Corker comments on Iran’s release of Americans
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, last weekend issued the following statement in response to the release of Americans that were held in custody in Iran and the implementation of the Iran nuclear agreement.
“While I am delighted that our citizens who have been unjustly held in Iran will be released back to the United States and reunited with their families, we need to understand more fully all the details and implications of this arrangement, including its timing.
“With Iran possessing one of the world’s worst records for human rights, we must continue to hold Iran’s leaders accountable for their repressive policies.”
In addition to the release of the U.S. citizens, the administration announced implementation of the Iran nuclear agreement. Corker coauthored the Iran Nuclear Agree-ment Review Act that mandated congressional review of the agreement.
Last year, he voted multiple times for a resolution of disapproval that would have blocked the Iran nuclear agreement, but the resolution failedin the Senate.
“Today cannot be the beginning of the United States and Europe turning a blind eye to the troubling threat of a nuclear-armed Iran,” Corker said. “I opposed this flawed agreement and fear its implementation shifts the leverage to Iran as sanctions are lifted in exchange for only limited and temporary restrictions, allowing Iran to industrialize its nuclear enrichment capability after a decade. Now armed with an initial windfall of more than $100 billion, Iran will have vast new resources to continue sponsoring terrorism, threatening its neighbors, and funding its nuclear and missile programs.”
Bills to boost access to online accounts of the deceased
Legislation approved by Senate committees last week could make it easier for survivors to end or access online accounts belonging to a family member or other loved one who has died.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 8 to 0 to approve Senate Bill 326, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris (R-Collierville), which lets people make provisions for their survivors to access or close digital assets such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and email accounts.
The Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act makes such access consistent with other existing Tennessee statutes on estates and related matters.
The bill follows cases where heirs were unable to terminate or access digital accounts after the account holder’s death.
“After folks die, according to the terms of their user agreement, they don’t have a right to assign their password or access to the account to anyone else and there it remains,” Norris said. “It’s not only accounts like Facebook, but it’s email accounts and other digital records that remain after the person passes.”
The bill clarifies that, if done in accordance with the proposed law, access to digital assets does not violate Tennessee’s Personal and Commercial Computer Act. It also adds a new section to the Uniform Durable Power of Attorney Act, authorizing access to any catalog of electronic communications and any other assets by power of attorney.
It also lets heirs use online tools or a power of attorney to override the terms of agreement that do not require the deceased account holder to act affirmatively.
State Board of Education looks at credit recovery
The Senate Education Committee heard from the Comptroller’s Office of Research and Education Accountability last week about how Tennessee High Schools use Credit Recovery programs.
Credit recovery is a strategy that permits high school students who have failed courses to recover course credits, allowing them to graduate.
Students are eligible for credit recovery after failing one or more required high school courses. Districts that provided data for the survey reported serving more than 7,600 students in credit recovery during the 2014-15 school year.
In Tennessee, as in most states, credit recovery programs are designed and implemented at the district and school levels, with a modicum of oversight by state education officials.
The State Board of Education is considering what additional policies or guidance may be needed concerning credit recovery.
