CAPITOL
TCSA
March 18, 2016
UPDATE
A publication of the Tennessee County Services Association
www.tncounties.org
David Connor, Executive Director
Lt. Gov. Ramsey Announces Retirement
“After a lot of prayer and many sleepless nights, I have
determined that I simple cannot commit to another four years
in office,” an emotional Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey told members
of the Senate this week.
In announcing his retirement at the end of this term, the
one-time gubernatorial candidate said his growing family
needs to have even more of his time. He mentioned the birth
of his first granddaughter that Wednesday morning, and that
he now has four grandsons, during the brief announcement.
“I have always been known as a straight-shooter who
gets right to the point. Today is no exception,” said Ramsey.
“I stand before you today to announce that I will not be seeking another four-year term to the State Senate.”
For nearly a quarter of a century, Ramsey has served in
the Tennessee General Assembly, two terms in the House before winning a seat in the Senate, where he served 20 years.
In 2007 he defeated long-time Senate speaker John Wilder to
become the state’s second highest ranking political official,
behind only the governor.
Ramsey became the first Republican speaker of the Tennessee Senate in more than 140 years in 2007, and since then
has become the longest serving Republican in that position
in the state’s history.
“While serving in the legislature, I have tried my best to
keep my priorities in order. My first priority has always been
my faith. I have never taken my talents and opportunities
for granted. I know that all I have God has given me. I have
prayed to Him every day for wisdom and guidance,” said
Ramsey.
“A close second has always been my family. Sindy is
not only my wife but my best friend. She is truly the wind
beneath my wings. I have the three best daughters a father
could ask for. And now I have three wonderful son-in-laws.
“My third priority has been my business. And that brings
us to priority number four, politics and state government,”
he added. “It has been the honor of my life to serve here. We
have accomplished great things together. We have left Tennessee better than we found it.”
“I am ready to take priority number four off the table and
commit a lot more time to priority number two, my growing
family, said Ramsey.
Negotiations on school budgeting: As we reported last
week, discussions have been on-going this year relative to
legislation on county budget processes. While generally not
a widespread issue, from time to time counties face a budget
impasse and potential shutdown of schools. After a couple
of counties ran up against the deadline at the end of August
last year and were unable to get agreement on the school
budget, legislators representing those counties began calling
@TNCountyNews
for meetings between the county associations, the Tennessee
School Boards Association and the Comptroller’s Office to
try to find a resolution.
What has emerged from those meetings is legislation that
does several things to help keep the budget process moving.
First of all, if there is no locally adopted schedule, the bill
would provide a schedule for developing and communicating budget proposals in an effort to get the process started
more quickly. More significantly, the bill would provide that
if there is no agreement between the school board and county commission by August 31 of any year, the school system
would automatically get the minimum required local funding
by operation of law. In the discussions, school boards asked
for relief in the event that time runs out and there is no budget agreement year after year. As currently drafted, the bill
would say that if there is no agreement and the school board
gets the minimum required funding three years in a row, in
the third year, there would be a 3-percent increase added to
the required funding from local sources. Provided however,
this increase shall not be required if during any of those three
years the school board failed to submit its budget proposals
in a timely manner. Also, if there was an agreed budget or if
schools received more funding than the minimum required
by the state Department of Education in any one of those
years, the 3 percent increase would not be triggered.
So to be clear, under the proposed language, if the school
board and county commission do not agree on a budget, the
schools get the minimum funding required by law. If that
happens three years in a row, the local contribution to schools
would go up three percent. The bill is comprehensive and
would apply to all counties regardless of what budget act
they operate under. If you have thoughts or concerns about
these negotiations, please contact us with your feedback. As
with any compromise, both parties are losing in some areas
and gaining in others, but this bill has the potential to end the
threat of shutting down schools and prevent future budget
impasses.
If this bill passes, coupled with the legislation that passed
last year to provide automatic continuation budgets for July
and August, counties should avoid any gaps in funding and
should be able to have a budget adopted every year by the
end of August.
Broadband: This week the House Business & Utilities
Subcommittee considered three bills pertaining to Broadband coverage. HB1303/SB1134 (K. Brooks, Bowling)
would authorize all municipal electric systems statewide
to provide broadband service outside their service area as
long as they received the written consent of any and all other
electric systems within the territory into which they were
proposing to expand their service.
The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Kevin Brooks, told the committee, “HB1303 is a fantastic opportunity for the state of
Tennessee to step up for its residents.” He explained that
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CAPITOL UPDATE
while he did hope a resolution would be found to the broadband issue, he did not think he had the votes for this particular bill to pass, so he took the bill off notice.
The second broadband related bill, HB2133/SB2200 (K.
Brooks, Gardenhire), had a proposed amendment which
would take the same concept as HB1303/SB1134 and simply
limit it to one municipal electric, to be chosen by the Comptroller of the Treasury. The proposed amendment would also
have limited the boundaries where the system could provide
broadband services outside of its service area.
Representative Brooks commented that he thought this
bill as amended would provide a straightforward and simplistic solution to the issue of municipal broadband service.
Chairman Art Swann commented that he appreciated the
sponsor bringing the bill which he felt addressed the issues
and solutions in a positive manner; however ultimately, the
committee voted against the amendment, 3 ayes/5 noes, resulting in Representative Brooks taking the bill off notice.
The final broadband bill on the calendar was HB2408/
SB2512 (Carter, Gresham). Rep. Mike Carter’s amendment to this bill sought to use a different approach by promoting joint ventures between electric cooperatives and municipal electric systems, or other governmental utilities, to
provide broadband across the state. Representative Carter
testified that his bill would take the decision on broadband
back to the elected officials to make the decision themselves;
and while he did not like the concept of government interference with private business, he was repeatedly confronted
with constituents’ need for more broadband coverage. However, his bill faced a similar fate as the previous two bills.
All three Senate versions of these bills were also calendared to be heard in the Senate Commerce Committee this
week. It is highly doubtful the Senate will pass any legislation on this topic due to the action taken in the House Subcommittee this week.
Employees on county legislative bodies: An amendment
supported by the Tennessee County Commissioners Association would allow county employees to continue to serve
on their legislative bodies. SB0466/HB0985 (Bell, Rogers),
passed by the full House this week, would put limitations on
employees who serve on the county commission in that they
would be unable to vote on matters that would personally affect them financially, such as salary and employee benefits.
Currently, some employee county commissioners may read
a conflict of interest statement on vote on these issues. This
limitation would also apply to commissioners whose spouses are county employees.
The amendment passed by the House allows the member to vote on the budget, appropriation resolution, tax rate
resolution, and budget amendments, unless the amendment
relates to a matter in which the member has a conflict of
interest.
As originally introduced, the bill would have forbidden
county employees from seeking election to the county legislative body unless they were already serving in that capacity.
That prohibition has been removed in the version that passed
the House.
The bill has been set for March 22 in Senate State & Local Government.
De-annexation: The House this week passed its version
of SB0749/HB0779 (Watson, Carter), after debating numerous proposed amendments to the bill on the House floor.
March 18, 2016
In the Senate, the bill has remained in the calendar committee waiting to be scheduled for a floor vote since the final
days of session last year. However, the two versions of the
bill are now significantly different. It is unclear at this point
if the Senate will proceed to a floor debate or re-refer the bill
to Senate State & Local Government to consider the changes
made in the House rather than accept it without committee
debate and testimony.
The House version, as amended this year, gives citizens
in certain municipalities in six counties a method to deannex properties currently within the municipal limits. The
amendment allows citizens to petition for a referendum to
de-annex territory that had been annexed at some point since
passage of the Growth Policy Act of 1998. If the referendum
passes, the city’s jurisdiction in the area ceases, but the property owners will still be required to pay their share of any
bonded indebtedness that funded improvements in the area.
If the vote fails, no future vote involving that area could be
held. The citizen initiated de-annexation authority in the bill
is repealed July 1, 2019.
The House amendment further adds protections for counties in situations when a municipality de-annexes infrastructure such as roads and bridges. Those de-annexations would
now have to be approved by a 2/3 majority of the county
legislative body.
The House amendment also makes a special provision
passed a year ago and applicable only to Williamson County
apply statewide. Under the bill that passed the House noncontiguous annexations would be authorized in all 95 counties if the following conditions are met:
* The annexation must be with the consent of the landowners.
* The area to be annexed is within the city’s urban growth
boundary.
* The area is either owned by a governmental entity, is
commercial or industrial in nature or is intended for residential development.
Before the non-contiguous annexation takes place, the
city must develop a plan of services working cooperatively
with the county. The city and county must also enter into
an interlocal agreement with respect to how emergency services will be provided and infrastructure will be maintained
in not only the area to be annexed, but also the territory between the new annexation and the city limits.
Two other bills dealing with non-contiguous annexations
are scheduled for debate next week in committee. SB1817/
HB2307 (Jackson, Eldridge) and SB2428/HB22420
(Crowe, VanHuss) are both set for March 22 in Senate State
& Local Government and March 23 in House Local Government Subcommittee. Both bills would expand authority for
non-contiguous annexations statewide. These bills are likely
to start moving if for some reason the Senate does not move
forward with the bill which the House passed Monday night.
Bills of interest scheduled for next week: For a full list
of bills being tracked by the association, go to the TCSA
website at www.tncounties.org. Click “TCSA’s Weekly Bills
to Watch” in the Legislative Advocacy window. Other than
the finance committees, at this point all other committees
have established their final calendars, meaning that any bill
not on notice for a committee or subcommittee will not be
heard this year. Some committees and subcommittees have
been attempting to finish their remaining workload.
March 18, 2016
CAPITOL UPDATE
Bills of Interest Scheduled Next Week
Monday, March 21
Senate Health Committee – 3:30pm
SB 320/HB 289 (Norris/McCormick) Autopsies - As introduced, rewrites Post-Mortem Examinations Act effective January 1,
2017; requires counties to appoint a medicolegal death investigator;
terminates Tennessee medical examiner advisory council.
Tuesday, March 22
Senate Finance Committee – 8:30am
SB 1716/HB 1650 (Gardenhire/Carter) Taxes, Gasoline, Petroleum Products - As introduced, restricts the use of state gasoline
tax revenues distributed to the highway fund, counties, and cities to
the construction, improvement, and maintenance of highways and
bridges; prohibits the use of such revenue for pedestrian, bicycle,
and other nonvehicular facilities.
SB 1698/HB 2557 (Johnson/Durham) Taxes, Litigation - As
introduced, allows a county, upon the adoption of a resolution by a
2/3 majority vote of the county legislative body, to assess a privilege
tax on litigation in civil cases in an amount not to exceed $25.00 per
case to be used exclusively for personnel and operating costs of the
circuit court located in that county; excludes original proceedings
brought in juvenile court.
House Local Government Committee – 9:00am
HB 2557/SB 1698 (Durham/Johnson) Taxes, Litigation - As
introduced, allows a county, upon the adoption of a resolution by a
2/3 majority vote of the county legislative body, to assess a privilege
tax on litigation in civil cases in an amount not to exceed $25.00 per
case to be used exclusively for personnel and operating costs of the
circuit court located in that county; excludes original proceedings
brought in juvenile court.
Senate State & Local Government Committee – 10:30am
SB 1615/HB 1629 (Green/Pitts) Purchasing and Procurement - As introduced, authorizes local governments to enter cooperative purchasing agreements with federal agencies.
SB 2469/HB 2201 (Green/Daniel) State Employees - As introduced, enacts the “Right to Earn a Living Act.”
SB 2583/HB 2587 (Norris/Todd) Annexation - As introduced,
authorizes counties and municipalities to amend growth plans as
often as necessary.
SB 2604/HB 1826 (Norris/White) Taxes, Real Property As introduced, authorizes a county mayor to sell land held by the
county due to delinquent taxes during the redemption period under
certain conditions; reduces the amount of time a tax must be due on
abandoned property before the tax lien can be enforced from two
years to one year; makes other related changes.
SB 466/HB 985 (Bell/Rogers) County Government - As introduced, disqualifies any county government employee from serving
as a member of the county legislative body; exempts current members of the county legislative body.
SB 2128/HB 2087 (Bailey/Keisling) County Government –
Caption bill relative to county budgeting
SB 2132/HB 2162 (Bailey/Windle) Taxes, Ad Valorem - As
introduced, removes annual income limit of $60,000 for disabled
veterans seeking property tax relief; increases disabled veteran’s reimbursement amount from $100,000 to $175,000 of the full market
value of veteran’s residence.
House Government Operations Committee – 12:00pm
HB 1892/SB 1830 (Halford/Southerland) Water Pollution As introduced, requires that general permits issued under the Water
Quality Control Act be no more restrictive than federal requirements for management storm water post construction; requires that
provisions of certain general permits be promulgated in rule form
prior to implementation.
House State Government Committee – 12:00pm
HB 2201/SB 2469 (Daniel/Green) State Employees - As introduced, enacts the “Right to Earn a Living Act.”
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House Health Subcommittee – 1:30pm
HB 289/SB 320 (McCormick/Norris) Autopsies - As introduced, rewrites Post-Mortem Examinations Act effective January 1,
2017; requires counties to appoint a medicolegal death investigator;
terminates Tennessee medical examiner advisory council.
House Transportation Committee – 1:30pm
HB 207/SB 129 (Jernigan/Tracy) Highways, Roads and
Bridges - As introduced, requires a county or municipality to publish the official map of future plans for streets and highways on the
county or municipality’s web site at least 30 days prior to the legislative body’s public hearing.
House Finance Committee – 3:00pm
HB 2022/SB 1953 (Beck/Yarbro) Mass Transit - As introduced, authorizes the department of transportation to construct and
operate a mass transit system on the shoulder of a state or interstate
highway; authorizes the department to enter into a contractual arrangement with a public transportation provider to operate the system.
HB 2180/SB 2142 (Hill T/Yager) Highways, Roads and
Bridges - As introduced, removes termination date of July 1, 2016,
from the County Bridge Relief Act of 2014; permanently authorizes
counties to use an unexpended balance of state-aid bridge grant
funds to pay the local share of project costs for replacing or improving county bridges.
HB 1465/SB 1450 (Zachary/McNally) Taxes, Hotel Motel As introduced, authorizes local collecting officials of hotel taxes to
publish the names of delinquent taxpayers and the amounts owed;
clarifies that the present law that makes state tax records confidential does not apply to local hotel tax records.
HB 2586/SB 2094 (Todd/Ketron) Alcoholic Beverages - As
introduced, allows applicants for retail food store wine license to
seek certificate of compliance from local government and receive
approval letter from commission prior to July 1, 2016; allows
wholesalers to solicit orders from retail food stores and deliver wine
prior to July 1, 2016; clarifies when retail package store may deliver
to customers; limits retail package store licenses to two per owner.
Senate Commerce Committee – 3:30pm
SB 1130/HB 728 (Bowling/Pody) Telecommunications - As
introduced, requires the office of the comptroller to prepare a report
on or before January 1, 2016, replacing June 30, 2005, for the business and utilities committee of the house and the commerce and labor committee of the senate evaluating the operations of municipal
electric systems offering cable, two-way video transmission, video
programming, Internet, or similar services and including a recommendation as to whether the authority to provide the services should
be expanded, restricted, or terminated.
SB 2105/HB 1921 (Johnson/Sargent) Real Property - As introduced, provides that a purchaser of a parcel of land in a tax lien
sale has no obligation to purchase insurance on the parcel during the
redemption period and that the purchaser is not liable for damage
that occurs to the property during the redemption period unless it is
caused by intentional acts of the purchaser.
Wednesday, March 23
House Finance Subcommittee – 10:30am
HB 1650/SB 1716 (Carter/Gardenhire) Taxes, Gasoline, Petroleum Products - As introduced, restricts the use of state gasoline
tax revenues distributed to the highway fund, counties, and cities to
the construction, improvement, and maintenance of highways and
bridges; prohibits the use of such revenue for pedestrian, bicycle,
and other nonvehicular facilities.
HB 2576/SB 2567 (McCormick/Norris) Sentencing - As introduced, enacts the “Public Safety Act of 2016.”
HB 1664/SB 1633 (Swann/Yager) Cooperatives - As introduced, removes a four-year exemption from ad valorem property
taxes for certain facilities and plants of electric cooperatives; authorizes electric cooperatives to maintain possession of certain abandoned property while the state treasurer publishes notice; authorizes
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CAPITOL UPDATE
electric cooperatives to distribute unclaimed abandoned property
for certain purposes.
HB 2574/SB 2565 (McCormick/Norris) Basic Education
Program (BEP) - As introduced, eliminates an obsolete provision
of Tennessee Code Annotated concerning the BEP.
HB 1801/SB 2380 (Howell/Bell) Local Government, General
- As introduced, expands the authority of the local governments to
make interfund loans to include all funds derived from the sale of a
Tennessee private act hospital; limits capital outlay notes from the
sale of a Tennessee private act hospital not to exceed a period of 20
fiscal years.
House State Government Subcommittee – 12:00pm
HB 185/SB 459 (Butt/Bell) Personal Property - As introduced, prohibits the state or any political subdivision from adopting or implementing any policy recommendation that intentionally
or inadvertently infringes upon or restricts private property rights
without due process of law; repeals any law in conflict with the Act
and prohibits contracts that are in conflict with the Act from being
entered into or renewed on or after the effective date of the Act.
House Local Government Subcommittee – 1:30pm
HB 1491/SB 2381 (McDaniel/Bell) Taxes, Personal Property
- As introduced, reduces the property tax rate applied to logging
equipment used essentially and principally in the cutting and harvesting of trees from farm property.
HB 1643/SB 1648 (Forgety/Overbey) Taxes, Real Property
- As introduced, reestablishes the first portion of home value for
which real property tax relief will be reimbursed to disabled veteran
home owners from $100,000 to $175,000 for those homeowners
who received the reimbursement for tax years 2014 and 2015 and
who apply to receive a reimbursement for tax year 2016 and in subsequent tax years without interruption.
HB 1403/SB 1427 (Ragan/McNally) Taxes, Real Property
- As introduced, removes income limit for any veteran who has
acquired 100 percent permanent total disability from any serviceconnected cause as determined by the United States veterans administration when qualifying for tax relief.
HB 2087/SB 2128 (Keisling/Bailey) County Government –
Caption bill relative to county budgeting
HB 2343/SB 1949 (Calfee/Yager) Real Property - As intro-
March 18, 2016
duced, authorizes a county, after obtaining property at a delinquent
property tax sale, to evaluate the property and if the financial and
environmental risks outweigh the value of the property, allows the
chancellor to set aside the county’s bid on such property.
HB 2242/SB 2428 (VanHuss/Crowe) Annexation - As introduced, deletes the limitation allowing noncontiguous annexation by
resolution to occur in only a county having a population according
to the most recent decennial census that is greater than 44.5 percent
and 50,000 of its population in the preceding decennial census.
HB 1410/SB 1484 (Pitts/Green) Taxes, Real Property - As introduced, deletes the Save the Tax Relief Act.
HB 1515/SB 1465 (Pitts/Green) Taxes, Ad Valorem - As introduced, reestablishes the first portion of home value for which
real property tax relief will be reimbursed to disabled veteran home
owners from $100,000 to $175,000.
HB 2162/SB 2132 (Windle/Bailey) Taxes, Ad Valorem - As
introduced, removes annual income limit of $60,000 for disabled
veterans seeking property tax relief; increases disabled veteran’s reimbursement amount from $100,000 to $175,000 of the full market
value of veteran’s residence.
HB 1842/SB 1959 (Powell/Yarbro) Election Laws - As introduced, requires county election commissions in counties with
populations over 65,000 to establish additional early voting polling
locations.
House Civil Justice Subcommittee – 3:00pm
HB 2033/SB 1736 (Faison/Gresham) Firearms and Ammunition - As introduced, establishes that if a person or entity posts
to prohibit the possession of firearms on the property, the posting
entity, for purposes of liability, assumes custodial responsibility for
the safety and defense of any handgun carry permit holder harmed
while on the posted property.
House Business & Utilities Committee – 3:00pm
HB 1921/SB 2105 (Sargent/Johnson) Real Property - As introduced, provides that a purchaser of a parcel of land in a tax lien
sale has no obligation to purchase insurance on the parcel during the
redemption period and that the purchaser is not liable for damage
that occurs to the property during the redemption period unless it is
caused by intentional acts of the purchaser.
UPDATE
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