Tag: Sen. Todd Gardenhire

California, New York, Florida, New Jersey and Connecticut all provide the in-state tuition benefit for illegal aliens in their states and all permit illegal aliens who graduate from law school, to apply for and obtain a license to practice law. Last week Connecticut became the fifth state to change its rules and license eligible illegal aliens to practice law. Prior to the rule change, Connecticut required lawyers to either be a U.S. citizen or “an alien lawfully residing in the United States.” The rule now includes anyone “authorized to work lawfully in the United States.” The rule change was proposed by Denia Perez, a grantee of Obama’s unconstitutional DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) administrative amnesty program. Illegal aliens trying to get a license to practice could potentially have an easy path in Tennessee, especially as explained below, if proponents of the in-state tuition bill are successful during the next legislative session. State Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) and State Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis) who last session sponsored the bill for its fourth run, are likely to try again in 2019. Unlike Connecticut and California before they changed their rules, Tennessee’s rules about who is eligible to be granted a law…

Lacking any consistent rationale, State Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga), the perpetual sponsor of the Senate’s bills to give illegal alien students taxpayer-subsidized in-state tuition, last year co-sponsored a bill allowing judges to give illegal aliens convicted of felonies longer sentences based on their immigration status. The bill was signed into law in 2017. While Gardenhire is willing to punish illegal aliens who commit crimes, he prefers to dismantle state law and reward parents for violating the country’s immigration laws, forcing Tennessee’s taxpayers to provide a free education for the children they brought with them. English Language Learner (ELL) services in Tennessee’s public schools are funded through the state’s education funding formula called the BEP (Basic Education Program) and comes primarily from state and local revenue meaning that every Tennessee taxpayer shares in the cost regardless of which county’s schools are providing the services. State education funding provides 70 percent of the expenditure leaving the local share at 30 percent. In fiscal year 2012, total funding for ELL services was $70 million with the state share at $49 million and the local share at $21 million. The most recent fiscal year’s total funding has grown to $122.3 million with the state share…

Up for a fourth try to award a statutorily classified “state or local public benefit” to illegal immigrants in Tennessee, Rep. Mark White continues to tell his legislator colleagues that his bill is about education and not immigration even though the state law White needs to change was “based on Congress’s asserted interest in ‘remov[ing] the incentive for illegal immigration provided by the availability of public benefits.’” Tennessee’s “Eligibility Verification for Entitlements Act” (EVEA) passed in 2012, classifies in-state tuition is a state benefit. The EVEA requires that: …every state governmental entity and local health department shall verify that each applicant eighteen (18) years of age or older, who applies for a federal, state or local public benefit from the entity or local health department, is a United States citizen or lawfully present in the United States in the manner provided in this chapter. The EVEA defers to the federal law definition of  a “state or local public benefit.” A 2017 opinion issued by Attorney General Herb Slatery notes that this federal law was “based on Congress’s asserted interest in ‘remov[ing] the incentive for illegal immigration provided by the availability of public benefits.’” The federal law which limits the authority of state governments…

The Education Subcommittee of the Tennessee House of Representatives passed State Rep. Mark White’s (R-Memphis)  bill granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrant students in Tennessee on a voice vote Tuesday afternoon. With the exception of State Rep. Dawn White’s (R-Murfreesboro) strongly worded statement opposing White’s bill, no discussion was had by the subcommittee before they passed the bill on a voice vote. Bill sponsor State Rep. Mark White (no relation to State Rep. Dawn White), who chairs the Education Subcommittee, opted to move his bill up from number thirty-five on the agenda to the first one voted on by the subcommittee. White’s bill, HB2429, is his fourth attempt to give illegal immigrant students access to taxpayer subsidized in-state tuition. To do this, White’s bill dismantles state law by removing reduced college tuition from Tennessee’s definition of “state or local public benefit. Stating her opposition to the bill, State Rep. Dawn White noted the high fiscal impact from illegal immigration on Tennessee taxpayers estimated to be $793 million in 2017. She also referenced the magnetizing effect that offering the reduced college tuition would have on Tennessee, a point worth noting since none of Tennessee’s border states offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. Among the…

Last year, State Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis) gave his word to House Education chairman Harry Brooks that he would not try to change state law that currently says taxpayer subsidized in-state tuition is a state benefit. White made that promise with regard to his bill HB660 which removed in-state tuition from the current state law definition of “state or local public benefit” so that it could be provided to illegal immigrants. This year, White has broken that promise by filing a new bill, HB2429 which combines parts of the two in-state tuition bills he sponsored last year, including the section that would redefine “state or local public benefit.” The first in-state tuition bill that White tried to pass last year, HB863, failed to pass the Education Committee in a close 7-6 vote. White deferred his second bill HB660, to the current session. When White first introduced this bill in the Education Subcommittee, Chairman Harry Brooks questioned the section removing in-state tuition from being a state benefit as currently contained in state law. White gave his word that he would amend that section out if the bill was allowed to go before the full Education Committee. The bill failed to pass the Education committee…

  Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis) and Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) have sponsored two bills this session that would grant in-state tuition to illegal immigrant students. HB863 failed in the House Education committee Tuesday on a 7-6 vote but Rep. White’s other bill, HB660, looks like it will be the first bill considered by the committee on Wednesday morning. This White/Gardenhire bill would authorize the new college and university governing boards to decide which students are eligible to pay in-state tuition rates. “The bill is designed to allow each local community and institution to do what is best for their institution” is how Rep. White’s office described the bill in an email to the Tennessee Star. Importantly, however, HB660 “exempts the extension of in-state tuition that this amendment provides from the definition of ‘state or local public benefit’ under the ‘Eligibility Verification for Entitlements Act’” according to an earlier email statement from Paul Marsh in Rep. White’s office. Last year, the Tennessee legislature passed Governor Haslam’s FOCUS Act enabling the six universities in the Board of Regents system, including Tennessee Tech, Tennessee State University and MTSU to have their own boards that among other duties, will oversee tuition. When White’s HB660…