January 06, 2004 

Welcome Back!

It is January 2004. Our West Tennessee farm “winters over” with hay stacked high in the loft barn, firewood split and stacked ready for use, and the cattle moved to their cold weather pasture. My family knows that now, with the New Year, comes the reality that I must soon leave for the General Assembly in Nashville.

Beginning January 13, the Senate reconvenes. My law practice continues three days a week from middle Tennessee rather than Memphis. The auto mechanic knows he’ll see more, rather than less, of me with over 500 miles per week on the Tahoe requiring more frequent attention given the statewide commute.

This year, I will continue to work for the reforms which solve Tennessee’s seemingly intractable problems - TennCare, anticompetitive workers’ compensation laws, tort reform, and tax relief for senior citizens. We are working to build a better Tennessee, solving one problem at a time. We are making progress toward the day when Tennesseans rightly feel they get their money’s worth in this state - no more than a dollar’s worth of tax for a dollar’s worth of service.   

You come to Nashville, too. I look forward to seeing and hearing more from each of you who access this website, write, call and visit the state capital to see our democracy in action.

Thank you, once again, for the opportunity to represent you in the Tennessee Senate.            

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A Look at Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Headed

As 2004 gets underway, we are preparing to return to Nashville for the second half of the 103rd General Assembly which reconvenes on January 13.

Last year, my theme for the 32nd District was “Working Together for West Tennessee.” In that spirit, I pursued an agenda of “Health, Wealth and Homesteads.” Here’s what I found, what I’ve done about it, and what lies ahead.

Health. I found that access to affordable care is harder to come by for increasing numbers of Tennesseans. Private health insurance coverage is increasingly difficult to secure, and TennCare isn’t available even to those willing to pay substantial premiums for coverage. TennCare is closed to new enrollees because it is over capacity, but the Bureau of TennCare cannot verify that its enrollees are truly eligible. It seems the main thing “managed care” has managed to do is to offer too much to too many for too little. TennCare has grown like Topsy now consuming one third of the state’s resources with no end in sight. The truly needy are turned away. Health care providers are paid less and are curtailing their practices leaving more Tennesseans, particularly rural Tennesseans, without coverage or care.

After ten years of wishful thinking by various administrations who refused to account to the legislature for TennCare, I sponsored and passed into law Senate Bill 998 which mandated that, before January 15, 2004, the Governor report on whether TennCare is truly viable. He did, and it isn’t.

The Governor admits that TennCare will require another $1.8 billion in funding over the next four years, and those funds do not exist. The Governor requested, and received in the current fiscal year, an additional $327 million. At $7 billion, TennCare already consumes one third of the state budget. Every dollar of new revenue generated over the next four years would have to be spent on TennCare which would leave nothing for education, homeland security or any other sector of state government. TennCare is not viable, and it cannot be sustained.

TennCare cannot be reformed. It must be replaced. How to accomplish that will, of necessity, dominate the legislative session.

I also found that access to affordable health care in Tennessee is adversely affected by skyrocketing medical malpractice insurance rates. Over 85% of constituents who responded to my survey last summer supported tort reform for Tennessee. I am sponsoring Senate Bill 605 which proposes to cap non-economic damages, limit attorneys’ fees, and encourage settlements rather than perpetuate costly litigation and defensive medicine.

While many states in the nation have adopted similar reforms during the past 12 months, Tennessee legislators were rather tongue-tied when it came to tort reform. So I put these legislative initiatives on the table to get fellow lawmakers to the table and talking about whether we are on the verge of the type of malpractice crisis here which has caused other states to act.

As a result, I was appointed to a special Joint Study Committee on Tort Reform named by the Speakers of the House and Senate. We conducted hearings over the last six months during which we learned that average jury awards in Tennessee increased by 46% last year; the number of verdicts over $1 million increased by 800% last year; premiums increased by 65% in some specialties and 600% for one rural hospital; physicians in rural Tennessee are cutting their practices to cut premiums; the cost of malpractice insurance is beginning to interfere with physician recruitment; states with caps on non-economic damages recruit more physicians; and access to affordable health care for every Tennessean may be  jeopardized unless measures are taken to stabilize insurance costs and reimbursement rates.

The Governor has not taken a position on the need for tort reform yet, but the Trial Lawyers’ lobby is outspokenly opposed to my efforts. It remains to be seen whether we can muster the support necessary to act before it is too late for Tennessee.

Wealth. One of the greatest impediments to economic development and well being, particularly in rural west Tennessee, is the loss of jobs due to Tennessee’s archaic system of workers’ compensation laws. We are one of only two states in the nation with a court based comp system rather than an administrative or regulatory claim system. With 119 elected chancellors and circuit court judges administering claims across 31 judicial districts statewide, Tennessee lacks uniformity and predictability. As a consequence, Tennessee cannot compete effectively with surrounding states to retain jobs or to attract new industry. Claims in Tennessee cost on average 19 % above the median in contiguous states. What is more, the frequency of claims is 46% higher than the median of surrounding states. A typical carpal tunnel case cost Tennessee employers $21,000 but only $8,900 for the same injury in Kentucky and $7,000 in Alabama.

Accordingly, I am sponsoring a number of workers’ compensation law reforms, supported by the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry, designed to provide needed relief to employers while assuring fairness to employees and their families.  Once again, the Trial Lawyers oppose my reforms, but the Governor, who initially opposed workers’ comp reforms at the beginning of this session, has now stated that he will support reform later this year.

Homesteads.  As county property taxes continue to rise across Tennessee, many older homeowners feel they are being “punished” for a lifetime of fiscal responsibility. The solid investment they made in their homes seems to be coming back to haunt them. Rising property taxes prey upon the appreciated value of their homes. Those on fixed incomes are hit hardest because they do not have extra income to pay the extra tax assessed as the value of their home increases.

Seniors should not have to choose between paying for prescriptions or property taxes.

        In order to provide meaningful tax relief for all seniors, I am sponsoring legislation for a Homestead Exemption in Tennessee.  The Tennessee Constitution currently prohibits distinctions between taxpayers based on age or income. Article II, Section 28 requires that all property be taxed according to its value and that such taxes be equal and uniform. Each respective taxing authority shall apply the same rate to all property within its jurisdiction, and elderly tax relief obligations shall not be imposed upon counties, cities and towns.

My legislation proposes the Constitutional referendum necessary to permit tax relief for seniors; to “freeze” the property tax, and protect against future reassessments and property tax hikes. 

It will be necessary for the General Assembly to approve this legislation in two successive sessions. If passed, a Constitutional amendment for the Homestead Exemption will be on the ballot in 2006. This will give the citizens of Tennessee the opportunity to vote on joining the ranks of so many other states which recognize the sacrifice our senior citizens have made. Please encourage everyone to urge their county commissioners and state legislators to support SJR 44, 45 and 71.

Once again, in 2004, we have our work cut out for us. In addition to the reforms mentioned above, further reductions in state spending will be necessary to right the ship of state. It took us three years to achieve the Republican cuts finally adopted last year, but we must take care not to balance the state budget on the backs of local governments as we proceed.

In 2004, I intend to continue as your Senator, working together for West Tennessee, to assure that this State provides a fair return on your investment of hard earned tax dollars.