At a legislative kick-off breakfast with the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, state senators and state representatives discussed top issues for the 113th Tennessee General Assembly, which begins Jan. 10.
Infrastructure and education topped the list, both heavily affected by inflation, and more specifically the I-24 improvement projects and reading education for Pre-K through third graders.
The event was hosted at BlueCross BlueShield, with a panel of state senators Bo Watson and Todd Gardenhire, and state representatives Yusuf Hakeem and Greg Martin. Rep. Martin also currently serves on the County Commission, but he said he will resign his position on the County Commission Dec. 31.
Reps. Martin and Hakeem both said they will urge the state to focus on Pre-K through third-grade reading, citing that Hamilton County will receive $47 million per year of the $1 billion Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement bill passed by the General Assembly in April. Rep. Hakeem said more early attention may head off failures, "instead of us waiting, so to speak, and dealing with a problem." Rep. Martin questioned if reading tutors and summer reading camps help or hurt the end goals "to help our young people and help our families." Senator Watson went one step further to ask if the state should help provide high-quality child care, a casualty of inflation, that would also be educational.
"Tennessee continues to defy all the economic headwinds," said Senator Watson, but "there is an end to the run that we're on." Both state senators expressed wariness of over-committing the state's "rainy day fund" to pay for new recurring expenses, only to be forced into dramatic cuts when the next recession comes, "and it will come," said Senator Watson.
He said, "There's not a lot we can do at the state level about inflation." The state funding board predicts that Tennessee revenue will grow by as much as 7.5 percent, which is double the normal growth rate. But he said that number is misleading because inflation has contributed to it and will eat a lot of it, too, "giving a rosier picture than might exist," he said.
Rep. Hakeem urged that it's time for the state to slow its savings, because he said the money is there, and to start spending more on "people's issues," citing the state's foster care agencies in dire straits, with case workers handling 40 cases at a time instead of 20.
"We have a crisis within that department," he said.
State agencies are facing a personnel shortage across the board, Senator Watson said. He said the state should spend more in hiring next year, especially to make wages competitive with private companies, but he has two more ideas: Pass the work to private companies, specifically in human services and children's services, or leverage technology so there are fewer positions to fill.
"It's a real challenge," he said.
Similarly, Senator Gardenhire wants to see raised wages at state corrections facilities and at Orange Grove, a private, non-profit organization, some of whom are paid $10 per hour, he said.
Bottlenecking along I-24 remains a squeaky thorn in the side of Hamilton County, even with massive updating projects underway along its length.
Members of the panel said that express lanes and wider county through-roads could ease the congestion, but would not eliminate all trouble. Senator Watson cited Houston, Los Angeles and Atlanta as examples of cities with wide highways, and also bad traffic. He said the county is working with basic flaws in the interstate's design: Maybe it should have gone over the river and straight through Missionary Ridge, underground, he said.
"Tourism is a big deal because of our geography, and our history," said Senator Gardenhire. "With that wonderful geography comes wonderful problems." People want to live and work in Tennessee, too, Senator Watson said, and the runaway growth is a "consequence of prosperity," he said. "I don't know that we want to cut that off."
Rep. Hakeem is an advocate of a passenger train connecting Atlanta and Nashville, through Chattanooga. "It could be great for all of us," he said. "I see so many positive things," including a railroad spur at the Chattanooga Airport. He said the mayors of the major cities along the route are on board.
Senator Watson said that inflation has eaten away all of Tennessee's 2017 gas tax hike under Governor Bill Haslam. Tolled express lanes or an increase in the electric vehicle tax to as high as $300 could help offset the lost revenue and increase the roads budget. He specified that Tennessee does not build roads with money from its general fund, nor does it bond the road projects, as many other states do.
"We don't go into debt to pay for roads. We pay as we go," he said. This may slow projects down, he said, but it means that revenue from the gas tax and vehicle fees can be put toward the future.
Senator Gardenhire, who represents District 10, said his constituents in Bledsoe, Sequatchie and Marion counties, want to attract industry.