This week has been a really busy week with lots of meetings in my office, as well as many committee meetings and three House floor sessions.
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account and connect your subscription to it by clicking here.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active, online-only subscription then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
This week has been a really busy week with lots of meetings in my office, as well as many committee meetings and three House floor sessions. The highlight of the week was Monday night when we heard Gov. Bill Lee give his State of the State address. The speech was almost an hour long with many standing ovations. The Governor has many great ideas and budget items in his speech. I want to list some of them that really caught my attention:
Last Friday in Shelbyville, we had a very important meeting that featured Bedford County, the City of Shelbyville, Bedford Utility District, Industrial Recruiting, and the TN Department of Environment and Conservation. The group got together to discuss and come up with a plan to improve our water and sewer infrastructure in Bedford County. If our leaders can come together with a master plan and put in some local money, we have a real chance to draw down large matching funds from the state using the ARP (American Rescue Plan) federal money.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to grow and improve our water and sewer utilities in our county. We invited the leaders of Lincoln and Moore Counties to attend the meeting and help us all understand how to put together this grant application. We had about 50 people in attendance and we all learned a lot on how to move the project forward.
Tuesday was Tennessee Veterans Day on the Hill. We all look forward to this day every year and our veterans were represented by a great group. Mike Reuss, the Veterans Service Officer in Shelbyville, and Greg Dodson and Chris Hopkins, both of Fayetteville, stopped by my office for a good visit. I’m very proud of their service to our country and for the way they continue to serve our community.
Legislation was recently filed that would give Tennessee public schools the option to offer remote class instruction in the event of extreme weather or outbreaks of illnesses on a school-by-school basis. House Bill 1912 gives local school districts the flexibility to provide up to 10 days of remote instruction of the required 180 days per school year. If the bill becomes law, districts could utilize the rule to allow individual classes or schools to learn remotely rather than shutting down an entire district.
House Bill 1867 requires an employer with a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy to grant an exemption for medical or religious reasons to anyone who requests to be exempt. The bill also specifies that medical practitioners are protected from civil liability and threat of disciplinary action by health-related boards for providing medical exemptions.
Things are starting to get really busy around here, but we do our best to make sure we take care of everyone back home. You contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I can be reached by email at rep.pat.marsh@capitol. tn.gov or by phone at (615) 741-6824. If you are ever in Nashville, feel free to stop by my office at the Cordell Hull Building, Suite 610.