Thursday evening, the House and Senate wrapped up debate on the Governor's higher education proposal and passed the bill with nearly unanimous support. With that bill complete, the General Assembly is expected to adjourn out of the special session on Monday. The delay is simply intended to make certain no corrections to the bills passed need to be made before the special session is concluded.
The special session saw the legislature pass significant K-12 education reforms in the first week and then major higher education reforms this week. Also in the mix was the passage of a bill that suspended implementation of a worker's compensation bill that took effect January 1 of this year. The new provisions had caused concern among certain employers. The new provisions were delayed until March 28, 2011. This gives the legislature time to review the proposed changes and modify them this session or early next year.
When the Senate and House return next week, the regular session will commence with no limit on the topics the General Assembly may take up and consider. It is still expected that budgetary issues will overshadow the session and limit the consideration of proposals that add any significant new costs to state government. Governor Bredesen is slated to give a state of the State address on February 1 and present his budget at that time.
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