SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

February 13, 2024

The legislative session of the Tennessee General Assembly is in full swing. Many bills are still in the early stages, often referred to as "caption bills". We will be watching each week to track amendments as we also wait for the Governor's school choice bill to be made available for review.

A comprehensive update of our watch list is coming this week. In the meantime, we felt it crucial to get the flag bill amendment in front of our members. The bill is scheduled to be in committee in both chambers tomorrow as detailed below.

HB 1605 House Education Administration Committee

SB 1722 Senate Education Committee

~ CAVEAT EMPTOR ~

Beware the Amendments

We are early in the session. Many bills will be amended, perhaps even rewritten. Every statement of support for any bill as we move through the session carries the qualifier "in its current form".

This flag bill amendment is not available online anywhere (that we could find) and as such, we felt it important to share. Our legislative team received a copy of the amendment after a direct request was made to the General Assembly.

Do you have time and energy? Please volunteer to help our legislative team track (chase) down amendments.

Email: [email protected]

The Amendment

Concerns with (F) and (G) (Above):

Broad range of interpretations of political subdivisions of this state and or other countries.

Concerns with (J) (Below):

A teacher may display a range of flags as part of a curriculum, subject to interpretation.

Concerns with (F) (Below):

An organization "duly authorized to use a public school building" could be something such as the "After School Satan Club" that recently met on school property, with authorization, at an ELEMENTARY school in Tennessee.

Concerns with (3) (Below):

Allowing "10 days to remedy a violation". What happens if the violation occurs repeatedly and is cured in 9 days? Or 8 days? Can a flag be hung up and taken down every 9 days and avoid a lawful cause of action?

Please share your thoughts with our team and your community.

An appropriate age-old saying comes to mind:

"the devil is in the details".

It may be better to go back to the drawing board than to move forward on our current course with this bill.