1.24.25 TDC Weekly Public Policy Update

The Tennessee State Capitol building lit up at night and behind a set of ascending stairs

As a fan and (sometimes) purveyor of fancy words, one sticks in my mind as emblematic of the last week: interregnum. Essentially, it’s a time between two periods – we had the gaveling in of the 114th General Assembly session, next week we have the special session, so this week? Nothing. Except for those with the unenviable task of moving one’s legislative office at Cordell Hull, our elected officials have treated this week like an interregnum and stayed home. So I don’t have many updates for you, dear reader. But know, the interregnum ends today and the big stuff starts on Monday. 
 

The Important Stuff – 2025 TDC Priority Bills

  • Freedom for Family Care Act – (aka Paid Family Caregiving: Part 1) this bill would prohibit TennCare from developing or implementing policies that discriminate against family caregivers in the provider-based employment
    • No real updates here – we’re still finalizing some language and looking for a thus-far-elusive pair of sponsors to carry the bill for us
      • Good Guy, Good Friend and newly minted Chairman of the TennCare Subcommittee has agreed to carry this bill on the House side
    • Next up:
      • Finding that Senate sponsor
  • TennCare Network Reporting Reform – this bill would require TennCare to collect and publish data about percent service utilization, appointment wait times and time between approval for a service and start of the service, broken down by county and waiver program
    • Likewise, not a lot of progress on this one
    • But, word on the street as that the HCBS Access Rule, which was finalized by CMS in June, is on the chopping block in Congressional budget reconciliation negotiations
    • The “menu of budget reconciliation options” thinks that eliminating the new and yet-to-be-implemented rule would result in $121B in savings over the next decade
      • That seems like an overestimate to me – most of the rule is administrative, related to reporting or quality measures
    • But alas, on the “menu” it remains
    • But that’s all the better reason to build upon the federal proposal and codify here in TN
      • But loss of applicability nationwide would also result in a loss of cross-state comparisons of data
        • Which would be a bummer
    • Next up:
      • Two sponsors
  • Katie Beckett Part A Wraparound Improvement Act – this bill would permit Part A families to utilize HCBS wraparound services funds using an HRA, similar to that in Katie Beckett Part B
    • Like the majority of our agenda, this bill is on hold until we can meet with our preferred sponsors
      • But we’re hoping to see that happen in the next 2 weeks
    • The details remain fuzzy here – we’re pursuing the HRA option, but there are other considerations
      • Like caps on spending for certain items, concerns about mis-spending, MCO performance, etc.
    • Next up:
      • Pinning down some friends
  • Threats of Mass Violence Disability Protections – this bill would expand the protections for people with disabilities from being charged for a threat of mass violence, and provide some discretion to school personnel in reporting non-valid threats
    • As we continue to debate about “threats”, tragic mass violence once again comes to Tennessee schools
      • To be clear, what happened at Antioch High School was awful, young lives lost is among the world’s greatest tragedies and another school will now graduate a cohort of young people scarred and traumatized by gun violence at their school
    • I don’t believe that this dispatch, this week, is the appropriate time or place to discuss the politics of our work on the “threats of mass violence” law
      • I will update next week
    • In the meantime, hold your loved ones, friends, neighbors, colleagues and anybody who needs it close while we mourn another tragedy
    • Next up:
      • Next week
  • Accommodations in the Open Meetings Act – this bill would require all “governing bodies” subject to the state’s Open Meetings Act to provide reasonable accommodations, as required by the ADA
    • I’m running into a lack of appetite to take this bill on
      • Particularly in light of the 12-bill limit for House members
        • Meaning, they may only propose 12 bills all. year, unless you chair a committee, which permits an additional two committee-specifi bills
    • This means that few that I’ve spoken to so far are enthused about passing a bill (aka using a bill slot) to reaffirm what is already the law
      • We may try a different route here this year and see if we can work with the Secretary of State to achieve the goals of this potential legislation
    • Next up:
      • Taking the temperature at Tre Hargett’s office
  • ECF Innovation Resolution – this resolution urges TennCare and the state to modernize the ECF CHOICES program to ensure that all members receive the types of supports and services that they need to live independent lives in the community
    • Still looking for sponsors here
      • One of the big obstacles is again the House bill limit
        • Though this is not a bill – it’s a resolution – it would be considered “substantive”
        • Substantive resolutions are required to go through committees
        • Meaning it requires a bill slot
        • Of which there are few left this year
    • But it’s an important resolution, in part, because it puts the state on notice
      • It’s the paid family caregiving playbook: use the General Assembly to ask the state to do something, and if they don’t, use the General Assembly to tell them to do something the following year
    • I’ll keep door-knocking though and we’ll find somebody to carry this puppy
    • Next up:
      • Sponsors
         

Other stuff:

  • The Special Session starts on Monday!
    • The Governor’s Proclamation of a special session limits the bill subjects that may be introduced during said special session
      • This special session is then limited to Hurricane Helene relief funding, immigration topics, and universal private school vouchers
    • The latter – universal private school vouchers – is the Governor’s signature proposal for the second straight year
      • And was the impetus to calling the special session
    • Here are the deets:
  • HB6001/SB6002 – Immigration – this bill would establish a centralized state-level immigration office, make it a felony to declare a sanctuary city or policy, allow for the removal of elected officials who declare a sanctuary city or policy, create a grant program for cities to assist in immigration enforcement, require local participation in immigration enforcement, and prohibit undocumented immigrants from obtaining drivers licenses (including commercial)
  • HB6002/SB6004, HB6003/SB6003 – Hurricane Helene Relief – establishes funds for Hurricane relief, enlists TEMA to help in rebuilding
  • HB6005/SB6005 – Appropriations – catchall bill that establishes authority and appropriates funding for bills passed during the special session
  • HB6004/SB6001 – Universal Private School Vouchers/"Education Freedom Act" – creates a program by which all Tennessee students are eligible to receive a private school voucher worth approximately $7000
    • Ok, let’s talk about this one
    • This proposal uses public tax dollars to empower private schools to discriminate against students with disabilities. This is what the plain text of the bill says:
      • (c) Private schools that enroll recipients must have the maximum freedom to provide for the educational needs of recipients without governmental control. A private school that enrolls recipients is not required to alter its creed, practices, admission policies, hiring policies, or curriculum in order to accept recipients.
        • Emphasis mine
        • This means that private schools accepting public tax-funded vouchers are allowed to create and impose admission policies that ban students with disabilities
          • Or any other class of student, for that matter
      • (b) A recipient does not retain the right to receive special education and related services from the LEA in which the recipient resides, through an individualized education program. Recipients have the same rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (20 U.S.C. § 1414) to receive equitable services through an individualized service plan as all other students enrolled in non-public schools
        • Emphasis mine
        • This means that you must give up all special education supports, services and rights, including an IEP, accommodations, modifications, supportive services, therapies, and any other IDEA rights, like due process and LRE
      • So, “freedom” for whom?
    • And also, while we’re at it, let’s define “equitable services” (from (b) above) so that we can explain it to our legislators
      • Equitable services are the responsibility of the local public school district
      • They are a function of the “child find” provision of IDEA, which requires public schools to affirmatively seek out and provide services to students who have disabilities in their area
        • Including students in private schools
      • Those services are likely to be lesser in scope, extent and quality, and not guaranteed to be administered by a credentialed (or even trained) professional
      • Here’s a decent explainer
    • There are a lot of needs in the Tennessee special education system, and not a dime of the $400M cost goes to addressing those needs
    • The cost of private school vouchers has skyrocketed in almost every state that has passed such a law
    • Tennessee ranks 43rd in per-pupil spending for the 2024-2025 school year
      • The state has not allocated nearly enough money and resources to public schools to argue that private schools are inherently better
        • Plus, ESA (private school voucher) holders now SCORE LOWER than their public school peers!
      • Invest in public schools, and if their performance is still troubling, then come back with private school vouchers
        • But don’t drain public schools of resources and then drain them of students under the auspices of “failing schools”
      • (Full disclaimer, I’m a card-carrying “Public School Guy” (PSG)
    • So, what to do about it?
    • Next up:
      • Monday!
  • HB133/SB110 – IDD Residential Licensure Exemptions – this bill would establish a carve-out to the licensure requirements for residential facilities that serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, permitting the construction and operation of large scale, segregated and congregate facilities by a third company in the state
    • Sigh, right back to it
    • This bill is nearly identical in language to the bill that past last year exempting two companies statewide
    • This, once again, is a red line for us because it diminishes (as a follow up bill would suggest) the anti-institutionalization laws that exist in the state
      • And the logical end to that is if some organizations can get an exemption to the law, then there is no law
      • And without strong anti-institutionalization measures in place, the slippery slope becomes a cliff
    • This is not to say that the organizations seeking the exemption is doing anything wrong – they probably already serve people with disabilities and are looking to serve them more
    • We will, once again, argue against this bill – these are our principles and we’re sticking to them
      • Stay tuned
    • Next up:
      • Committee Assignments (after Special Session)
  • Other other stuff:
    • House Subcommittee Calendar – none yet
    • House Committee Calendar – none yet
    • Senate Committee Calendar – none yet
    • Big Net List 2025
      • Subject to addition and change until the filing deadline

 

Federal Update

  • I mentioned it above in talking about the TennCare Reporting bill, but it’s worth reiterating down here: Medicaid is on the chopping block
    • I also think it’s worth taking a look at the options presented to House Congressional Republicans for cuts (and spending, in some cases)
    • Some of the scariest things:
      • Cuts to FMAP, the federal matching rate, would dramatically diminish the resources available to offer LTSS/HCBS (and healthcare, for that matter) to Tennesseans with disabilities
      • Work requirements could exclude otherwise eligible people with disabilities from TennCare
      • Elimination of the provider tax dramatically hampers the ability of states to meet their matching obligation, shrinking the resource pool again
    • But the new administration, which, when they were the old administration, approved the more draconian version of TennCare III (see our concerns here)
      • Most of the worst of that got taken out when the Biden administration withdrew approval for the Trump administration-approved version (the draconian one)
    • I would not be surprised to see TennCare (and likely many other state Medicaid agencies) taking another bite at the apple to try to claw some of those provisions back
      • And as for other state agencies, TennCare III, with its “shared savings” concept, is going to be the model
    • What does that all mean?
      • It’s bad, but we don’t know how bad yet
        • Which is the hard part at the moment
    • What can you do?
      • Reach out to your Congress-persons and let them know the importance of Medicaid for the Tennessee disability community
      • Stay tuned for more opportunities to plug in

 

GRASSROOTS Update

 

Media Update

  • ProPublica – this one is a report on the impact of Tennessee’s “threats of mass violence” law for students with disabilities – it’s a heartbreaker
  • NY Times – the New York Times lays out what Medicaid cuts are on the table, and why.
  • The Atlantic – we’ve heard a lot about “the loneliness epidemic” sweeping the nation and world – well, the Atlantic posits, maybe we’re think about loneliness wrong? An interesting thought for our community, who is so subject to the whims of society.

 

That’s all I’ve got for you this week. And look at us, it’s only special session and I’m working on 7 pages of content for you! But I hope that conveys the importance of our work, and the capacity for our community to lead the way in ensuring a better Tennessee for all residents. Stay tuned, reach out to me if you’ve got thoughts, questions or general feelings, and let’s hit the ground running on Monday.