Tennessee Health Freedom Act Takes Another Step In The State House

The Tennessee Health Freedom Act moved forward in the state house on Wednesday (March 31), with a subcommittee vote that sends the issue to the full Commerce Committee for approval. Passage of the act by the full committee would lead to a vote on the floor by the full House of Representatives.

The Senate already passed the bill in February. The Tennessee Health Freedom Act would require the Attorney General to sue the federal government if the feds were to penalize any Tennessean for not obtaining health care insurance under the federal health care reform act that was passed and signed into law at the end of March.



About a hundred conservative activists who filled the halls outside of the Commerce Subcommittee meeting room erupted into cheers and applause as the measure passed. They followed suit when a republican bill to amend the constitution to prohibit forced participation in health care insurance also passed. That bill is sponsored by Rep Susan Lynn who also favors a state nullification that they think would allow Tennessee to ignore federal law, as Tripple N previously wrote about here.

All of this legislation is part of a political movement that seeks, and sought even before national health care reform was passed; to mute, limit and hopefully nullify reform coming out of Washington. The most widely disputed aspect may be the individual mandate to buy health insurance, or be penalized with fines.

Unlike other aspects of the health care reform bill, which will begin to take effect almost immediately, the individual mandate won't go into effect until 2014. Many states Attorney Generals have, or are pledging to take suit against the federal government to block implementation of federal reform measures.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum filed a lawsuit just two days after Congress passed the health reform bill, and on the same day that President Obama signed it into law, alleging that the legislation is unconstitutional. His suit was joined by 13 other states attorney generals. Virginia’s attorney general has filed a separate suit.

The next Tennessee Commerce Committee vote on the proposed bills is next Wednesday. Read more! Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz0fvTXmFSF

State Assembly Woman Susan Lynn Calls for Health Care Nullification Bill

[Originally from December 31 2009]

On Mike Church’s Sirius satellite radio show, Tennessee State Assembly Representative Susan Lynn of District 57 (Mt. Juliet) announced both a health care nullification bill and state health care constitutional amendment planned for Tennessee.


Rep Susan Lynn


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Nullification is the latest tactic that has grown out of the political Right’s tea party movement after having failed to stop passage of health care bills in both U.S. House and Senate; despite much publicized and highly rancorous town halls this past summer, and marches on the National Mall in Washington D.C. this fall.

Right now the two congressional bills are awaiting reconciliation when Congress return from holiday vacation, in order to come up with one combined bill for a final vote.

On December 28, Lynn took to the airwaves with conservative radio host Church to express her thoughts. Nashville Post Politics transcribes the most specific part of the conversation to this point to have been as such:

Mike: Let me move on to another area, here, of this same discussion here, then. Wouldn’t it be prudent to pursue this in the state legislature and have an absolute piece of legislation, a law that says, uh, not so fast, Charlie, we’re just going to make that law null and void and illegal in Tennessee. We are not going to allow the federal government to subjugate our citizens into some kind of slavery here that they have to buy anything. Susan?

Susan: Yeah, it’s my understanding that a nullification bill is going to be filed in Tennessee. And also I have a constitutional amendment that we’ll put into our state constitution that, you know, people have the right to choose their own healthcare, that the government cannot force them into anything. And so, you know, we’ll see how that will go. Constitutional amendments, though, in Tennessee are a very lengthy process. They take really about six years or more. So the nullification bill would really be much more effective.

Lynn Continued “We have to do both,” according to the City Paper. “We have to have a law immediately, and then we also have to have a constitutional amendment to protect our citizens through our constitution.”

Then on Tuesday December 29, the Mt. Juliet Republican Representative was joined by fellow Republican Rep Debra Maggart of Hendersonville in sending a letter to state Attorney General Robert Cooper urging him to file suit against the federal government if health care reform passes with a Medicare expansion.


Rep Debra Maggart

The letter in part states that:
Under this bill, Tennessee would be forced to expand our Medicaid program, potentially costing the citizens of the state $1.4 billion dollars in additional state taxpayer funds annually. Such an increase would place a great burden on the citizens of this state. It is clear by the wording of the legislation itself that not every state would face a similar and equal burden.
We see this as a violation of the equal protection of the law, an affront to our sovereignty, and a breach of the U.S. Constitution.
Rep. Mike Turner, chairman of the House Democrats’ political caucus, said Tuesday
“Susan Lynn is yearning for times gone by. Maybe we could put the poor people back to sharecropping and slavery and let the people up at the big house have all the nice things. We’ve already had that fight about states’ rights."

Turner is referring to states rights arguments that were at the center of the Civil War, and to the Nullification Crisis of the 1830s where South Carolina passed a law nullifying federal tariffs. After President Andrew Jackson sent Navy warships to the Charleston harbor, South Carolina backed down and rescinded the law; while congress passed a new lower rate tariff. Much like Rep. Lynn’s proposals, the South Carolina law declared 1828 and 1832 federal tariff laws to be unconstitutional, and hence null and void.


Cited articles and documents:

Nashville Post Politics - http://politics.nashvillepost.com/2009/12/29/susan-lynn-talks-nullification-on-satellite-radio/

The City Paper - http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/state-legislator-says-she-plans-introduce-nullification-bill

Letter to Attorney General Robert Cooper - http://www.tennessean.com/assets/pdf/DN1489021221.PDF Read more! Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz0fvTXmFSF

Interview With Jim Cooper About His Health Care Vote

As one of the moderate Blue Dog Democrats, much hand wringing has gone on the last few months about Tennessee Representative Jim Coopers position on Health care reform, mostly from national liberal activist. Nonetheless in the end Cooper voted for the Democrat constructed bill.

The health care reform bill is now going into reconciliation to reconcile the two versions passed by the House and the Senate, in order to have a final vote.

Last month the Washington post interviewed Cooper about his vote:

Rep. Jim Cooper: House health care bill was 'one of the best votes I ever cast

Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) knows as much about health-care policy as anyone in Congress. He teaches the subject back home in Tennessee, promoted his own plan (to the anger of many Democrats) in 1994, and has been both a vocal advocate and critic of this year's reform fight. On Saturday, he voted for the House's health-care bill. Earlier today, he told me why.

Jim Cooper

What was the weekend like for you?

This was one of the best votes I ever cast. The key is to keep the reform process alive. There are many things in the House bill I disagree with. But the Senate bill is the more likely final product due to the difficulty of getting 60 votes over there. If we had dropped the baton at this stage, it wouldn’t have given the Senate a chance to improve the bill. It would have given the House what amounted to a one-chamber veto. The Senate could have powered through, but those folks are not noted for their courage. The House had to perform here. And I am thankful that in the nick of time the leadership realized how short they were on votes.

The slim margin surprised many observers. Do you buy the argument that there were a number of congressmen who would have voted for the bill if they’d been needed?

I think the actual number was closer to 210. The leadership had to move heaven and earth to get to 220. The achievement of the leadership was to corral the votes at the last minute, and that is a great achievement that should not be diminished, and they did that by making major concessions they didn’t want to make.

The rest of the interview

Also see:

Healthcare Cost Debated In Nashville With Gov. Bredesen, Rep. Cooper and Others

How Tennessee Representatives voted on health care bill Read more! Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz0fvTXmFSF