County’s state legislators predict sesssion’s hot topics
By wherald
With the state budget $1 billion in the hole for the current fiscal year, the state’s financial status and needs were the primary topic when the county’s four state legislators addressed Williamson County Franklin Chamber of Commerce members Tuesday, just two weeks after the 106th General Assembly convened in what became a highly charged session in the house.
Sen. Jack Johnson, Reps. Charles Sargent, Glen Casada and Phillip Johnson shared their thoughts on what is predicted to be a difficult year fiscally for all levels of government.
“Our communities are hurting, our families are hurting, our country is going through a rough time,” said Johnson (R-Franklin). “Anyone who serves in any facet of government is highly aware of that. There are a lot of unanswered questions.”
Consequently on Feb. 9, when Gov. Phil Bredesen presents his budget to both houses of the General Assembly, Johnson said he did not believe the governor will go after municipalities’ state-shared revenue, unlike what happened several years ago.
“At least I hope not,” he added. “I do not expect there will be any new taxes of any significance. I think we’re going to have to knuckle down, look into our rainy day fund and manage our way through as we do in our county and local governments.”
Johnson serves as chairman of the Government Operations Committee, which reviews the more than 200 government agencies that, according to the state constitution, regularly sunset. This committee reviews those agencies to determine whether they should be continued. From the Department of Safety to the Department of Revenue, the agencies will go away unless an affirmative action is taken, he said.
“One of the entities currently in wind down is the Judicial Selection Committee,” he said. If not reaffirmed, the committee will be dispersed as of June 30. “There is some strong debate taking place in state government right now about how we fill judicial vacancies and it’s a pretty controversial issue.”
Johnson encouraged anyone who had any thoughts about the Judicial Selection Committee to contact him.
Sargent (R-Cool Springs) is vice chair of two important committees; Budget and Finance and the Budget sub-committee.
“Something we will not know until they come out with the Federal stimulus package is how much money is going to be passed down for roads and highways and we do not know if there is any money coming down for cities and counties,” he said. “We are just going to have to learn to live within the budget. I think we will be able to do that.”
All bills go through Sargent’s committees, he said. Normally bills with a $50,000 price tag or less – sleeper bills – are automatically approved. This year government officials will be a lot more careful.
“I would be surprised if a bill of $5,000 gets by,” he said.
Casada (R-College Grove) relived the “painful” election in which the minority determined the vote for Speaker of the House.
“This was a year of change for the state of Tennessee,” he said.
Republicans in the house took the majority for the first time since 1867 when the Republican Whigs had the majority.
“We had 49 Republicans who wanted Jason Mumpower to be speaker of the house and we had 49 Democrats and a guy named Kent Williams (R-Elizabethton) who wanted Kent to be speaker of the house,” Casada said. “That was painful.”
Just as painful to Casada are the appointments made by Speaker Williams, who appointed seven Republican chairmen and six Democrat chairmen and made the committee membership 50-50. Casada predicts, with that makeup, not a lot is going to get done, “but it will be entertaining.”
“It’s going to be interesting to watch the General Assembly this year – I urge you, if you want good comedy, to watch us or read the papers.”
Casada said his No. 1 issue will be to continue the Copeland Cap, a bill designed to control the growth of government, allowing it to grow only as fast as the economy.
A brief question-and-answer session followed in which tort reform and judge appointments, apparently areas cited as roadblocks when attracting business to the state, were briefly discussed.
“We want to see that the state of Tennessee is a business friendly state,” Johnson said. “We have been classified as a crisis state by the American Medical Association because of the litigations in the medical community.”
Legislators will be talking about tort reform and judge appointments, he assured the group.
The four legislators said they will continue to work closely on issues that affect Williamson County as well as state issues. They invited the community to join the monthly Public Affairs Round Table discussions held at the Williamson County Administrative Complex on the last Monday of each month, starting with light refreshments at 7 a.m. followed by discussion by legislators and attendees.
Carole Robinson can be contacted at crobinson@williamsonherald.com
Posted on: 1/29/2009
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