NASHVILLE--Senate Bill 437/House Bill 787, the Lottery Scholarship Bill, passed out of the Senate Monday with unanimous support from all 15 members of the Senate Republican Caucus in a 28-4-1 vote. Also, Senate Bill 1/House Bill 1, the Tennessee Education Lottery Implementation Law, received approval of the Senate Wednesday in a 26-6 vote.
The Senate versions of the two bills are much fairer for all Tennesseans in their current forms. Details of the final versions of what may become law will become somewhat clearer in days ahead as the House acts on the companion bills in its committee system.
Republican Sponsors of SB 1 include Senators Jeff Miller (R-Cleveland), Bill Clabough (R-Maryville), and Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro).
Republican Sponsors of SB 437 include Senators Miller, Clabough, Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville), and Steve Southerland (R-Hamblen County).
"The Senate was true to form by working together to pass the two lottery bills. We passed a Scholarship Bill that was fair and responsible," stated Senator Miller.
"No income caps for eligibility and equalization in the awards to students choosing private or public institutions were major issues to the Republican Caucus. We were able to accomplish these goals and provide more fairness to home schoolers by compromising to allow an extra $1,000 to be given to students with income below $36,000 per year.
"One of the features that makes our proposed scholarship different than Georgia's is the forgiveness factor to keep the scholarship. As proposed by the Senate, a student must maintain a cumulative 3.0 Grade Point Average to keep the award but may keep the scholarship with a 2.75 GPA during the freshman year as long as by the end of the sophomore year the average is 3.0. We learned that many in Georgia were losing the scholarship as freshmen because of the adjustment period from moving from high school to college," concluded Senator Miller.
The Senate has used four more floor session days than the House this year. The Senate will now focus most of its energy on what remains of the budget process. The Senate does not want to get bogged down in May over the budget with time running out before the start of the next fiscal year on July 1. The Senate is intent on doing everything necessary to achieve as quickly as possible a fair and balanced budget that does no harm to the state and also provides for the needs of the citizens.
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Norris to Take County Schools Fight to Floor
Senate Bill 396 by Senator Mark Norris (R-Collierville) passed unanimously out of the Senate Education Committee this week to crack down on outsiders who fraudulently enroll students in school systems where they don't live. SB 396 makes parents liable to repay the school system for the cost of the per pupil expenditures if the students are fraudulently enrolled and also includes attorney's fees.
"Under our bill, anyone who falsifies their residence to gain entry to our schools will be liable for damages," stated Senator Norris.
"Some fraudulently enrolled students not only live outside the county; some even live outside the state and cross the line to attend school. This enrollment fraud can accelerate overcrowding, strain teacher resources, and run up county debt," concluded Senator Norris.
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Bills, Bills, Bills
All things considered: As of 11 a.m. (CDT) Thursday, April 24, the Senate has 2,021 Senate bills filed, while the House has 2,104 bills filed. Senate Joint Resolutions now number 316; House Joint Resolutions 425; Senate Resolutions 47; and House Resolutions 122. The Senate has used 33 days and the House has used 29 days of the 90 regular session days allowed every two years under Article II, Section 23 of the Constitution for a regular session. The Senate and the House recessed Thursday and plan to convene in regular session on Monday, April 28, at 5 p.m.
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Senate Floor Actions
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SB 740/HB 865 by Senators David Fowler (R-Signal Mountain), Curtis Person (R-Memphis), and Micheal Williams (R-Maynardville) passed through unanimous consent of the Senate Monday to prohibit a registered sex offender from living within 1,000 feet of a school, day care, child care facility, or victims' residence; working within 1,000 feet of the same; or living in the same place where a minor resides unless that registered sex offender is the parent of that minor who also must not have been a victim of that offender.
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SB 509/HB 675 passed unanimously through the Senate Monday to add doctors of audiology degree who have passed the examination required for licensure as a speech language pathologist or audiologist to those who can practice without a valid license pending the disposition of an application. Senator Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville) co-sponsors the bill.
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SB 882/HB 541 by Senators Ramsey and Southerland passed unanimously through the Senate Monday to provide that no cause of action may be instituted against a real estate agent for information contained in a residential property disclosure form unless an agent is a signatory to a form and to provide that an agent has no liability for information contained in reports or opinions prepared by engineers, surveyors, geologists, termite inspectors, mortgage brokers, or home inspectors.
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SB 1279/HB 875 by Senator Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) passed unanimously through the Senate Monday to revise certain provisions regarding adoption and surrender of parental rights.
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SB 1689/HB 1482 passed unanimously through the Senate Monday to require architects and engineers to oversee construction phases of buildings over three stories for purposes of assuring public health and safety.
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SB 116/HB 246 by Senators Atchley and Miller passed unanimously through the Senate Wednesday to require public charter schools to enter into agreements with the Social Security Administration to ensure that the benefits of the federal Old-Age and Survivors' Insurance system are extended to eligible employees of the charter school.
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HB 542/SB 435 by Senators Southerland and Ramsey passed through the Senate Wednesday 32-1 to regulate the licensing of brokers, affiliate brokers, and timeshare salespersons. The bill allows the Real Estate Commission the authority to reinstate the licenses of former license-holders without their having to recomplete the requirements for a license when there are valid reasons for their not having made a timely renewal. An example would be a person on deployment for Operation Iraqi Freedom when the license came up for renewal. Previously, this commission did not have the authority to do so granted in statute.
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SB 1562/HB 1814 by Senator Miller passed unanimously through the Senate Wednesday to establish procedures for the disposition of abandoned recreational vehicles for campground operators.
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HJR 97 passed through unanimous consent of the Senate Thursday to request the Council on Pensions and Insurance to study the feasibility of instituting a deferred retirement option plan for Tennessee state employees as a retirement option.
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HB 931/SB496 by Senators Clabough and Ben Atchley (R-Knoxville) passed unanimously through the Senate Thursday to revise the present authority for the disclosure of customer information by financial institutions in regard to suspected illegal activity to allow the disclosure in cases in which a financial institution or its representatives believe information may be relevant and to include as information that may be disclosed descriptive information and activities in addition to identifying information.
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SB 563/HB 527 passed unanimously through the Senate Thursday to expand the factors permitting application of the Tennessee Workers' Compensation Law to include cases that occur in other states when there is a substantial connection between Tennessee and the employment relationship between the employer and employee. In final form, the bill spells out that the worker must be a Tennessee resident at the time of the injury.
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HB 572/SB 785 by Senator Person passed unanimously through the Senate Thursday to impose a one-year moratorium on the creation of new municipal courts either by the General Assembly or home rule municipalities until a committee appointed by the Judicial Council studies the matter and makes recommendations to the General Assembly by Feb. 1, 2004.
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HB 1945/SB 1582 passed unanimously through the Senate Thursday to set a new time period when the treasurer may sell certain types of abandoned property, to establish the procedure for sale of marketable securities, and to limit the amount of a claim to the sales price when a claim is made subsequent to the sale of property. The bill, limited to securities of $500 and less, is co-sponsored by Senator Clabough and is brought at the request of the state Treasurer.
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SB 1744/HB 1861 by Senator Atchley passed unanimously through the Senate Thursday to strengthen the procedures for notifying school principals about the enrollment of students who have been convicted of serious criminal offenses. It includes those who are in the custody of the Department of Children's Services. Senators Burchett, Norris, and Williams are co-sponsors of the measure.
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HB 1808/SB 1753 by Senator Clabough passed unanimously through the Senate Thursday to expand the authority of the Commissioner of Revenue within the state. Currently, the commissioner can contract with any debt collection agency or attorney to collect unpaid taxes, licenses, fees, interest, or penalty outside of Tennessee. This bill would extend that authority to collection activities within the state.
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SB 1862/HB 1742 passed unanimously through the Senate Thursday to allow county clerks to obtain driver's license and other information to determine whether a person resides in a county in which a wheel tax is due.
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SB 1905/HB 1941 by Senator Miller passed unanimously through the Senate Thursday to clarify for the courts in one of two sections of the Workers' Compensation Law that the intent was to use the average weekly wages. Another section of Worker's Comp Law still needs further study before making a similar clarification for the courts and that portion of the bill was removed by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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SB 1597/HB 1987 passed unanimously through the Senate Thursday to seek a review of the "Tennessee Student Assistance Award Restoration Act" and to allow TSAC to determine the appropriate level of grants for disadvantaged students. The bill would be effective Dec. 31, 2003 and thus not impact grants until the fall of 2004.
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Selected Senate Committee Actions
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SB 998 by Senator Norris, the TennCare Wind-down Bill, was discussed in Senate Commerce, Labor and Agriculture Committee this week and will be brought back up next week. The bill looks for a TennCare Viability Report by Jan 15, 2004, and updates on flexibility in the program under federal law. If the report cannot state conclusively that the program can be saved, it requires a plan of action for Winding Down the TennCare Program, including a pro forma wind-down budget, and an outline of an alternative program. One frustrated member cited a Fiscal Note for the bill which states: "The TennCare Bureau could not provide information on the number of out of network emergency room visits but believes there are a substantial number each year." This example was given as a striking indication of the persistent inability of legislators to get valid numbers for the true costs of the TennCare Program.
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SB 2018 by Senator Clabough, the BlueCross/HCA Compromise Bill, passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee to settle a health care industry issue as agreed upon by the parties. Part of the compromise includes requiring BlueCross to adhere to reporting standards as any other company would be required to do, one-year advance notification of an intent to convert to a for-profit status, and the Board of Directors shall meet the same criteria as a non-profit board.
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SB 723 by Senator Burchett passed out of Senate Judiciary Committee to include pre-schools under the Thousand-Foot Rule for enhancing punishments for felony drug violations.
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SB 128 passed out of Senate Judiciary Committee in an 8-1 vote to provide statutory reciprocity for gun-permit holders with states which grant Tennesseans the same reciprocity. Senator Miller is a co-sponsor of the bill.
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SB 1658 by Senators Norris and Person passed unanimously out of Senate Judiciary Committee to require sheriffs and chiefs of police to act within 15 days of the request for the issuance of a gun permit. Darren LaSorte of the NRA considered passage of the bill to be such a priority that he flew in from Washington, DC, to testify in person before the committee.
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SB 1288 by Senate Education Chairman McNally passed out of Senate Education Committee to provide more cost-efficient group purchasing procedures by institutions of higher education in order to achieve a cost-savings of 10% to 20% of purchases.