The Metro Nashville Council passed its Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 budget, which includes a $60,000 grant for the Tennessee Justice Center (TJC), the legal nonprofit that sued the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) over guidance it published to comply with legislation recently signed into law by Governor Bill Lee.
Both the budget proposed by Mayor Freddie O’Connell and the version passed by the Metro Council after minor changes include a $60,000 grant for TJC under the Health and Hospitals portion of the annual appropriations for FY 2027.
Days before the Metro Council passed its budget, TJC sent a letter last month to TDH over guidance issued by the department following the passage of House Bill (HB) 1710, which requires local governments to obtain citizenship or lawful residence status information from those seeking public benefits and report this information to the Centralized Immigration Enforcement Division of the Tennessee Department of Safety (TDOS).
In the letter, TJC Legal Director Brant Harrell specifically took issue with guidance informing illegal alien families with children receiving care through Children’s Special Services (CSS), Tennessee’s state-administered program for Title V of the Social Security Act, that their legal status would be reported to the state.
Metro Nashville’s FY 27 budget was adopted by the Metro Council on June 16. The following week, TJC sued Tennessee over the TDH guidance in Davidson County Chancery Court.
Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal granted a temporary restraining order on June 24 and scheduled a hearing on Thursday.
While the details of Metro Nashville’s grant to TJC have yet to be released to the public, the contract for Metro’s FY 26 grant with TJC is available online. The grant was awarded to assist “residents and/or visitors” in Davidson County with enrolling in public benefit programs involving health insurance and food assistance.
The contract further states that $43,200 was budgeted to pay a TJC staff member, with an additional $10,800 in benefits and taxes, and $6,000 in indirect costs.
The lawsuit adds TJC to the list of nonprofits receiving grant money from Nashville that have sued the State of Tennessee or its departments.
After receiving a grant worth millions in 2022, the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) sued Tennessee last year to obtain the names of the nearly 200 illegal aliens who were detained as part of the joint operation between the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Davidson County.
In the FY 27 budget, TIRRC was awarded $735,000 by Metro Nashville. Though the mayor’s office told The Tennessee Star the FY 27 grant would not include funds to provide legal representation or advice to illegal aliens, Metro Clerk Austin Kyle later told The Star the budget would extend the previous grants, while modifying the funding source from the Biden-era American Rescue Plan Act to Nashville’s general fund.
The Star filed a request last month under the Tennessee Public Records Act (TPRA), seeking the mayor’s justification for including nearly $1.5 million in combined funding for TIRRC and a second nonprofit, Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors (TNJFON), in the budget. Metro has estimated it would have a response to the request by July 10, while the Metro Council indicated it would determine whether it possessed such documents by July 1.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Mayor Freddie O’Connell” by Mayor Freddie O’Connell.
