Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Homelessness Highway Removal topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
House passes measure directing DOT to clear personal property from dangerous highway locations after unsuccessfully considering safeguards for unhoused people
Summary
The Tennessee House passed a bill directing the Department of Transportation to clear abandoned personal property used for camping from hazardous state-right-of-way locations after floor votes failed to add notice and service-provider safeguards for affected people.
The Tennessee House passed Senate Bill 217, directing the Department of Transportation to develop and implement a policy to remove abandoned personal property used for camping from dangerous locations on state highways, including shoulders, under bridges and overpasses.
Sponsor Representative Leatherwood said the bill requires the department to work with local governments, homeless coalitions and nonprofit service providers in developing memoranda of understanding to address both public-safety hazards and the needs of people residing in those locations. Leatherwood described the measure as an effort to “see the problem and do something about it,” and said the policy would include coordination to identify shelter or transitional housing options.
Representative Pearson and other members sought floor amendments to add protections before removal — for example advance notice, explicit steps to prevent disposal of identification, benefit cards, medical supplies and legal paperwork, and mandatory contact with local homeless-service providers or the regional continuum of care. Several proposed amendments from Representative Pearson were offered for consideration but failed to gain the two-thirds vote required to be considered on the floor; votes to move the amendments into consideration were recorded and failed (the record shows multiple failed consideration votes). Those procedural defeats kept proposed safeguards from being attached.
On final passage the House recorded the vote as 74 yeas, 23 nays. Supporters argued the bill requires DOT and local partners to coordinate and does not “weaponize” agencies; opponents said the bill as passed lacks sufficient procedural protections for property that can include crucial personal documents and medical supplies and warned it could further marginalize people experiencing homelessness.
— Ending note: Multiple floor amendments requesting notice and connection to service providers were considered but not adopted; the bill now proceeds to next legislative steps and could be the subject of implementing memoranda involving DOT and local agencies.
