Bill targeting Tennessee homeless camping on public property dies in committee oakridger.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from oakridger.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Advocates working to help homeless people are celebrating the death of a bill this week that would have criminalized camping on public property anywhere in the state.
House Bill 0978, sponsored by Rep. Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, passed the House floor this week but its Senate counterpart, SB 1610, sponsored by Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta, only received one vote of support during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday.
The bill sought to make soliciting or camping on a state or interstate highway or under a bridge or overpass a misdemeanor offense. It also broadened the language of the 2012 Equal Access to Public Property Act to make camping on all public property, not just property owned by the state, a criminal offense.
Bill targeting Tennessee homeless camping on public property dies in committee dnj.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dnj.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.