Bo Watson, R-Chattanooga, and the vice chairman of the finance committee, warned that the projected cost of the bill will likely cause it to be placed among unfunded bills to be considered after the budget has passed.
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A new Tennessee bill, which would allow mental health therapists to reject the patients, has been passed and is on its way to the governor.
A controversial bill that would allow Tennessee mental health providers from providing treatment to LGBT individuals is now on the desk of Governor Bill Haslam.
“Discriminatory gender inspection bills like those being forced through the Tennessee legislature not only put school funding at risk and open schools up to legal problems, but they are bad for the economy”, McTighe said. The organization also labelled the measure as an “unprecedented attack” on its profession.
The measure is part of a wave of legislation across the country that opponents say legalizes discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Earlier, Haslam agreed to change some of the verbiage from “sincerely held religious belief” to “sincerely held principal”, something Democratic Sen. If either bill becomes law, Tennessee could potentially see businesses scuttle plans to relocate to, expand in, or hold conventions in the state.
“There’s lots different principles that come into play, and there’s no limitation on what those principles are, other than it has to be ‘sincerely held, ‘” Yarbro said.
Advocates of the GOP-sponsored bill declare HB 1840 protects the constitutional rights of counselors, who object on religious grounds to the amended code of ethics of the American Counseling Association, that specifically targets “Christian” counselors. In doing so, they expanded the number of people able to claim an exemption beyond just those who object based on religion but on moral principles, which requires a much lower threshold for justification.
“What if someone comes to me as a physician and says, ‘We want you to humanely participate in an execution?'” he said.
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Gov. Bill Haslam, and the state Department of Education, have raised similar concerns about the federal funding aspect.
