Two Exciting Bills in the TN General Assembly

The Tennessee General Assembly has taken initiative in the effort to guarantee food security and good food for all Tennesseans. As I write this, two bills, one for the House and one for the Senate, are making their way through the legislature. Both the House bill (HB 2260), and the identical Senate bill (SB 3487), aim to facilitate community gardening throughout our state.

We owe our thanks to Representative Hardaway from district 92 here in Memphis for proposing the original House bill, and to Senator Tate from district 33, also in Memphis, for proposing the Senate bill. These brief but important bills provide, among other things, an updated definition of community gardens and enable municipal and county governments to convey property to nonprofits for the purpose of cultivating these gardens. The bills prioritize collaborative gardening between senior citizens, who often are a wellspring of gardening knowledge, and our youth, who have the power to ensure that our communities continue to move toward greater food security.

Just as importantly, both bills call for the creation of programs to involve school children in community gardening, possibly for academic credit.

In proposing these bills of their own initiative, Representative Hardaway and Senator Tate demonstrate how far the movement for food security has come in Memphis. Questions remain as to some of the specifics of the bills - especially the provision which disallows community gardens from using the proceeds of sales for anything other than maintenance and upkeep - but the bills are encouraging nonetheless!

The status of the bills can be followed here: http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HB2260

And you may find this glossary of terms helpful in understanding the sometimes cryptic abbreviations employed by our state legislature: http://www.capitol.tn.gov/legislation/billabbrev.html