Tennessee Medication Therapy Monitoring and Management Act of 2010 delayed by ..... rabid animals ??

Headline got your attention, didn't it ?? Your initial reaction was probably something along the lines of, "Delayed by rabid animals ?? What in the heck is up with that ??" Well, hang on for a minute and I'll explain, but first let me apologize for taking a few days to update everyone. The hearing was on Tuesday and it's taken me a few days to cool off after what I witnessed. I felt like I needed to before I posted about the goings-on.

The Tennessee Medication Therapy Monitoring and Management Act of 2010 (HB 2655) was scheduled to be heard in the Tennessee House Health and Human Resources Committee on Tuesday.  However, HB 3834 by Rep. Janis Sontany and Rep. Mike Turner (why am I not surprised he was behind it) was moved up the agenda "to accommodate schedules" and heard first. HB 3834 dealt with rabies vaccines for pets. The committee spent nearly 90 minutes (one and a half hours) debating a provision to add a $1 fee to the current price of rabies vaccines to fund the state rabies program during the current recession. The worst part was that after all that, they then rolled the freakin' bill two weeks !! Yeah, that's right. They weren't finished with it after 90 minutes and will waste even more time on it !! Due to this, very little other business was conducted. The committee did not even touch on our bill.

When I left, I was furious. They had spent nearly all of the allotted time debating a $1 fee on rabies shots. Some of them argued that pet owners would stop getting their pets vaccinated if the increase passed. That's ludicrous. How many pet owners do you know of that will stop getting their pets vaccinated over $1 ?? Yeah, that's what I think, too. Very, very few if any. They should have settled this issue in 15 minutes - tops. Heck, I wanted to stand up and call for the question myself. Then, I thought, "How can anyone question why the Tea Party groups are gaining momentum ??" This debacle was a perfect example of why. Ninety minutes wasted on a bill that doesn't amount to a hill of beans and not one single minute spent on a bill, HB 2655, that has the potential to save human lives. What a joke.

We will try again this coming Tuesday, April 13th, at 10:30 a.m. in Room 16 of Legislative Plaza. Hopefully, we will not have to deal with such foolishness again. If you have the time (remember, it's about 90 minutes long), watch the video from Tuesday's hearing at this link. I believe you will be appalled. Also, if you have not had a chance to contact the members of the Tennessee House Health and Human Resources Committee to express your support for HB 2655, please do. Their contact information is available at this link. Lastly, let me clarify that the "rabid animals" I am referring to are not Tennessee's "public servants." Although, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck .........

P.S. The Sheepdog is gonna take a blogging break for a few days. I'll start back up next week. In honor of April being Donate Life Month, I'll focus on organ donation for several days.