News

Happy Sine Die, TDC Family! We made it! The General Assembly members have concluded their work for the year (as have we) and they are blessedly headed home for the year (to campaign). All in all, dear reader, we had another pretty darn good year. We, of course, did not win every battle, but we won a lot of them and flexed...

The last Friday of the session?????  Maybe – I thought we’d be out after this week too, but that is certainly not the case. And that’s just fine, we’ve still got some good things on the table to get some signatures on. We’ve gone into “flow-motion” at the legislature, which is a fancier (and more fun) way to say that all rules...

Well, the end is in sight. I hear the Senate will submit their budget amendment next Wednesday and then, per usual, wait on the House for theirs. There are a couple big things on the table (including some of our things) that will likely see some resolution by the end of the week (maybe beginning of the following week). It’s not...

Tough week, friends. In fact, tough last couple of weeks. Big hugs and best wishes your way. But we’re getting close to the end (2 weeks?) and we’ve got (very good) things to look forward to passing, which will be our saving grace for this session. We’ve got a lot of short- and long-term work cut out for us, TDC family, let’s...

TDC family, I am raging mad, hot under the collar and ready for a fight (and whatever other metaphors refer to white hot fury). And that’s because we indeed have a real fight on our hands, one I thought we had put to rest decades ago. This isn’t going to look like any of my regular weekly policy updates (don’t worry, I have them, but...

As the avid reader may be aware, I am a huge college basketball fan. My team, the proud University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, made big strides this year, improving from 2 conference wins to 9 this year. But alas, those nine are not going to be enough to get us to the Big Dance, aka the NCAA Tournament, aka March Madness....

Daylight savings time starts this weekend! Coming from gloomy and cold upper-Midwest winters, daylight savings time always marked the beginning of the end – sunshine, tulips and Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy were just around the corner IF you can hang in there for another half-dozen weeks. You knew that those six weeks would offer tantalizing glimpses of those days – a high in the mid-40’s;...

Happy March, TDC Family! As is the standard tradition for every General Assembly session, we are obligated to exclaim about the passage of each month into a new one, and note how quickly the previous month passed. Thus: it’s March already! Can you believe it? Me neither! And this month is a big one for our GRASSROOTS and the disability community. Our bills are...

So, that wasn’t so bad – the supposed “worst week of the year” was just sort of a regular one (if not a tad busy). Maybe that is in part because a lot of top priority bills are still waiting their turns to hit their respective calendars. Or maybe it’s because Cordell Hull is thawing out from its cold war/middle school ethos (lol)....

SB 2098/HB 2089 Establishing a Department of Disability and Aging What We Have in Common The Tennessee Disability Coalition was founded more than thirty years ago with foundational principles that included unity.  We have a commitment that those of us who experience disability need to stick together, to work together, and to build opportunities for all of us.  The presence of a...

I’ve got sort of a short one for y’all today – our stuff is in a bit of a holding pattern, and everybody at Cordell Hull was seemingly prepping for what some of deemed “the worst week of the year” next week, so it was a bit more quiet than usual (FYI, worst week because President’s Day makes it a short...

And a happy (Monday) to you, dear friends! So sorry to keep you waiting for this little dispatch – our intrepid Communications Director Tom and I spent Friday in beautiful Chattanooga working with some GRASSROOTS to get some media buzz around TennCare for Working Adults. However, excuses aside, I’ve got some stuff for you below, so I’ll get it served up hot and...