Each community across Tennessee—from Memphis to Spring Hill to Johnson City—is unique, and we need the freedom to make decisions and develop policies that reflect our distinct needs and values. What works best for one city or town may not make sense for another.

Most of us agree that local leaders are often closest to the community and understand our needs the best. But for years, corporate special interest groups have convinced our state lawmakers to enact state interference laws on a range of issues. These laws tie the hands of local communities and prevent us from achieving the solutions we need to improve affordable housing, public education, family economic security, infrastructure, and more. By blocking these urgently-needed solutions, state interference laws are a major obstacle on the path to building safe, healthy, thriving families and communities.

That’s where we come in. We Decide Tennessee believes that when community members and local officials from urban, suburban, and rural communities set our differences aside and join forces, we can achieve a future in which all of us have the freedom to make our own decisions.