Kirk A. Bado

USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

Legally recognizing only marriages between a man and a woman could cost the state over $9 billion, according to the Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act's extensive fiscal note .

Sponsored by Rep. Mark Pody , R-Lebanon, and Sen. Mae Beavers , R-Mt. Juliet, the bill states that it is the policy of Tennessee to defend only “natural marriage between one man and one woman regardless of any court decision to the contrary.”

This is a direct contrast to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legally recognizes same-sex marriages across the nation.

“The bill will result in marriages of same-sex couples being null and void in Tennessee, whether married in Tennessee or in another state; and will also result in same-sex married couples being denied services offered to different-sex married couples,” the fiscal note concludes.

This means that over $7 billion in federal funds to TennCare could be jeopardized if the health service organization denies coverage to same-sex couples that would otherwise be eligible under federal law. Additionally, over $2 billion in funds from the Department of Human Services would also be at risk.

The $9 billion price tag does not include the decrease in state and local revenue on marriage licenses or loss of business, nor does it include legal fees that the state would incur from any lawsuits stemming from the new law.

"I'm a fiscal conservative, I want to fight for every single dollar we have up here, but I'm not going to be bullied by potential threats by the federal government," Pody said.

The Wilson County lawmakers are familiar with wading into contentious social issues.

Both Beavers and Pody were sponsors of the controversial “bathroom bill” which could have put over $1 billion in federal funds at risk as well. The bill, which would have required students in public schools to use the bathroom corresponding with the sex listed on their birth certificate, failed died for the session in a Senate committee on Wednesday.

Read more: Tennessee bathroom bill dead in the Senate

Earlier this session, the lawmakers were both run out of their own news conference announcing their controversial bills by protesters . Beavers is also mulling a run for governor as a conservative option after the news surfaced that gubernatorial candidate Sen. Mark Green, R-Clarksville, is under strong consideration to be named secretary of the Army.

LGBT rights advocates have condemned the marriage bill as another example of the "slate of hate," the state legislature has proposed this session.

"We have watched again and again as lawmakers propose legislation that sends the clear message that LGBT Tennesseans are less than — that they and their families deserve fewer rights than others," Hedy Weinberg, the executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee, said at a news conference earlier this month.

The bill will be heard in the House Civil Justice Subcommittee on Tuesday.

Reach Kirk A. Bado on Twitter @kirk_bado