Advocates working to help homeless people are celebrating the death of a bill last week that would have criminalized camping on public property anywhere in the state.
House Bill 0978, sponsored by Rep. Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, passed the House floor last week but its Senate counterpart, Senate Bill 1610, sponsored by Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta, only received one vote of support during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday.
The bill sought to make soliciting or camping on a state or interstate highway or under a bridge or overpass a misdemeanor offense. It also broadened the language of the 2012 Equal Access to Public Property Act to make camping on all public property, not just property owned by the state, a criminal offense.
Read more at The Tennessean's website.
Meghan Mangrum covers education for the USA TODAY Network - Tennessee. Contact her at mmangrum@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter @memangrum.