2002 Truancy +

Read Kay's comments on this legislation

5/29/02

HB2650 was passed by the full House. Representative Bunch's amendment exempting Bradley County was withdrawn. Rep. Winningham's amendment was passed. His amendment requires creation by the school board of an advisory council, neighborhood input, at least one public hearing, the training of school personnel and social workers, “training of involved law enforcement personnel in provisions of the truancy law, including categories of students to which the law does not apply, such as private school students or home school students;” and finally safeguards to protect selective enforcement and the civil rights of students.

It's companion, SB2145 was recommended for passage by the Education Committee and is still waiting in the Senate Calendar committee.

Sunday's Chattanooga Times Free Press:

“Rep. Turner [D-Chattanooga] said the bill does not affect home-schoolers. 'Police will not stalk them and pick them up, but the people who voted against this bill for that reason obviously didn't read the bill and they never asked me about it,' she said.”

And…

“Sen. David Fowler, R-Signal Mountain, is carrying the Senate companion legislation which has yet to be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee.”

HB2650 has been postponed yet again. They'll try again on 5/22/02 to have this voted on by the entire House. The Senate companion (SB 2145) has yet to be heard before any committee.

This bill was recommended for passage and will now be heard before the entire house.

HB2650 has been postponed yet again. This time it's set for Tuesday, 5/14/02. Still in front of the Finance and Ways Committee in Room 16 of the Legislative Plaza at 1:30. The Senate version still waits in the Calendar Committee.

5/1/02:

HB2650 was postponed and is now scheduled to be heard before the full Finance and Ways Committee on Tuesday, 5/7/02 at 1:30 p.m. in room 16 of the Legislative Plaza. It's Senate companion (SB2145) is still waiting in the Senate Calendar Committee.

HB2650 has been postponed to Tuesday, 4/23/02 same time, same place.

HB2650 was heard in the House Education Committee yesterday but there was not enough time to hear and discuss everything and this bill will be heard again next Tuesday, 4-16-02, again in Room 16 of the Legislative Plaza at 10:30 a.m. The legislation will follow the charter schools legislation so don't be surprised if the meeting is long and the truancy legislation even postponed yet again.

Amendments and amendments to amendments are in the works now. Sponsor Rep. Brenda Turner's amendment specifically outlines procedures for public input before a school system can utilize the police in picking up truants and training for personnel specifically regarding which students are not under the authority of this legislation (homeschooled and privately schooled children).

SB2145 still sits in the Senate Calendar Committee waiting to be scheduled for it's full Senate Hearing.

HB2650 is postponed again. Now it's set for Tuesday, 4/9/02, and again in Room 16 of the Legislative Plaza at 10:30 a.m. I'm told legislators are seeking further input before making a decision. That personnel from Knoxville, Chattanooga and Memphis are scheduled to testify. Amongst all the suggestions that are flying around is one that homeschoolers carry or be issued ID cards or be on a list which would include all children to aid police officers in determining who belongs where.

SB2145 still sits in the Senate Calendar Committee waiting to be scheduled for it's full Senate Hearing.

3/26/02:

HB2650 has been postponed yet again to 4/2/02, Tuesday. An interesting twist is the filing of an amendment by Rep. Dwayne Bunch (R-Bradley County) which he says is intended to exempt Bradley County from the use of police to pick up truants.

3/18/02:

HB2650 has been postponed and is now expected to be scheduled for hearing on 3/26/02, 10:30 a.m. in Room 16of the Legislative Plaza.

Rep. Les Winningham's mother passed away and will be buried on Tuesday the 19th when this bill was previously scheduled for hearing. Rep. Winningham is the Education Committee Chairman which is why his absence will impact the scheduling of this legislation.

3/13/02:

HB2650 was recommended for passage by the K-12 sub-committee. It is now scheduled for hearing before the House Education Committee on Tuesday, 3/19/02, 10:30 a.m. in Room 16 of the Legislative Plaza.

Coincidentally, this is the same day as THEA's Legislative Rally Day.

Some members of the House Education Committee report they have not seen the HSLDA memo against this bill.

SB2145 is still waiting to be scheduled for a full floor vote.

HB2650 is now scheduled for hearing in the K-12 sub-committee of the House Education Committee on Wednesday, 3/13/02 at 9:30 a.m. in Room 29 of the Legislative Plaza.

SB2145 is still waiting to be scheduled for a full floor vote.

From the Chattanooga Times Free Press regarding rescheduling of this bill after the flap between the bill's sponsor and the committee chair.

"House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh asked Rep. Winningham [Education Committee Chair] to investigate Rep. Turner's complaints. Rep. Winningham said Rep. Brown overstepped her authority by assigning the bill to a study committee."

"Hamilton County Board of Education member Debbie Colburn said the bill has the support of the state association of school boards, the Hamilton County district attorney's office and representatives from the school and community. Mrs. Colburn is chairwoman of the board's truancy committee, which has been working on

  a truancy policy for nearly six months." Here's the rest of the article.

Here's Mrs. Colburn's webpage with contact information: http://www.hcde.org/admin/board/dist8.htm

3/3/02:

This article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press details the fussing, some of it very personal, over this truancy legislation between two Chattanooga area representatives--the bill sponsor and the K-12 Sub-Committee Chair. The short story is the leadership is losing patience with these women and the bill is still in limbo. While I hate to see these two go at one another-I'm glad for any confusion in the ranks that keeps this bill from moving forward.

The Players (for those of us not from the Chattanooga area):

Rep. Tommie Brown (African-American) 28th District, Hamilton County, Chair of the House K-12 sub-committee, Associate Professor in Social Work for the University of Chattanooga, Doctorate Columbia University.

Rep. Brenda Turner (Caucasian) 29th District, Hamilton County, Masters in Education from the University of Alabama, Chair of House Children and Family Affairs Committee.

From the article:

'State Rep. Tommie Brown, D-Chattanooga, sidelined a proposed truancy bill because the legislation would allow police to target black youths, not because of a "so-called feud" with a fellow Chattanoogan, she said.'

'"She has some disagreements with the legislation. Furthermore, she's had some strong disagreements with me that go back before I was ever elected," Rep. Turner said.'

The Senate version (SB2145) and it's two amendments were NOT voted on Thursday and have been "re-referred to the Senate Calendar Committee".

House Bill 2650 has been deferred to a study committee after some discussion in the K-12 sub-committee of the House Education Committee this morning. According to Bobbie Patray of the Tennessee Eagle Forum, as forwarded in a note from THEA, Chairman Tommie Brown created a study committee which she decided will be comprised of:

Chairman Tommie Brown (D-Chattanooga);
Rep. Joe Towns (D-Memphis);
Rep. Mark Maddox (D-Dresden) and
Rep. Johnny Shaw (D-Bolivar.

You'll find contact information for these committee members at the left.

Again, according to Mrs. Patray, Rep. Turner, a sponsor of the bill, brought Mr. Charles Love from Chattanooga and Randy Nichols, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate and District Attorney from Knoxville to testify "on the merits of the bill."

The Senate version (SB2145) and it's two amendments are still scheduled to be voted on tomorrow, Thursday, 2/28/02, by the full Senate.

SB2145 was postponed from last night to this Thursday 2/28/02. It also has two amendments now which allow for liability if they mistakenly pick up a child. Read the amendments on this page.

HB2650 is still scheduled for this Wednesday, 2/27/02 in the House K-12 sub-committee of the House Education Committee.

HSLDA has written a letter opposing these bills you can find a copy of this letter here

The Senate version of this Truancy legislation has been scheduled for a full Senate vote on THIS Monday, 2/25/02. The House version is still scheduled for hearings in the K-12 sub-committee for this Wednesday, 2/27/02.

2/20/02:

The hearing of the House version of this bill (HB2650) in the K-12 sub-committee of the House Education Committee has been postponed to 2/27/02.

2/13/02:

This bill was recommended for passage by the Senate Education Committee and has been sent to the Calendar committee for scheduling. It's House companion HB2650 is now scheduled to be heard in the House Education Committee on Wednesday 2/20/02 . If you want to attend the meeting you may want to call the committee at (615) 741-6852 the afternoon before to be certain the bill is still scheduled to be heard.

I spoke with Greg Stablein of Gateway Christian Schools in Memphis and I've corresponded with Pat Wade of the Memphis THEA Chapter and neither of them has heard of the original legislation causing any trouble for homeschoolers in their area.

2/5/02

The Senate Education Committee hearing for SB2145, which will extend the truancy legislation of two years ago to include the entire state, is now scheduled to be heard Wednesday, February 13, 8:30 a.m. having been postponed one week.