From 70th District State Rep. Clay Doggett, comes word of an attempt to make food more available via the marketplace.
An unnamed constituent, according to Doggett, “recognized that food shortages could be a likely problem in the near future, and he decided to try to do something to prevent this from happening in our communities.”
House Bill 2650 attempts to address this problem by lessening restrictions for Tennessee producers to sell their goods to their neighbors here in the state.
While details of the bill are worked out, “we are very excited to see what this bill could achieve,” Doggett wrote,
Approximately 90 percent of the ideas for bills he carries or guides through the legislative process, come from constituents, according to his newsletter.
Other bills Doggett is involved with include:
• House Bill 2019 establishes the University of Tennessee Southern as a new campus of the University of Tennessee in Giles County. The bill has been placed on the calendar of the Higher Education Subcommittee. The bill would allow for more campus governance at UT Southern similar to other UT campuses.
• House Bill 2076 creates a supplemental pay incentive program for officers of the state Department of Corrections who receive 40 hours or more of in service training per calendar year. The bill was withdrawn,
• House Bill 2018 entitles county jails to reimbursement of certain expenses incurred for detaining or housing state parolees awaiting parole revocation hearings.
• House Bill 2020 requires a magistrate to set the defenders bail in an amount not less than twice that which is customarily set for the offense charged if the alleged victim of the offense is a domestic violence victim and the defendant strangled or attempted to strangle the victim during the commission of the offense or made threats against the victim’s life.
• House Bill 1963 requires the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to remove from the drug offender registry the name and other identifying information of persons upon receipt of notice of the death of such person; requires bureau officials to verify the person’s death by checking the Social Security death index, obtaining a copy of the offender’s certificate of death, or obtaining court documentation, a law enforcement report or any other credible documentation as determined by the bureau. The bill has been placed on the calendar of the Criminal Justice Subcommittee.
Hensley
State Sen. Joey Hensley, 28th District, R-Hohenwald, is involved with several bills in the State Senate. Details follow on some. The bills passed on first consideration.
• Senate Bill 2840 increases the number of signatures required on a petition to request that a larger municipality annex a smaller municipality from 20 percent of the qualified voters who voted in the last general election to 30 percent of the qualified voters in the smaller municipality who voted in the last general election.
• Senate Bill 2839 creates an exception to Class C misdemeanor offense for hunting over bait when bait was on the land before hunting begins, and land is not posted by wildlife officers as a baited dove field.
• Senate Bill 2838 prohibits paid lobbyists from serving as members of state and local boards, commissions and other governmental entities.
• Senate Bill 2834 states that due process is the right of every Tennessean, and it is the intent of the General Assembly that statutes addressing a defendant’s rights in a criminal prosecution be implemented and interpreted consistent with the due process requirements under the U. S. Constitution as interpreted by the U. S. Supreme Court.