March 7, 2003

Judiciary Committee Assigned 423 Bills - So Far 

NASHVILLE--Senator Curtis Person (R-Memphis), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, notified his committee this week that the Judiciary Committee has 423 bills assigned to it - so far.

"That's 120 more bills than this committee has ever had in the 17 years that I have chaired the committee.  This is a record," stated Senator Person.  "We've got a lot of hard work ahead of us this year and we need to get started moving the bills."

Chairman Person announced the formation of a special Tort Reform Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee the previous week which will help the committee process selected bills and eventually make recommendations to the full committee.  That five-member subcommittee, chaired by Senator David Fowler (R-Signal Mountain), also includes Senators Mark Norris (R-Collierville) and Micheal Williams (R-Maynardville), along with Senators Jackson and Trail.  This week, Chairman Person reiterated the mission of the Tort Reform Subcommittee, restated the names of the members, and then requested that Senator Fowler provide all members with a list of bills that will be assigned to his subcommittee.  Senator Fowler provided that list consisting of 24 bills to all Senate members during Wednesday's session.

The Tort Reform Subcommittee will continue working through the designated list of all bills dealing with immunity, medical malpractice, and statute of limitations issues.  Ten bills have already been set for a subcommittee meeting on Thursday, March 13, at 8 a.m.

In addition, it appears that a larger Joint Committee is in the process of being formed in conjunction with the House which will deal with this same Tort Reform topic.  Members of the Tort Reform Subcommittee are expected to serve on the Joint Committee as well.

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Members set for Governor's Budget Address Monday 

Senate members are set to convene with the House of Representatives on Monday evening in a Joint Convention to hear the governor's budget address.

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Bills, Bills, Bills

All things considered:  The final cut-off for filing amendments to caption bills was reached on Monday (March 3).  As of 11:15 a.m. (CST) Thursday, March 6, the Senate has 1,988 Senate bills filed, while the House has 2,069 bills filed.  Senate Joint Resolutions now number 132; House Joint Resolutions 143; Senate Resolutions 19; and House Resolutions 61.  The Senate and House have used 15 days of the 90 regular session days allowed every two years under Article II, Section 23 of the Constitution for a regular session. The Senate and the House recessed Thursday and plan to convene in regular session on Monday, March 10, at 5 p.m.

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Senate Floor Actions

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Senate Bill 347/House Bill 552 received unanimous approval from the Senate Monday to extend the period for passing the United States Medical Licensing Examination to seven years after completing Step 1 of the examination.  As amended, the bill would authorize the Board to create exceptions.  Senator Rusty Crowe (R-Johnson City) co-sponsors the bill.

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SB 390/HB 576 received unanimous approval from the Senate Monday to redefine "assisted-care living facility resident" to remove the requirement for the demonstration of self-care of routine administration of oxygen for at least one year for the continued stay of an assisted-care living facility resident.  Currently, persons who demonstrate that they can self-administer oxygen for at least one year can be admitted to an assisted-care facility.  The problem has arisen in cases in which a person already residing in such a facility develops the need for self-administered oxygen after being admitted.  The language of the existing statute does not address whether the person is allowed to remain at the facility.

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SB 461/HB 1087 by Senator McNally received unanimous approval from the Senate Monday to update as a housekeeping measure the language of a bill passed last year that refers to "home health agencies" so that it reads "home care organizations." The measure pertains to those cases in which the facilities are being considered for a certificate of need and it also adds language to exempt a home care organization from the certificate of need process if it is authorized to provide only professional support services.

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SB 652/HB 797 received unanimous approval from the Senate Monday to expand the power of the Commerce and Insurance Department to examine and investigate malpractice insurance providers.  According to the summary, it would authorize the Department of Commerce and Insurance to examine and investigate the following in order to determine if insurance companies that provide medical malpractice insurance are operating according to state law:  (1) The affairs of every such person, entity, company, or organization; (2) An affiliate of the parent of such insurance company; or (3) An affiliate of such insurance company.  Any information and documents obtained by the department would be confidential unless the Commissioner of Commerce and Insurance, in the commissioner's sole discretion, decides to disclose such information.

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SB 774/HB 1273 received unanimous approval of the Senate Monday to authorize a health maintenance organization to file appropriate notices for providers to obtain payment under prompt payment requirements either electronically or in written form and to revise the procedures for submitting claims for independent review through the Health Commissioner and to describe the manner in which an unpaid claim may create a common substantive question of fact or law. The bill will allow a provider which receives no notice at all in the 60-day notice period to proceed with a claim for independent review.  Sen. McNally signed on the bill as a co-sponsor.

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A consumer protection bill, SB 134/HB 1303, received the unanimous approval of the Senate Monday that would require tagging used bedding prior to its being sold in Tennessee.  Currently, used bedding is being shipped into Tennessee from Northern states which have strict laws on the resale of used bedding.  The anti-dumping law is patterned after an Arizona law which requires tagging used bedding so that it is readily identifiable as used merchandise rather than merely discounted goods for clearance sales. Federal law requires tagging of new bedding, but it does not require tagging of used bedding and is of no value when it comes to alerting buyers in advance that an item is not new.  The law would not stop the sale of used bedding and that is not the intent of the measure.  It merely lets consumers know that they are not purchasing new items.

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Senate Joint Resolution 60 by Senator Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville) passed out of the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday of this week and then received unanimous approval by the full Senate on Thursday to urge the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to require engineers working at DOE facilities in Tennessee to comply with Tennessee's registration law and to memorialize the Tennessee Congressional delegation to introduce legislation to accomplish same.

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SJR 82 passed out of the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday of this week and then received unanimous approval by the full Senate on Thursday to request the state insurance committee to propose a comprehensive vision program as a voluntary group program for state employees and retirees.

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SB 341/HB 531 received unanimous approval of the full Senate Thursday to authorize a podiatrist to order follow-up home health services if the podiatrist has previously provided treatment to the patient and has had an ongoing physician-patient relationship with the patient.

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SB 187/HB 304 by Senator Crowe received unanimous approval from the full Senate to exempt physical therapists and physical therapist assistants licensed in other jurisdictions from Tennessee licensing requirements if they are temporarily performing physical therapy with visiting athletic teams and similar entities, such as performing arts troupes and ballets.

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Senate Committee Actions

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SB 383 passed out of the Senate Commerce, Labor and Agriculture Committee to clarify that no provision of the Electronic Transaction Act limits, modifies or supercedes the federal E-Sign Act unless otherwise permitted.

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SB 957 passed out of Senate Commerce Committee to change the designation of the members of Tennessee Regulatory Authority from "director" to "commissioner."  The title "director" came about when the old Public Service Commission was abolished in 1995-1996 at which time the new TRA came into existence.  Other states usually have directors as a subordinate position to their utility or regulatory commissioners in comparable agencies and the title deviation has led to some confusion.

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SB 1067 passed out of Senate Commerce Committee to extend the Predatory Lending Committee work to Feb. 28, 2004.  Senator Steve Southerland (R-Hamblen County) co-sponsors the bill.

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SB 53 by Senator Mark Norris (R-Collierville) moved out of Senate Commerce Committee to require the Commissioner of Financial Institutions to report to the governor annually within 60 days after the end of each calendar year rather than within 60 days after the end of each fiscal year.

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SB 495 by Senator Norris moved out of Senate Commerce Committee to prohibit the unauthorized use of a financial institution logo or name and to prevent false representations of a financial institution's endorsement of products and services in advertising or solicitation.  The measure would make violations a Class B misdemeanor and a violation of the Unfair Competition Act, as well as violations under general contractor and home improvement contractor law.

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SB 476 moved out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 6-1-2 vote to authorize a judge to sentence first-time DUI offenders to remove litter from highways for 48 hours in lieu of 48 hours of incarceration.

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SB 479 moved out of the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously to add a member of the General Assembly to the Victims of Crime State Coordinating Council with the new member to be chosen by the members of the Victims Council.

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SB 374 passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 6-0-3 vote to enact the "General Patton Act of 2003."  Republican Senators Person, Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), and Williams co-sponsor the bipartisan measure.  The measure comes in reaction to the adverse publicity generated by the Smoak Incident in Cookeville in which a dog, "General Patton," was summarily shot at a traffic stop that was processed as a felony stop.  The bill would require law enforcement training to include a course of instruction in animal behavior generally and canine behavior specifically.  Further, the bill would bump up certain animal cruelty offenses to a felony status.

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SB 546 by Senator Fowler passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee to revise the Educational Records as Evidence Act to include postsecondary institutions and to comply with the provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

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SB 185 passed out of the Senate Education Committee to require incoming students at public and private institutions of higher learning who live in on-campus housing to be vaccinated against meningococcal disease (meningitis) or to sign a waiver.  Senator Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge), Senate Education Committee Chairman, co-sponsors the bill.

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SB 326 moved out of the Senate Education Committee to allow a reduction of up to five days in the 2002-2003 school year due to severe weather conditions in local education agencies located in declared federal disaster areas.  Killer tornadoes struck several Cumberland Plateau counties in November 2002 and disrupted schools for several days.

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SB 764 moved out of the Senate General Welfare, Health and Human Resources Committee to permit a dentist licensed in Tennessee and certified by the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology to be a lab director without obtaining additional medical laboratory licensure.

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SB 47 moved out of the Senate General Welfare Committee with a compromise amendment to exclude from the home care organization licensing requirements any person licensed by the Board of Occupational and Physical Therapy Examiners or the Board of Communication Disorders and Sciences who provides services to persons in their homes.

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SB 263 moved out of the Senate General Welfare Committee to require the Department of Health to establish a data collection system on sepsis.  With an estimated cost of $175,000, the bill went to the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee.

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SB 508 moved out of the Senate General Welfare Committee to require hearing aids to be marked with the name of the manufacturer, distributor, or model name or number, serial number, and year of manufacture.

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SB 688 moved out of the Senate General Welfare Committee to require the reporting of medical instruments and other foreign objects left in a patient after surgery as unusual events.  The bill summary states that, under present law, every licensed health facility must report unusual events, and certain other defined incidents, to the Department of Health.  Any such unusual event or other defined incident must be reported to the department by the facility within seven business days from the facility's identification of the event or incident.  Present law enumerates a number of circumstances that could result in an unusual event that is an unexpected occurrence or accident resulting in death or life-threatening or serious injury to a patient, not related to a natural course of the patient's illness or underlying condition. Among such circumstances are procedure-related incidents, regardless of setting and within 30 days of the procedure, which includes "an unintentionally retained foreign body." This bill would specify that "foreign body" includes but is not limited to medical instruments.

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SB 201 by Senator Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville) passed out of the Senate Environment, Conservation and Tourism Committee to remove from the definition of "liable party" under the Tennessee Hazardous Waste Management Act any person who would not be liable under the federal Superfund Recycling Equity Act.  "The federal government saw the error of its ways in 1999 with regard to the Superfund," stated Senator Ramsey who urged conformity of the state standard to the federal government on this particular issue.

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SB 202 by Senator Ramsey passed out of the Senate Environment Committee to rewrite the residency requirements and fee schedule for lifetime sportsmen licenses.

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SB 708 by Senator Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville) passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee to revise the language in present law by deleting the word "unlawful" in a specific statute to clarify that a violation of failing to yield the right of way or interfering with a properly identified funeral procession which is the enabling statute for a county or municipal action is clearly a civil violation and not a criminal act.

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SB 1190 by Senator Ketron passed out of Senate Transportation Committee to clarify that an out-of-state learner's permit is acceptable for the intermediate driver license requirements.