Gov. Bill Lee and state Senate leadership this week announced differing proposals to introduce universal school vouchers to Tennessee. The key difference in the two plans is testing accountability. Chalkbeat reports that the governor's plan does not require participating students to take annual tests to measure whether the Education Freedom Scholarship Act leads to better academic outcomes. The Senate’s proposal requires recipients in grades three to 11 to take some type of norm-referenced tests approved by the state Board of Education. It also favors open enrollment across school systems. The House has released a third version, which would allow well-performing public schools to see more flexibility on student testing requirements, while the state would take on more costs to pay public school teachers and staffers’ health-insurance benefits, reports the Tennessee Journal.

Nashville's Metro Council on Tuesday unanimously passed Mayor Freddie O'Connell's $514 million capital spending package. The second phase of construction of a new Juvenile Justice Center will receive $60 million of that total, reports the Tennessean. The facility is slated to open in spring 2027. Other funded projects include upgrades and maintenance for Metro Nashville Public Schools and transportation-related initiatives.

Legal Aid of East Tennessee (LAET) will host a power of attorney/advanced health care directives clinic on March 21 at 10 a.m. EST at the Jonesborough Senior Center, 307 E. Main St., Jonesborough 37659. Volunteering remotely is an option. Contact Caroline Rogers with questions or to volunteer.

The 2024 Elder Law Forum will take place in person July 19 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. CDT at the Belmont University College of Law. This annual staple for Tennessee attorneys provides insight from top professionals while allowing attendees to meet with other lawyers in the practice area. Topics will include litigation in elder law, dementia concerns, conservatorships, helping clients suffering from dementia, ethics, and much more.

Facing an unprecedented increase in threats and violence, more than 70% of federal judges have enrolled in the government's home intrusion protection program, according to the U.S. Marshals service, which oversees the program. Judicial officers have seen a sharp increase in threats increasing from 179 in 2019 to 457 in 2023, Bloomberg Law reports. There has also been an increase in "swatting" incidents where someone falsely reports a crime at a targeted individual's location in order to draw a heightened law enforcement response.

Jeffery D. Parrish of Scotts Hill died Feb. 18 at the age of 61. A graduate of the University of Memphis School of Law, Parrish began his legal career in private practice, later handling corporate health care matters. He practiced with Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis LLP for many years. Most recently, he was state counsel and field director for U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn. In addition to his professional career, Parrish enjoyed travel, music, food and boating. Visitation will be held tomorrow from 3-7 p.m. CST at St. Regina Catholic Church, 108 Skyline Ln., Parsons 38363. A funeral mass will be held at the church on Friday at noon.

Make plans now to join colleagues from across the state at the TBA’s Annual Convention, set for June 12-15 in Memphis. The event will return to the Peabody Hotel, located in the heart of downtown Memphis with easy access to restaurants and entertainment. Programming is still being planned, but perennial favorites such as the Bench Bar program, Lawyers Lunch and joint event with the Tennessee Judicial Conference will be on the agenda. The Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women, Tennessee Alliance for Black Lawyers and Tennessee Trial Lawyers' Association also will hold meetings and events that week at the Peabody. This year’s theme — “A Bridge to the Future” — will bring compelling CLE programs focused on artificial intelligence and how this rapidly expanding technology will impact the practice of law. Watch for more information coming soon to the event webpage.

Two bills proposed by the TBA passed in legislative committees this week. Today, the House Civil Justice Committee passed a bill drafted by the Tennessee Probate Study Group and sponsored by Rep. Johnny Garrett, R-Goodlettsville, in the House and Sen. John Stevens, R- Huntingdon, in the Senate. HB2710/SB2254 allows a medical or psychological report, required by the court to appoint a conservator, to be either notarized or declared under penalty of perjury as set forth in Rule 72 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. The reasoning behind the bill is that doctors’ offices do not always have access to a notary public. This bill would make the process of setting up a conservatorship faster and less expensive.

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill drafted by TBA adoption law attorneys and sponsored by Sen. Ferrell Hail, R- Gallatin, in the Senate and Rep. Tom Leatherwood, R-Arlington, in the House. HB2644/SB2633 was amended by the TBA and those changes passed as the new bill. The TBA Adoption Law Section’s Executive Council drafted HB2644/SB2633 to ensure that changes made to the adoption code last session work better in practice and to clean up sections of the code addressing putative fathers and child witnesses. These changes will result in expediting adoptions, saving court resources, creating uniformity across the state in courts that hear adoption cases and avoiding delays in permanency.

Committees in both the state House and Senate have advanced a proposed constitutional amendment to the state’s bail law, setting up floor votes in both chambers, the Tennessean reports. In the Senate, SJR919 passed the Judiciary Committee by a vote of 6-3 despite opposition from Chair Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga. He argued the change — which would expand the list of crimes for which a judge could deny bail — would pack county jails and put local governments in a financial bind to expand or build new facilities. In the House, the Criminal Justice Committee passed HJR859 on a voice vote. If approved by both chambers, the resolution still would have to pass in the 114th General Assembly before being placed on the next ballot involving a gubernatorial race. It would then have to receive a majority vote of those participating in the governor’s election.

Tennessee House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, has filed a resolution to condemn neo-Nazism after a march in downtown Nashville that included swastika flags, WKRN reports. The proposed resolution states that “racism and hatred in any form are repugnant and sinful.” It also calls for rejecting those who promote “anti-Semitism, xenophobia, discrimination and racial intolerance in all forms.” The group that marched is believed to have been comprised of members of the extremist groups Blood Tribe and the Vinland Rebels. In a statement about the resolution, Lamberth said, “Tennesseans will never accept or normalize evil, and we denounce any ideology or group motivated by sick hatred and racial intolerance of any human being.”