural Roads Subcommittee.

During the 2004 7th House District election, Hill was quoted by a local newspaper as stating that he "would only vote for an income tax if there was a war."[18]

A 2005 article within Business Tennessee Magazine cited Hill as a "...firebrand political conservative," who "...championed social issues to recently get elected to the state House of Representatives representing Johnson City and Washington County."[19]

Hill was first re-elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2006, defeating Fred Phillips, former Washington County Sheriff and Tennessee Department of Safety Director, in the general election.[20][21]

Among the 2006 legislation sponsored by Hill in the Tennessee General Assembly is HB2921, authorizing (upon passage) "...the display, in county and municipal public buildings..., of replicas of historical documents and writings" including the Ten Commandments religious displays. Former Rep. Jerome Cochran of Carter County introduced HB2921 in the Tennessee House Constitutional Protections subcommittee[22] – of which Hill is not a standing member – and Hill's HB2921 legislation died peacefully in subcommittee.[23]

Another 2006 bill introduced by Matthew Hill, HB2924,[24] would make child rape a capital offense, punishable by death or life imprisonment and would cost Tennessee taxpayers over $15 million each year to carry out the proposal.[25] Hill's HB2924 failed in both the House and the Senate during the 2006 legislative session. The Senate version of Hill's child rape bill, SB2490, was sponsored by State Senator Raymond Finney. Finney has stated since the defeat of both HB2924 and SB2490 within the Tennessee General Assembly that he "...does not plan to continue with his bill."[26]

Rep. Hill was among a handful of Tennessee General Assembly Members within the House of Representatives widely reported during 2009 as a "birther", demanding that U.S President Barack Obama be compelled to present Hill and other legislators with a certified copy of Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate.[14] Hill interviewed the nationally noted "birther" conspiracy advocate Orly Taitz at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Nashville for a February 10, 2009 segment podcasted online by the IRN USA Radio News network during "The Matthew Hill Show.[27] [28]

The Nashville Scene reported on February 9, 2010 that Rep. Matthew Hill introduced his HB2683,[29] legislation that "...would transfer all commercial vehicle inspection and enforcement duties from the Safety Department to the Tennessee Regulatory Authority." The Nashville Scene article also observed that as Rep. Hill's father is a Tennessee Regulatory Authority Director, Hill's proposed TRA legislation would, "... In addition to all this new revenue from tractor-trailer tickets, the TRA and its directors also would gain fabulous new patronage powers under Hill's bill to fill positions outside of civil service for the next two years."[30]

Rep. Hill re-introduced Tennessee workplace legislation during 2010 as HB2685,[31] mandating that employees can only legally speak English at Tennessee workplaces.[32]

During 2011 Rep. Hill introduced his HB1705 nullification bill (sponsored in the Tennessee Senate by Senator Stacey Campfield SB1474) that would direct the Tennessee General Assembly to ...appoint a committee to review all federal laws and regulations for constitutionality; requires the committee to submit for a vote of the general assembly all federal laws and regulations it deems to be invalid under the Tennessee or federal constitutions.[33][34]