April 15, 2005                                         

For more details on bills, visit the legislative website at http://www.legislature.state.tn.us

From Mark’s Desk 

     I am pleased to advise you of a bill I co-sponsored toughening registration requirements for convicted sex offenders, which unanimously passed in the Senate yesterday. 

     Senate Bill 190, known as the “Tennessee Sexual Offender and Violent Sexual Offender Registration, Verification and Tracking Act,” addresses loopholes that became evident during the new law’s first year of implementation.   

     Since enactment of the 2004 law, there has been significant improvement in Child Sexual Offender reporting.  According to Montgomery County District Attorney John Carney, there was a 37% rate of reporting in 2003 as compared to 67% after the 2004 law was passed.  Currently, there are over 7,800 convicted offenders on the sexual offender registry. 

     Additionally, Senate Bill 206 passed the Judiciary Committee this week.  This bill, which I also co-sponsor, prohibits individuals convicted of any offense requiring listing on the sexual offender registry from being granted “trusty” status in a county, state or municipal jail or workhouse.  The goal is to prevent convicted sex offenders from attaining any travel privileges that “trusty” status allows while incarcerated. 

     The bottom line is that by strengthening the sexual offender registry requirements, we grant the general public another advantage in protecting their families from predators.  As April is designated as Child Abuse Prevention Month, please know that I continue to support these measures.                  

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TennCare Reform Cleared for Administration 

NASHVILLE—This week on Capitol Hill, the Senate worked hard to move as many bills as possible through the committee system to clear the way for detailed work on the state Budget.  Senate committee chairmen continue to urge members who have bills before their committees to act on those bills quickly or else they may be put off until next year.  Subcommittees are starting to shut down and some full committees, such as Senate Environment, Conservation, and Tourism, are already working on their last calendar. 

TennCare, Tennessee’s current version of Medicaid, is a program created by executive order and administered by the executive branch with limited oversight from the legislature.  Unbridled growth in the costs of TennCare, especially over the past two years, has been eating up most of any new revenue coming in to the state. 

TennCare now consumes about one-third of the total budget which is proposed to be $25.1 billion for Fiscal Year 2005-2006.  Even with the administration’s proposed cuts in the escalating costs of TennCare in the proposed budget, the out-of-control program will have risen from about a $6 billion program to an $8 billion program since 2003.  Without the proposed cuts, the budget for the TennCare Program would be pushing closer to $9 billion.  Clearly, funding increases at this level are just not sustainable without doing harm to other state government services, such as K-12 and Higher Education. 

The governor’s proposed budget relies on an expected savings of some $575 million coming from significant cuts in enrollment and in pharmacy benefits in the TennCare Program.

The TennCare cuts, however, do not come without a human cost.  The planned disenrollment of 323,000 TennCare recipients by the administration, possibly as early as June, will affect many people who have come to rely on the TennCare Program for their health care coverage.  Additionally, during the 11-year-long life of the TennCare Program, the health care safety net has virtually vanished in Tennessee.  A restoration of components of the former health care safety net is planned but is not yet in effect. 

Putting pressure on those in charge of the budget process is the fact that it will cost the state about $60 million for each month’s delay in implementation of TennCare reform proposals to cut back the size of the TennCare population served and to significantly scale back pharmacy benefits.  Some $44 million of that $60 million is from the disenrollment process alone. 

On a more positive note, the latest state revenue collection figures bring some good news for the state with indications that economic activity has picked up of late, particularly in sales tax collections.  It now looks as though the state will be able to close out the fiscal year books at the end of June with a small surplus, perhaps giving legislators an unanticipated cushion of about $50 million as they work with the administration to finalize the state’s budget.  State officials should obtain a clearer picture of revenue estimates when the State Funding Board meets on April 26 to makes its latest projections. 

            A lot of pressure was released on the state budget situation this week when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit out of Cincinnati, Ohio, ruled that the governor’s proposed disenrollment of 323,000 TennCare recipients could proceed – subject, of course, to step-by-step procedural challenges by TennCare advocates.

That 6th Circuit decision preempted a pending policy decision by Judge Haynes in the Federal District Court in Nashville in the Rosen Case regarding procedures to be used in any TennCare disenrollment process.  The 6th Circuit reaffirmed that Judge Haynes has – through the Rosen consent decree – some control over the procedures used in the disenrollment process.  However, he does not set policy for the state. 

            Basically, the 6th Circuit’s decision confirms the decision made by legislative leaders in conjunction with the administration to go forward and continue analyzing and approving the majority of the governor’s proposed $25.1 billion budget at the committee level. 

Two key items in the governor’s budget have been held up – the TennCare Budget and the K-12 Budget.  The K-12 Budget was held up as legislators reviewed the proposed Pre-K Expansion Program.  The governor’s budget proposed to take the state’s test pilot Pre-K program and begin, initially at least, on a voluntary basis to expand it the first year by $25 million.  Ultimately though, a statewide expansion would cost up to $276 million per year in state dollars, not counting any required local funding. 

            While the Pre-K Expansion sounds good in concept, some members of the Senate have looked closely at the proposed funding mechanism.  That mechanism relies on taking $25 million on a recurring basis each year out of excess funds in the Lottery Scholarship Program.  This at a time when lottery scholarships have not yet been fully funded and which have not yet cycled through a full four-year college cycle of implementation.  Thus, no one knows for sure what, if any, excess lottery funding might be available.  

            Senator Jamie Hagood (R-Knoxville), Chair of the Senate Education Committee, has set the K-12 budget for a hearing on April 20.  Also, on that calendar is the Pre-K Bill, SB2317.  The House Finance, Ways, and Means Committee unanimously approved the House companion Pre-K Bill, HB 2333.  The House bill is set for the full House calendar on April 21. 

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Tough Ethics Bill Unanimously Approved by Senate 

The Senate unanimously passed a major piece of ethics legislation to close loopholes in the law and stiffen penalties for those who abuse the public trust.  HB 1/ SB 1841 would ban lobbying and consulting by officeholders and, with very few exceptions, their spouses or minor children living at home.  The far-reaching bill adds multiple layers of disclosure to the process. 

Details of the bill may be found online at http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/ under Legislation.  Just enter HB1 in the input box of Search by Bill Number portion of the screen. 

Since the Senate operated on a House Bill and added amendments, it returns to the House for consideration of those amendments.  A summary of the bill in its current form may be found at http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/bills/currentga/Summary.asp?BillNumber=HB0001  

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Senate Executive Highlights – April 11-15, 2005 

·        Budget issues: Changes, hold-ups, and concerns

o       Gov now backs a 2% employee pay raise due to favorable revenue collection figures

o       Funding Board meets April 26 to reevaluate revenue collections and make projections

o       Administration plowing ahead with Budget as presented in Gov’s Jan. 31 Address

o       Corrections Budget held up over “cell” phones and criminal activities in prisons

o       K-12 Budget set for April 20 hearing in Senate Education

o       TennCare Budget still in Senate Commerce 

·        Ethics at top of agenda following TennCare disenrollment appellate ruling in Rosen case

o       Senate S&L approved TOUGH ethics bill HB 1/SB 1841

o       Full Senate improved that Ethics Bill and made it the toughest passed in state history

o       SB2215 legislative residency issue reset to next Monday’s calendar (April 18) 

·        TennCare remains an important focus

o       State prevailed in 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals over TennCare disenrollment (Rosen)

o       Federal District Court Judge Haynes retains some control over disenrollment procedures

o       Concerns mount over impact of disenrollment on 323,000 people served by TennCare

o       Pharmacy benefits court hearing set for May 9 (Grier consent decree)

o       Grier hearing may be delayed until CMS decides on Rx benefits reduction proposal

o       Delay in implementation of TennCare reform said to cost $60 million per month

§         $44 million is from disenrollment; then there’s the Rx benefits component 

·        Bills/Actions in Progress

o       Pre-K Expansion Proposal, SB2317/HB2333

§         House FW&M unanimously approved Pre-K bill; set for April 21 vote

§         Pre-K Senate action deferred until April 20 in Senate Education

§         Some Senate members working on alternative to a statewide Pre-K program

o       No Bullying Bill SB1621 (Black, Finney) passed Education; up for April 18 vote

o       SB2152 administration bill creating Tennessee Broadband Task Force passed Commerce

o       SB2272 administration bill for Tennessee Job Growth Act of 2005 passed Commerce

§         Creates "FastTrack" for ECD to assist businesses that create or retain jobs

§         Already passed House unanimously

o       SB2217 includes the unborn as person from conception rather than viability of fetus 

·        Bills passed Senate

o       HB 1/SB 1841creates the toughest Ethics legislation in state history

§         Sen. Black’s amendment makes it a Class C felony to abuse the trust of office

o       SB 820 (Black) prohibits smoking in War Memorial Building and Legislative Plaza

o       SB 316 (Miller) exempts disabled vets from paying for placards; passed Monday

o       SB 709 (Finney, Hagood) requires THEC to  post career planning information

o       SB 190 revises Sexual Offender and Violent Sexual Offender Registration Act 

·        Bills & Resolutions Filed as of print time Thursday, April 14:

o       SB 2382, HB 2399; SJR 185, HJR 346; SR 21, HR 79          

o       Record number of bills filed for first year of a General Assembly

o       Public Chapters up to PC 32 as of April 12

o       Private Acts up to Chapter 26 as of April 5 

·        Senate Ethics

o       Registry of Election Finance to hold May 11 Show Cause Hearing on Ford wedding

o       Special counsel from AG’s Office conducting investigation & discovery on Ford

o       Medicare Fraud Unit; TBI; Nashville U.S. Attorney; Memphis grand jury; Milwaukee

o       Questions on Omnicare, Managed Care Services Group, Doral Dental ties

o       Questions on Access MedPlus, Xantus reinsurance with Oseman Insurance

o       Oseman confirms insurance relationships 

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All things considered:  As of 2 p.m. Thursday (April 14), the Senate has 2,382 bills; the House 2,399.  Senate Joint Resolutions now number up to 185; HJRs 346; SRs 21; and HRs 79.  The Secretary of State has assigned numbers to 32 Public Chapters and 26 Private Acts.  The Senate has used 29 days and the House has used 30 legislative days.  Article II, Section 23 of the state Constitution provides for 90 paid regular legislative session days for every two-year-long General Assembly.  The Senate and House are scheduled to convene on Monday at 5 p.m. 

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