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Tennessee won’t bite Biden’s Medicaid carrot
Tennessee is likely to reject hundreds of millions of dollars President Joe Biden is offering states to expand Medicaid as part of his $1.3 trillion COVID-19 relief package, even though hundreds of thousands of people remain without healthcare coverage. Democrats have been urging the state’s top Republican leaders for years to accept the federal government’s […]
Registry of Election Finance changes unlikely amid FBI probe
With an FBI investigation hanging over the Legislature, changes are improbable in the makeup of the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance. An idea to merge the Registry of Election Finance and Ethics Commission into one eight-member body is being floated in the Legislature, as reported by the Tennessee Journal. But it will meet resistance […]
Bad weather shuts down Legislature for the week
With ice and snow covering highways and streets into Nashville, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally announced Tuesday the Legislature will be closed this week. “Due to continuing severe weather and adverse road conditions, all @tnsenate meetings are cancelled for the remainder of the week. Members do not need to travel to Nashville. Staff is advised to […]
Senator lauds Shelby Schools plan to return to classrooms
State Sen. Raumesh Akbari praised Shelby County Schools’ plan to bring students back to classrooms amid pressure from state leaders and a steady decline in COVID-19 cases. “The Return Stronger plan to phase in classroom learning is a plan to safely reopen schools – and keep schools open,” Akbari, a Memphis Democrat, said in a […]
Governor budgets $15M for Memphis Mega-site
Gov. Bill Lee has put $15 million in his fiscal 2021-22 spending plan for construction of a wastewater utility line from the Memphis Mega-site in West Tennessee to the Mississippi River. If approved by the state Legislature, the funds would bring Tennessee’s total investment to $189 million in the 4,100-acre mega-site in Haywood County, some […]
Stockard on the stump: Kelsey throws down challenge to Shelby County Schools
Retired Capitol Hill reporter Tom Humphrey for years wrote a column called “Humphrey on the Hill.” In his stead, I am taking up the mantle with a new report called “Stockard on the Stump,” a collection of briefs, anecdotes and quotes from the latest week in the Tennessee General Assembly.–SS Pouring gas on an argument […]
Legislature’s legal costs raise questions as transgender athlete bill starts rolling
The state attorney general is seeking $700,000 to hire new attorneys to fight for new state laws, and the governor is requesting $7 million more for court costs, raising questions about whether the state is spending too much money on litigation it could avoid. Despite those planned expenses, the state could find itself in yet […]
Audit finds Rutherford County mayor failed to report tens of thousands in campaign contributions
A third state audit of former Sen. Bill Ketron, now the mayor of Rutherford County, found his Senate campaign account violated state law or disclosure regulations 13 times, in part by failing to report nearly $44,500 in campaign contributions and documenting nearly $13,000 in campaign funds. Without comment in a teleconference meeting allowed by pandemic […]
Senate Judiciary expedites Right to Work resolution
The Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed an effort Tuesday to enshrine Tennessee’s Right to Work Law in the state Constitution, continuing the process to put it on the 2022 ballot for a voter referendum. With a 7-2 vote, the committee gave a positive recommendation to Sen. Brian Kelsey’s Senate Joint Resolution 2, which would amend the […]
Senator: Memphis Mega-site tweaked to create economic development corridor
Momentum is building for a redesign of the Memphis Megasite wastewater line that would allow for an economic development corridor all the way from the 4,100-acre site in Haywood County to eastern Shelby County, a state senator said. The West Tennessee legislative delegation is working with House and Senate leadership to move the plan forward, […]
In State of State, Lee lauds his pandemic response and talks economic recovery plans
Coming off one of the most difficult years in state history, Gov. Bill Lee delivered his plan Monday to boost Tennessee’s economy and jumpstart K-12 education with a $41.8 billion budget plan as the COVID-19 crisis continues, while praising the state’s pandemic response as effective. The governor, though, is not renewing a call for family […]
Supreme Court to hear appeal on governor’s school voucher law
The Tennessee Supreme Court agreed Thursday to take up the state’s appeal on the education savings account program (ESA) after two lower courts found it unconstitutional. The decision came nine months after Davidson County Chancellor Anne Martin ruled the voucher law would violate the state Constitution’s home rule provision by targeting only Metro Nashville Public […]