Latest news with #HB145
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pledge of Allegiance protests shut down Tennessee General Assembly committees
Tennessee House Republicans locked the doors to a committee room after a group of immigrant rights activists were escorted out of the public meeting for standing and repeatedly reciting the Pledge of Allegiance for several minutes. The House Banking and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee shut down on Wednesday afternoon as a group stood to recite the pledge in protest of a bill that could block some immigrant children from public schools and force private banks to collect citizenship documentation from customers. The committee later moved to a separate room and locked the doors, barring access to the public. Outside the new committee room, protestors crowded around the door to peer inside, banging on the door, floor and wall yelling, "Let kids learn! Let kids learn!" and "USA! USA!" HB 145 was deferred to next week. While protest disruptions are not new at the Tennessee General Assembly, the subcommittee's decision to move a committee's location mid-meeting and lock out members of the public is unusual. After the relocation, no members of the public were allowed inside unless they had previously signed up to testify on a bill. The committee was live streamed as usual. Rule 83 of the House of Representatives requires that all meetings, including committee and subcommittee meetings, be open to the public. The only exception is when a committee is considering a security matter, and takes a vote. State sunshine laws also require adequate notice of time and location of meetings, require meetings to be open ― and deems any action at a meeting held in violation of that law void. Before the initial meeting ended, Subcommittee Chair Tandy Darby, R-Greenfield, announced that the committee would 'be recessing to House Room IV.' No other notice was made on the legislature's website of the change of location for the meeting. House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, defended the meeting as compliant with House rules. "After multiple warnings and to prevent disruptions that threatened the democratic process, steps were taken to ensure the safety of members and staff," Sexton said in a statement to The Tennessean. "Chairman Darby announced the room change to everyone present and on the livestream, House staff received email notifications, those who had signed up to testify were allowed to do so and media had access. The hearing remained publicly accessible through livestreams and on TVs outside the committee rooms. I commend Chairman Darby, the Clerk's office, Sergeant at Arms and THP for their professionalism.' House Republican Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, told The Tennessean that he 'would be vehemently against us doing that as the norm,' but that the move was necessary to allow House business to continue. 'We can't stop. We have to be able to get through the day and get through the calendar,' Faison said. 'You can't act like that.' Faison said he held the members-only back door to the committee room open to allow some members of the media inside the hearing room. 'When you act like that, you've given up your rights to be a spectator of this. Your voice is here through your elected representative and your elected senator. That's your voice,' Faison said. 'I think their purpose was to disrupt it, and make sure something doesn't pass. If we allowed that type of behavior, we could never get anything done.' Darby did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether his decision to exclude the public complied with House rules. The same protestors temporarily shut down the Senate Education Committee hours later over a different bill that would require families to pay tuition to attend public schools if they don't submit citizenship or legal residency proof. Sen. Dawn White, R-Murfreesboro, immediately gaveled the committee out when a group rose and began reciting the pledge. Tennessee Highway Patrol later cleared the room, telling dozens gathered in the hallway they would be allowed to reenter but would be escorted out if they continued to be disruptive. The Tennessee Highway Patrol blocked access to two of the three doors used to access the committee room, and later required a Tennessean reporter to present a media pass to reenter. As White and other senators returned to the room, 77-year-old Bill Howell and another woman rose from the audience and began reciting the pledge. Howell walked out of the room when approached by officers, while another group of protestors then stood and picked up the recitation. The protests continued as White attempted to continue business. Howell said he was moved to protest due to the "injustice that's being perpetrated by this legislature and, in this case, the denial of an education to young children." "Education is a right, and what they're trying to do is a violation of the Constitution," Howell, a Nashville native, said. Justin Wilkins and his daughter Emmie traveled from Chattanooga on Wednesday to protest the proposed legislation. Wilkins said the right to access a free and public education is one of the "greatest American values." "The audacity of these folks to come at our kids and try to deny them an education just because of where they are from — I can't think of anything more unAmerican," Wilkins said. "I can't think of anything that would be a greater betrayal of American values than coming after children to take education from them." Rep. Monty Fritts, R-Kingston, called the demonstrators 'Marxist activists' who were 'making a mockery of the Pledge of Allegiance' in a social media post. Fritts, who shared his video from the hearing room, does not sit on the subcommittee. 'They hate the country. They hate the citizens of Tennessee, and are pushing for illegals to take over,' Fritts said on the video. 'These are the kind of people that come to Nashville routinely. This is not freedom of speech, this is hating of the country.' Education access for immigrant children has emerged as a lightning rod issue for the 2025 legislative session. Senate Bill 1044 failed in Senate Education on Thursday, while action was deferred in the House on the education and banking bill. But a GOP leadership-backed bill is making steady progress through both chambers and will likely draw additional heated protests. The House version, HB 793, would allow local schools to deny enrollment to any child unable to prove they are a U.S. citizen or legal resident in the country. The Senate version now differs from the House, but its sponsors say they are working together to find a compromise on the language. Leaders in both the Senate and House have acknowledged the legislation is intended to directly challenge the U.S. Supreme Court's Plyler v. Doe decision, which prohibits states from barring children of undocumented immigrants from attending public schools. If a version of the legislation passes the General Assembly, it would likely trigger an immediate lawsuit. Democrats have criticized the effort of using taxpayer funds to trigger legal battles. The legislation is expected to receive lengthy committee debate in both the Senate and the House next week. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TN legislative committees shut down amid Pledge of Allegiance protests
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Billion-dollar transportation bond bill gets greenlight from first legislative committee
SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – New Mexico leaders say billions of dollars are needed to repair roads across the state, and a bill making its way through the legislature aimed at doing just that passed its first committee Thursday. Story continues below Business: Forbes Travel Guide's 2025 Star Award winners include 5 New Mexico businesses Crime: New Mexico man found guilty of raping woman he met on social media Don't Miss: APD asks for adult and parental figures to get involved to curb juvenile crime 'What we're trying to do here is position New Mexico for the foreseeable future,' said Ricky Serna, Cabinet Secretary for the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT). It's a law that would allow the state to issue more than a billion dollars in transportation bonds to fix roads all around New Mexico. After unanimous approval in its first committee, HB145 only needs two more approvals before landing on the governor's desk. 'The last time an endeavor like this was approved by the legislature and signed into law was 2003,' Serna said. If approved, the bill would authorize the state's Transportation Commission, a group that oversees how NMDOT spends transportation funds, to issue bonds for state highway projects. 'The commission will be able to make those major investments, chunks at a time, at a pace that the agency can keep up with as we get these projects ready for construction,' Serna explained. According to the state, a recent study shows that 57% of state and local roads are in 'poor', or 'mediocre' condition. State leaders said this bill will also help keep up with inflating construction costs. 'The gap between what we need to get done to maintain our infrastructure and what we can afford to do, and that gap is $5.6 billion, and so as we push these projects further down the road, that cost of construction compounds,' Serna added. The state said eligible projects for the funding will be identified through the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
