NASHVILLE — A Tennessee bill seeking to impose fees on money transfers and use proceeds to help fund President Donald Trump’s wall on the U.S./Mexican border failed Tuesday in a House subcommittee.
House Banking and Investments Subcommittee members voted 6-1 against the bill, one of six measures introduced by freshman Republican Rep. Bruce Griffey of Paris which target undocumented immigrants.
Griffey’s HB562 would have imposed a fee of $10 on transactions less than $500 or 1 percent for any transaction in excess of $500 sent abroad. Money would have gone into a special fund.
An amendment would have required a Tennessee drivers license to send money abroad through a money order, check or draft without incurring the fees.
Business groups as well as the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition opposed the measure.
“This mean-spirited legislation, intended to send an unwelcoming message to immigrants who call Tennessee home, undermines our values and damages our reputation,” TIRCC Policy Director Lisa Sherman-Nikolaus said in a statement. “Rep. Griffey has made it clear his policies are not trying to better our state, but to harm our immigrant communities.”
Reps. Yusuf Hakeem, D-Chattanooga, and Patsy Hazlewood, R-Signal Mountain, were among the six lawmakers voting no on Griffey’s bill.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow on Twitter @AndySher1.
Tennessee bill requiring fees on money transfers to fund border wall fails in state House panel
