Lawmakers begin session with Insure Tennessee supporters
NASHVILLE — The 109th General Assembly is back in session for the new year with many ideas on the table for legislators to sort through.
Rep. Johnny Shaw of Bolivar said most of those issues won’t come to light right away.
“Sometimes it’s hard to know what all those issues will be until we are here for another week or two, but this is the beginning of another exciting session,” Rep. Shaw said.
As lawmakers started the session, though, a lot of the commotion was coming from outside the chambers where there were supporters of Insure Tennessee.
Hundreds lined up from across the state, some from West Tennessee to support the governor’s plan, which supporters said would provide coverage to more than 280,000 Tennesseans.
“To say to the legislature, we support Gov. Haslam’s Insure Tennessee plan, to save our rural hospitals, to bring jobs to the state, to keep our federal dollars at home,” said Gordon Bonnyman with the Tennessee Justice Center.
Representatives said they’re not sure if anything will be done this session on the issue, but as protesters silently lined the hallways of the capitol or sang loudly from the lobby, they were making sure lawmakers heard their cry.
“We’re looking for leadership to bring it to a vote. We know if all the members of the House and Senate vote on it, it will pass,” Bonnyman said.
After this session concludes, all 99 House Seats and 16 of 33 Senate seats will be up for re-election.
