A group of Republican state lawmakers is condemning a decision by their counterparts in California to ban all travel to Tennessee.
But they’re stopping short of reciprocating. They say they want to end the bickering over differences in social policy before it gets out of hand.
The back-and-forth comes after Tennessee passed a law last year allowing counselors to turn away clients for religious or moral reasons. California lawmakers called the measure dangerous to LGBT people and responded by
passing a law barring the state from spending money to send people to Tennessee.
State Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, says he was tempted to introduce a measure banning Tennessee officials from going to California.
“And after some reflection and talking to some guys here who are maybe a little bit wiser, they said no, this isn’t the way we should do it. They said we should … take the high road.”
Bell’s resolution,
SJR 111, says the governor and legislative leaders should be selective about cutting off travel. The resolution also urges the other 48 states not to impose their “unfounded moral judgments” on each other.
If it passes, Bell has asked legislative staffers to email a copy of the resolution to every state lawmaker in the country.
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