Tag: Tennessee General Assembly

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Lawmakers Pass Bills Allowing Death Penalty for Child Rapists

Photo by Maria Oswalt on Unsplash

GOP lawmakers still want to kill child rapists in Tennessee and while laws to do it have passed both chambers, death penalty opponents question motives behind the legislation. 

If the governor signs the bill, adults over the age of 18 could face the death penalty if they rape a child under the age of 12. However, judges could also levy lesser punishments to those convicted.

The legislation was sponsored by two powerful lawmakers: House Majority Leader Rep. William Lamberth (R-Cottontown) and Senate Majority Leader Sen. Jack Johnson (R-Franklin). 

The House version of the bill passed Tuesday. The Senate version passed earlier this month. 

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court said a similar idea from Louisiana was “not proportional punishment for the crime of child rape.” In a Tennesseean op-ed published Monday, Johnson said he sponsored the legislation “in an effort to challenge the 2008 Supreme Court ruling.” That part rang a sour note for Tennesseeans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (TADP) which said the statement shows “what this bill is really about.”

“Bottom line: This bill is about overturning Supreme Court precedent and not about protecting our children,” reads an email newsletter sent from the group Tuesday. “If protecting kids was the priority, then lawmakers would listen to the child service providers who continue to publicly share their concerns that this legislation will only chill the reporting of this crime since 90 percent of offenders are family or friends of the child. It will also trap children in decades of capital litigation that will only serve to re-traumatize them, particularly if they have to testify over and over again.” 

Such legislation is on brand for the GOP’s tough-on-crime platform. Conservative lawmakers believe the threat of death is equal to the some crimes and their laws may make some re-consider their actions. But the bill could also open a big door for lawmakers down the road.

Current law says a “defendant guilty of first degree murder” must get a sentencing hearing in which they’ll get the death penalty, a life sentence, or a life sentence without the possibility of parole. This GOP bill removes “first degree murder” wherever it appears in current law and replaces it with “an offense punishable by death.” This would add child rape this year. But it seems to crack the door open for lawmakers to add other offenses in the future. 

For now, though, Johnson and Lamberth are focused on child rapists, who Johnson called “monsters” in his op-ed. 

“Child rape is the most disgraceful, indefensible act one can commit, leaving lasting emotional and psychological wounds on its victims,” he wrote. “As a legislator, and more importantly, as a human being, our responsibility to protect the most vulnerable comes first.”

However, the notion of upending the Supreme Court ruling was on Lamberth’s mind even as he presented the House version of the bill earlier this year. He vowed then to fight for its implementation in court. He noted that in 2008, the court’s ruling came because “not enough states had this type of penalty on the books.”     

“We’re seen other decisions by the Supreme Court overturned,” Lamberth said. “I believe this particular makeup of the court, it leans more towards state’s rights.”

Death penalty executions remain on hold in Tennessee after a scathing report in December 2022 found numerous problems with the state’s execution protocols. 

Two death penalty bills failed in the legislature last year. One would have added firing squads to the state’s options for executions. Another would have brought more transparency to the execution process. 

One death penalty bill passed last year. It gave the Attorney General control over post-conviction proceedings in capital cases, rather than the local District Attorneys. That bill was ruled unconstitutional in July by Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan. 

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School Voucher Plan Dead for the Year

Gov. Bill Lee made passage of education savings accounts, a type of school voucher, the signature legislative goal of his first year in office and proposed creating a statewide school voucher program in 2024. (TN.gov)

In the end, the gulf between competing school voucher bills in Tennessee’s legislature was just too wide to cross.

Gov. Bill Lee acknowledged Monday that his push to create a universal school voucher program — which had been on the ropes for more than a month — was dead for the year after Republican leaders in the Tennessee House and Senate were unable to break through disagreements about testing and funding.

“While we made tremendous progress, unfortunately it has become clear that there is not a pathway for the bill during this legislative session,” Lee said in a statement Monday.

The Republican governor vowed to return with another plan next year and added that he’s disappointed for families “who will have to wait yet another year for the freedom to choose the right education for their child.”

The proposal’s failure this year hands Lee one of the biggest defeats of his administration, now in its second term.

It also signals that for all the momentum vouchers have in Tennessee — including a string of victories in the courts and legislature — Lee’s statewide proposal remains a divisive policy because of its potential to destabilize urban, suburban, and rural public school districts, and add a new burden on state finances.

For now, Tennessee only has its targeted voucher program in three urban counties, which provides taxpayer funding to 2,095 students to pay toward private school tuition, plus a smaller voucher program for students with certain disabilities.

As part of his broader school-choice agenda, the governor wanted his new voucher program to eventually become available to every K-12 student across Tennessee, regardless of their family income, and lawmakers took up two vastly different bills from the House and Senate.

But the chambers deadlocked on two issues, according to Senate Education Committee Chairman Jon Lundberg, the Bristol Republican who worked with House Republican leaders for weeks to try to reach a compromise.

First, in addition to creating a new private school voucher program, the more expansive and expensive House version sought to dramatically reduce testing and accountability for public school students.

“We had worked really hard to get those measures into place,” Lundberg said, “and believe it would be a step backward for our state.”

Second, the House version proposed increasing the state’s contribution toward public school teachers’ medical insurance coverage from 45 percent to 60 percent — and paying for it with funding earmarked for teacher raises.

That funding pathway closed last week when the legislature approved a 2024-25 budget that retained the $125 million that Lee had set aside to increase the annual minimum salary for public school teachers from $42,000 to $44,500, as promised last year by the governor.

“Ultimately, the House and the Senate had looked at education freedom scholarships through two different lenses,” Lundberg told Chalkbeat on Monday. “We looked at it as school-choice legislation. The House looked at it as a way to achieve both school choice and education reform.

“Our perspectives were just so different that we could not come together at the end,” he said.

Timing and cost were factors

As the legislature entered what’s expected to be its final week of the 2024 session, lawmakers worried about the timing of creating an expensive new program in the midst of flattening revenues and during an election year in which most of their names will be on the ballot.

The voucher program would have been expected to grow over time, likely subsidizing tuition for families who would have chosen private schools anyway. In the program’s second year, according to financial analysts, the Senate version’s projected cost was $287 million, while the House version was projected to cost $384 million.

In addition, more than 50 Tennessee school boards were on record opposing the plan. And the research shows little recent evidence that vouchers improve test scores.

The hurdles were especially problematic in the House, where voucher proposals have historically been harder to pass. To win more votes in that chamber, GOP leaders added enticements aimed at public school supporters to reduce testing time for students, require fewer evaluations for high-performing teachers, and give districts extra money to help with their building costs, as well as more funding for teachers’ medical insurance costs.

On Monday, House Speaker Cameron Sexton framed the debate as helpful for future talks even though it didn’t produce a consensus this year.

“Universal school choice came closer to a full vote than it had ever been in the past,” Sexton said in a statement. “We will continue working until all parents have the same opportunity to use their tax dollars to choose the best school for their child.”

Democrats, who were united in their opposition to vouchers, said the governor’s proposal ultimately crumbled because many Tennesseans pushed back on a plan that generated more questions than answers.

“From the start, the governor’s proposal was heavy on talking points and light on the substance of how it would work and how much it actually would cost,” said Sen. Jeff Yarbro of Nashville. “The funding and the accountability pieces were always going to be the sticking points,” he added, “because voucher proponents really want the funding without the accountability.”

Even as voucher supporters quickly promised to try again next year, groups representing the state’s teachers hailed the governor’s loss as a win for Tennesseans.

“Governor Lee’s proposal was poorly written, arriving late in session, and had zero accountability in the plan,” said JC Bowman, executive director of Professional Educators of Tennessee.

The leaders of Arlington Community Schools near Memphis, who issued a fiery statement in December denouncing Lee’s voucher plan as part of a systematic attack on public schools, said they were exhilarated by the legislation’s defeat — and troubled that the governor is already talking about next year.

“He hasn’t even taken a day to understand why his signature bill failed,” said Superintendent Jeff Mayo. “That tells me he doesn’t care to listen to our concerns. The end-game is to ultimately usher vouchers into Tennessee to fund private schools, despite the lackluster evidence that it will actually help students.”

Voucher policies have advanced under Lee

For years, school voucher advocates had watched their policy dream come up short in Tennessee before racking up a string of victories after Lee took office in 2019 amid significant turnover in the GOP-controlled legislature.

Lawmakers passed a bill on a narrow, controversial vote in the House of Representatives during Lee’s first year in office to help create an education savings account program.

The targeted program rolled out in 2022 in Memphis and Nashville for students from low-income families attending low-performing schools. Voucher opponents challenged the law in court and had some early legal wins, but the Tennessee Supreme Court declared the law constitutional in 2022.

After the program’s accelerated rollout and the addition of Hamilton County during its second year, the governor took another big step: proposing a separate statewide Education Freedom Scholarship program to launch this fall with up to 20,000 students, and eventually to eliminate all the geographic and family-income restrictions.

Dueling bills from the House and Senate easily advanced through education committees, but stalled for four weeks in finance committees before the governor accepted defeat.

In his statement Monday, Lee reiterated his reasons for pressing ahead, adding that he’s “never been more motivated.”

“It’s very simple,” he said. “This is about every Tennessee student having the opportunity to succeed, regardless of their ZIP code or income level, and without question, empowering parents is the best way to make sure that happens.”

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

Memphis reporter Laura Testino contributed to this report. Contact her at ltestino@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

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Bills Against Reparations Before House, Senate

Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis), left, and state Rep. John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge), right, sponsor the legislation Photo: State of Tennessee)

State lawmakers don’t want Shelby County leaders — or any local government in Tennessee — to study giving reparations “to individuals who are the descendants of persons who were enslaved.” 

Shelby County Commissioners approved a $5 million study of reparations in February 2023. A new committee was established to study the impact of giving local money to local African Americans. The committee would focus on the potential impact on access to housing and homeownership, healthcare, the criminal justice system, career opportunities, financial literacy, and generational wealth.

Bills to stop this were filed by Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) and state Rep. John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge). Ragan told House members Tuesday that “unfortunately” Shelby County was already at work on this. He said the county does not have legal authority to do it, nor is the move on solid constitutional footing. 

“Despite any good … intentions of such actions, [reparations] have not fostered and can never enhance community healing and unity,” Ragan said. “Rather the real impact divides us and generates more bitterness. Ill-founded accusations of collective guilt and group punishment for wrongs no one in the group could have ever committed creates resentment, always.”

Ragan explained slavery is among the most unconscionable human evils. “This is true where the enslavers were an African monarchy or a Mexican cartel,” he added.

His speech was cut short here as Black House members called out from their desks, seeking to correct Ragan. State Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis) called Ragan’s assertion that Africans were partially responsible for American slavery “mean-spirited” and “insulting.”

“There was no shipping across the Atlantic of slaves until the Europeans went to Africa — at the behest, sometimes, of their government entities and privateers — to exploit Africans on the continent of Africa, and cruelly — for 400 years — bring them back to America, only to be mistreated,” Parkinson said.

Kings in what is now the African country of Benin sold slaves to European merchants for more than 200 years, according to a 2018 story in The Washington Post. Those sold were usually members of rival tribes, the story says.   

“The overwhelming majority of slaves sold to Europeans had not been slaves in Africa,” reads a blog post from Digital History on the University of Houston website. “They were free people who were captured in war or were victims of banditry or were enslaved as punishment for certain crimes.”

“While there had been a slave trade within Africa prior to the arrival of Europeans, the massive European demand for slaves and the introduction of firearms radically transformed West and Central African society.”

Debate on the reparations bill did not make it back to the House floor Tuesday as lawmakers moved on to other business to untangle rules on who could speak on the bill and when. 

Before the bill stalled, though, Rep. Larry Miller (D-Memphis) offered a series of amendments to the bill to slow its momentum this year. Those were tabled or voted down. 

However, introducing them allowed Miller to speak his mind about the legislation. He argued for the right of a local government to make its own decision in the matter of spending its own, local tax dollars. He, then, took aim at Ragan’s motives.

“What’s inside of you to make you want to further say, ‘Look, you can’t study our history. You can’t even talk about our history. You can’t even spend your local tax dollars to talk about it, to study it’?” Miller asked. “That is so antiquated. 

“It’s a cruel intent, in my opinion, to say to people in this state, especially African-American people in this state, ‘We don’t want to talk about it anymore.’”

The Senate was set to take up its version of the bill Wednesday afternoon. 

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Lee’s School Voucher Bill Not Expected to Advance

Credit: Tennessee Lookout

The plan to expand school vouchers statewide is not expected to pass the Tennessee House Finance Ways and Means subcommittee Tuesday, a source confirmed to the Tennessee Lookout. 

The legislation’s failure in the finance subcommittee likely sends it back to the clerk’s desk and requires it to go through the committee process again, all but guaranteeing that the bill won’t pass this legislative session. 

The Tennessee Journal first reported Monday that the voucher bill was dead. 

Three different versions of the school voucher program floated around the Capitol this session:

• A House version that includes several sweeteners for public school advocates, such as less student testing and extra funding for school infrastructure.

• A Senate version with no sweeteners but testing requirements for students who receive vouchers.

• A Gov. Bill Lee version that had no extra funding for public schools or testing requirement but created the base program and provided funding for 20,000 scholarships with ability to expand to every student

The Senate and House have been stuck over items such as testing reduction, which the Senate opposes, and transfer of students from public district to another, a provision the House dislikes. Lawmakers vary in their opposition to the plan, but many dislike the proposal because of concerns raised by public schools officials in their districts.

Ultimately, though, many lawmakers have grown leery of the proposal because right-wing groups have been opposing it because of the potential impact on homeschool families and private schools that might have to give standardized tests.

One of the few remaining decisions for lawmakers is whether to sock away the $144 million it would take to start the private-school voucher program or spend the money in the fiscal 2024-25 budget.

On Monday, Lee and legislative leaders met at the State Capitol, but no compromise was publicly announced. 

The voucher program, which lawmakers had titled “education freedom scholarships” during an announcement in November, has long been Lee’s top priority. He first introduced a similar voucher bill in 2019, but under pressure to pass it, he took out the universal aspect and targeted it at the Democratic-controlled counties of Davidson and Shelby. It has since expanded to Hamilton County. 

Along with Lee’s advocacy, the voucher program also had the backing of the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity and the American Federation for Children, which is affiliated with former Republican Secretary of Education Betsy Devos. 

American Federation for Children sent text messages attacking at least one Republican for not supporting vouchers. 

The money pushing for a statewide school voucher program means the concept is unlikely to go away. Lee could call a special session to pass a voucher program, but it’s election year and lawmakers are not allowed to raise money while in session.

The failure of the voucher bill also means these groups, along with several others, are likely to play a significant role in Republican primaries held later this year. The entire state House and half the Senate are up for re-election in 2024. 

Tennessee lawmakers are expected to finish their legislative session over the next two weeks. The voucher bill was one of the major sticking points left before members could head home and start campaigns. 

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.

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Bill: Teachers Could Go Armed and Parents Couldn’t Know

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

Legislation to let some public school teachers carry handguns advanced Tuesday in the Tennessee Senate as the Republican-controlled legislature quashed new attempts to tighten the state’s lax firearm laws following last year’s mass school shooting in Nashville.

The bill, which still faces votes before the full Senate and House, would let a teacher or staff member carry a concealed handgun at school after completing 40 hours of certified training in school policing at their own expense, as well as passing a mental health evaluation and FBI background check.

The local district and law enforcement agency would decide whether to let faculty or staff carry a gun under the bill co-sponsored by Sen. Paul Bailey of Sparta and Rep. Ryan Williams of Cookeville, both Republicans.

But parents would not be notified if their student’s teacher is armed, which runs counter to the GOP’s emphasis on parental rights and notification on education matters such as curriculum and library materials.

“The director of schools, principal, and the chief of the local law enforcement agency are the only ones notified of those permitted to carry,” Bailey told senators, “and they are not to disclose if someone is or is not permitted to carry on school grounds.”

The 7-1 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee comes as Tennessee’s legislature continues to pass measures aimed at fortifying school campuses rather than restricting gun access in one of the most gun-friendly states in America.

Last year, after a shooter killed three children and three adults at a private Christian school in Nashville, the legislature allocated $230 million and passed laws to upgrade school facilities, pay for a school resource officer for every school, and ensure school doors remain locked.

Gov. Bill Lee later called lawmakers back for a special session on public safety. But none of the bills that passed specifically addressed concerns about easy access to guns that were raised by the March 27 shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School, where a 28-year-old intruder, who police said was under a doctor’s care for an “emotional disorder,” used legally purchased guns to shoot through the glass doors.

This year, bills moving through the legislature would require age-appropriate gun safety training for school children as young as kindergarten; change school fire alarm protocols to take into account active-shooter situations; create a pilot program to give teachers wearable alarms; increase safety training for school bus drivers; and set guidelines to digitize school maps so first responders can access school layouts quickly in an emergency, among other things.

Meanwhile, Democratic-sponsored legislation to restrict gun access by broadening background checks and promoting secure firearm storage have met swift defeats. Earlier on Tuesday, one House panel dismissed, without discussion, a bill seeking to ban semi-automatic rifles in Tennessee.

School safety is one of the top three education concerns of Tennessee parents, but significantly fewer parents agree that schools are safer when teachers are armed, according to the latest results in an annual poll from the Vanderbilt Center for Child Health Policy.

Sen. London Lamar, a Memphis Democrat who voted against the measure, said more guns aren’t the solution to stopping gun violence.

“I do not think that it is the responsibility of teachers in our state, who have taken the oath to educate our children, to now become law enforcement officers,” she said.

Lamar also expressed concern about one provision to shield districts and law enforcement agencies from potential civil lawsuits over how a teacher or school employee uses, or fails to use, a handgun under the proposed law.

Organizations representing Tennessee teachers and school superintendents prefer policies that place an officer in every school over any that could arm faculty.

But Bailey told the Senate panel that nearly a third of the state’s 1,800-plus public schools still don’t have a school resource officer, despite an influx of state money to pay for them.

Law enforcement groups have struggled to recruit enough candidates because of inadequate pay, occupational stress, and changing public perceptions about the profession.

“Everybody’s got a shortage right now, but it’s been going on for years,” said Lt. Kyle Cheek, president of the Tennessee School Resource Officers Association.

Cheek, who oversees school-based deputies in Maury County, said equipping a teacher for school policing would require extensive training beyond a basic firearms course. And it would raise other concerns too.

“Who takes care of the teacher’s class if they’re going to check out a security issue?” he told Chalkbeat. “It’s a huge responsibility.”

The advancement of Bailey’s Senate bill means the measure likely will face votes this month in the full Senate and House before the legislature adjourns its two-year session.

The House version cleared numerous committees last year, but Williams did not pursue a vote by the full chamber after the Covenant tragedy prompted gun control advocates to stage mass protests at the Capitol.

You can track the legislation on the General Assembly’s website.

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

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“Chemtrail” Bill Described as “Nonsense”

Photo by Dylan Hunter on Unsplash

Legislation designed to stop the potential release of climate-controlling chemicals into the atmosphere is scheduled to be considered in the House this week, a bill the Senate’s sponsor also relates to “chemtrails,” a conspiracy theory related to the lines of vapor coming from jet planes.

One environmental lobbyist called the measure “nonsense,” even though it passed the Senate last week 25-6.

Rep. Monty Fritts (R-Kingston) is taking the matter seriously and is slated to put House Bill 2063 before the Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee Wednesday. He is not expected to try to amend the measure.

Fritts said Monday the bill deals only with “geoengineering” purportedly to be done by the federal government and noted he is not concerned about a connection with “chemtrail” conspiracy theories.

If you look at a thousand planes, you won’t see one (chemtrail). But then all of a sudden you see one. So we’re just asking the question: Are they putting anything in the air that could be toxic?

– Sen. Steve Southerland, R-Morristown

The bill points out that the federal government and other entities acting at the government’s request are preparing to conduct experiments by dispersing chemicals into the atmosphere. It further notes the impact on human health and the environment from this type of “broad scale geoengineering” isn’t fully understood.

“Chemtrail” conspiracy theories have surfaced for decades. But this bill could be a reaction to a measure signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022 instructing the Office of Science and Technology Policy to work with NASA on research of climate intervention.

An article in MIT Technology Review reports the crux of the federal plan is to release tiny particles into the atmosphere that, theoretically, could reflect enough sunlight to slow down the Earth’s warming. In other instances, groups could try to determine whether the release of particles might stop cirrus clouds from trapping heat against the Earth, according to a news report. 

The bill, which would avert that in Tennessee, says “intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus within the borders of this state into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight is prohibited.”

Sen. Steve Southerland (R-Morristown), who initiated the legislation, didn’t mention “chemtrails” when he passed the bill on the Senate floor last week.

But when he spoke to the Tennessee Lookout previously, he made that part of his argument, pointing out that a space shuttle doesn’t leave a “chemtrail.” Likewise, he said, emissions at Watts Bar nuclear and Kingston fossil plants appear to be “pure steam,” in contrast to the “chemtrails” from some jets.

“If you look at a thousand planes, you won’t see one (chemtrail). But then all of a sudden you see one,” Sutherland said. “So we’re just asking the question: Are they putting anything in the air that could be toxic?”

Scott Banbury, a lobbyist with the Sierra Club, described the bill as more of a “laughing” matter than anything and said efforts in the legislature to undo wetlands protections are more important.

“It’s not happening,” Banbury said, adding he was uncertain how the bill got so much traction in committees. “It’s not gonna happen anytime soon. It’s nonsense.”

Numerous websites debunk the theories surrounding “chemtrails.”

David Keith’s Research Group with Harvard University describes “chemtrails” as a conspiracy theory that governments and other groups are running a secret program to add “visible plumes” containing toxic chemicals to the atmosphere, similar to contrails or vapor trails released by aircraft engine exhaust that are made up mainly of water in the form of ice crystals.

The group notes, “We have not seen any credible evidence that chemtrails exist,” but if researchers did find proof the government is endangering people it would be “eager to expose and stop any such activities.”

Banbury pointed out fear of “chemtrails” has been discussed for years, but he was uncertain how the federal government could conspire with enough people to send out toxic chemicals from jets without someone “blowing the whistle.”

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.

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State Lawmakers Consider Ban on Lab-Grown Meat

Credit: Upside Foods - Upside Foods' Cultivated Chicken

A House Republican wants to ban lab-grown meat in Tennessee because its effects on humans, she said, were unknown and state citizens shouldn’t be used as “guinea pigs,” and, heck, Florida did it. 

Rep. Susan Lynn (R-Mt. Juliet) explained her bill to the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Subcommittee on Tuesday. It would have outlawed cultivated meat for human consumption at the business level, meaning no manufacturing, selling, and more. 

Cultivated meat — sometimes called cultured meat or lab-grown meat — is real animal meat but is produced by cultivating animal cells directly, cutting out the need to raise animals, according to the Good Food Institute. The meat is in different products by Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, which are made with plant ingredients. The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved cultivated meat for sale in the U.S. in June. 

Credit: Upside Foods
Credit: Upside Foods
Credit: Upside Foods
Credit: Upside Foods
Credit: Upside Foods
Credit: Upside Foods
Credit: Upside Foods
Credit: Upside Foods
Credit: Upside Foods
Credit: Upside Foods
Credit: Upside Foods
Credit: Upside Foods
Credit: Upside Foods
Credit: Upside Foods
Credit: Upside Foods
Credit: Upside Foods

The news was welcome for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The group said it funded some of the first research for cultivated meat and, beginning in 2008, offered a $1 million prize for the first lab to use produce commercially viable cultivated meat. 

The news was also welcome to Berkeley-California-based Upside Foods, the world’s first cultivated meat company. When it was founded in 2015, the company was called Memphis Meats, a tip of the hat to the city’s barbecue culture. When the feds green-lit its meat products, the company was ready to go and already valued at over $1 billion. 

“This approval will fundamentally change how meat makes it to our table,” said Dr. Uma Valeti, CEO and founder of Upside Foods. “It’s a giant step forward towards a more sustainable future — one that preserves choice and life.“

“It’s a giant step forward towards a more sustainable future — one that preserves choice and life.“

Dr. Uma Valeti, CEO and founder of Upside Foods

However, two Tennessee state lawmakers urged caution on the products, suggesting an outright ban on making and selling it in the state. They said they didn’t know how the products would affect bodies and did not want Tennesseans to be “used as Guinea pigs.” 

“It’s simply just too soon and too dangerous to allow this process to move forward before we know what sort of effects cultivated meat may have on people,” Lynn said. “The first question is one of ethics. Is this semi-cloning? We have no idea really where this is going. What happens when you create lab grown meat?” 

If that wasn’t enough to entice fellow Republicans, Lynn said the Florida legislature had already passed such a measure. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has not yet signed the bill but showed his support for the ban last month. 

”You need meat, OK?” DeSantis said, saying some blame agriculture for global warming. “We’re going to have meat in Florida. We’re not going to do that fake meat. That doesn’t work.”

”You need meat, OK?

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

Lynn said the federal government has a track record of approving “medications and treatments” but retracts them later, “due to horrible adverse circumstances.” She pointed to drugs like Prevacid, Nexium, and Prilosec, which all once faced recalls but are back on store shelves. She also said the government once said cigarettes were safe. 

Rep. Bud Hulsey (R-Kingsport) agreed, pointing vaguely to the Nuremberg Code, which outlawed experimenting on humans without their consent, and to the “experimental shock” of Covid. But his approval of the bill seemed more plain. 

“Some folks probably like to eat bugs with Bill Gates, but not me,” Hulsey said. 

Lynn said she was not aware of any cultivated meat being sold anywhere in the state. Also, she had not discussed her bill with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. 

“Some folks probably like to eat bugs with Bill Gates, but not me.”

Tennessee state Rep. Bud Hulsey

Another bill up this year would have clarified that cultivated meat could not be labeled as meat, poultry, or such food products. It was heard by House members already, who decided to send the issue to “summer study.” That is, ultimately, where the bill to ban such products ended up. Lawmakers said they hoped to get expert opinion on the safety of cultivated meat. 

Summer study is usually a kinder, softer death knell for legislation in the Capitol.  But the House agriclture committee promised to give the issue of cultivated meat a serious review before the legislature meets again next year.   

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Stockard: Memphis Crime Bill Shocks

Rodney and RowVaughn Wells, parents of the late Tyre Nichols, at a Monday press conference speaking out against a bill to overrule a local government measure to limit traffic stops of the type that resulted in Nichols' death. (Photo: John Partipilo, Tennessee Lookout)

Promises, promises. This wouldn’t be the first time they’re broken.

Rep. John Gillespie (R-Bartlett) swore on the House floor Thursday he didn’t tell the family of slain motorist Tyre Nichols’ he would postpone a policing bill they oppose until next week when they could return to the Capitol. That claim brought an accusation from Rep. Justin J. Pearson (D-Memphis) that Gillespie lied to the family (and a subsequent rebuke that amounted to nothing).

Nichols’ parents, Rodney and RowVaughn Wells, also sent out a statement Thursday urging Senators to vote against the bill when it reaches the upper chamber and reiterated what Pearson said, that Gillespie told them not to visit Nashville because he didn’t plan to bring the bill to the floor.

The Wellses visited the legislature Monday lobbying against Gillespie’s bill, which would turn back a Memphis City Council ordinance designed to prevent police officers from making “pretextual” stops such as pulling over motorists for a bad tail light. The Wellses believe their son, Tyre, would be alive if such an ordinance had been in place in January 2023 when police stopped him and beat him (the incident is on video). He later died.

Gillespie responded by postponing the bill until Thursday and attaching an amendment — which is usually a no-no on the floor — making the bill apply only to “pretextual” stops. In other words, police would still make them in Memphis and statewide.

Several Memphis Democrats questioned whether he told the Wellses he would delay the bill until they could return to the Capitol, which is more than three hours from Memphis.

Rodney and RowVaughn Wells, parents of the late Tyre Nichols, at a Monday press conference speaking out against a bill to overrule a local government measure to limit traffic stops of the type that resulted in Nichols’ death. (Photo: John Partipilo, Tennessee Lookout)
“They were told it would be presented next Thursday. John lied to them,” said Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) of Rep. John Gillespie. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Rep. Gloria Johnson hugs RowVaughn Wells, mother of the late Tyre Nichols. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

Gillespie contended his community is “begging” for safer streets and refused to give in, saying the bill needed to pass immediately to cut Memphis crime.

Afterward, he said he texted Mr. Wells during Thursday’s session to let him know he was moving forward with the bill and received no response.

“I feel horrible that they feel this way. But I told them this bill was on the calendar today and that my intention was adding an amendment if I was allowed,” Gillespie said.

Regardless of who said what and when, Gillespie could have put it off again. Democrats practically begged him for a delay.

But the second-termer who succeeded the late Rep. Jim Coley wouldn’t budge — buoyed by supermajority Republicans. And two efforts by Towns to force postponement failed.

Eventually, the House voted along party lines to adopt Gillespie’s bill, bringing yet more criticism from Pearson.

“They were told it would be presented next Thursday. John lied to them,” Pearson told the Lookout later, basically the same thing he said on the floor.

The Wellses issued a statement later Thursday saying the legislation is a “dangerous step back in the fight for accountability, transparency and justice within law enforcement.” They consider the Memphis ordinances a “part of Tyre’s legacy,” intended to build trust between law enforcement and residents and prevent tragic deaths.

The Senate is likely to follow the House on this issue, even though Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) isn’t enthusiastic about several other constitutionally questionable measures emanating from the lower chamber.

The real question, however, is whether Memphis police will follow the legislature’s orders if the bill becomes law or stick with the Memphis City Council directive to limit “pretextual” stops, those in which officers pull over vehicles to make a “speculative” investigation unconnected to the reason for the stop, and not for enforcing traffic laws.

Some folks call it stereotyping or “driving while Black,” and the U.S. Department of Justice saw enough problems with Memphis policing policy to investigate last year.

But the city council, worn out with traffic stops turning into killings, took things into their own hands and prohibited “pretextual” policing. 

It sounds like something the police department should have done years ago. But in the majority minority city on the banks of the Mississippi, change comes slowly — if at all.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.

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Tennessee House Unveils Massive School Voucher Program

From left, Majority Leader William Lamberth, Speaker Cameron Sexton, and Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison speak with reporters on February 22, 2024, about upcoming voucher legislation from the Tennessee House of Representatives. GOP leaders filed their bill on Monday. (Marta W. Aldrich / Chalkbeat)

Three school voucher proposals now before Tennessee lawmakers would create a new statewide program that eventually could open eligibility to all K-12 students, regardless of family income.

But the similarities end there.

The latest version, filed Monday by House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) has no testing requirements for students who accept public funding to attend private schools. Gov. Bill Lee’s version doesn’t either, but Senate leaders say that approach is a non-starter.

The House plan also would make it easier for middle-class families to access the program during its first year than under the two versions filed last week.

Proposals by the governor and the Senate would reserve the first 10,000 slots for families who are at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level. But the House version would bump that to 400 percent of the poverty level, which equates to $124,800 for a family of four — a departure from Lee’s 2019 Education Savings Account law aimed at low-income families who attend low-performing schools in three urban areas.

The biggest difference, however, is in the House’s sweeping attempt to address a plethora of long-standing concerns by public school officials in a bill purportedly about school choice.

From complaints about overtesting of students to the cost of health care insurance for public school teachers, the 39-page proposal devotes far more pages to existing public school policies than new ones for vouchers.

Last week, House Speaker Cameron Sexton called the upcoming omnibus-style bill an “all-encompassing approach” that’s based on feedback from public school leaders during recent months.

“It’s not just about choice; it is about K-12 education,” Sexton said.

But Democratic leaders vowed that no members of their outnumbered party will support any of the voucher proposals, even if some include policies that they’ve fought for in the past.

“They’re trying to buy votes,” said Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville). “They’re just throwing in everything they can to try to get enough votes to pass this voucher scam.”

Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) who leads the Senate, said he’d “probably rather stick with the issues at hand” instead of expanding the bill’s scope beyond vouchers.

The legislation could be taken up Tuesday by a House subcommittee and Wednesday in the Senate Education Committee. But GOP leaders say it will be weeks before any votes are held.

Non-voucher proposals for public schools under the House bill include:

  • Reducing testing time and possibly pivoting from the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program to a different “statewide standardized assessment.”
  • Increasing the state’s coverage of the cost of medical insurance for teachers and staff from 45 percent to 60 percent.
  • Phasing out the Achievement School District, the state’s turnaround district for low-performing schools, on July 1, 2026.
  • Adding several pathways beyond those outlined in a 2021 literacy law for fourth graders to get promoted if they don’t score proficient on this year’s TCAP in English language arts.
  • Reducing the number of required evaluations for higher-performing teachers.
  • Extending to eight years the validity of practitioner and professional teacher licenses.
  • Allowing high school students to take career readiness assessments instead of retaking the ACT exam.
  • Increasing the funding weight for small school systems from 5 percent to 8 percent under the state’s new K-12 funding structure known as the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act.
  • Reducing the frequency of student screenings through the state’s learning intervention program known as RTI.

Much of the disagreement over universal vouchers centers on the voucher program’s cost and how much private schools should be held accountable for results if they accept taxpayer money.

All three pieces of legislation would offer 20,000 vouchers this fall. But the House legislation stipulates that the program would increase by 20 percent annually if funding is available, while Lee wants to open it up to any student in the second year.

The governor proposes to give each recipient $7,075 this fall, which would cover about 62 percent of the average $11,344 cost of attending a private school in Tennessee, according to Private School Review.

Legislative staff released a fiscal analysis Monday showing the governor’s program would cost $144 million next fiscal year, which Lee has included in his proposed budget; $346 million the following year for an estimated 47,000 participants; and then exceeding that amount in subsequent years when “the liability to the state could significantly grow.”

Fiscal agents said over 1.12 million students would eventually be eligible to participate, including 155,650 students currently attending nonpublic schools.

“Due to the universal nature of the program, it is assumed that students already attending private school will seek the additional funding through the EFS Program,” the analysts wrote.

The analysts also noted that none of the legislative proposals include a plan to help offset an anticipated decrease in local revenue for public schools as students pivot to private schools.

You can track the bill on the General Assembly’s website.

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

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School Vouchers: Key Difference Emerges in Senate, Governor Plans

Gov Bill Lee speaks with voucher supporters at New Hope Christian Academy, a private school in Memphis, during a visit in December, to promote his Education Freedom Scholarship Act. House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who is supporting the governor’s proposal, also spoke. (Photo courtesy of State of Tennessee)

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters

Gov. Bill Lee and Senate leaders unveiled dueling proposals Wednesday to bring universal school vouchers to Tennessee. House leaders are expected to release a third version later this week.

Testing accountability stands out as a key difference in multiple amendments filed as part of a Republican campaign to eventually give all Tennessee families the option to use public money to pay for private schools for their children. The Senate plan also calls for open enrollment across public school systems.

Lee’s seven-page plan does not require participating students to take annual tests to measure whether his Education Freedom Scholarship Act leads to better academic outcomes. The governor has said that parental choice provides ultimate accountability.

The Senate’s 17-page proposal requires recipients in grades 3-11 to take some type of norm-referenced tests approved by the state Board of Education, which could include state tests that public school students take under the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program, or TCAP.

Assessments must include a third-grade test in English language arts and an eighth-grade test in math; the grades are considered benchmark years for learning those skills. Eleventh-grade recipients would also have to take the ACT, SAT, or a similar exam to assess their readiness for continuing their education after high school.

“The testing component is critical,” Senate Education Committee Chairman Sen. Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol) told Chalkbeat. “We have a responsibility to share with Tennesseans how this is working.”

The developments show divisions at the state Capitol, despite a GOP supermajority, about key details of the biggest education proposal of Lee’s tenure, even before legislative debate begins in public. Lundberg’s committee is scheduled to take up the issue next week.

The governor wants to start with up to 20,000 students statewide this fall and eventually open up the program so any K-12 student can use a $7,075 annual voucher, regardless of family income. His earlier Education Savings Account law, which squeaked through the legislature with a historic and controversial House vote in 2019, targeted students from low-income families in low-performing schools in Memphis and Nashville but remains under-enrolled, even with the addition of Hamilton County last fall.

Cost is expected to be a major hurdle for Lee’s voucher expansion plan in a state that prides itself on being fiscally conservative.

Tennessee government has a nearly $378 million budget shortfall through the first six months of its current fiscal year, according to a revenue report released last week.

Even so, Lee’s proposed $52.6 billion spending plan for the next fiscal year includes $144 million annually for vouchers and $200 million to grow state parks and natural areas, all while slashing corporate business property taxes by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Over the weekend, Rep. Bryan Richey (R-Maryville), told a local town hall that, although he supports statewide vouchers, he expects to vote against this year’s proposal over budget concerns and the lack of accountability provisions.

The Daily Times reported that Richey compared the upcoming legislative process to baking a cake as he urged his constituents to engage early with lawmakers while the proposals are in committees.

“Once the ingredients are in the batter and it’s all mixed up, we’re not going to be able to go in there and pull the egg back out or get the oil out,” he said.

Lee’s proposal did not look markedly different from draft legislation that was inadvertently filed in the Senate in late January due to a miscommunication, then pulled a short time later. Vouchers would be funded through a separate scholarship account, not the funding structure currently in place for public schools.

RELATED: Tennessee’s universal school voucher bill draft drops. Here are 5 things that stand out.

But the Senate version aligns funding with the state’s new public school formula known as Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement, or TISA. And it would allow students to enroll in any school system, even if they’re not zoned for it.

“We want open enrollment so you can transfer anywhere,” Lundberg said. “It’s not just for private schools. The funding follows the student.”

House leaders have been huddling for weeks with key stakeholders to get their feedback for an omnibus-style amendment that’s expected to come out on Thursday.

“I look forward to reading the House proposal, but there are obviously already major discrepancies,” said JC Bowman, executive director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, who has been in some of those meetings.

“I really don’t see how these versions can be reconciled this year,” added Bowman, a voucher critic. “If they’re hell-bent on doing this, they need to at least take the time to get it right.”

But a statement from the governor’s office said the various proposals show “an encouraging amount of engagement in this process.”

“The governor has repeatedly emphasized that the Education Freedom Scholarship Act is a framework, built upon the foundation that parents should have choices when it comes to their child’s education, regardless of income or ZIP code,” the statement said.

The bills are sponsored by Senate and House majority leaders Jack Johnson of Franklin and William Lamberth of Portland. You can track the legislation through the General Assembly’s website.

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.