Tennessee is now one of more than 20 states and the District of Columbia that have passed laws adding insulin to medications that school staff may volunteer to be trained to administer, according to the American Diabetes Association.

“It really just helps give an extra level of support to the children and their families by allowing trained personnel within the schools … to help out when there’s a need,” said Kristie Ryan, executive director of the American Diabetes Association in Tennessee.

About 208,000 Americans under age 20 are estimated to have diagnosed diabetes, according to the association.

In Tennessee and other states, tight budgets have thinned the ranks of school nurses. Even at schools with a nurse, the legislation’s proponents say, that nurse may have to travel to other schools without nurses.

Critics of the measure, such as the Tennessee Association of School Nurses, argue instead for bolstering the dwindling ranks of school nurses. They warn that something as routine as giving an insulin dose can require a medical background if the unexpected happens.

However, parent Freddie Martin of Franklin says he’s comfortable with someone being trained to administer insulin to his 10-year-old daughter, who has type 1 diabetes.

“It gives another layer of protection if the nurse is not around,” he said. “The more people that are trained … the better off everyone is.”

Under the law, school boards would have to approve the legislation, and parents would be able to opt in.

Another new law changes the way members of the state’s textbook selection panel are selected. The panel makes recommendations to the State Board of Education, and local school systems then choose which textbooks to adopt.

Criticism of the content of some books led to calls for a stronger public review process.

Under the new law, the House and Senate speakers and the governor would each make three appointments to the panel after Jan. 1. Currently, all but one of the 10 panelists is appointed by the governor. The legislation also requires that history and fundamental documents be taught.

Some said they don’t think the change is necessary.

“So far as I can tell, the textbook folks have always done a fine job and I really didn’t understand the need for the legislature to get involved,” said House Democratic leader Craig Fitzhugh of Ripley. “If politicians should be worried about anything in this arena, it should be making sure every child actually has a textbook.”

Other new laws will:

• Require marinas to install ground fault protection on electric lines, post notices about the danger of electrical leakage into waters surrounding a marina and require annual inspections by the Tennessee Fire Marshal’s office to ensure ground fault safety.

• As part of welfare eligibility, a parent or guardian with a child struggling in a school must attend two or more conferences with the teacher within a year to review the child’s status.

• Allow an ex-felon who has turned his or her life around to receive a certificate of employability, which gives businesses that hire the person protection from negligent hiring lawsuits.

James Settles founded a Nashville transitional housing program called Aphesis House, which helps former prisoners reintegrate into society. He said he supports the new law because it’s tough for them to get jobs when they’re released.

“They’ve paid their debt to society,” Settles said. “This gives them an opportunity to be taxpaying citizens.”

NASHVILLE – Under a new law that quietly took effect last week, many Tennessee gun owners may now legally keep loaded firearms in their vehicles even if they don’t have a state-issued handgun-carry permit.

As of July 1, people who are legally able to possess a gun under state and federal law, you can keep a loaded handgun, shotgun or rifle in a car or truck you legally possess.

Previously, only those with state-issued handgun carry permits could legally keep loaded firearms in their vehicles. Those without carry permits could keep unloaded firearms in the vehicle if the ammunition was stored separately.

Proponents hail the measure as an expansion of gun rights and a fairness move for commuters who have no carry permits but are worried about safety, as well as for hunters.

“It’s essentially an extension of the ‘castle doctrine,’ that you can defend your ‘castle,’ … your home, if you feel threatened,” said Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, the Senate sponsor.

The new law, however, does not allow those without permits to carry loaded firearms outside their vehicle on streets or in businesses as permit holders can do.

Bell said the National Rifle Association-backed bill was a logical move, noting that courts “for years have recognized that you have private property rights that are associated with your car.”

But some law enforcement officials have reservations about the change. Col. Tracy Trott, with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, voiced doubts during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this spring.

“I do have concerns as a law enforcement officer for guns to be more readily available in this business,” Trott told lawmakers. “But my concerns are not enough for the administration to ‘flag’ the bill.”

A ‘flag’ indicates to legislators that a governor, in this case Gov. Bill Haslam, is personally opposed to a measure.

Chattanooga’s new police chief, Fred Fletcher, was appointed shortly after the bill passed. He has mixed feelings about the law, too.

A former top official in the Austin Police Department, Fletcher said Texas has allowed people to carry “long guns” — shotguns and rifles — for many years and officers “were very familiar and comfortable with that.”

But, Fletcher said Tuesday, Chattanooga “is plagued by a number of violent crimes that involve handguns” and criminal gang members.

“This law will make it easier for people who are up to nefarious purposes to carry a gun, to go commit violence,” Fletcher said. “That’s not a news blast to anybody. If people are allowed to carry guns they will carry them both for good and for ill.”

He said, however, it’s up to the community or, in this instance, the state, to decide what laws they’re comfortable with.

“It’s my job to enforce them in an equitable manner and keep my public safety officers and the public as safe as I can in the environment in which they’re placed,” he said.

When the bill came up on the House floor in April, Rep. Mike Stewart, D-Nashville, said he was concerned about allowing people without permits to tote weapons in their cars.

“The carry permit system is kind of designed to sort the wheat from the chaff in terms of who should be carrying a weapon,” Stewart.

Handgun-carry permit applicants undergo stringent criminal background checks and must pass mandatory gun-safety training, he noted.

“You can have a real problem if you have a loaded weapon in a car,” Stewart said. “I’m not sure why the distinction we’ve got in the law isn’t a good one, where you force someone to deliberately acquire and earn the status necessary to carry a loaded gun as opposed to just allowing everybody to carry a gun.”

The bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, countered that “thugs will have a gun regardless. … No. 2, we have a constitutional right to have a gun. So if you’re good enough to buy one, that means you’ve had to have a background check. You ought to be good enough to at least get it in your car.”

The bill also won’t allow those without carry permits to keep their loaded firearms in vehicles where parking lots are posted against guns.

Because of that, Tennessee Firearms Association Executive John Harris said he thinks the law is “poorly conceived” and warned it “creates traps.”

“It says if you legally possess a weapon and you legally are in possession of a vehicle, you can transport [the firearm] whether it’s a handgun, rifle or shotgun, loaded or unloaded.

But,” Harris emphasized, the law says “you can’t get it out; you can’t walk around with it.”

Bell and a number of lawmakers dismiss Harris, who routinely criticizes them.

The senator said he understands why law enforcement may have initial concerns, noting he has family members who are or have been police officers.

But he noted Tennessee police were unified in their opposition to the original handgun-carry permit law passed in the 1990s. The law never resulted in mass violence predicted by some critics, Bell said.

“I understand their perspective, but I also understand that citizens have a constitutional right to defend themselves,” Bell said.