NASHVILLE—This week on Capitol Hill the Senate unanimously confirmed all seven Tennessee Lottery Education Board members during Monday evening’s session by approving seven Senate Joint Resolutions, SJRs 629-635.
Earlier in the afternoon on Monday, the Communications Theft Study Committee met and recommended for passage a cable theft bill. “Last year this issue generated far more heat than light. This year, after carefully listening to all sides in the debate, we hope to do something to fix the problem that will protect the economic interests of the telecommunications industry without unduly impacting the research interests of legitimate parties,” stated Senator Curtis Person (R-Memphis) who will co-sponsor the measure, SB 3101, in the Senate.
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Bills, Bills, Bills
All things considered: After action this week, the Senate has 3,104 Senate bills filed as of 9:47 a.m., while the House has 3,008 bills. Resolutions: Senate Joint Resolutions now number up to 711; HJRs 820; SRs 117; and HRs 239. Through Thursday (January 29), the Senate has used 54 legislative days with the House having used 50 days. Article II, Section 23 of the state Constitution provides for 90 paid regular legislative session days for every two-year-long General Assembly. The Senate and House return for session at 5 p.m. on Monday.
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Nine-Bill Cut-Off Filing Deadline: Members of the Senate were able to file an unlimited number of bills up to the first cut-off at the close of business on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2004. The 9-bill limit cut-off then went into effect during which time members can only file nine general bills. The 9-bill limit does not affect local bills and most resolutions. The 9-bill limit cut-off date is the 10th legislative day by Senate Rule. That projected cut-off date is Feb. 5, 2004, under the current schedule.
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Budget, budget, budget & The State of the State. The General Assembly plans to hear the governor’s State of the State Address along with his Budget Proposal on Monday, Feb. 2, 2004, at 6 p.m. during a Joint Convention of the Senate and the House of Representatives under SJR 710 as approved by the Senate Wednesday. The House concurred with that action Thursday.
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Selected Senate Committee Actions
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Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee:
Senate FW&M members on Tuesday recommended for passage with a unanimous vote Senate Resolution 110 to urge Congress to maintain funding for the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant. Committee members also heard an extensive presentation from state Treasurer Dale Sims on Treasurer’s Earnings which detailed accounts, investments, and rates of returns for state accounts. The state Treasurer is one of the three constitutional officers who are elected by majority vote in a Joint Convention of both houses of the General Assembly. Updates from constitutional officers are a routine, but vital, part of laying the groundwork for the members of the legislature to zero in on its annual budgeting process.
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Senate State and Local Government Committee:
The Senate State and Local Government Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved SJR 683 to recognize the 4th Tuesday in February as Spay Day in Tennessee. The sponsor explained that it was part of a national effort to focus on concern for animals and that studies have shown that those who abuse animals may go on to abuse people, including children and the elderly. The committee then traveled to visit the offices of the Tennessee Lottery for an update and a question-and-answer session with the Lottery president and CEO, Rebecca Paul.
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Senate Commerce, Labor and Agriculture Committee:
Senate Commerce members began hearing presentations from interested parties on Workers’ Compensation issues affecting Tennessee. Administration commissioners outlined the issue from the vantage points of problems with economic and community development; effects on business recruitment, retention, and expansion; labor; and insurance. Two key problems pointed out by employers repeatedly are with the permanent partial disability multiplier and with the medical component. The committee also heard testimony that Tennessee has the slowest first payment of Workers’ Comp claims in the country which economically affects workers who are awaiting settlement of claims.
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By suspension of Senate Rules on Monday, members added Senate Joint Resolution 699 to the Senate Commerce calendar for consideration at Tuesday’s committee meeting. The resolution [ http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/bills/currentga/BILL/SJR0699.pdf ] unanimously passed to urge Congress to study the growing scope of federal preemption of the banking industry by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and to enact legislation, if necessary, to prevent such preemption and the unilateral expansion of jurisdiction of financial institutions without specific endorsement of the elected representatives of the U.S. Congress, per its summary [ http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/bills/currentga/Fiscal/SJR0699.pdf ]. This action came about as a result of presentations to the committee last week from interested parties on the recent federal preemption of state banking laws for national banks. That federal rule, set to take effect on Feb. 13, may seriously impact planned consumer protection legislation by the state to prohibit certain predatory mortgage lending practices. Senator Mark Norris (R-Collierville) stated: “We don’t want the federal government to keep us from protecting consumers.” As a result, Senator Norris filed clarifying language to carefully define the parameters of federal preemption, particularly as it relates to predatory lending practices.
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Senate Judiciary Committee:
SB 2097 by Senator Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville) passed unanimously out of the Senate Judiciary Committee to state that the name and address of any college in this state at which a sexual offender is employed or attends school is public information and is to be available by October 1, 2004, on the Tennessee Internet home page for convictions occurring on or after July 1, 1997, rather than October 27, 2002. Federal funds are at risk without the change and Tennessee is not federally certified for its Sexual Offender Registry. Senator Rusty Crowe (R-Johnson City) co-sponsors the measure.
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Person appointed three members each to two Joint Ad Hoc Committees. One committee will evaluate bills dealing with Alcohol-Related Offenses and Citizen Responsibilities and Senator Mark Norris (R-Collierville) will serve on that committee. The other will evaluate Meth-Related bills and Senator David Fowler (R-Signal Mountain) will serve on that one.
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Senate Education Committee:
SB 2098 by Senator Burchett passed out of Senate Education to clarify a bill passed last year and seeks “to require rather than to authorize” the release by colleges and universities of the final results of student disciplinary proceedings involving crimes of violence, sex offense, alcohol or drug possession unless such disclosure is prohibited by federal law. Senator Crowe co-sponsors the measure.
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Senate General Welfare, Health, and Human Resources Committee:
The Senate General Welfare Committee heard a report from the Commissioner of Human Services about child support guidelines. Recently, questions arose about the implementation of Acts of 2003, Public Chapter 373 (SB 497/HB 1716 which passed last year) [ http://www.state.tn.us/sos/acts/103/pub/pc0373.pdf ]. That Public Chapter, now TCA 36-5-101 (e)(4), states: In addition to any other subtractions, calculations of net income under the guidelines shall take into consideration the support of any other children the obligor is legally responsible to provide. Children of the obligor who are not included in a decree of child support, but for whom the obligor is legally responsible to provide support and is supporting, shall be considered for the purposes of reducing the obligor's net income or in calculating the guideline amount. Such children may be considered by the court as a reason for deviation from the guidelines. Senator Person states: “The intent of the law is that all children are to be supported equally and equitably. But the rules promulgated by the department don’t allow that to happen. That’s not fair.”
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Sen. Crowe honored by MADD
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) honored Senator Rusty Crowe (R-Johnson City) last week for efforts to pass legislation dealing with drunk driving, and specifically for sponsoring DUI legislation dealing with harsher punishment for an offender who leaves the scene of a crash. These offenders usually face lesser charges. Sharing the honors with Sen. Crowe was MADD’s pick for House Legislator of the Year, Rep. Jerome Cochran. Elizabethton Star ran MADD honors Crowe and Cochran on Jan. 22, 2004.
From MADD RELEASE: Nancy Denning, MADD Tennessee Executive Director said, “471 people in the state of Tennessee died last year in alcohol-related fatalities - all of which were 100% preventable. We are so grateful to have all of the winners in this room tonight on our side in this war against impaired driving. MADD Tennessee promises that we will keep fighting until senseless injury and death on our roadways is eradicated.”
MADD was founded in 1980. Since its inception, MADD has reduced the number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities by 33% and has been instrumental in passing over 2,300 impaired driving prevention laws.
The mission of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is to stop drunk driving, to support the victims of this violent crime and to prevent underage drinking.
From Statements at MADD’s presentation for Legislator of the Year: This award is presented to a legislator for accomplishments in promoting, sponsoring, and supporting the passage of key DUI countermeasures in the state and/or local law-making areas.
These nominees sponsored a bill with an amendment that has to do with a DUI offender who leaves the scene of a crash, imposing severe penalties on these offenders. These offenders typically face lesser charges and are in a sense rewarded for fleeing the scene, even after injuring or killing someone. This crucial legislation seeks to remedy that outrage.
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Featured Issue Opinion:
Job Losses Demand Workers’ Compensation Reform
By Senator Mark Norris (R-Collierville) from Senate District 32
(Dyer, Lauderdale, Tipton, and Shelby counties)
[The Covington Leader in Tipton County ran this item as an op-ed piece
Jan. 21, 2004, under the title Workers’ compensation a critical issue.]
One of the greatest impediments to economic development and well-being, particularly in rural West Tennessee, is the loss of jobs due to Tennessee’s archaic system of workers’ compensation laws. We are one of only two states in the nation with a court-based comp system rather than an administrative or regulatory claim system. According to the Tennessee Municipal League’s Risk Management Pool, which has collected workers’ comp data for 22 years, Tennessee is reputed to be one of the most liberal states in the nation. With 119 elected chancellors and circuit court judges administering claims across 31 judicial districts statewide, Tennessee’s workers’ compensation system lacks uniformity and predictability.
Last March, I asked the Senate Commerce, Labor and Agriculture Committee to investigate the Administration’s position that Tennessee’s workers’ compensation system needed no reform. With over 15% unemployment in Lauderdale County alone, and most employers in West Tennessee complaining they could not effectively compete due to escalating insurance costs, this seemed wrong.
As a result, I conducted a Commerce Committee hearing during which witnesses from several West Tennessee industries and the Tennessee Municipal League testified. It was apparent that the need for reform of Tennessee’s workers’ compensation laws is acute. Skyrocketing costs are driving employers out of Tennessee into surrounding states. We cannot compete for jobs if we cannot control these costs, and we cannot control these costs unless we reduce reliance upon the court system.
What a difference a year makes. Unemployment in Tennessee has reached the highest level since 1997. Matt Kisber, Commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, recently admitted that workers’ comp is having an impact on the State’s ability to recruit jobs and industries.
The Workers’ Compensation Research Institute recently reported that Tennessee ranks second most expensive among eight surrounding states. Claims in Tennessee cost on average 19% above the median in contiguous states. What is more, the frequency of claims is 46% higher than the median of surrounding states. The average benefit per claim is $37,196 which is 38% higher than similar states. A typical carpal tunnel case cost Tennessee employers $21,000 but only $8,900 for the same injury in Kentucky and $7,000 in Alabama. Consequently, Tennessee cannot compete effectively with surrounding states to retain jobs or to attract new industry.
Last month, the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry released its report calling for reform as well. The Chamber concludes, “It is time to return to this most important system the integrity, predictability and fairness that employees and employers deserve, thus enhancing the opportunities for job creation and stability across our state.”
Last year, I filed a number of bills seeking to reform our workers’ compensation laws. During this second half of the 103rd Session, I will pursue these reforms, supported by the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry, designed to provide needed relief to employers while assuring fairness to employees and their families. Once again, the special interest groups are opposed to reform, but the Governor has now indicated that he will support meaningful reform this year. I look forward to working with the Governor as the serious work of reform gets done before it is too late. For Tennessee workers and their employers who are struggling to keep their doors open, workers’ compensation reform cannot come soon enough.