As the 105th General Assembly's Legislative Session is drawing towards a close, we have some successes to share with you and a few action alerts.  Many predict that session will end by May 15 or 16.  Once session is closed and Legislators go home, all legislation not passed this year will have to be reintroduced next year in the 106th General Assembly.  That means that we really need your help to share our support for the passage of the bills in this legislative update.  
In this Legislative Update: 
• Action Alert and Update: Study Committee on the Death Penalty
• Action Alert and Update: The Long Term Care Bill
• Action Alert and Update: The Racial Profiling Prevention Act
• Article on SJR127

Action Alert and Update:
HB 2733 Death Penalty Study Committee
House Finance, Ways & Means Budget Subcommittee
Wednesday May 7th, 2008
This was a Catholic Day on the Hill Focus issue.
This bill has PASSED in the Senate! 
Study committee on administration of the death penalty. Extends the date for the special committee to study the administration of the death penalty to report its findings to the governor and general assembly to October 1, 2009 from one year from the date of its members' appointments.
Share your support by sending an email to the members by clicking their names: 
Chair Tindell, L. DeBerry, Fitzhugh, Armstrong, Harrison, McDaniel, Odom, Overbey, Rinks, Roach, Shaw

Action Alert and Update:
Long Term Care 
We made a difference!
One of our focus issues for Catholic Day on the Hill was the Long Term Care bill that passed the Senate last Thursday!  But it still is moving in the House.  Please take a minute to help this bill along its way!   
House Finance, Ways & Means Budget Subcommittee
Wednesday May 7th, 2008
Email the members by clicking their names: 
Chair Tindell, L. DeBerry, Fitzhugh, Armstrong, Harrison, McDaniel, Odom, Overbey, Rinks, Roach, Shaw

Action Alert and Update:
Racial Profiling Prevention Act
Senate Floor
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
This was another one of our Catholic Day on the Hill Focus Issues! 
This bill has PASSED in the House!

Don't know who your Senator is? Click Here

So, what actually happened?
SJR127 spurred Parliamentary Chaos-adapted from the Tennessee Journal
Backers of a constitutional amendment to neutralize a 2000 state Supreme Court ruling on abortion long have had a majority of the 99 member House on their side.  But they lacked the 66 votes needed to pull the measure form the subcommittee system that blocked it.  Thursday, Rep. Bill Dunn from Knoxville tried a parliamentary trick aimed at getting the measure  before the House with a simple majority vote.  He sought to amend a routine rules suspension on another matter by Majority Leader Gary Odom from Nashville.

Speaker Naifeh from Covington ruled Dunn out of order.  And indeed, after being shown the pertinent rule later, Dunn conceded that such motions aren't subject to amendment.  But before that Dunn challenged Naifeh's ruling.  Naifeh stepped down to let Speaker Pro Tem Lois DeBerry from Memphis preside.  And for the first time in 18 years as speaker, Naifeh lost a challenge to the ruling of the chair, with 46 members voting to sustain it, 47 to overturn it.  After a 15 minute recess Dunn's motion to amend prevailed 51-43.  Ultimately, he still needed 66 votes to suspend the rules.  He got 55.

The fuss was over SJR127, a Senate passed resolution to amed the constitution to undo the courts decision that found greater abortion rights protections implicit in the state's constitution than the nation's. 

On Feb. 29, in response to a question from Sen. Diane Black from Gallatin, state Attorney General Cooper opined that if the TN legislature enacted the same ban on partial birth abortion that Congress has passed and federal courts have upheld, it would be "constitutionally suspect." That's because the 2000 state ruling requires a strict scrutiny standard.  Last week, in response to a question from Rep. Phillip Pinion from Union City, Cooper opined that federal law on partial birth abortion applies in Tennessee.