vibinc

I’ve been bogged down with work and a very abbreviated school semester (3 weeks=1 semester of course work. Oy!) but I saw this and decided it needed to be posted.

ht/ the twitters

So yesterday I wrote this post about this bill that basically says to a class of people “not only will the state of Tennessee not protect you, we won’t allow our Counties and Cities to extend any kind of protection to you”.

There are a lot of problems with the bill. One I addressed here regarding Home Rule Charters, and just how meaningless they become in the wake of this action. Another is related…hampering a government’s right to contract, which I touched on yesterday.

But yesterday’s post took a bit of a turn too far. I wanted to talk about ways to help those wayward Democrats who voted for the bill, and more importantly, their counterparts in the State Senate, find a way to support it. In doing so, I forgot the most important part…the part where we’re legislating discrimination.

Here’s exactly what the bill says about discrimination:

(1) No local government shall by ordinance, resolution, or any other means impose on or make applicable to any person an anti-discrimination practice, standard, definition, or provision that shall deviate from, modify, supplement, add to, change, or vary in any manner from:

(A) The definition of “discriminatory practices” in § 4-21-102 or deviate from, modify, supplement, add to, change, or vary any term used in such definition and also as defined in such section; or

(B) Other types of discrimination recognized by state law but only to the extent recognized by the state.

In short, as Rep. Richardson noted in the video clip I posted, no City or County in the state of Tennessee can do more than the state allows to protect a class of people.

So while that does impact the way a city or county might want to contract, and it does call into question just how much Home Rule comes with a Home Rule Charter, it ultimately negatively impacts the security of a person’s job based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.

Somehow, I managed to leave that out in my 1000+ word screed, and it wasn’t until I read this post that I even realized it.

That’s a huge error on my part.

Finally, one more word about that post. Certainly, I would never mean to say people shouldn’t make their own decision about how to hold the people who voted for this bill accountable. God knows, I won’t be rushing out to volunteer, or send my money to support them…but I suspect they may not want my support.

I will, however, work to find as many reasons for someone to vote the way I want them to as I can find, even if that means deviating somewhat from the ultimate issue. If it changes even one mind to vote my way then that’s all the better.

But at the end of the day, I understand it’s not up to me. If these folks don’t think its important to protect all people from discrimination, I guess they’re not going to be making that case to their constituents. That’s not only unfortunate for their constituents who may be impacted by this legislation, it’s also unfortunate for them. Chances are they’re not making their case to their constituents on a whole lot of other issues, and that’s a sure fire way to lose.

It’s hard to lead when you’re afraid of your own shadow. No, it’s not hard…its impossible.

This may be the only time you’ll ever see State Rep. Glen Casada to the left of anything.

The former House Republican Caucus Leader who was spurned by his caucus for the position of Speaker is a consistent voice against anything that would help the cause of equity or equality, unless its for a business interest. Despite this, people in Williamson County keep sending him back to Nashville. One can only suspect that they do this to keep him out of Williamson County.

The man who last year blamed the jobless for not trying hard enough to get jobs in an environment where over 10% of the population is unemployed, and used that argument to try an cut unemployment benefits.

Who worked to dismantle workplace protections for teachers, who has introduced an anti-living wage bill, and make it illegal for certain people to act on their associations, wants to enshrine discrimination in the Tennessee Code.

The Special Access to Discriminate Act is another example of the Republican Majority overreaching into social issues instead of dealing with one of the biggest crisis’ facing the state, the lack of jobs, or even a plan for jobs.

What does the bill do? It adds a whole new part to Title 7 Chapter 51 of the Tennessee Code which would say:

7-51-1802.
(a) (1) No local government shall by ordinance, resolution, or any other means impose on or make applicable to any person an antidiscrimination practice, standard, definition, or provision that shall deviate
from, modify, supplement, add to, change, or vary in any manner from:

(A) The definition of “discriminatory practices” in § 4-21-102 or deviate from, modify, supplement, add to, change, or vary any term used in such definition and also as defined in such section; or
(B) Other types of discrimination recognized by state law but only to the extent recognized by the state.

(2) Any such practice, standard, definition, or provision imposed or made applicable to any person by a local government prior to the effective date of this act shall be null and void.

(b) Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to employees of a local government.

Basically, Small Government Glen Casada wants the state to interfere with a decision the Nashville Metro government finalized last week.

So the question that needs to be asked:is

Why will it be good for Tennessee to pass a bill that would endorse discrimination?

I thought we got over this when all the Jim Crow laws were stripped from the books, but I guess not.

Glen Casada wants to make sure there’s still some group of people, other than the poor, that he can discriminate against. Old habits die hard I guess.

In the process, Casada wants to make sure that no County, or City government is more inclusive than his narrow world-view. That no local government does anything unless the state says so. Makes you wonder how long until Casada proposes to end Home Rule charters and just run everything from the state level.

Just another “Small Government Republican” in action.

The bill comes up in the Commerce Committee tomorrow morning at 9am. Give the members a call or send them an email, and sign this petition while you’re at it.

Tell the members of the House Commerce Committee that legislating discrimination is not a Tennessee value.