With a vote of 88 ayes and just seven nays, the Tennessee House of Representatives voted this morning to pass a constitutional amendment that, if approved by the citizens, will define marriage as between one man and one woman. All 46 Republicans voted to support the proposal. The Senate already affirmed the resolution, SJR31, with 29 ayes and just three nays. The success of SJR31 in both chambers is the final step that legislators will take in the process to amend the state’s constitution and allows the issue to come before the people of Tennessee on the 2006 general election ballot.

I-24 to get signs to mark access to Chattanooga National Cemetery

Rep. Jack Sharp learned this week that the Tennessee Department of Transportation is now authorized to provide highway signs for the Chattanooga National Cemetery. According to a letter from TDOT dated March 9, 2005, signs should be in place by the middle of May on I-24 so that motorists can best discern the best exit to use when accessing the Cemetery. Rep. Sharp applauded the work of the department and subsequently was able to withdraw a proposed bill, HB523, that would have authorized the state to erect the signs.

Republicans face obstruction of sound ethical standards

During a meeting of the House State Government Subcommittee, Republican legislators defended two separate bills designed to hold legislators to ethical standards both at the beginning and the end of their careers. One bill, HB267, called for a four-hour ethics training course to be conducted by the state legislature for all newly-elected members. The training would allow for uniform introduction to the rules, regulations and standards of the House. This would especially be helpful during sessions immediately subsequent to the current one, which is seeing high numbers of ethics legislation pass through its committee system. However, the spirit of HB267 to provide a concise introduction to the ethics of the body was obstructed by Democrat-sponsored amendments to require a forty-hour training period without the typical daily financial allowances granted to traveling legislators. The committee passed the bill as amended for consideration in next week’s meeting of the full House Committee on State and Local Government.

A second bill, brought before the State Government Subcommittee by the same Republican sponsor, called for a mandatory one-year “cooling off” period for retired or defeated legislators who are considering a career in lobbying. The bill, HB247, is a simple way to discourage employment deals from interfering with official legislative duties. Despite the sponsor’s description of the bill as a single step in dispelling any public perception of undue influence upon legislation by outside sources, Democrats labeled the bill as discriminatory and a hindrance to earning a living following service in the legislature. HB247 ultimately failed on a strictly partisan vote, with Democrats refusing to accept a proposal that is the current law in the United States Congress.

Further, before the House Committee on State and Local Government, Democrats slowed the passage of a Republican-sponsored bill to limit granting legislative license plates to only legislators and their immediate family members. Last week, Democrat members of the State Subcommittee killed the simple regulatory spirit of the bill by amending it to completely prevent any distribution of the plates – even to legislators themselves. This week, the bill was sent back to the subcommittee for even further discussion.

Finally, during a Wednesday meeting of the House Elections Subcommittee, Republicans proposed a bill to ban political action committee (PACs) contributions for 20 days prior to an election and also to require disclosure of those funds 17 days prior to the election. The bill, HB736, simply brings current law up to speed with Tennessee’s early voting schedule – an opportunity seized by nearly half of all Tennesseans in the 2004 election. Democrats stated that the bill was unfair because it eliminated the last-minute fundraising efforts of candidates who can’t raise funds earlier in their campaigns. Although the bill had previously been rolled by members of the subcommittee for further discussion, it failed again to receive passage from the subcommittee due to time constraints, and will receive further scrutiny next week.

Open Government measures also impeded

During Tuesday’s meeting of the House Committee on State and Local Government, legislators considered two bills to protect Tennessee taxpayers by allowing publicly-elected officials the chance to review state contracts. The original intent of the first bill, HB41 brought by a Republican on the Fiscal Review Committee, was to require review of all audits of state agencies, departments or institutions by the Fiscal Review Committee. However, a Democrat-sponsored amendment mandated the review of local audits – a stipulation that strips autonomy from local governments who are currently able to act independent of the state legislature. In another partisan vote on a bill designed to help all Tennesseans, the committee recommended that the bill be sent to the House Committee on Calendar and Rules so that it can be heard on the House floor.

A second bill, HB42 brought before the committee by the same sponsor, called for review by the Fiscal Review Committee of all state contracts exceeding 10 percent of their original bid. The bill’s sponsor argued that the spending of Tennessean’s hard-earned tax dollars deserves the scrutiny of officials who are elected by the taxpayers. Instead of casting a vote to gain ground in saving the state needed money, Democrats voted to delay further consideration of HB42 for one year in order to study the bill.

The best opportunities for Tennessee’s children

Legislators also looked to the delicate interests of thousands of children across Tennessee who are currently in the state’s adoption system. Before the House Committee on Children and Family Affairs on Wednesday, Republicans defended the high standards for placement of these children in homes by supporting a Republican bill to ban homosexuals from adopting children in the state system. The bill’s sponsor argued that, just as the state views negatively other family lifestyle habits such as abuse of alcohol or household instability, it should also consider some characteristics of a homosexual household as not ideal. Following extensive debate, as well as testimony from private citizens who only spoke out against the bill, House Republicans moved to vote on the bill in its original form – removing an amendment placed last week that watered-down the intent of the bill by placing married couples as preferred child recipients. The bill narrowly failed, with one Democrat crossing party lines and all Republicans voting together in favor of the bill.

Republicans did successfully move several other child-opportunity related bills this week. HB1323 entitles the male or female parent of a newly-adopted child to four months of leave following adoption, provided that he or she has been an employee of a company for 12 consecutive months. The bill will be heard before the House Committee on Consumer and Employee Affairs next week.

Republicans also successfully supported two education-related bills during subcommittees this week. The first, HB1938, allows local educational authorities the permission to establish evening alternative schools for students, beginning at age 11 and continuing through high school. A second bill, HB250, provides a 25 percent tuition discount at any state-operated institution of higher education for children of parents who are employed as a teacher’s aide at least 25 hours per week in any public school. Both bills will be heard before the House Education Committee next week.

A Look Ahead

The House is expected to address the following bills next week:

A TennCare budget hearing will be presented before the House Committee on Finance, Ways and Means on Wednesday of next week. This is the final budget hearing for this session.

HB15, a bill to increase the penalty for the rape of a child to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, passed through the House Judiciary Committee this week and will be heard by the House Committee on Finance, Ways and Means.

HB244, a bill to increase the penalties for stalking, will be heard in the Criminal Practice Procedures Subcommittee.

HB759, a bill to deny “trusty” status to inmates who are serving time for having committed a sexual offense, will be heard before the House Judiciary Committee.

All legislation can be tracked by visiting the Tennessee Legislature Web site, www.legislature.state.tn.us.