Tennessee gov backs signing bill aide said violates US law

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee's governor on Monday stood by his decision to sign sprawling limits on COVID-19 restrictions into law, even though his own office warned the bill would violate federal disability law and put the state at risk of losing federal funds.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee, in his first public comments since The Associated Press revealed his legislative counsel's email warning to lawmakers, said he thinks “the bill on balance is good." He also repeated a promise for a broad review of the new law, which he previously acknowledged includes “some issues we need to work through.” But when asked directly, he would not say whether he thinks the law's accommodations for people with disabilities — flagged last month by his office as violating federal law — need to be changed.

Instead, he said, “we have to determine first what really needs to be changed” before the next legislative session in January. He also would not specify when he was told by a staff lawyer that the bill violated federal law.

The bill Lee signed Nov. 12 largely bars governments and businesses from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccinations, and lets schools and other public entities require masks only in rare, dire public health situations — and only if Tennessee is under a state of emergency. It also assigns sole authority over COVID-19 quarantining to the state health commissioner, stripping decision-making ability from schools, among other entities.

In the early hours of Oct. 30, the night the bill passed, Lee’s legislative counsel privately warned staffers for Senate Republican leaders they were running afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA. The email, sent at 12:44 a.m., noted an earlier effort by the governor’s office to flag the same issue. The Associated Press...