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Cigarette Markup Would Nearly Double Under Lawmakers’ Proposal

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Tennesseans would pay more for their smokes under a bill working its way through the General Assembly.

The measure, SB788/HB644, would increase the amount Tennessee retailers are required to mark up cigarettes from 8 percent to 15 percent of cost. It would be the first change to the requirement since 1950. 

“The Legislature in the past has passed the cigarette minimum markup law to prohibit retailers from using cigarettes as a loss leader and to discourage consumption of cigarettes, including, of course, underage usage of cigarettes,” state Rep. Matt Hill, R-Jonesborough, said in a House Agriculture Subcommittee meeting Feb. 27.

“Unfortunately, we’ve had some large, out-of-state cigarette manufacturers who have come in and used the minimum price laws by contractually requiring our convenience stores, primarily, and other retailers to sell tobacco products at or near the state minimum.” 

A “loss leader” is a good sold at or below its market cost in order to stimulate the sales of other, more profitable goods.

The bill would provide relief from a situation, created in part by the state, that crimps revenue for tobacco retailers, said Senate sponsor Rusty Crowe, R-Johnson City.

According to Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, pricing pressure comes from the top down with “quasi-monopolistic” manufacturers compelling retailers into pricing contracts, which push prices down toward the state minimum. Johnson chairs the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, which passed the bill unanimously Wednesday.

Two companies in the state own 80 percent to 90 percent of the state’s market share of tobacco, according to Emily LeRoy, the executive director of the Tennessee Fuel & Convenience Store Association. Their outsize role contributes to the pressure on operators to either sell cigarettes nearly at a loss or simply not carry those products, LeRoy said.

In the Senate hearing, both Bo Watson, R-Hixson, and Reginald Tate, D-Memphis, questioned why the state was responsible for setting a mark-up rate at all. 

Answer: Protecting children.

Setting the price helps prevent “age-sensitive” products, such as tobacco, alcohol and lottery tickets, from being “among the so-called loss-leader products, Johnson said in the hearing. He added that it is also in the state’s interest to deter smoking.

A 2011 Gallup ranking of smoker-percentages by state put Tennessee at No. 8 in the country. Kentucky was No. 1. Alabama No. 9.

“I don’t know, but I see the poorest people are mostly the ones that smoke, and they’re going to smoke no matter what, and it takes that much out of their family’s budget,” said state Sen. Charlotte Burks, D-Monterey. She ended up voting for the measure.

The bill passed the House agriculture committee on a voice vote, with Rep. Billy Spivey, R-Lewisburg, requesting to be recorded as voting no.

The bill’s next stop is the Finance Committee in both chambers. According to Crowe, the measure will boost local revenue but cause a decrease in state revenue.

Bickering Over Voter ID Bills Ongoing

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Legislation designed to clarify Tennessee’s voter ID law generated heated exchanges and raised more questions than answers on the House floor before the final vote left the bill at odds with the Senate version.

Earlier this week, the House substituted HB229 for SB125. The House also approved an amendment barring students from using their IDs from state-funded colleges to vote – a move the Senate sponsor says he will fight.

Bill KetronBill Ketron

“The Senate voted 2-to-1 against disallowing state-issued college IDs when that amendment was before us,” said Sen. Bill Ketron, who initiated the legislation. “We will continue to push to allow state-issued student identification to remain in the bill as passed by the Senate, even if we have to go to a conference committee.”

When or if that committee may be convened remains up in the air, according to a legislative assistant the Murfreesboro Republican.

In addition to college IDs, the bill would ban the use of out-of-state driver’s licenses, currently allowed even if they’ve expired, as well as ID cards issued by cities, counties or public libraries. The validity of the latter form of identification is before the Tennessee Supreme Court after the city of Memphis and two residents challenged the law. 

The House floor debate about the legislation became rather heated at times, and even though other issues surfaced, it passed 65-30. The Senate version, which allows students IDs to be used, passed earlier this month 24-3.

Rep. Johnnie Turner, a Democrat from Memphis, called the bill “another form of voter suppression.” Fellow Memphis Democrat Rep. Antonio Parkinson claimed he was “hoodwinked and bamboozled,” because the bill that passed the House Local Government Subcommittee allowed student IDs to be used, but an amendment in the full committee stripped that provision.

House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick emphatically proclaimed, “This talk about voting suppression is just not true!”

The Chattanooga representative said the legislation is designed to stop voter fraud. He said that “a state Senate election was stolen in the city of Memphis just a few years ago” and that a recent documentary had a chairman of the NAACP talking about “the machine in Memphis” that would load people on a bus and take them to multiple polling stations to cast their votes “over and over again.”

Republican Rep. Vince Dean, of East Ridge, and Democratic Rep. Joe Armstrong, of Knoxville, expressed concerns about blocking out-of-state IDs for those who own property in Tennessee but live in another state.

Rep. Susan Lynn, who sponsored the House bill, said she was not sure whether the state would issue an ID to a nonresident.

“What we’re doing with this legislation is trying to most closely match the legislation that passed in Indiana, because that legislation did survive all the way to the United States Supreme Court,” the Mt. Juliet Republican said.

Armstrong claimed the bill would change the way the city of Knoxville elects its mayors and city council members because property owners are allowed to vote in municipal elections even if they don’t live there.

Had the bill been in effect when Gov. Bill Haslam first ran as mayor of Knoxville, Armstrong said, the outcome could have been changed. Three thousand property owners voted, and “a lot of them live out of state.” Haslam won by 1,500 votes.

“Now we have a sitting governor that benefited from the law,” Armstrong said.

Amelia Morrison Hipps may be reached at amhipps@capitolnewstn.com, on Twitter @CapitolNews_TN or at 615-442-8667.

Lawmaker Per-Diem Limitation Passes Senate, Hotel Allowance Changed

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The per diem bill affecting Tennessee legislators living within a 50-mile radius of the Capitol passed the Senate 28-2, but only after being amended, which will send it back to the House for reconciliation.

The Senate on Thursday substituted its own SB107 for HB80, which passed 72-15 earlier this month, but added an amendment from the State and Local Government Committee that changes the reimbursement for lodging on the occasion area lawmakers stay in Nashville instead of returning home.

The amendment uses the lodging allowance granted to federal employees instead of the actual costs of a hotel room, as in the House version, said Sen. Ken Yager, chair of the Senate State and Local Government Committee. That would keep their lodging payment at $107 a day, contingent on individual approval from the speaker of their respective chamber.

According to the bill, lawmakers whose primary residence is within a 50-mile radius of the Capitol would no longer automatically receive $107 a day for a hotel room, but instead would receive mileage reimbursement at 46 cents a mile. This would apply to each legislative day in Nashville or any day, except Friday, that the lawmaker participates in any other activity in Nashville and would be limited to one round trip per day.

Legislators would continue to receive $66 a day for meals and incidentals.

The House and Senate versions must now be reconciled before the legislation can go to Gov. Bill Haslam for his signature.

Neither of the two Republican senators who voted against the bill – Dolores Gresham of Somerville and Todd Gardenhire of Chattanooga – live within the 50-mile radius.

According to the bill’s fiscal note, HB80 would save the state $253,616, based on figures from in 2012, when 33 legislators lived within 50 miles of the Capitol.

If the bill becomes law, the change will not impact sitting legislators, just those elected in 2014 forward.

Amelia Morrison Hipps may be reached at amhipps@capitolnewstn.com, on Twitter @CapitolNews_TN or at 615-442-8667.

Senate Approves ‘Repealer’ to Root Out Bad Laws, Regs

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Legislation to create a state Office of the Repealer passed the Senate 30-1-1 Thursday, while the House version still has a couple of committee hurdles to clear next week.

The Repealer’s job would be to go through Tennessee code and make recommendations to the Legislature on laws, rules and regulations that need to be repealed or modified because they are no longer relevant, overly burdensome or outdated.

Democratic Sen. Jim Kyle of Memphis cast the only no vote and was the only one to speak out against the legislation. Fellow Democrat, Sen. Douglas Henry of Nashville, abstained.

“Simply to explain my vote, it is somewhat ironic that we’re creating an office to try to find duplicitous government agencies and rules when its creation duplicates the work of the Government Operations Committee,” Kyle said.

“To create another branch of government to do exactly what we’re already doing is doubling up and spending money that doesn’t need to be spent,” he continued.

According to Sen. Jack Johnson, sponsor of SB595, there is no fiscal note attached to the legislation, as the position will fill an existing vacant position within the Secretary of State’s office.

Responding to Kyle’s argument, the Franklin Republican said,“There is no single individual in all of state government whose sole responsibility is to try and shrink the green books.” Johnson was referring to the bound issues of the Tennessee Code Annotated.

Johnson said he thinks it “entirely reasonable that we dedicate a single position to meet with our business owners, to meet with citizens across the state, who have to interact with state government day in and day out, and identify things that we don’t need anymore.”

Answering to the Secretary of State, the Repealer would be required to set up an online system to receive recommendations from the public, which he or she would be required to take into consideration. 

The bill sets up the post for four years, “at which time such position will cease to exist.”

Sen. Mike Bell, a Republican from Riceville who chairs the Senate Government Operations Committee, offered a single amendment that passed on a voice vote. The amendment adds both chambers’ government operations committees to the list of those receiving recommendations from the Repealer, as well as quarterly updates of his or her actions.

HB 500 is on the House Finance, Ways & Means Subcommittee’s calendar for Wed., April 3.

Amelia Morrison Hipps may be reached at amhipps@capitolnewstn.com, on Twitter @CapitolNews_TN or at 615-442-8667.

Haslam Rejects Federal Dollars This Year, Offers ‘Third Option’ on Medicaid

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Gov. Bill Haslam announced the state will not expand TennCare this year as called for by the federal health care law. The governor instead outlined what he called “a third option” for helping Tennesseans get coverage.

Haslam said neither a flat-out refusal to enlarge TennCare based on problems with the law nor an open-armed embrace – “expanding a broken system” – was the right path for Tennessee.

Under Haslam’s proposal, which he says the federal government will not agree to, payments to health care providers would be based on quality of care rather than just volume of services provided, and patients would have co-pays “so the user has some skin in the game when it comes to health care incentives.”

The state could also backtrack if the expansion of TennCare, the state’s version of Medicaid, wasn’t working.

“Our plan would have a definitive circuit-breaker or sunset that could only be renewed with the General Assembly’s approval based on when the amount of the federal funding decreases,” Haslam said Wednesday, speaking before the General Assembly.

Haslam also offered a critique of the law (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010).

“To me, the scandal of the Affordable Care Act is that it doesn’t significantly address cost or alignment reform,” Haslam said. “And that’s what Washington does – it looks at a complex problem, realizes that some people aren’t going to like the changes, and as a solution, decides to spend more money.”

Read the full speech here.

 

‘Copeland Cap’ May Get Makeover

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An easily circumvented Tennessee constitutional provision aimed at compelling state government to live within its means is drawing renewed attention from lawmakers who say it hasn’t had its intended effect.

The so-called “Copeland Cap,” a spending limit Tennessee voters approved for addition to the state constitution in 1978, requires the Legislature to restrict year-to-year government-expenditure growth to no more than growth in the state’s economy.

However, according to figures compiled by veteran low-tax activist Ben Cunningham, the cap has been disregarded more than a dozen times since its sponsor, former state Rep. David Copeland R-Ooltewah, guided it to passage. Currently, the General Assembly can bust the cap by a simple majority vote.

“David Copeland got concerned and worried about the fact that we might spend more than we had, which is a bad thing to do — and we’ve done that, too,” said Nashville Democrat Douglas Henry. He is sponsoring the measure meant to start a discussion about adding more heft to the government-budgeting lid so it will “do what it was designed to do.”

Under Senate Bill 1235, approved by the Senate Government Operations Committee on Wednesday, a task force would take up the matter and report back possible solutions to the General Assembly next year.

“This is the first step in a long process,” Tennessee Comptroller Justin Wilson, who would serve on the panel, told lawmakers during the committee hearing. The bill calls on the task force to make recommendations by Feb. 1.

Amending the state constitution takes years, including passage in two successive Legislatures — the second by a two-thirds majority — after which the people of Tennessee must approve it on a ballot that includes a gubernatorial election.

Committee chairman Mike Bell, R-Riceville, said he believes adding a two-thirds House and Senate floor-vote requirement to override the cap would be a good place to start. That’s also an idea pushed by the free-market Beacon Center of Tennessee, which identified the “runaway spending” permitted under the Copeland Cap as an issue for lawmakers in its policy guide.

“(A supermajority requirement) would allow lawmakers to curb spending, while still preserving their ability to raise needed funds in times of emergency or disaster,” the Center says in its guide. (See page 13.)

The Beacon Center also supports tying the cap to population growth plus inflation, rather than personal income growth.

Senate Bill 1235 moves next to the Finance, Ways and Means Committee. The House version of the legislation, HB1154, by Sumner County Republican Courtney Rogers, has already moved through the committee system and is awaiting scheduling for a lower-chamber floor vote.

Clandestine Video-Recording of Animal Abuse Spurs Bill Requiring Prompt Reporting

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Legislation that would require individuals who record incidents of animal abuse to submit the unedited images to law enforcement within 24 hours is headed to the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.

Brought by Rep. Andy Holt, an amendment to HB 1191 would make it a Class C misdemeanor punishable by fine only if someone fails to turn in a video or photographs taken of an animal being abused. Under Tennessee law, those found guilty of a Class C misdemeanor may be charged up to $10,000.

“This is a bill that I think has a legitimate purpose in the state and actually does a lot to quantify and clarify what should be done in an instance where a person should record evidence of animal abuse,” the Dresden Republican told the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee, which passed the bill Wednesday on a voice vote.

Rep. Ron Travis, a Republican from Dayton, asked about an amendment that he’d heard would exclude the media from the 24-hour requirement. Holt said one was presented to him, but he opted not to adopt it. Travis said he would not be able to vote for the bill without such an amendment.

Chairman Ron Lollar also seemed concerned that the amendment that would exclude the media wasn’t added. “I do feel that there will be some more discussion at some point on this without the amendment. I think we need to look at it closely,” said Loller, R-Bartlett.

Holt said he brought the bill because of “radical animal activist groups” who have spent months taking videos of animal abuse before notifying anyone.

Hold did not mention any specific incidents. But in May 2012, an undercover video of a Tennessee walking horse trainer abusing horses in Collierville aired nationally. An investigator with the Humane Society shot the footage.

The second-term representative recognized that in “some cases there has been abuse” recorded. Holt said he wanted it noted that “I think animal abuse in any form is reprehensible.

“That is why I want to bring this bill forward. Instead of being backed into a corner like I have some kind of defensive position where I want to protect those who are abusing animals, nothing could be further from the truth.”

Holt questioned why months should elapse before animal abuse is reported when the same does not occur when it comes to reporting child abuse or apprehending a murder suspect.

“I think this is something that we need to be doing, not only to protect our animal industries here in the state against these animal activists that have caused great economic harm to some, but also to protect the animals themselves. That is the ultimate intention of this bill,” Holt said.

Amelia Morrison Hipps may be reached at amhipps@capitolnewstn.com, on Twitter @CapitolNews_TN or at 615-442-8667.

Bill to Block College IDs for Voting Draws Dem Doubts

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Questions from Democrats about the true intent of legislation drafted to clarify Tennessee’s voter ID law peppered discussion in a House committee Tuesday.

The legislation would have allowed voters to use college IDs as a form of accepted identification. The bill would rewrite a section of the current code that blocks their use. In HB 229’s original language, college IDs were simply not mentioned.

Rep. Jeremy DurhamJeremy Durham

However, that changed with freshman Rep. Jeremy Durham’s amendment that “basically just eliminates the college IDs part of the bill,” Durham told the Local Government Committee. “I think it’s good public policy to make sure the right people are voting.”

The amendment drew a slew of questions from Democratic committee members as to the true intent of the bill.

Rep. Bo Mitchell, of Nashville, made the argument that state-funded institutions of higher learning are “part of the state of Tennessee” because they receive funding from the state.

“There’s plenty of people who get direct money from the state, but I don’t want them to write down on a napkin who’s qualified to vote,” Durham, R-Franklin, said.

Rep. Larry Miller, of Memphis, was one of three Democratic members to ask either Durham or House sponsor Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet, if they could describe any “real-world occurrences” where students had committed fraud using college IDs to vote. Neither could provide an example.

When Rep. Mike Stewart, of Nashville, asked Durham for an example of a problem with college IDs, Durham said, “I suppose that the real problem is if we stick with just state and federal, I think that’s better than having 20, 30 different forms of ID from all these different state-funded universities.”

Rep. Antonio Parkinson, of Memphis, questioned what effect the bill may have on a decision before the Tennessee Supreme Court regarding the use of photo library cards as acceptable ID. The bill forbids using them to vote as well.

“A court decision would not affect the current law,” Lynn said. “A judge is not a lawmaker, and a judge can’t just deem that local IDs are acceptable if the General Assembly has passed a law saying that they are not acceptable, and the governor has signed the law.”

The companion bill, SB125, passed the full Senate last week. However, it allows college IDs to be accepted as valid forms of identification but disallows library cards and out-of-state IDs.

Because the two chambers’ versions differ, it is possible that a conference committee will be appointed to try and reach an agreement, which is necessary before final passage is possible.

Amelia Morrison Hipps may be reached at amhipps@capitolnewstn.com, on Twitter @CapitolNews_TN or at 615-442-8667.

Conservative Group Backs Effort to Ban Mountaintop Mining

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Legislation to protect Tennessee’s mountains has new, if somewhat unexpected, support: the Tennessee Conservative Union.

Citing the involvement of the “Red Chinese” in mountaintop removal mining, the conservative organization has launched a statewide media effort to ban the harvesting of coal by blowing the tops off Tennessee’s mountains.

“Tennessee has become the first state in our great nation to permit the Red Chinese to destroy our mountains and take our coal,” a gravelly, male voice warns in the ad released by the TCU, alluding to a Chinese company reportedly indicating an intention last year to invest in the Tennessee-based Triple H Coal Company.

According to the company’s website, Triple H is “one of the fastest growing coal mining operations in the Tennessee Coal Mining Reserve. We supply the increasing demand for clean coal energy to the U.S. domestic market as well as rapid expanding emerging markets such as China. Triple H’s Tennessee mines cover a surface area of over 30,000 mineral acres and consist of nine seams that are located throughout the Tennessee Coal Reserve.”

An email to the company asking for comment went unanswered.

The conservative Tennessee group joins environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices in pushing back against mountaintop removal.

Appalachian Voices is eager to work with “anyone who supports protecting Tennessee’s mountains,” said JW Randolph, director of the Tennessee branch of the environmental group.

“From my perspective, we don’t care if they’re from China or Chattanooga – they can be from anywhere. Blowing up mountains is a bad idea,” Randolph said. “The fact that everybody from the most liberal and progressive people in the state support protecting our mountains, and the most conservative people in our state support protecting our mountains, I think, gives me a lot of hope.”

The “Scenic Vistas Protection Act,” HB43/SB99, sponsored by Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, and Sen. Lowe Finney, D-Jackson, would seek to prevent mountaintop removal operations by prohibiting the issuance of water quality control permits for certain projects. The bill would affect projects altering ridgelines at an elevation higher than 2,000 feet above sea level.

That’s on the low end of the height range for the Great Smoky Mountains, which range from 875 feet to 6,643 feet – the elevation of Clingmans Dome.

According to the bill, previously issued permits for mountaintop removal activities could only be renewed by the original applicant. The measure doesn’t expand or change the allowed surface area of mining operations or previously allowed actions and is not otherwise against the law. The bill also does not allow permits to be transferred from one person to another.

Although both the bill’s primary sponsors are Democrats, it appears to have at least some bipartisan support. Two Republicans in the House have signed on as co-prime sponsors: Bill Dunn, of Knoxville, who has been honored as the TCU Legislator of the Year, and Bob Ramsey of Maryville.

Gloria JohnsonGloria Johnson

“I think that the citizens – the majority of citizens of Tennessee – are supportive of that bill and don’t want to see any more mountaintop removal,” Johnson said.

During the 2012 legislative session the bill was sent to a summer study panel, where no action was taken on it.

The bill, important because of its intent to “preserve” one of the state’s “greatest assets,” has been heard before the state Legislature in various forms over the last three years, said sponsor Sen. Lowe Finney, of Jackson.

“What you’re seeing is a lot of people realize that this is an issue that can be addressed, that should be addressed and people from all over the state are taking an interest in it,” said Finney, chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus.

Coal could be mined more responsibly, and it would benefit Tennesseans to not destroy and desecrate one of the powerful symbols of the state’s history, said Charles White, an active member of the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club. He added that coal can be mined in other ways that would provide more jobs and be more “environmentally” cost-effective.

“It’s high time for our elected officials to give this legislation a chance to be discussed by the full House and Senate,” White said.

The Scenic Vistas Act is scheduled to be heard in both the Senate Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources committee and the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee Wednesday.

Rep. Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, and Sen. Mark Norris, R-Collierville, also have a bill (HB0875/SB1139) that aims to stem water pollution from surface mining. The bill would prohibit the issuance of permits that allow mining waste within 100 feet of any stream’s high water mark. The bill has not been scheduled for a hearing.

Governor’s Workers’ Comp Revamp Chugging Forward

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Gov. Bill Haslam’s pro-business workers’ compensation reform legislation sailed through committees in the House and Senate last week and is headed for the next round of hearings in both chambers this week.

Rep. Jimmy Eldridge

Rep. Jimmy Eldridge

Rep. Jimmy Eldridge, chair of the House Consumer and Human Resources Committee, said the “Workers’ Compensation Reform Act of 2013” must pass through four more committees before reaching the House floor.

“I’d like to see this bill go to give all the members of the Tennessee General Assembly on the House side the opportunity to engage in the conversation and good debate on this important piece of legislation,” said the Republican from Jackson.

Despite its passage, it was clear not every member of Eldridge’s committee thinks the bill addresses the issues businesses say are driving costs upward.Tennessee workers' comp bill

“Where we’re messing up is in our medical costs. This bill doesn’t address that at all,” Democratic Caucus Chair Mike Turner told the committee. “I don’t care what they tell you, they’re not telling you the whole truth about this bill.”

House Bill 194 passed the House Consumer and Human Resources Committee along party lines, 7-3. Its companion, SB 200, sailed through the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee, 9-0.

Jeff Bates, managing partner of TA Staffing in Nashville, and Brian Hunt, general manager of Southern Champion Tray in Chattanooga, both addressed the House committee in favor of the reforms.

Bates said 10 percent of the claims his company sees take 75 percent of money paid out for workers’ comp.

“You have to protect the truly injured worker, but at the same time you can’t have lingering claims controlling and bogging down the system to the point where it costs three to four times as much to settle a claim in Tennessee as it does in other states,” Bates said.

Hunt said 70 percent of the injuries at his company are “categorized as strains and sprains. They also account for 79 percent of our compensation dollars.” He noted that over the past five years the company has shelled out indemnity payments totaling nearly $1 million.

Rep. Kevin Brooks, who presented the bill on behalf of House sponsor Rep. Gerald McCormick of Chattanooga, said these issues emerged from a two-year study:

  • Tennessee’s rates are higher than neighboring states.
  • Employees are being harmed by lengthy delays in the current system.
  • Employers and employees are having trouble “navigating what is a complex and difficult workmans’ compensation system.”

Rocky McElhaney, a Nashville attorney who spoke on behalf of the Tennessee Association for Justice, said higher costs were a “red herring” to distract from harm to workers.

Rocky McElhaney

Rocky McElhaney

“Since the 2004 reforms, benefits paid to injured workers in Tennessee have already decreased 41 percent,” McElhaney said. “We’re paying workers less on average than our competing states.”

McElhaney said payments to physicians are actually what’s driving costs. He said state statistics showing how long cases take to adjudicate were skewed because only a sampling of cases were used.

In 2012 cases took 166 days start-to-finish on average, down from 309 days in 2008, McElhaney said, citing data from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Rep. Glen Casada disputed the claim that the bill is heavily skewed toward employers.

“We as legislators must look at the macro of this, which is when Goodyear leaves, and their number one statement on why they left was workmans’ comp costs,” the Franklin Republican said. “All of a sudden, we’re not looking at dozens, we’re looking at 1,900 that are no longer here in Tennessee working.

“If that were to have a ripple effect, Bridgestone, Nissan – and I could go down the list – all of a sudden thousands of folks that work no longer have jobs in Tennessee. That is my concern.”   

HB 194 goes before the House Government Operations Committee Tuesday. SB 200 goes before the Senate Government Operations Committee Wednesday.

Amelia Morrison Hipps may be reached at amhipps@capitolnewstn.com, on Twitter @CapitolNews_TN or at 615-442-8667.