It was an exciting day to be at Legislative Plaza and see history being made yesterday. The first official meeting of the Joint Legislative Advisory Committee was convened. This creation of and mission of this committee grew out of the increasing concern of both legislators and grassroots activists about the ongoing encroachment of the federal government on the constitutional rights of the sovereign states.
Members of the committee are: Rep. Judd Matheny, Chairman, Rep. John Ragan, Rep. Joe Carr, Rep. Josh Evans, Rep. Mike Turner, Sen. Mike Bell, Sen. Janice Bowling, Sen. Ferrell Haile, Sen. Thelma Harper, Sen. Jim Summerville. All members were present except Sen. Harper.
There was enough interest in this important issue that other legislators attended: Rep. Jeremy Faison, Rep. G.A. Hardaway, Rep. David Alexander, Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, Rep. Shelia Butt, Sen. Mark Green, M.D., Sen. Frank Niceley.
It was that concern that drove the motive for taking up the first issue of this committee: The Federal Cost Shifting of the Refugee Resettlement program.
As one article stated: "A newly-created legislative committee met for the first time Wednesday to investigate the indirect fiscal impact of refugee resettlements. They were given an unsatisfying answer: no one is keeping track."
That is the problem. Each year, lawmakers are responsible for passing a budget and certainly have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayer to know where these dollars are going. Except....in this case...they don't!!!
Chairman Judd Matheny CLEARLY laid out the parameters of the discussion: It was ONLY about the COST SHIFTING to the states. It was NOT about the value of the refugee resettlement program, it was NOT about what the refugees bring to this state, it was NOT about the work that the providers or participants do.
It is not just Tennessee lawmakers that have these concerns. Two years ago, the National Governors Association stated: "The federal government's unwillingness to provide adequate funding for costs attributable to migration and resettlement services has resulted in a dramatic shift of program costs from the federal government to state and local taxpayers."
The first speaker, Kasar Abdulla, started telling her personal story, which, of course, was compelling. However, as was stated earlier, the value of the program was NOT the subject of the hearing. Chairman Matheny asked her a couple of time to please stick to the topic, but she did not and, in fact, clearly was not prepared to do that. So the Chairman called for the next speaker, Holly Johnson, State Refugee Coordinator, Tennessee Office for Refugees, Catholic Charities of TN, Inc. After Miss Johnson spoke, Don Barnett and Joanne Bregman, Esq. addressed the committee. Bregman's testimony was incredible as she revealed the cold, hard facts and figures. The last speaker Stephen Fotopulos, with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition was totally out of line with his testimony.
Just as a snapshot, Sen. Mark Green, M.D., observed that using the two numbers provided in the testimonies, the refugee program would be costing TennCare between $7.2million and $12.1million over a four year period. This is the kind of information that is desperately needed for budget purposes and that we have not been able to get hard figures on. The committee passed a motion to ask the Fiscal Review Committee
to do a comprehensive study of all aspects of this program with emphasis on any cost shifting, expenses incurred, what enabling legislation they are acting under, including a proportionality of refugees coming to TN versus other states to present at the November 12 meeting.
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Thanks.
It is so great to hear SOMEONE finally addressing the issue of ACCOUNTABILITY in government. This subject has been totally absent during the tenure of this administration.
Call me suspicious but this is just the sort of thing that a Federal Government run by Marxists would use as a blueprint. To what end...? you may ask. Bear with me for a moment while I set-up what 'could' be happening in part. Marxists in Obama's administration has a giant barricade to break through in order to just take over, and that barricade is States Rights. What if the Marxists use the same tactics as in the above article to start changing the minds of the average American. Only to trick them into thinking that the only thing holding up FREE STUFF for all is the States. What if the American people start to march for big changes in our Constitution because the 'mean' State Governments won't play ball with the all-caring Central Government.
I may be off base, but if I am, it's not by much.
We somehow MUST make sure that we educate within our circle of influence the idea of State's Rights. We MUST make sure we let people know, without fear or doubt, that State's Rights are worth fighting FOR, and that a Centrally Controlled Government is no less than COMMUNISM. Then we must educate our young people so they understand that Communism is NOT hip, it's NOT cool, and that it NEVER leads to Freedom... ONLY MISERY!
First recommendations were presented at the 1776 U.N. Conference on Human Settlements Here is an example of language used: ..."government many enter upon the land and act to put it in compliance."
The U.N. and property rights:
Land cannot be treated an an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to pressures and inefficiencies of the market.Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth and therefore contributes to social injustice...."
Recommendations: A.1 All counties should establish as a matter of urgency a national policy on human settlements, embodying the distribution of population...over national territory
http://www.sovereignty.net/p/land/unproprts.htm
Do your own research---Human "re settlements" is a U.N. agenda. Where is our 10th Amendment, States Rights? and the 4th amendment?? (The right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects....)"
United Nations Earth Summit Rio De Janerio 1992, organized by Maurice Strong, a Canadian Communist who at that time was living in Colorado: He had plenty of help International Union for the Conservation of Nature, The Sierra Club, The World Wide Fund for Nature, World Resources Institute, and more.....
Blueprint for sustainability, under Agenda 21: A master set of principals to implement the agreements from the UN convention on Biodiversity and the UN Conference on Environment and Development which addresses the sustainability and natural resources from this conference. Article 27 from the Rio Declaration states that there will be further development of international law in the field of sustainable developments
By 1992, the U.N. learned to tone down their language and to strengthen their arguments..
Affordable housing was a major goal of those who favored "sustainable development" This "right" was claimed by the united nations in its Covenant on Political and Civil Rights opening the door for the federal government who required banks to administer sub prime loans to those who could not afford payment. The ensuing bubble burst..You know the outcome
UNDER THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR OUR FUTURE: WILDLANDS PROJECT a MASTER PLAN TO RE-WILD APPROXIMATELY 1/2 OF THE UNITED STATES LAND MASS-- NETWORKS OF ROADLESS, NO ACCESS, CORE AREAS SURROUNDED BY BUFFER ZONES WITH RESTRICTED ACTIVITY CONNECTED TO OTHER CORE AREAS ALLOWING LARGE PREDATORS, (bears, panthers) TO ROAM WITH OUT HUMAN INTERFERENCE.
IS IT ANY WONDER WHY NO ONE IS KEEPING TRACK? THIS BUREAUCRATIC NIGHTMARE IS FAR TO BIG TO BE IMPLEMENTED --IT HAS NO OVERSIGHT!