Friday, April 25, 2008
William Snodgrass remembered
William R. Snodgrass passed away earlier this week. He was 85 years old. This esteemed gentleman served as the Comptroller of the Treasury for 44 years in Tennessee. As Comptroller Emeritus, he continued to work with the Comptroller's Office until shortly before his death. His wise fiscal management policies acting as a stabilizing force for decades in Tennessee and his influence extends throughout many facets of state and local government in Tennessee. Many career state employees serving in government today began their public service under the direction of Mr. Snodgrass. His funeral services were conducted this past Wednesday.
Back Up and Running
I apologize for the lack of updates to this site in recent months. In March, I had problems with a computer hard drive and was out of commission for several weeks. The County Government Day Conference April 8 and 9 took a good deal of time early this month. Now, the real crush of legislative activity is building up as the General Assembly moves toward adjournment.
I will try to re-establish the habit of providing updates and information. Hopefully this site will grow to become more useful to county officials and citizens across the state.
I will try to re-establish the habit of providing updates and information. Hopefully this site will grow to become more useful to county officials and citizens across the state.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Finding Legislative Information
If you are not familiar with some of the legislative resources on the Internet, I have good news for you. Our state General Assembly provides an incredible array of information and services on line. From the main legislative website (www.legislature.state.tn.us), you can find information about your legislative delegation, read bios of members, find out how to contact or e-mail members, read legislation, find out which legislators serve on committees, get status updates and fiscal impact statements on proposed bills, and even watch live streaming video or archived video footage of committee meetings and legislative sessions.
On the legislature's home page, you will find a column on the left hand side of the screen that will guide you into the more substantive parts of the website. Under the headings "Senate" or "House" or will find links to pages of information about members, committees, schedules, and calendars. Under the heading "Legislation," you can look up a bill by number or scan through an index of all legislation filed with the General Assembly during this session. You can also search bills by subject. You can even find all bills sponsored by an individual legislator by looking at the list of members in either the House or Senate and then clicking on the icon on the far right that looks like a hand signing a document.
If you enter a bill number or click on an entry in the bill index, it will take you to a page that gives a brief summary of the legislation and outlines the history of the legislation. From this main page for a bill, you can click on the bill number at the top of the page to open or download a .pdf file of the legislation (this will require Adope Acrobate Reader). If amendments have been added to the bill, you can access those as well. If the staff of the legislature has written a more detailed summary of the legislation, there will be a link to the summary on this page. From this page you can also access something called a "fiscal note." This is a document that analyzes the potential impact of legislation on both state and local governments.
The lower portion of the page tracks the status of the bills under the heading "Bill History." The latest activity on the bill in each house of the General Assembly will be listed at the top with the history working backward from there to the bills initial introduction. In some cases, it is tricky to decipher the exact status of the bills due to the abbreviations used and the dual nature of bills. Each bill has a House and Senate companion. These bills may move through committees simultaneously, or the bill may move all the way through the process in one house will the other bill sits idle.
Of course, this association is here to serve you and provide information about legislative developments. If you have questions about bills, don't hesitate to contact TCCA. But if you want to be better informed and better acquainted with what is going on with your State Legislature, I thought it would be helpful to provide a basic primer here that lets you know all the resources your legislature makes freely available to the public.
On the legislature's home page, you will find a column on the left hand side of the screen that will guide you into the more substantive parts of the website. Under the headings "Senate" or "House" or will find links to pages of information about members, committees, schedules, and calendars. Under the heading "Legislation," you can look up a bill by number or scan through an index of all legislation filed with the General Assembly during this session. You can also search bills by subject. You can even find all bills sponsored by an individual legislator by looking at the list of members in either the House or Senate and then clicking on the icon on the far right that looks like a hand signing a document.
If you enter a bill number or click on an entry in the bill index, it will take you to a page that gives a brief summary of the legislation and outlines the history of the legislation. From this main page for a bill, you can click on the bill number at the top of the page to open or download a .pdf file of the legislation (this will require Adope Acrobate Reader). If amendments have been added to the bill, you can access those as well. If the staff of the legislature has written a more detailed summary of the legislation, there will be a link to the summary on this page. From this page you can also access something called a "fiscal note." This is a document that analyzes the potential impact of legislation on both state and local governments.
The lower portion of the page tracks the status of the bills under the heading "Bill History." The latest activity on the bill in each house of the General Assembly will be listed at the top with the history working backward from there to the bills initial introduction. In some cases, it is tricky to decipher the exact status of the bills due to the abbreviations used and the dual nature of bills. Each bill has a House and Senate companion. These bills may move through committees simultaneously, or the bill may move all the way through the process in one house will the other bill sits idle.
Of course, this association is here to serve you and provide information about legislative developments. If you have questions about bills, don't hesitate to contact TCCA. But if you want to be better informed and better acquainted with what is going on with your State Legislature, I thought it would be helpful to provide a basic primer here that lets you know all the resources your legislature makes freely available to the public.
Update on Legislative Session
The legislative session is getting into full swing. Bill filing deadlines have passed and the committee calendars are starting to get full. Already this session, several significant issues affecting county government have been discussed. To date, none of these issues have been finally resolved, but several are moving through the committee process. Included in the 1800-plus new bills filed this year are proposals related to open meetings and public records; education funding; jail management; tort liability; water resources; planning and zoning; economic development; and environmental regulation. These are on top of the approximately 2400 bills that were filed in the first year of the session, many of which remain active.
There are bills that would establish new mandates on local governments, bills that would restrict revenue sources for counties and bills that would manage how local budgets are adopted and tax rates are established. There are always exceptions to the rule, but in general, the Tennessee County Commissioners Association stands for the prospect that county governments need the tools, resources, and flexibility to govern effectively. As a result, we often oppose efforts that limit the autonomy that county governments have. Every week I communicate to your Senators and Representatives about how potential legislation enhances or stifles your ability to serve your constituents. As I have been getting to know the members of our General Assembly, I find many members who began their politcal careers on the county commission. These folks are quick to recognize your issues and they are imporant allies for us in the State Legislature. They know well that you have a challenging job to perform and they commend you all for your service.
There are bills that would establish new mandates on local governments, bills that would restrict revenue sources for counties and bills that would manage how local budgets are adopted and tax rates are established. There are always exceptions to the rule, but in general, the Tennessee County Commissioners Association stands for the prospect that county governments need the tools, resources, and flexibility to govern effectively. As a result, we often oppose efforts that limit the autonomy that county governments have. Every week I communicate to your Senators and Representatives about how potential legislation enhances or stifles your ability to serve your constituents. As I have been getting to know the members of our General Assembly, I find many members who began their politcal careers on the county commission. These folks are quick to recognize your issues and they are imporant allies for us in the State Legislature. They know well that you have a challenging job to perform and they commend you all for your service.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Board Meeting Scheduled
The Board of Directors of the Tennessee County Commissioners Association is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, February 6, 2008. The meeting will begin at 11:00 AM in the ground floor conference room of the Capitol Boulevard Building at 226 Capitol Blvd. in downtown Nashville.
Apart from a few routine administrative matters, the meeting will focus on pending legislation of interest to the association. If you need further information or directions to the meeting, please contact the association office at (615) 532-3767. If any person desiring to attend the meeting needs special accomodations, please contact the association at the same number to inform us of your needs.
Apart from a few routine administrative matters, the meeting will focus on pending legislation of interest to the association. If you need further information or directions to the meeting, please contact the association office at (615) 532-3767. If any person desiring to attend the meeting needs special accomodations, please contact the association at the same number to inform us of your needs.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Update on Filing Disclosure Statements
Our organization and several others expressed concerns to the Ethics Commission about the ability of local officials to comply with the electronic filing requirement for disclosure statements. At a meeting earlier this week, the Ethics Commission considered the issue and voted to change the practice for this year. The commission will allow both paper and electronic filing and has stated that it will not pursue sanctions for failure to meet the January 31 deadline so long as the statement is filed, electronically or by paper, by February 15. Printable forms are now available on the ethics commission website: www.state.tn.us/soc/tec
The Ethics Commission was very responsive to our association's concerns and I appreciate very much their consideration on this matter and willingness to work with us. I believe the commission's staff has also been working very hard to assist a great number of officials who called them with problems they were having with the electronic system. According to the commission website, over 2100 local officials have successfully filed electronically since January 8 when the portal was activitated. The commission is still very committed to moving toward electronic based filing for this statement to the extent possible. If you have internet access and an e-mail account (which you probably do if you are reading this post), I encourage you to use the electronic filing system.
The Ethics Commission was very responsive to our association's concerns and I appreciate very much their consideration on this matter and willingness to work with us. I believe the commission's staff has also been working very hard to assist a great number of officials who called them with problems they were having with the electronic system. According to the commission website, over 2100 local officials have successfully filed electronically since January 8 when the portal was activitated. The commission is still very committed to moving toward electronic based filing for this statement to the extent possible. If you have internet access and an e-mail account (which you probably do if you are reading this post), I encourage you to use the electronic filing system.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Filing your 2008 Disclosure of Interest Statement
For elected county officials, the 2008 Disclosure of Interest Statement is due January 31, 2008.
This is the disclosure statement that was formerly filed with your local county election commission office. After the passage of the Comprehensive Governmental Ethics Reform Act of 2006, the form is now filed with the State Ethics Commission. You should have filed a disclosure statement with that office in January 2007.
This year, the Ethics Commission is requiring that the statement be filed electronically. According to the Ethics Commission website, county elected officials should have received an authorization number in the mail which will permit filers to access the system starting on Monday, January 7, 2008. Filers will be required to sign in on the Conflicts portal, establish a TN.gov account with their authorization number and complete the Disclosure of Interest Statement. The Ethics Commission is indicating that it will no longer be accepting paper Statements. The Ethics Commission also has posted a schedule of statewide training seminars to instruct you on how to file your statement electronically. It appears there will be 17 training seminars taught across the state during January, so you should be able to find one near you. You can find that schedule of times and locations here: http://state.tn.us/sos/tec/TrainingClasses.pdf
The primary Ethics Commission Website is here: http://state.tn.us/sos/tec/
If you are reading this information here, you probably will not have substantial difficulty using their websites or filing electronically. Many of your fellow commissioners will not have it as easy. There are still many county commissioners who do not have e-mail or internet access. If you or one of your fellow commissioners has concerns about this requirement for electronic filing, please let me know ASAP. The Ethics Commission will meet on Jan. 15th and there may be a chance to present these concerns to the Ethics Commission at that time.
This is the disclosure statement that was formerly filed with your local county election commission office. After the passage of the Comprehensive Governmental Ethics Reform Act of 2006, the form is now filed with the State Ethics Commission. You should have filed a disclosure statement with that office in January 2007.
This year, the Ethics Commission is requiring that the statement be filed electronically. According to the Ethics Commission website, county elected officials should have received an authorization number in the mail which will permit filers to access the system starting on Monday, January 7, 2008. Filers will be required to sign in on the Conflicts portal, establish a TN.gov account with their authorization number and complete the Disclosure of Interest Statement. The Ethics Commission is indicating that it will no longer be accepting paper Statements. The Ethics Commission also has posted a schedule of statewide training seminars to instruct you on how to file your statement electronically. It appears there will be 17 training seminars taught across the state during January, so you should be able to find one near you. You can find that schedule of times and locations here: http://state.tn.us/sos/tec/TrainingClasses.pdf
The primary Ethics Commission Website is here: http://state.tn.us/sos/tec/
If you are reading this information here, you probably will not have substantial difficulty using their websites or filing electronically. Many of your fellow commissioners will not have it as easy. There are still many county commissioners who do not have e-mail or internet access. If you or one of your fellow commissioners has concerns about this requirement for electronic filing, please let me know ASAP. The Ethics Commission will meet on Jan. 15th and there may be a chance to present these concerns to the Ethics Commission at that time.
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