HB 130

I attended the House Education Subcommittee meeting, which met today to consider HB 130, the bill to repeal the bargaining law for teachers.  Shortly before the meeting, Rep. Dunn offered a dreadful 8-page amendment that essentially rewrites the bargaining law. He apparently delivered a copy of this lengthy amendment to his Democratic colleagues on the Subcommittee a mere 2-3 hours prior to the meeting, so none of them had time to thoroughly review the amendment in advance of the meeting. Rep. Fitzhurgh and Rep. Naifeh both asked for the amendment to be rolled over for a week, so they could read through it, discuss it with colleagues and constituents, and be better prepared to debate it. The sponsor declined; the chairman of the subcommittee declined. The Republicans offered to debate it as long as the Democrats wanted, but they would not allow time for review or comparison of the bill to the current law (which is comprised of 13 different statutes) prior to a vote.

So Rep. Naifeh asked what the point was in debating it, if they were not allowed time to review the amendment and to discuss it with people outside the committee. He called the question on the amendment. It passed on a purely partisan vote. The question was then called on the bill. It also passed on a purely partisan vote. And so the new "bargaining" law, and I use the term loosely, passed out of the subcommittee.

This is the way Republicans do business, not only in Tennessee, but all over the country. They will cripple this state, destroy Tennessee's public education system, and create a new class of serfs to serve business, and only business interests. If I wasn't so mad, I would weep for the future.