Enjoy the Capitol Review!
The Tennessee General Assembly
House of Representatives
CAPITOL HILL REVIEW
A weekly wrap-up of legislative news
Fiscally Conservative Balanced Budget Passed By General Assembly
In the final week of the legislative session, the House of Representatives passed Tennessee’s annual budget with a 68 – 27 vote. The bill’s passage was the culmination of months of tireless work crafting a fiscally responsible and balanced budget.
While the $32.4 billion budget does contain cuts due to a shortfall in projected tax revenue collections for the year, House lawmakers focused their efforts on passing a lean, well-planned budget that preserves and protects those services Tennesseans depend on across the state while also helping provide an even better environment for businesses to grow and for jobs to flourish.
Budget highlights include:
- Providing $8.5 million in salary equity funds for the 83 lowest paid school systems across the state;
- A continued investment in jobs by providing over $56 million to the Jobs4TN program;
- $77 million to TennCare to handle increased enrollment;
- Increasing funding for the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) and the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (DIDD);
- Expansion of the Turney Industrial Complex by 200 beds to help overcrowding in local jails;
- $35.5 million to the state's Rainy Day Fund;
- Fully funding the state's pension plan, making it one of the most healthy retirement systems in the entire country;
- Preserving full funding for the state’s Basic Education Program’s (BEP) equity fund;
- $31 million to continue the state's property tax freeze for seniors and disabled veterans;
- And fully funding cost of increased insurance premiums for state employees.
(Teachers!)
Legislation Protecting Teacher Licenses Passes House With Unanimous Support From State Lawmakers
Legislation stating a teacher’s license cannot be revoked based on student test scores passed the full House of Representative this week with unanimous support from state lawmakers.
The bill was filed in response to a recent decision by the Tennessee State Board of Education that fundamentally changed the rules of teacher licensure procedures in Tennessee.
Recently, the State Board eliminated teacher licenses based on college degrees and professional training, using instead a statistical estimate of student test scores known as the Tennessee Value Added Assessment System (TVAAS).
Since being approved, the change has been met with fierce opposition from teachers, parents, and school administrators from across the state.
As noted by proponents of the legislation, TVAAS scores can and often do change years after students have left teachers’ classrooms, additionally citing that scores can fluctuate wildly for certain grades and subjects. The reason for the deep quirks is because TVAAS is not an absolute score, but a statistical estimate with a standard error built right in.
As in years past, House lawmakers have committed to building on the successes and strengths of our students, our teachers, and our schools across Tennessee.
Legislation To Help Recruit New Businesses To Tennessee Passes House
Unemployment insurance reform bill moves forward with bipartisan support
House Bill 1386—legislation designed to help attract new businesses to the state and save tens of thousands of dollars once businesses relocate here—passed the full House of Representatives this week with overwhelming support from state lawmakers.
The bill currently awaits action the State Senate before heading to Governor Bill Haslam for final signature.
Under present law, workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own are provided weekly unemployment insurance payments. These payments are funded by employers who pay taxes on the wages paid to employees. The tax rate that employers must pay is based on whether they are a new employer or an experience rated employer. New companies locating to the state must currently pay a higher rate because they have no prior experience in Tennessee.
House Bill 1386 allows new companies coming to Tennessee to base their unemployment insurance premiums on the past history of the state they are relocating from, saving thousands of dollars for the company. Proponents of the legislation believe this change in the unemployment insurance law will help recruit an additional five manufacturers to the state each year.
Legislation Forever Ending Forced Annexations In Tennessee Passes House With Overwhelming Support
Landmark legislation designed to reform Tennessee’s outdated annexation laws passed the Tennessee House of Representatives on Monday with an 85-4 vote.
As passed, the bill ends a 60-year-old law which allows municipalities across Tennessee the ability to annex private property without the consent of the property owner themselves.
Having already passed in the State Senate, the bill now travels to the desk of Governor Bill Haslam to be signed into law. Once signed, future annexations in the state can only occur through a referendum vote by the property owners who would be affected by the annexation proposal.
For years, legislators have been trying to change Tennessee’s abusive and antiquated annexation laws. With the passage of House Bill 2371, this year’s legislators become the first lawmakers in decades to achieve substantial annexation reform for the state.
Healthcare Consumer Bill Providing Greater Transparency Of Insurance Preauthorization Receives Approval In House
Legislation providing consumers with greater transparency regarding insurance preauthorization requests passed the full House of Representatives this week in Nashville.
As many across the state have experienced, dealing with an injury or illness is stressful for the patient as well as the family. When an insurance carrier denies payment for a medical procedure or therapy that has been requested to be performed by the treating physician, it places additional stress and can even precipitate a crisis situation.
To aid such situations, House Bill 926 establishes a set of evidence-based rules based on nationally recognized protocol standards so everyone understands what is required when a procedure is recommended. The bill amends the state’s “Utilization Review Act” by requiring that healthcare insurers, or third party payers, publish or post on the Internet the non-proprietary portion of the standards so physicians can know the rules of the game beforehand. In addition, it ensures that the utilization review is done by a physician knowledgeable about the procedure, rather than an insurance administrator who does not have medical training or expertise in the procedure that has been requested.
Pro-Hemp, Pro-Jobs Legislation Passes Full House Of Representatives
Legislation filed earlier this year to legalize the growth of industrial hemp in Tennessee easily passed the full House of Representatives this week as the bill continues to gain statewide support from pro-job groups across the state.
Though there are some common misconceptions about the hemp plant, studies continue to show legalizing the growth of hemp in the state would result in a multi-million dollar per year industry and would create thousands of jobs across Tennessee.
Over the years, many people have mistakenly associated hemp with marijuana, however, they are actually two very different species. Not only do they look drastically different, but they are also cultivated in very dissimilar ways. Hemp is a fiber that is made from the stalk of the cannabis plant and is longer with not as many leaves. In addition, an individual cannot get high from hemp as it contains less than .3% THC, the ingredient which creates the “high” from marijuana.
As advocates further note, the hemp plant played an integral role in the early development of our country with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson growing large quantities of hemp and encouraging fellow Americans to do the same. At one time in Tennessee, hemp was traditionally a large cash crop. Today, hemp remains a very common material with numerous commercial uses such as, clothing, insulation, carpeting and paneling. There are approximately 75 manufactures using hemp in America today, most prevalently with plastics, which can be reinforced with hemp. Because of its strength, hemp is also used in car panels of Mercedes Benz, as well as Volkswagen, whose main manufacturing facility happens to be located in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
