We in Tennessee can NOT breathe easier quite yet, despite the cautiously optimistic feeling that the Texas-style copycat bill (HB2779/SB2582) might be dead for this legislative session.
The bill has been removed from both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Health Committee by the request of the Governor and Lt Governor because supposedly they believe the trigger bill they passed last year is better and might lose it’s position in the lawsuit queue if this bill becomes law. (No mention of the insanity of trying to monitor this rogue bounty-hunter bill).
We don’t care what their reasoning is…we just believe that awful legislation should not be passed and should die a quick death!
That said, we also know that the Tennessee legislature can NOT be trusted. They pass awful bills in the middle of the night after saying they won’t. They bargain away our basic constitutional rights to bodily autonomy for budget reconciliation reasons…in the middle of the night.
So folks, it isn’t over until they finally pack up their sorry asses from another brutal and vicious session destroying health care, education and our children!
We can NOT breathe easier until they have left the Capitol for the season. In the meantime, I would still encourage you to contact your Senator and Representative to tell them NO to HB2779/SB2582. https://www.tn.gov/directory/find-your-legislator.