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Frank Niceley

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Frank Niceley
Member of the Tennessee Senate
from the 8th district
In office
January 2013 – January 14, 2025
Preceded byDoug Overbey
Succeeded byJessie Seal
Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives
from the 17th district
In office
2005–2012
Preceded byJamie Woodson
Succeeded byAndrew Farmer
Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives
from the 35th district
In office
1988–1992
Preceded byLynn G. Lawson
Succeeded byMonty E Mires
Personal details
Born
Frank Samuel Niceley

(1947-03-03)March 3, 1947
Knox County, Tennessee, U.S.
DiedJune 19, 2025(2025-06-19) (aged 78)
Jefferson City, Tennessee
Political partyRepublican
SpouseCyndie
Children4
ResidenceStrawberry Plains, Tennessee
Alma materUniversity of Tennessee (BS)
ProfessionFarmer

Frank S. Niceley (March 3, 1947[1] – June 19, 2025) was an American politician and long-term Republican member of the Tennessee General Assembly, as a House member and subsequently as a Senator representing the 8th district, consisting of Claiborne, Grainger, Hancock, Hawkins, Jefferson and Union counties. First elected to the House in 1988, he was defeated for re-election to the Senate in 2024.

Early life, education, and career

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Niceley was born in Knox County and grew up in Mascot[2] and on the family dairy farm in Strawberry Plains].[3] After earning a bachelor's degree in soil science from the University of Tennessee in 1969, he became a farmer.[1]

Tennessee General Assembly

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Niceley served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1988 to 1992 (96th and 97th Tennessee General Assemblies). He was elected again in 2004 to serve in the 104th General Assembly, and won re-election in 2006, 2008, and 2010 to serve in the 105th, 106th, and 107th General Assemblies.[4][5] During his first two terms he represented District 35; on his return to the House he represented District 17, which encompassed portions of Knox County and the majority of Jefferson County. He was a member of the House Agriculture Committee; the House Conservation and Environment Committee, House Environment Subcommittee; and the House Parks and Tourism Subcommittee.

In 2012, Niceley won election to the Tennessee Senate, where he represented the 8th district as a member of the 108th through 113th General Assemblies.[1][5] He served until 2024, when he was defeated for re-election in the Republican primary by Jessie Seal after opposing the expansion of the state's school voucher program.[4][6][7][8] In the Senate, he served on the Transportation and Safety; Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources; and Commerce and Labor Committees.[1]

Locally, Niceley was a member of the Tennessee Hunter Alliance and of the Farm Bureau, which enables financial services to farmers.[1]

As a legislator, among other proposals relating to agriculture, Niceley worked toward legalizing hemp cultivation in Tennessee.[4][6] He also sponsored laws to create a lifetime state handgun carry permit and to allow pharmacists to dispense ivermectin.[6] He criticized the authorization of highway toll express lanes through public-private partnerships, and also argued against making cockfighting a state felony,[4] helping to defeat a bill that would have increased the $50 fine for cockfighting to $2,500, saying that cockfighting was a cultural tradition and drew out-of-state tourists.[4][9][10]

Controversial statements

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In 2009, Niceley was one of four Republican members of the Tennessee House who announced plans to join a legal action to force President Barack Obama to release his birth certificate and prove his citizenship.[11][12]

During a Tennessee House committee hearing in February 2012, Niceley declared that coyotes had been introduced to Tennessee by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency to control the wild deer population, but had subsequently become pests that attack livestock. PolitiFact Tennessee determined that coyotes had arrived in the state naturally, and that Niceley had repeated a previously debunked "urban myth".[13]

Niceley rejected mainstream views of climate science. At a December 2017 meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council, he told an E&E News reporter: "I think the whole premise that carbon dioxide is a pollutant is flawed. It's not a pollutant, it's just as natural as oxygen. The trees and plants depend on CO2 just the same way we depend on oxygen."[14]

In 2022, while speaking in favor of a bill that would make camping on any public property punishable by a $50 fine, Niceley cited Adolf Hitler as an example of someone who worked his way out of homelessness.[4][6] Niceley stated, "So, all these people — it's not a dead end, they can come out of this, these homeless camps, and have a productive life or in Hitler's case, a very unproductive life."[15][16]

Personal life and death

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Niceley was Methodist. He had three daughters and a son with his wife Cyndie;[1] his daughter Rachel died in January 2025.[2]

He died in Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Jefferson City of a heart attack on June 19, 2025, at the age of 78, after being found collapsed on his farm in Strawberry Plains.[4][6][17]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Senator Frank Niceley". capitol.tn.gov. Tennessee General Assembly. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  2. ^ a b Vines, Georgiana (June 30, 2025). "RIP Frank". Knoxville News Sentinel. Archived from the original on June 30, 2025.
  3. ^ Glock, Allison (August–September 2014). "Back to the Land". Garden & Gun. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Former Tennessee state Sen. Frank Niceley dies of suspected heart attack". AP News. June 20, 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Senator Frank S. Niceley, R Strawberry Plains: District 8". capitol.tn.gov. Tennessee General Assembly. Archived from the original on February 22, 2013.
  6. ^ a b c d e Praino, Nicolle S. (June 20, 2025). "Former state Sen. Frank Niceley dies at 78". Nashville Post. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  7. ^ Vines, Georgianna (August 12, 2024). "School-voucher opposition cost state Sen. Frank Niceley primary win". Knoxville News Sentinel. Archived from the original on August 13, 2024.
  8. ^ Rold, Ellis; Salvemini, Chris (August 2, 2024). "Several Tennessee incumbents lost in Thursday's Republican primary elections". WBIR. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
  9. ^ Harrison, Kate (May 21, 2011). "Bill to boost cockfighting penalty again defeated: May is prime cockfighting season". Chattanooga Times Free Press. p. B1. ProQuest 867912119.
  10. ^ Pacelle, Wayne (June 23, 2011). "Other Views: Tennessee laxity lures criminals to fights". The Tennessean (Opinion). Vol. 107, no. 174. p. A10 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Emery, Theo (February 13, 2009). "Four Tennessee legislators want Obama to prove citizenship / 4 legislators to be part of Obama suit". The Tennessean. Vol. 105, no. 44. p. B2. ISSN 1053-6590. ProQuest 239917425 – via Newspapers.com. Republished Kleinheider (February 12, 2009). "More Republican Legislators Demand President Prove His Citizenship". Nashville Post.
  12. ^ Woods, Jeff (February 13, 2009). "Democrats Ridicule Lawmaker for Demanding Obama's Birth Certificate". Nashville Scene. Archived from the original on February 15, 2009.
  13. ^ "House committee chairman claims state agency delivered coyotes to cull deer population". PolitiFact Tennessee. February 23, 2012. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012.
  14. ^ Colman, Zack (December 11, 2017). "Politics: Inside the battle for the right's climate conscience". E&E News. Archived from the original on July 14, 2020.
  15. ^ Metzger, Bryan (April 14, 2022). "Tennessee Republican uses Hitler as an example of a homeless person who 'went on to lead a life that got him in the history books' while pushing to criminalize camping on public property". Business Insider. Archived from the original on April 14, 2022. Retrieved April 14, 2022.
  16. ^ Ramirez, Alejandro (April 13, 2022). "Anti-Camping Bill Passes Senate Vote". Nashville Scene. Archived from the original on April 13, 2022. Retrieved April 14, 2022.
  17. ^ DeKalb, Jed (June 19, 2025). "Former State Sen. Frank Niceley dies following heart attack". Citizen Tribune. Morristown, Tennessee.
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