Joel Ebert

USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

One day after a subcommittee halted a controversial bill that seeks to require students to use bathrooms that match their sex at birth, the bill was given new life in the House and advanced in the Senate.

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet, and Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, would create a statewide policy that opponents say could result in putting the state's Title IX funding in jeopardy.

Although the House Education Administration and Planning Committee voted against the bill on Tuesday, when the committee reconvened on Wednesday, Rep. Jim Coley, R-Bartlett, made a motion to force the committee to reconsider its action.

Coley later admitted it was an attempt to bring back bills the committee has previously taken action on, including the controversial bathroom bill, which was unanimously sent to summer study by the committee.

After the voice vote, four committee members — Reps. Harry Brooks, Kevin Brooks, Debra Moody and Kevin Dunlap — recorded votes against the motion to send it to summer study.

Although the committee is technically done meeting, Harry Brooks, the committee's chairman, said the group of lawmakers will meet Tuesday to reconsider their action.

After the move, Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis, reiterated his opposition to the bill.

"I had a legitimate concern. I want to protect the privacy of all children, and for someone to indicate that I am not is wrong," he said, pointing to an email the Family Action Council of Tennessee sent to its members questioning White and the other committee members' integrity.

White specifically called out former lawmaker David Fowler, who is affiliated with the organization, for the email, saying, "I wrote about protecting young people. And he wants to question my integrity. Absolutely not. This is what's wrong up here — you question a person's integrity and we back down and we reconsider a bill. I will not."

Later in the day, after nearly an hour of discussion on the measure, the Senate Education Committee voted 7-2 in favor of the bill, sending it to the chamber's finance committee.

Critics of the legislation, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the state Department of Education, argued that the bill would jeopardize the state's Title IX funding, a point that has been reiterated by Gov. Bill Haslam.

A fiscal note for the bill was recently amended to note that as much as $1 billion in federal funding for secondary and post-secondary education could be in jeopardy if the legislature approved the measure.

John Guenst, whose 17-year-old daughter, Jennifer, attends Franklin High School, reiterated his opposition to the bill. On Tuesday, Guenst, along with his wife and daughter, told the House committee the current system in place is working.

House kills controversial bathroom bill

Proponents of the bill say it is necessary to protect the privacy of all students, arguing that Tennessee's schools need a statewide policy to follow, rather than the current system that allows schools to make accommodations to students on a case-by-case basis.

Zach Pruitt, public policy director for the Family Action Council of Tennessee, made similar arguments on Wednesday while appearing in front of the Senate committee.

Battle brewing over transgender bathroom laws in state capitals

Several states, ​including Tennessee, Indiana and Kentucky, have begun fighting over bathroom laws this year. South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard vetoed similar legislation this year.

Reach Joel Ebert at 615-772-1681 and on Twitter @joelebert29.