Monday, February 21, 2011
Legislature Files Over 2000 Bills in Each Chamber
The general bill filling deadline for the Tennessee General Assembly passed last Thursday. After this point, private acts and certain budgetary acts may be filed, but otherwise, general legislation is not to be filed unless approved by a late bills committee. The Senate ended up with 2082 bills to date. The House with 2124. Those bills that do not have a companion bill filed in the other chamber will not be eligible for passage this year. The legislation deals with a wide variety of issues. Many of the bills impact services provided by county government or the general administration of county government. We are working through the process of analyzing all this legislation and will be reporting bills of interest to you.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Governor Haslam Announces Legislative Package
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam this week introduced his administration’s legislative package for the 2011 session, focusing on educating the workforce, identifying the best teachers and revising the state’s civil justice system.
Haslam’s legislative package is a single piece of his jobs agenda to make Tennessee the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs.
The legislation seeks to:
• Make tenure tied to classroom performance; extend probationary time from three to five years
• Lift the cap on charter schools and allow open enrollment
• Allow the state’s Achievement School District (part of First to the Top) to authorize charter schools
• Extend use of the lottery scholarship for summer courses and cap the total number of hours based on required degree completion
• Limits non-economic damages for both healthcare liability action and other personal injury actions
• Limits and clarifies standards for assessing punitive damages
• Limits appeal bond amounts
“Our legislation being filed with the Tennessee General Assembly is tightly focused on opportunities to enhance job creation and is one piece of our agenda to make Tennessee more competitive in the Southeast,” Haslam said.
Other pieces of Haslam’s jobs agenda include streamlining state government and aggressively examining rules and regulations to assure this three-part test is met: will they make a difference, are they performance-based, and what the expected outcomes are.
Also, the Department of Economic and Community Development is focused on a top-to-bottom approach that aligns state efforts with returns on investment.
“These initial steps in transforming state government will lead to more efficiency and effectiveness and deliver excellent customer service,” Haslam said.
For more, see the full press release and statement here: http://news.tnanytime.org/node/6721
Haslam’s legislative package is a single piece of his jobs agenda to make Tennessee the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs.
The legislation seeks to:
• Make tenure tied to classroom performance; extend probationary time from three to five years
• Lift the cap on charter schools and allow open enrollment
• Allow the state’s Achievement School District (part of First to the Top) to authorize charter schools
• Extend use of the lottery scholarship for summer courses and cap the total number of hours based on required degree completion
• Limits non-economic damages for both healthcare liability action and other personal injury actions
• Limits and clarifies standards for assessing punitive damages
• Limits appeal bond amounts
“Our legislation being filed with the Tennessee General Assembly is tightly focused on opportunities to enhance job creation and is one piece of our agenda to make Tennessee more competitive in the Southeast,” Haslam said.
Other pieces of Haslam’s jobs agenda include streamlining state government and aggressively examining rules and regulations to assure this three-part test is met: will they make a difference, are they performance-based, and what the expected outcomes are.
Also, the Department of Economic and Community Development is focused on a top-to-bottom approach that aligns state efforts with returns on investment.
“These initial steps in transforming state government will lead to more efficiency and effectiveness and deliver excellent customer service,” Haslam said.
For more, see the full press release and statement here: http://news.tnanytime.org/node/6721
Friday, February 4, 2011
Amazing Turnout Expected for Education Workshops
So far, the four evening education workshops for county commissioners have a total of 168 people registered. It's a great problem to have, but the Knox County meeting has maxed out at 75 and can take no more registrations.
These classes will be very informative for county commissioners and relate to one of the most important and complicated aspects of county government services and budgeting. I'm very excited and encouraged that there has been such a strong response to the classes.
These classes will be very informative for county commissioners and relate to one of the most important and complicated aspects of county government services and budgeting. I'm very excited and encouraged that there has been such a strong response to the classes.
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