TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Nov 19, 2021

A legislative counsel to the govenor warned Tennessee lawmakers their bill limiting COVID-19 restrictions would violate federal law and put the state at risk of losing federal funds. According to records obtained by the Associated Press, Legislative Counsel Liz Alvey warned Senate Speaker Randy McNally’s chief of staff and a member of Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson’s office in an email on the night the bill was passed. “Proposed ADA accommodation in the bill is a violation of the ADA and will put us at risk of losing federal funding,” Alvey wrote. The bill was approved an hour later. It is not clear if Alvey relayed that advice to Gov. Bill Lee before he signed the bill into law less than two weeks later.