Law Proposed By Uncle Zeb Passes Tennessee Senate
Amelia's Law was passed unanimously on Thursday by the Tennessee State Senate. The bill, unanimously passed in the state House of Representatives last week, now heads to Governor Bill Haslam to sign. If signed, the law would take effect on July 1st.
The law was named after 16-year-old Amelia Keown, the granddaughter of Wayne "Uncle Zeb" Keown, who was killed in an automobile accident on August 14, 2012 near Knoxville, TN. She would have turned 18 in three weeks. Her car was hit head on by John Perkins, who was out on parole and was driving 75 miles per hour. Perkins, who had a lengthy criminal history with several felonies, was found to have oxycodone and methamphetamine in his system at the time of the accident. Perkins also died in the crash.
The law, which was proposed by Keown and Amelia's mother, Amanda Moore, allows judges to place monitoring devices, including trans-dermal devices, for people convicted of drug or alcohol related crimes. Keown and Moore were both guests on the Senate floor to hear the bill.
"There will always be a hole in our hearts," Keown told NBC WBIR, which you can watch above. "It doesn't really help us that much and I'm glad that this bill has passed, but I'm certain that in the future this bill will help the people of Tennessee."
You can watch a news report from 2012 with Keown originally proposing the bill below: