PRESS RELEASE
Advocates for Families in Need
211 7th Avenue N, Ste. 100
Nashville, TN 37219
Phone: (615)255-0331 Fax: (615)255-0354
e-mail: info@tnjustice.org website: www.tnjustice.org
6/27/2019
For Immediate Release
Contact: Michele Johnson
Executive Director
(615) 417-1492
TN Justice Center responds to Governor’s call for special session:
“Ask legislature to deal with Tennessee’s health crisis!”
Nashville, Tenn. – Governor Bill Lee today announced that he is calling the Tennessee legislature into a special session on August 23rd to elect a new speaker of the House of Representatives. The current speaker, Rep. Glen Casada (R-Franklin) plans to resign the speakership on August 2nd.
Michele Johnson, executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center, which advocates for affordable health care for Tennesseans, issued the following statement:
Since taxpayers will have to foot the bill for the special session, we ought to get more for our money than just cleaning up Rep. Casada’s mess. The latest polls confirm that health care remains at the top of Tennessee voters’ list of concerns. Tennessee leads the nation in the loss of rural hospitals, the loss of health care coverage for children, the impact of medical debt on families, and in terrible rates of chronic illness. For five years, most Tennesseans of both parties have wanted to make use of $1.4 billion of our federal tax dollars available to fight those problems. The legislature has blocked the use of that money, refusing even to vote on it.
Governor Lee, please respect the will of the public and address the urgent concerns of Tennesseans. Make the special session truly special by asking the legislature to vote to allow the use of all available federal health funds to solve our state’s pressing needs.
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The Tennessee Justice Center (TJC) is a non-profit public interest law and advocacy firm serving families in Tennessee. It gives priority to policy issues and civil cases in which the most basic necessities of life are at stake and where advocacy can benefit needy families statewide. TJC works to empower its clients by holding government accountable for its policies and actions.
TJC was established in 1996 and is located at 211 Seventh Avenue, North, Nashville, TN. For additional information about the Tennessee Justice Center and its services, call 615-255-0331.
