Legislative advocacy is a critical part of ACLU-TN’s interdisciplinary approach to protecting and promoting civil liberties and civil rights. ACLU-TN lobbyists are at the Tennessee General Assembly and in Congress lobbying on a range of issues, pursuing initiatives to advance civil liberties and challenging attempts to erode our freedoms.
Each year, ACLU-TN lobbyists review over 2,000 bills introduced in the Tennessee General Assembly for civil liberties implications, identifying those bills that we are going to lobby and developing strategies accordingly.
We educate legislators about ACLU positions, draft legislation on priority issues, lobby on bills affecting civil liberties, testify or arrange for testimony on bills, and build coalitions to pursue pro-active legislative initiatives or battle anti-civil liberties legislation. In addition, Tennessee legislators and their staff often ask us for analysis on pending bills.
SB 0503/HB 1183 would divert up to $141.5 million in taxpayer funds to implement an unfair and discriminatory statewide private school voucher program.
SB 2631/HB 0161 effectively restricts voter's freedom of choice, narrows candidate options, and further empowers the polarization of political parties at the expense of voter representation and influence...
Allows any parent with a child eligible to attend a school operated by a local LEA or public charter school to sue the LEA or charter school, if they believe they aren’t enforcing Public Chapter 744, a 2022...
HB 2227/SB 1918 utilizes medically accurate language to clarify that the Tennessee abortion ban does not apply to birth control or fertility treatments, such as IVF, reaffirming the distinction between...
HB 1949/SB 278 criminalizes trans people and people whom another individual assumes is trans for entering restrooms consistent with their gender identity.
SB 1738/ HB 2169, would allow prospective adoptive or foster parents to disregard any government policy that requires acceptance of the sexual orientation or gender identity of a child, denying children...