Top Senate Stories: Governor Lee's Scam Special Session Carries $917 Million Cost

  • Thursday, January 23, 2025
  • Brandon Puttbrese, Senate Democratic Caucus Press Secretary

Legislation for Gov. Lee’s Scam Special Session carries $917 million price tag.

* HB 6001 - Expands state government with the “centralized immigration enforcement division”; commits state dollars to enforcing federal immigration rules; creates a crime for public officials who resist; and creates a new ID card for lawful residents who are not citizens.

* HB 6002 - Allows for some rules related to unemployment benefits to be suspended during a called state of emergency

* HB 6003 - Creates two funds within the state treasury to be known as the Hurricane Helene interest payment fund and the governor's response and recovery fund

* HB 6004 - Gov. Bill Lee’s voucher scam

* HB 6005 - $917 million special session appropriations bill

* $424 million for Gov. Lee’s voucher scam

* $210 million for the Hurricane Helene fund and the Governor’s Response and Recovery Fund

* $240 million for TEMA disaster relief grants

* $20 million to rebuild a high school in Carter County

* $23.2 million for Education Department grants

* MISSING COSTS? The Trump-Lee mass deportation bill…

View the bills<https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/SpecSession/BillIndex.aspx?GA=114&SpecSessNum=1>

Gov. Lee committed $424 million to voucher scam — for year one.

SB 6001/HB 6004<https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB6001&GA=114>

* Legislation filed for Gov. Bill Lee’s special session shows that the governor’s legislation to expand his failing private school voucher scheme will cost taxpayers $424 million<http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Bill/SB6005.pdf> in its first year.

* Lee’s voucher legislation would create a new, statewide spending program to subsidize private school costs for up to 20,000 families who can get accepted by a private school.

* The cost of universal voucher schemes has put massive strains on state budget in recent years while also producing devastating results for students who transition from public to private schools.

* Lee’s voucher legislation may also destabilize Tennessee’s HOPE Scholarship program by diverting millions away from the fund that guarantees financial aid for students going to college.

Governor Lee’s corporate tax breaks undermine new spending priorities

State Revenue Collection Report - December - Read the report<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QZayW_mIhaU5k9m0zk6YLr4pPfyEFDz_/view?usp=sharing>

* Tennessee tax collections have missed their year-to-date target for a second month in a row, a result driven by falling corporate tax revenues.

* Working families are paying their fair share, but Tennessee’s primary corporate taxes, the franchise and excise taxes, are down $365 million year-over-year, according to the December edition of the State Revenue Collections report distributed by the Fiscal Review Committee.

* Editorial: We will soon see if the record corporate tax breaks enacted by Gov. Bill Lee and his Republican allies will complicate the governor’s own agenda in an already tight budget year.

Brandon Puttbrese

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