Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Senator Joey Hensley in studio to talk about his background and growing up in Hohenwald, Tennessee.
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Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed State Senator Joey Hensley (R-TN-28) to the newsmaker line to explain the Age Appropriate Materials Act and his stance on whether or not the state of Tennessee should continue to receive monies from the federal Department of Education.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, official guest host Grant Henry welcomed State Senator Joey Hensley to the newsmaker line to explain the nature of his acquired immunity bill, SB1982.
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A new law allowing teachers to discipline students in school is set to take effect as students return to class in the new year. The bill was originally introduced in December of 2020 and was passed in April of 2021; sponsors for the bill were Representative Scott Cepicky (R- 64) and Senator Joey Hensley (R-28).
The bill was explained by the Tennessee General Assembly as it “establishes requirements and procedures for teachers to discipline students in the teachers’ classrooms, including relocation of a student.”
The new law states that teachers will be authorized to manage their classrooms and discipline their students. Teachers are allowed to send students to principals’ offices if needed, “and to hold students in the teacher’s charge strictly accountable for any disorderly conduct in school.”
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The Tennessee legislature stalled on legislation prohibiting mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for K-12 students. The bill was removed from the Health Committee calendar last month. In the Senate, it was last referred back to the Calendar Committee after making it to the floor on Monday.
State Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) and State Representative Rusty Grills (R-Newbern) were the sponsors on the bill. Hensley’s legislative assistant Allison Wilson clarified with The Tennessee Star that the Senate won’t be hearing the bill this year.
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Big Tech and Corporate America may face more difficulty funding the elections process under the “Tennessee Election Integrity Act.” In part, the act would require funding from nongovernmental entities to be approved by the Tennessee General Assembly if in session, or the Governor, House and Senate Speaker, Secretary of State, Comptroller of Treasury, and the General Assembly Treasurer. Additionally, an amendment to the act announced on Tuesday would make it more difficult to produce fraudulent absentee ballots.
In short, the amendment to the bill would require non-electronic absentee ballots to be watermarked by local election commissions. That way, county election officials could verify the validity of the ballots upon receipt. Ballots without the watermark would be discarded.
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The Senate determined Thursday that those wishing to become adoptive or foster parents should be granted increased vaccine exemptions. This bill would still require that individuals and that individual’s household undergo vaccinations in order to either adopt or foster children 18 months of age or younger, or children with “significant documented medical needs.”
During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the bill, one mother named Kim Carter testified that she was denied foster care opportunities because her children weren’t fully vaccinated at the time. She added that her story wasn’t unique.
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The Tennessee General Assembly will consider whether teachers have greater disciplinary authority over troublesome students. Specifically, the bill would allow teachers to request the removal of students whose behavior violates the policies or codes of conduct of either the district or the school. It would also enable teachers to use “reasonable or justifiable force” to relocate students if necessary.
If passed, the bill would also require boards of education and public charter school governing bodies to include provisions that would allow teachers to enforce student discipline and accountability. This would extend to teachers’ abilities to intervene in physical altercations between students, or between students and an employee. This bill would apply to both public and charter schools in the state.
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The Senate passed a bill requiring proof of biological sex at birth for participation in interscholastic youth sports. This would, effectively, prohibit transgender individuals from joining sports teams of the opposite sex. This companion bill by State Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) passed 27-6.
The bill was introduced initially by State Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) several days after the general election. If passed, it will pose a direct challenge to President Joe Biden. Biden had declared that gender identity was a protected class under discrimination laws in one of his initial executive orders.
The bill, introduced by State Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) several days after the general election, poses a challenge to one of President Joe Biden’s first executive orders. Biden had declared that gender identity was a protected class under discrimination laws.
In response to President Joe Biden’s promises to further limit gun ownership, Tennessee legislators introduced the Second Amendment Sanctuary Act.
The bill summarizes its premise in just under a page – prohibiting enforcement of any federal government laws, treaties, executive orders, rules, or regulations that violate the Second Amendment. The summary explained that passage would render pressures on Second Amendment rights as “null, void, and unenforceable.” Additionally, the bill would limit state or local governments from using public funds, personnel, or property to enforce them.
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Once again, Tennessee’s General Assembly has taken up a bill ensuring biological sex is a factor in youth sports. Although the bill would apply to both genders, its preamble identified girls as the motivator for drafting the legislation. It referenced the general biological differences between the genders in competition, as well as noted the impact on female athletes when it comes to college recruiting and scholarship opportunities.
“[I]t is unfortunate for some girls that those dreams, goals, and opportunities for participation, recruitment, and scholarships can be directly and negatively affected by new school policies permitting boys who are male in every biological respect to compete in girls’ athletic competitions if they claim a female gender identity,” stated the bill.
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State Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) filed a bill for introduction that would amend certain aspects of the Tennessee Code relative to discrimination. Senate Bill 320 would expand the Code’s provisions to prevent businesses from denying services to individuals who don’t wear or use a certain medical device, or if they haven’t received a certain medical treatment. It would also prevent local government entities from enforcing individual compliance with those medical devices or treatments.
Medical devices covered by the bill are instruments; apparatuses; implements; machines; appliances; implants; reagents for in vitro use; softwares; and materials such as face masks, shields, or cloth coverings. Medical treatments are procedures or medications such as immunizations.
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Before even being sworn into his first term in office, Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) has been calling for measures to decrease illegal immigration to Tennessee which began with a call for a Resolution supporting President Trump in ending “birth right” citizenship, as reported by The Tennessee Star. In addition to his proposed Resolution HJR 0047, Griffey has sponsored several bills dealing with issues related to illegal immigrants currently within the state of Tennessee. As The Star reported, in HB 0562 and companion Senate Bill SB 1504, Representative Griffey and Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) want to impose a fee on the transfer of money to outside the United States and its territories, with the goal of helping fund Trump’s proposed border wall. Fees that are not used for southern border protection will go to local sheriff departments for the jails that hold illegals for ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs). The fee, applying only to those who could not produce a Tennessee driver’s license or similar, by default applies only to illegal aliens. The House bill is scheduled to be heard March 12 in the Banking & Investments Subcommittee of the House Commerce Committee. A report by Fox 17 WZTV covered four…
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The day after State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) filed a bill intended to help fund President Trump’s wall on the southern border, conservative radio and talk show host Laura Ingraham tweeted about it. Griffey’s bill HB 0562, which is being sponsored in the State Senate by Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) as SB 1504, is “calling for the imposition of fees on the transfer of any money from Tennessee to Mexico and calling for the fees generated to be set aside to fund the border wall proposed by Trump,” according to a statement issued Thursday about the bill. The news prompted a tweet by Laura Ingraham, “YES: Tennessee lawmaker introduces bill he says will help fund Trump’s border wall,” and included a link to a story in The Tennessean with the same title. If the bill is passed into law, all qualifying transactions after January 1, 2020, would be subject to a $10 per transaction fee plus 10 percent on amounts over $500. Those licensed in the business of money transmissions, referred to as the licensee, can keep a half percent as compensation for accounting and remitting the fee to the state’s Department of Revenue. The Department of Revenue will retain one…
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