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Bipartisan victory in Tennessee! |
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Wednesday, 16 June 2010 09:00 |
In a surprise last-minute victory, PROTECT's Second Look Commission law passed the Tennessee legislature in the dwindling hours of its 2010 session.
The legislation creates an independent panel of experts to examine cases where children known to the child protection system have been re-abused due to the system’s failure to protect--to find out what went wrong and how it can be prevented in the future. It is a key part of PROTECT's national Sunlight and Accountability project. Tennessee now joins Virginia in passing innovative legislation geared towards opening up the child protection system to public scrutiny.
The Second Look law nearly fell victim to partisan gridlock, with legislative leaders saying it had no chance of passage. PROTECT campaign chairman and Tennessean David Keith worked furiously down to the wire to save the bill. In the end, Senator Tim Burchett (R), in his last day as a Tennessee Senator, negotiated Senate passage, and every member of both parties joined in signing on as cosponsors. Passage came after two years of work, led largely by Rep. Harry Tindell (D) and a bipartisan committee who came together in the interest of transparency and accountability in the child protection system.
Both Representative Tindell and Senator Burchett are from Knoxville, PROTECT's national headquarters. We thank both men for rising above partisan politics to help abused and neglected children.
Please click here for more information.
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