Governor Lee Will Sign Omnibus Bill Despite “Some Issues”
Photo Credit: Governor Bill Lee / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative – By Paula Gomes
After 10 days of reviewing the 8 bills passed by the Tennessee General Assembly in the last special session, Governor Bill Lee now says he will sign the omnibus bill, and is working with lawyers on “a few technical issues.”
Governor Lee says he generally supports the ideas in the bill but there are “some issues we need to work through.” He has been in contact with Speaker Cameron Sexton and Lt. Governor Randy McNally about proposed changes to the new legislation, which cannot be worked out until the General Assembly meets again in January.
Specifically, Lee says that he believes legislation requiring hospitals to allow indefinite family visitation for COVID-19 patients needs to be amended. Lee says that the “intent” of the bill is for end-of-life situations, and he hopes that the General Assembly will work to change that as soon as they are able.
The bill says “a hospital shall not restrict a patient from having at least one (1) family member present with the patient during the stay in the hospital as long as the family member tests negative for COVID-19 or another virus or communicable disease.”
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Many Tennesseans would disagree that the intent of the bill is for end-of-life situations only after experiencing frustration with hospitals over care of loved ones. On September 3rd, Alysha Rodriguez took her 36 year old, active, fit husband to Summit ER in Mount Juliet because he had tested positive for COVID-19 and was having trouble breathing. He was transferred by ambulance to Summit in Hermitage. Despite having medical power of attorney, she was not allowed to see him and he died 9 days later.
Tennesseans like Alysha desire to be present with a loved one in order to make decisions on their behalf when they are no longer able to make decisions for themselves, and not only when the end is unfortunately near.
Adam Kleinheider, communications director for Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, stated that McNally will continue to work with Governor Lee and Speaker Sexton in January on “this and other issues.”
In addition, Kleinheider said “Lt. Governor McNally is proud of the work done by all members of the General Assembly during the COVID-19 special session and believes a strong majority of Tennesseans share that pride. The legislative process is by its nature very fluid, and Lt. Governor McNally is always open to making improvements, clarifications and technical adjustments.”
Doug Kufner, spokesperson for House Speaker Cameron Sexton, said “If there is a need for clarification, the speaker will take a closer look at this portion of the bill when the legislature returns in January.”
Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and contributor to The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
End of Life my A$$–End of his Career is more like it. Family need to be able to advocate for the patient every minute of every day while in the Gulag we used to call Hospitals.
I agree with the ending of Lee’s career as well as all RINOs like him that have stabbed us in the back. As I understand it , the bill does not afford equal protection under the law for all Tennesseans in terms of being able to opt out of the Illegal Mandate requiring taking the Clot Shot. Lee apparently supports Imposter Biden’s Unconstitutional Mandates by not protecting Tennesseans that are contracted by , or work for , the Tyrant Regime/Cartel in DC . Why can’t we have a Governor like DeSantis or take up the cause of the Constitution like South Carolina and Florida to name two examples ? Lee lied to us when he campaigned about being a Conservative . He removed our Brave Confederate General Forrest’s bust from the Legislature in order to bow down to the Communists and now he agrees with China Joe. NO more RINOs. If he was in the hospital I bet he would have special exception in having some one there to look out after his needs. When in a hospital these days you have to have some one there to make sure the nurses do their jobs. In Vanderbilt they are committing murder in that they won’t do organ transplants if you haven’t had the Clot Shot. This is how sick things have become.
I agree Lee needs to go. As a citizen of Tennessee, he needs to protect me from the over reach of the Federal Gov’t (I’m a nurse at the VA), and the time has already passed for us to make our choice, and now waiting to see what they do with the exemptions and testing. It’s not right to test people because they stand for choice. I have no family to be with me, so to say only 1 family member, give me a break.
Also, they are not following science with this. And NO children should be vaxxed. This is WAR and some of aren’t going to go down without a fight. RINO’s in the Legislature need to go too. We need Legislature that protects our freedom to choose, including healthcare workers. Shame on them. I hope they all get voted out, and I for one will do my part. Sick and tired of these unConstitutional politicians.
I agree. Time for a REAL Conservative governor in Tennessee!! Can we call a special election and get him out before next year? We might not survive another year of this!!
I agree that one family member should be with any patient, this family member should be healthy, no contagious diseases, and if a patient is sick enough to be hospitalized, one visitor/family member is probably enough. They do make exceptions for dying parents. I’m pro choice Vax, new treatments available and there should be Antibody testing added to Exclusions to Vax Mandate.
Just from reading your post I can assume you have not had to be separated from a loved one, who was admitted to the hospital for covid. Well, I have and he died alone. The nurses, doctors, and even the cleaning/maintenance staff are allowed in the rooms, but not the family. These people go home every day, go to the store, out to eat, or any place they want to go. Then they put on a paper gown, sometimes a bonnet, a mask, and gloves and go back into the patient rooms. Answer me this, if I purchased PPE (any type approved by the facility) then why could I not go into the room? Some of these patients are in the hospital for weeks. When a person has a positive covid test, but are not admitted then they are told to quarantine for 10-14 days then they can return to work. When they are admitted they are never retested and continue in isolation until they are dead. Why is it different for an admitted patient?
Governor Lee has betrayed his Christian testimony and is a fake Christian, fake conservative, liar, and has caused more deaths and destruction in his term as Governor then any before him. He has not represented the people but worked with the corrupt liberal lawyers, CCP, fraudulent Non President Biden and trampled all over the Constitution of Tennessee as well as the rule of law. I think it’s only fair to declare-May all he has done against freedom, health, peace and truth to our State, and it’s people come on him and his family for his tyranny and deceit.
Agree
There were 30 illegal migrant children admitted last month to one school alone. How many more went into other schools? Families illegally using resources but teachers and communities bear the price. They do not speak English, disrupt all classes and are a State and county tax burden. This is happening not out of compassion, certainly not out of fairness, justice and equality. Any children illegally entering any other country are detained or returned to the country of origin to handle. This is all happening under the agreement of Lee. How is this serving the people of Tennessee, the education of legal citizens and the extra stress, work load and monitoring teachers must provide without training or pay.
As someone who has worked in hospitals my whole career TOO MANY visitors has always been an issue! So restricting or controlling this being made a big deal ( not talking about end of life situations) critical care units always restrict this! NOW… Now going forward let’s continue screen visitors and new admissions plus limit visitors ! We have flu season coming up too folks! It probably just a good policy going forward! It addresses the spread of any virus plus allows patients to have family members as advocates during the stay!
As someone who has worked in hospitals my whole career TOO MANY visitors has always been an issue! So restricting or controlling this being made a big deal ( not talking about end of life situations) critical care units always restrict this! NOW… Now going forward let’s continue screen visitors and new admissions plus limit visitors ! We have flu season coming up too folks! It probably just a good policy going forward! It addresses the spread of any virus plus allows patients to have family members as advocates during the stay!