House and Senate Finance Chairs State Rep. Patsy Hazlewood, R-Signal Mountain, and State Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, on Thursday marked the fulfillment of the General Assembly’s constitutional duty with the passage of a $56.2 billion budget for 2023-24 fiscal year.
"Tennessee is well-known for its common-sense budgeting and sound fiscal responsibility that supports great quality of life for our citizens,” Rep. Hazlewood said. “Good governance at the greatest efficiency has led to extraordinary economic growth and success in the Volunteer State. This budget is a solid spending plan that makes wise investments for the future of our state and gives citizens back more control over their hard-earned dollars.”
The slate of budget and legislative priorities includes investments in school safety with $223 million to provide a school resource officer for every public school and a Homeland Security agent for every county. These funds will also provide safety grants for private schools.
Lawmakers this session made investments in transportation and infrastructure by providing $3.3 billion to alleviate urban traffic congestion and improve rural roads to support economic growth and development.
The budget provides a $407 million cut in taxes, the largest in Tennessee’s history. These cuts aim to lower the tax burden on businesses, boost Tennessee’s economic competitiveness, promote entrepreneurship and small businesses. It provides targeted relief to families with a three-month-long tax break on groceries from Aug. 1-Oct. 31.
“This budget reaffirms Tennessee’s commitment to strong conservative fiscal management and low taxes,” Rep. Watson said. “It makes one of the largest tax cuts in Tennessee history for businesses and families, while setting aside $250 million for our rainy-day fund. We are providing grants to rural and distressed hospitals taking care of vulnerable populations throughout the state. I’m glad we are reinforcing out commitment to school safety by including additional funds for public and private schools to strengthen security measures. This forward-looking budget makes responsible investments with Tennessee taxpayer dollars that will boost economic growth, advance job opportunities, and improve public safety.”
It also makes a $250 million deposit in the state’s Rainy-Day Fund, which serves as the state’s savings account to help withstand economic downturns, bringing the fund to a historic balance of more than $2 billion.