Capitol Hill Week: Democrat Party perspective

Ken Jobe

There several victories for Democrats in the General Assembly this week:

Monday night, Representative London Lamar passed two major anti-trafficking bills. The first bill creates legal protections for people who are human trafficked and defend themselves. The legal bill was written in response to the Cyntoia Brown case. Rep. Lamar said she wanted to make it easier for people who were being human trafficked and physically abused to have arguments in court. It strengthens self-defense arguments for victims of trafficking. The other bill creates a requirement for teachers to have human trafficking training once every three years. Both Bills passed with bi-partisan support.  A third bill is also being brought to the legislature. It would also create training requirements, except for medical professionals instead.

Also, on Monday, the full House also passed a bill by Nashville Representative Harold Love (HB 992) that would require TennCare to perform an annual review of all medications and forms of treatment for sickle cell disease and report back to the Legislature.  The review would include if the new services are eligible for coverage by TennCare.  The bill is currently moving through the Senate.  

The bill known as “April’s Law” passed through the full House on Thursday.  HB 12, sponsored by Representative G.A. Hardaway of Memphis, would clarify that a person who engages in sexual contact with corpse commits the offense of abuse of a corpse.  The parents of April Parham testified earlier this month as to how the corpse of their daughter was sexually assaulted shortly after death and the perpetrator is still walking the streets because of the loophole in the law.  After their heart-rending testimony, the bill passed through the all the house committees and the full House unanimously.   After the passage, the parents released a statement that said, in part, it’s been really tough on us just to deal her death, but to think about this guy to rape her after she died is absolutely horrible. She didn’t deserve that… We feel like it should have been some jail and be required to register as a sex offender. This crime is not even on his record, and it is a crime whether it’s a law against it or not. Let’s fix this. THANK YOU FROM THE PARHAM FAMILY “

Last week, President Biden signed into the law the American Recovery Act, considered one of the biggest pieces of legislation in our history, on par with the New Deal and the Great Society.  Nearly 2 trillion dollars in funds that will go to the most vulnerable of our citizens and help for businesses in every sector.  There will be new money for healthcare, education, food assistance, transportation, the environment and other areas. The bill also provides money for states that have yet to pass Medicaid expansion, like Tennessee. We could potentially see nearly 2 billion dollars in additional funding if we would expand Medicaid.  Republican Lt. Gov. Randy McNally said he would be willing to consider the Biden Administration’s offer.   Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro and state Rep. John Ray Clemmons, both Nashville Democrats, held a press conference this week urging Republican legislative leaders, who hold supermajorities in the House and Senate, as well as Gov. Bill Lee, to take up the federal offer, pointing out red states such as Wyoming and Alabama are “jumping at the chance” to take the federal funds.