I. Vaccine mandates by employers must come to an end. Places of public accommodation must not require a status of vaccination for entry or to receive goods and services.
We are asking legislators to defend individual liberty and protect what we consider a basic human right, the right to make our own medical decisions.
One state has clearly made this stand, Montana. We fully support a bill like Montana’s HB 702. This law restricts employers from requiring a vaccination status for any disease. It is NOT specific to COVID-19.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order that prohibits any “entity” from requiring a vaccine for COVID-19 as a condition of employment.
Please see the bill language that we’ve drafted and hope to see in the final bill passed. Here is what this bill would accomplish.
- Make it discriminatory for places of public accommodation to require a status of vaccination for entry or receive goods and services (including private schools and healthcare facilities).
- Make it discriminatory for employers to require vaccination status for COVID-19 as a condition of employment (including healthcare facilities).
- Create a cause of action on the basis of discrimination.
Many legislators are making an argument that businesses should not be regulated by the state in terms of vaccination requirements for their employees. Watch this video.
II. Remove extraordinary and broad powers given to county health officers.
Two state statutes passed in 2021 gave county health officers broad powers to create rules and regulations for the health and safety of the public. This authority is currently being used by the health department of Shelby County to create mask mandates throughout the county.
Another statute indirectly infers that a county mayor, under the advisement of a county board of health, also has the authority (as an executive) to promulgate these rules.
These statutes are unconstitutional and an affront to liberty and a direct violation of the separation of powers. They must be repealed.
Bill language.
Watch this video to understand how Shelby County is using this newfound authority.
III. No mask mandates in our public schools.
The General Assembly must specify in TCA § 49-2-203 and in TCA § 49-2-301 that no authority has been delegated to school board members or to LEA superintendents to make healthcare policy for the student population, including requirements to wear face coverings.
IV. No Patient Left Alone.
Across Tennessee, patients have been left to die alone in hospitals due to COVID-19 and a variety of other illnesses due to hospital protocols in response to the virus. Not only have patients died alone, but patients, including children, have been denied the right to have medical decisions made for them by loved ones and even those with power of attorney over their medical care. Patients have been left with no one to advocate for their care on their behalf. This is a travesty.
See North Carolina SB 191 as a great model for this type of legislation.
Even in a declared state of emergency or public health crisis…
- Ensure the opportunity for at least one visitor to visit a patient admitted to a facility.
- In the event a minor is admitted to a hospital, at least one parent, guardian, or person standing in loco parentis shall be allowed the opportunity to visit and to be present while the minor patient is receiving hospital care.
- One immediate family member or designated health care agent shall have the opportunity to visit an adult patient admitted to a facility.
- Visitation rights specified in this section may not be terminated, suspended, or waived by the hospital, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the Governor upon the declaration of a disaster.
- No hospital may require a patient to waive the visitation rights specified in this section.
V. Right to access life-saving medication and treatment.
There are validated reports across Tennessee where patients were denied access to not only HCQ and Ivermectin but even Zinc and Vitamin C when prescribed for treatment by licensed physicians. Hospitals like Vanderbilt, Ballad Health, UT and many others refused to provide access to these life-saving treatments for COVID-19.
This is wrong. We know it is wrong. And they know it is wrong. Patients have a right to access basic medical care in a treatment facility especially when that care is prescribed by a licensed physician in the state of Tennessee and permission given by the patient or patient advocate. The denial of these treatments is not based on science or a standard of care, but on politically driven agendas that only serve to harm the public.
We call on the General Assembly to pass legislation that would prevent a medical facility from denying access to these basic, life-saving treatments.
For more information, watch this video of a doctors’ roundtable held by our amazing team in Johnson City, TN.
VI. It is time to end the emergency. Amend or repeal TCA § 58-2-107 now.
Governors do not make law.
Governors do not delegate additional powers to other elected officials.
Emergencies should be limited in scope and duration.
The right to worship should never be threatened or limited.
No worker should be deemed non-essential by their government.
Businesses should never be shut down by their government.
People cannot be forced to stay in their homes by their government.
Unelected members of health departments should never create policy and penalty.
We call upon the General Assembly to restrain the powers of our governor during a time of emergency and acknowledge that § 58-2-107 is unconstitutional. It must be fixed, now.
We have had bill language drafted since January 2021.
- After 60 days, a state of emergency can only be renewed by a 2/3 majority of the General Assembly.
- The General Assembly must remain in session for the duration of the state of emergency and all subsequent renewals.
- The Governor may not take on legislative functions.
- Hold paramount and give preeminence to the rights and liberties of the people as guaranteed by the Constitution of the state of Tennessee against the arbitrary powers of government.
- No section of this chapter shall be construed to infringe on or interfere with the people’s right to assemble, worship, petition the government, or earn a living.
VII. Right to petition for recall election of school board members.
Parents are up in arms all over Tennessee and around the nation regarding school boards who seem to be oblivious or outright ignoring the rights of parents to make medical decisions for their own children, critical race theory, the LGBT agenda in our schools, social-emotional learning initiatives, and historically inaccurate curriculum. The option for a recall election puts additional power in the hands of parents and voters and gives them recourse when school boards continue to ignore these critical issues.
Governor Bill Lee and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally have repeatedly gone on record stating the importance of local decision-making for school boards. Fine. Then it should be equally important for local voters to have the tools necessary to hold these local officials accountable.
Current Tennessee law provides a mechanism to recall school board members in TCA § 49-2-213. While a Madison County judge did rule this law unconstitutional, it is only unconstitutional in that Subsection (e) makes the law only applicable to Madison County by population. A simple amendment makes this law applicable to all 95 counties.
See bill language.
What should we be striving for in the special session hopefully beginning on October 27th?
I. Vaccine mandates by employers must come to an end. Places of public accommodation must not require a status of vaccination for entry or to receive goods and services.
We are asking legislators to defend individual liberty and protect what we consider a basic human right, the right to make our own medical decisions.
One state has clearly made this stand, Montana. We fully support a bill like Montana’s HB 702. This law restricts employers from requiring a vaccination status for any disease. It is NOT specific to COVID-19.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order that prohibits any “entity” from requiring a vaccine for COVID-19 as a condition of employment.
Please see the bill language that we’ve drafted and hope to see in the final bill passed. Here is what this bill would accomplish.
Many legislators are making an argument that businesses should not be regulated by the state in terms of vaccination requirements for their employees. Watch this video.
II. Remove extraordinary and broad powers given to county health officers.
Two state statutes passed in 2021 gave county health officers broad powers to create rules and regulations for the health and safety of the public. This authority is currently being used by the health department of Shelby County to create mask mandates throughout the county.
Another statute indirectly infers that a county mayor, under the advisement of a county board of health, also has the authority (as an executive) to promulgate these rules.
These statutes are unconstitutional and an affront to liberty and a direct violation of the separation of powers. They must be repealed.
Bill language.
Watch this video to understand how Shelby County is using this newfound authority.
III. No mask mandates in our public schools.
The General Assembly must specify in TCA § 49-2-203 and in TCA § 49-2-301 that no authority has been delegated to school board members or to LEA superintendents to make healthcare policy for the student population, including requirements to wear face coverings.
IV. No Patient Left Alone.
Across Tennessee, patients have been left to die alone in hospitals due to COVID-19 and a variety of other illnesses due to hospital protocols in response to the virus. Not only have patients died alone, but patients, including children, have been denied the right to have medical decisions made for them by loved ones and even those with power of attorney over their medical care. Patients have been left with no one to advocate for their care on their behalf. This is a travesty.
See North Carolina SB 191 as a great model for this type of legislation.
Even in a declared state of emergency or public health crisis…
V. Right to access life-saving medication and treatment.
There are validated reports across Tennessee where patients were denied access to not only HCQ and Ivermectin but even Zinc and Vitamin C when prescribed for treatment by licensed physicians. Hospitals like Vanderbilt, Ballad Health, UT and many others refused to provide access to these life-saving treatments for COVID-19.
This is wrong. We know it is wrong. And they know it is wrong. Patients have a right to access basic medical care in a treatment facility especially when that care is prescribed by a licensed physician in the state of Tennessee and permission given by the patient or patient advocate. The denial of these treatments is not based on science or a standard of care, but on politically driven agendas that only serve to harm the public.
We call on the General Assembly to pass legislation that would prevent a medical facility from denying access to these basic, life-saving treatments.
For more information, watch this video of a doctors’ roundtable held by our amazing team in Johnson City, TN.
VI. It is time to end the emergency. Amend or repeal TCA § 58-2-107 now.
Governors do not make law.
Governors do not delegate additional powers to other elected officials.
Emergencies should be limited in scope and duration.
The right to worship should never be threatened or limited.
No worker should be deemed non-essential by their government.
Businesses should never be shut down by their government.
People cannot be forced to stay in their homes by their government.
Unelected members of health departments should never create policy and penalty.
We call upon the General Assembly to restrain the powers of our governor during a time of emergency and acknowledge that § 58-2-107 is unconstitutional. It must be fixed, now.
We have had bill language drafted since January 2021.
VII. Right to petition for recall election of school board members.
Parents are up in arms all over Tennessee and around the nation regarding school boards who seem to be oblivious or outright ignoring the rights of parents to make medical decisions for their own children, critical race theory, the LGBT agenda in our schools, social-emotional learning initiatives, and historically inaccurate curriculum. The option for a recall election puts additional power in the hands of parents and voters and gives them recourse when school boards continue to ignore these critical issues.
Governor Bill Lee and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally have repeatedly gone on record stating the importance of local decision-making for school boards. Fine. Then it should be equally important for local voters to have the tools necessary to hold these local officials accountable.
Current Tennessee law provides a mechanism to recall school board members in TCA § 49-2-213. While a Madison County judge did rule this law unconstitutional, it is only unconstitutional in that Subsection (e) makes the law only applicable to Madison County by population. A simple amendment makes this law applicable to all 95 counties.
See bill language.
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Gary Humble
Gary Humble