Black state lawmakers said they are focusing on issues that include public education, gun regulations and reproductive health care during the legislative offseason.
Members of Tennessee’s Black Caucus of State Legislators visited Chattanooga on Thursday to talk about their priorities and to voice their support for caucus member Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, D-Chattanooga, who is running for reelection.
Hakeem faces Chattanooga City Council member Demetrus Coonrod, of Eastdale, in an Aug. 1 Democratic primary election for his seat, which covers much of Chattanooga, including downtown, Brainerd and Alton Park.
(READ MORE: Judge dismisses challenge to Chattanooga council member’s residency qualifications)
“He’s not young, but he really does a good job of managing our two youngest members — those who have gotten fame and notoriety — the two Justins, Justin Pearson out of Memphis and Justin Jones from Nashville,” Rep. Sam McKenzie, D-Knoxville, said at the event Thursday at Chattanooga’s Bessie Smith Cultural Center. “He really is that calming, driving force. They can be volatile sometimes, but they seek his wise counsel.”
Hakeem talked about his bill, which failed last session, to add exceptions to Tennessee’s near-total ban on abortion. He referenced a woman who in 2022 had to take a six-hour ambulance ride from Chattanooga to North Carolina to terminate a pregnancy that was causing her serious health issues.
“I’m prayerful and hopeful that we as a nation, starting with us here in Chattanooga and the state of Tennessee, will push back against those persons who want to take away basic rights,” he said.
Health care costs are putting many Tennesseans in debt, Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, said, and his attempt to expand Medicaid specifically for mental health costs was voted down in the most recent session.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga’s Erlanger eyes expansions with up to $370 million debt issuance)
The lawmakers also railed against Gov. Bill Lee’s attempt to expand tax-funded private school vouchers statewide, which they called a “scam.”
“I tell folks, I’m a minority in a minority party. I don’t expect a lot of victories,” McKenzie said. “But we shoot down a lot of really, really bad legislation. And that was one that’s not going to die.”
The lawmakers talked about regulating gun ownership, including proposals to require training and permits to carry.
Rep. Vincent Dixie, D-Nashville, said he’d like to see Tennessee get rid of its grocery sales tax, which he said harms lower-income residents.
LIVING LEGEND
The caucus also honored former Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga, with a state proclamation naming her a “living legend.” Hakeem sponsored the effort.
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Read the living legend proclamation.
Favors served in the Tennessee statehouse from 2004 through 2018, in the seat Hakeem now occupies.
“She was a strong, strong force in the Black Caucus during those formative years,” McKenzie said Thursday.
Favors was under the weather and couldn’t attend to receive her proclamation, Hakeem said.
During her time in the legislature, she sat on the health and commerce committees, as well as the state’s opioid task force. She also served as the Democratic whip in the House and vice chair of the Black Caucus.
Before that, she became the first Black woman to be elected to the Hamilton County Commission in 1998 and was reelected in 2002.
“She was in the group at Howard High School that did the sit-in downtown,” Hakeem said after the event. “She is an example of a role model to a lot of us, as to what we can do irregardless of the circumstances around us.”
Favors is a retired nurse with multiple graduate degrees and taught nursing at Chattanooga State Community College. She served on the board of trustees for Erlanger Health for three years in the late 1990s, and was also the head nurse there.
In the statehouse, she supported former Gov. Bill Haslam’s push for Medicaid expansion in Tennessee, which ultimately failed.
She also advocated to require seat belts on school buses after the Woodmore bus crash in 2016 that killed six Chattanooga children. Her bill, also supported by Republican Sen. Todd Gardenhire, of Chattanooga, failed after opposition from rural bus drivers concerned about being stuck with the cost of installing safety features.
Contact Ellen Gerst at egerst@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6319.