Welcome!
You are receiving the first Policy Watch email of 2017! We’re glad that you’re joining. Some of you have been following the Policy Watch in sessions past and others have just joined. The Disability Rights Tennessee (DRT) Policy Watch is a list of bills filed in the Tennessee General Assembly that DRT has selected to monitor during session. The bills are selected based upon a potential to impact the lives of Tennesseans with disabilities.
Throughout the Policy Watch we may use terms that are not familiar to you. We’ve created a short reference list of common legislative terms and their definitions. We’ll keep this available to you in the side bar so that you can reference it throughout the session. Now for some more information on what’s happening at Legislative Plaza.
Recap
The 110th General Assembly convened on January 10th. A quick three-day administrative session was followed by a two-week recess. Of note, from the short session is that Representative Beth Harwell was re-elected to her post as Speaker of the House and Randy McNally was appointed as Lieutenant Governor replacing retiring Ron Ramsey who had previously served in the position since 2007.
Committee assignments have taken place. To learn more about the various committees and who serves on each, click HERE.
Where We Are Now
Members of the General Assembly will reconvene this Monday, January 30th to begin the work of policy making. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the General Assembly website: http://capitol.tn.gov/. There you will be able to research legislators, watch live streamed and recorded committees and read bill language.
Currently, there are just over 250 bills filed with an estimated 1,500 or more to come by the filing deadline of February 9th. We won’t quite know what this year’s session has in store for policies impacting Tennesseans with disabilities until the remainder are filed. Stay close as the Policy Watch is expected to expand quickly in the coming two weeks.
Happy watching!
Kelsey Loschke
Community Engagement Coordinator
|