A dozen state lawmakers shared their top priorities Saturday at the
annual East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists Legislative
Luncheon.
Moderated by WBIR 10News anchor John Becker and held at
Bearden Banquet Hall in West Knoxville, the panel discussion focused on
matters the Legislature will address this session.
Topics included
a possible gas tax increase, whether counties should be given the
option to elect their school superintendent and whether people licensed
to carry a gun should be allowed to bring their firearm onto school
property.
Freshman Republican representative Jason Zachary, of
Knoxville, is proposing a bill focusing on grandparents' rights. He said
a constituent of his raised the issue.
"His daughter had a baby
out of wedlock, and now both parents are out of the picture," Zachary
explained, "so when it goes before a court and both parents are out of
the picture, one set of grandparents typically gets custody, but because
of a loophole in the statute, the other set of grandparents simply
don't have any rights."
He said his bill would close that
loophole, allowing "the judge to be able to look at both grandparents
equally, and he provides custodial rights to one set of grandparents but
then he can award visitation rights to the other set of grandparents."
Rest of story RIGHT HERE.
You also can read more coverage of the event HERE.
No comments:
Post a Comment