• 2023 Public Legislation Survey

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    Please answer the following 10 questions based on your personal views and preferences. This data will be used to help ForAllTN accomplish its legislative goals and to inform our representatives of your preferences. No data collected will be shared or sold to or with any outside organization. 

  • 1. Civil asset forfeiture allows law enforcement to seize property without ever convicting or even charging you with a crime, simply by claiming the property could be used in the commission of a crime. Nationally, law enforcement seizes more annually than all the property stolen in thefts combined.

    Read the text for HB1285/SB1462 here!

    Read the text for HB1006/SB1499 here!

     
  • Do you support legislation intended to limit or eliminate civil asset forfeiture?

  • 2. Tennessee requires police to wear body cameras in order to protect both police and civilians and to ensure information is collected accurately and preserved for use in potential hearing. However, police in Tennessee are not currently required to record interrogations of a juvenile suspect at a precinct though the same reasons for doing so apply.

    Read the text for HB22/SB15 here!

     
  • Do you support legislation requiring police interrogations of juveniles to be recorded.

  • 3. Current law allows TWRA to enter private property under the premise of checking for proper licenses and other legal loopholes. This essentially gives officers discretionary authorization to roam private property at will. This piece of legislation would require all TWRA officers to obtain a valid search warrant (like any other law enforcement officer) before entering private property. 

    Read the text for HB1113/SB1107 here!

  • Do you support legislation that would require TWRA officers to get a search warrant before entering or conducting surveillance on private property

  • 4. The average tax on beer production in the US is $0.20 per gallon. Tennessee however has the highest beer barrelage tax in the country at $1.29 per gallon, 6.5 times the national average, and a full $0.36 higher than the second highest, Hawaii, at $0.93. This is a burdensome tax that only applies to beer producers in Tennessee and stymies potential economic growth for homegrown businesses.

    This bill is currently in caption form. 

    Learn more here!

  • Do you support legislation that would reduce the tax on beer produced by tennessee businesses?

  • 5. With a record-sized rainy day fund and revenues that are consistently exceeding projections quarter over quarter and inflation mounting, the legislature has an opportunity to cut taxpayers a needed break. Reducing or eliminating the tax on food would lighten the burden on struggling Tennesseans.

    Learn more.

    Read the text of HB409/SB167 here!

  • Do you support legislation intended to reduce or eliminate the tax on food purchases?

  • 6. “Certificate of Need” laws are used by the state to control the delivery of healthcare with the intent to balance competition among providers and distribute coverage across all regions. As a result, healthcare providers must have permission from the state to add beds to their facility, purchase an MRI machine, open a new location, or otherwise increase capacity in a number of other ways.

    Learn more.

    Read the text of HB966/SB1093 here!

  • Do you support legislation that would limit or end “certificate of need,” laws that require medical providers to get permission from the state to add healthcare capacity?

  • 7. There were 545,601 marijuana arrests in the country in 2019, and 92% of these arrests were for marijuana possession alone — not for sale or manufacturing. In the U.S., there are more arrests for marijuana possession each year than for all violent crimes combined. 

    Learn more.

    Read the text for HB85/SB168 here!

  • Do you support legislation that would legalize and tax marijuana for recreational use in an effort to reduce the burden on our corrections and judicial system.

  • 8. Currently District Attorney's and police can obtain a person's phone record with a simple subpoena. There is no requirement for these authorities to obtain a warrant based on some cause in order for them to search a person's phone records. 

    Read the text for HB1266/SB1239 here!

  • Do you support legislation to require a warrant be obtained by authorities prior to searching a person's phone records?

  • 9. 39 other states, the District of Columbia, and 4 US territories allow for the medical use of marijuana by certain citizens with health conditions defined by the state and under the care of a licensed doctor.

    Learn more here!

    Read the text of HB1441/SB1104 here!

  • Do you support legislation allowing for the use of marijuana for medical purposes?

  • 10. A criminal record can massively affect a person’s employability, ability to find housing, and the likelihood of reoffending. After a period of time, most nonviolent criminal history can be removed from criminal records for a fee through a process called expungement. The stated goal of the Department of Corrections is to “improve offender outcomes, reduce recidivism and enhance public safety… with the goal of providing a seamless system of care for successful reentry.”

    Read the text of HB310/SB109 here!

     

  • Do you support legislation that allows automatic expungement of an eligible violation after the waiting period for a qualifying offense as currently established in code?
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