Posted: 4/24/2012 11:08:43 AM EDT
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It appears SB 3002 and HB 3560, the Employee Safe Commute legislation, may be
going down in defeat (or should I say suffocation). The Senate voted this morning not to suspend the rules to bring this to a floor vote. We absolutely need to remember this in August when we are casing our votes in the primary. |
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It appears HB3560 is not completely dead yet.
Representative Mark Pody told me last night there was an attempt to bring this back to the floor on Friday afternoon. The attempt failed due to a procedural error; however, there will be another attempt on Monday. It will be nice to get a vote in one of the two houses, the House or the Senate. Unfortunately SB3002 is probably dead so this won't go far. |
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It will be nice to get a roll call floor vote...but, unless I've missed something, the issue is effectively dead for the year.
A bill must be voted on 3 times, must pass each vote, and each vote must occur on a separate day. I don't think there will be enough session days left for it to pass. The rules can be suspended, but I'm not sure that will happen, & if it does, if such suspension of the rules will allow the bill to go to the Governor for a signature––and if it does, Haslam may well veto it. If that happens, the Legislature will be long gone, with no hope for an override. David |
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Quoted:
I think you are correct. We know the Senate bill is dead so even if this comes to a vote it will be just informational. Yes, it could be quite informative, indeed. However, since it's moribund anyway, I expect what we'll see is a bunch of people voting for it, knowing they will claim support for 2A rights based on that vote, but knowing all the while that if it really had a chance of passage, they wouldn't vote for it. David |
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Quoted:
Yes, it could be quite informative, indeed. However, since it's moribund anyway, I expect what we'll see is a bunch of people voting for it, knowing they will claim support for 2A rights based on that vote, but knowing all the while that if it really had a chance of passage, they wouldn't vote for it. David Actually, if it had a chance of passage, there would be a rush to vote for it. The simple fact that Leadership, starting with Gov. Haslam, and, his handpicked Speaker of the House having co-opted our Lt. Gov. to their way of thinking, (which is "Do all things as a Moderate"), is the problem. Put that bill on the floor of both Chambers, and it would pass with flying colors, it was co-sponsored by 45% of the Republican House members. Having been very close to this whole process, I lay the stake in the heart of the Employee Safe Commute at the feet of 5 people. Haslam, Ramsey, Harwell, Maggart and McCormick. Keep an eye on the dollars donated to their campaign funds. I will be helping folks realize who gets how much money from the antagonist to these bills. |
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Richard,
I agree that It would have passed a floor vote. However, unless the process has changed, it has to pass 3 floor votes on 3 different days. That is what I meant by moribund...it wasn't going anywhere even if it did get the floor vote we all deserved. You are spot-on in your assessment, and it will indeed be interesting to "follow the money." David |
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Gentlemen,
You will get no argument from me - I think you both are correct. I heard Steve Gill talk last night and he said something I think we ALL should incorporate into our discussions of this legislation. We have heard the opposition call this legislation the "Guns in Trunk" bills. While we, those in favor of the bills, prefer to call it the "Employee Safe Commute" bills. During the debate on this legislation it was mentioned if the law set the precedent of allowing companies to ban this one item, i.e.. guns, then there was nothing to stop companies from banning other items such as "blue ball point pens" or "pro 2A baseball caps" or (heaven forbid) "bibles in trunks." The thought of this caused an uproar in the opposition who said that would never happen. Well, Steve suggested henceforth we should call this legislation "THE EMPLOYEE SAFE COMMUTE - BIBLES IN TRUNKS" legislation. I agree. |