Tennessee legislators have been fighting since February over a proposed reprimand of the federal government’s health reform act. The state Senate and House are now poised to hash out a final version of what’s called the “Health Freedom Act.”

The Senate bill would require the state attorney general to go to court to keep Tennesseans from being affected by national healthcare changes – something the current Attorney General, Bob Cooper, says he’s reluctant to do.

The House version is shorter and more general. It says that Tennesseans can’t be forced to participate in the federal healthcare plan.

Hendersonville Republican Debra Maggart is one of the House bill’s sponsors. She says the bill will likely pass, it’s just a matter of ironing out the details.

“Republican House members feel very strongly, as do the Senators, that we should pass a version of the Healthcare Freedom Act, one way or the other, because our people, the people of Tennessee, want this protection and they deserve this protection. This is good.”

Both Houses have passed their own version. They have to agree to the same language before the bill can go to the governor.

WEB EXTRA
The whole thing started out as two bills:
SB 3498 Beavers/HB 3433 Bell
and
HB 2622 Lynn/SB 2560 Black

Because Lynn and Beavers are in sharp competition for the GOP nod for Beavers’ Senate seat, they didn’t want to be on the same bill.

Lynn’s bill was approved in the House. Beavers’ Republican colleagues in the Senate approved the other version, the longer version ordering the AG into action.

But under the rules of the General Assembly, that won’t result in a law being passed. Both houses have to agree on the language.

Last Friday, Senator Diane Black and Beavers got the Senate to dredge up Black’s bill (Lynn’s version) from a closed Senate Commerce Committee.

The political deal – it has been explained in public debate – is that once Black’s more simple bill is on the Senate floor Wednesday, it will be modified to have the same language as Beavers’ longer bill. That would be the version to be sent back to the House for concurrence.

Rep. Maggart originally sponsored a similar bill, but deferred her own in favor of Lynn’s.

Since the state AG has already said the proposed law probably can’t be successfully defended, many proponents, including Maggart, argue that it’s a “message” to the federal government.

“I think it is a definite message that we are saying, ‘Hey, you know, we don’t want the federal government to say that the people of Tennessee will be forced to purchase a product.”