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February 10, 2006 From Mark’s Desk Actions Speak Louder than Words – Ethics Session Ends and Real Work Begins This week marked the end of the Special Session on Ethics and the beginning of the second Regular Session of the 104th General Assembly. The Comprehensive Governmental Ethics Reform Act of 2006, passed by all but a handful of dissenters in both houses, begins to address a number of concerns: the influence of lobbyists and money, disclosure and the need for openness in government, and improved enforcement. Of particular importance is the creation of an independent ethics commission similar to what I first advocated last year and passage of provisions mandating forfeiture of public officials’ pensions if convicted of abusing the public trust. The full impact of this legislation, discussed in more detail below, remains to be seen. While it seemed almost surreal at times to debate ethics with others in the Senate under indictment who refused requests to sit out the session, it was equally difficult to proceed with another who was “provisionally seated” pending investigation of fraud and voting irregularities in the Senate District 29 election. The political road ahead is unclear. Unfortunately, partisan wrangling will likely increase as elections draw near. The defection from Democrat ranks of State Senator Don McLeary, who became a Republican from Humboldt last week, has raised the stakes as Republicans have moved from a numeric majority to a working majority in the Tennessee Senate. Reaction to the announcement that “the Dean of the Republican Senate,” Curtis Person, will retire after 40 years of service, was mixed. The Senior Senator from Shelby County, Person is lauded for his unselfish service and admired by all who know him. While we commend him for bowing out while at the top of his game, he will be sorely missed and impossible to replace in the Senate. With an 18-15 Republican majority, we are hopeful that we can move Tennessee forward in meaningful ways. Property tax relief for senior citizens, illegal immigration enforcement, medical liability reform and protection against frivolous lawsuits are goals within our grasp. Mark Norris Norris Recognized for Public Service MEMPHIS, Tenn. --- The Shelby County Republican Party bestowed the 2006 Bob James Award for Public Service upon Mark Norris at its 31st Annual Lincoln Day Gala Dinner on February 3. Norris was recognized not only for twelve years of service in office as former Shelby County Commissioner and current Republican Senator from West Tennessee, but for more than 20 years of community volunteer work in educational and environmental endeavors including Boys and Girls Clubs and the Tennessee Nature Conservancy. In attendance at the dinner were Norris’ colleagues from across the state, Senators Diane Black of Hendersonville, Jim Bryson of Franklin, Don McLeary of Humboldt, Curtis Person of Memphis, Ron Ramsey of Blountville, and Jim Tracy of Shelbyville. Previous James award winners include Senator Curtis Person, Congressman Ed Bryant and Sheriff Mark Luttrell. * * * * * Highway Patrol Hearings Continue NASHVILLE --- The Senate Transportation and Safety Committee, chaired by Senator Norris, held two separate hearings this week continuing its inquiries into alleged corruption and political patronage at the Tennessee Highway Patrol. The Commissioner of Safety, his Deputy Commissioner and the THP’s commanding officer, all resigned their posts late last year amid reports of a variety of alleged improprieties. On Monday, the Committee heard testimony from former Trooper Charles B. Farmer that he was retaliated against because of his political support of Republican candidates. Farmer served as a trooper for 22 years. “The gist of my story was I was run out of the Highway Patrol,” Farmer said. Farmer told committee members he was fired because his family supported Republican candidates in the 2002 elections. Questioning by the Committee was directed at understanding how existing laws could be strengthened to avoid similar situations in the future. Democrats have advocated banning political activity by Tennessee law enforcement officers. Norris questioned the constitutionality of such a prohibition. During the Committee’s initial meeting in December, Administration officials were questioned regarding the promotion process at the THP, as well as allegations about convicted felons serving as troopers, ticket fixing, and promotions for political payoffs. The Committee heard Wednesday from Assistant Attorney General, Janet Kleinfelter, on Tennessee’s “Little Hatch Act.” The law prohibits a "public officer or employee from directly or indirectly attempting to intimidate, coerce or command any other officer or employee to vote for or against any measure, party or person." “As it stands today, the exception swallows the rule,” Norris said. “I am looking into the effectiveness of Civil Service laws under Title 8 and the Little Hatch Act to prevent these abuses in the future and uphold the integrity of law enforcement.” Norris said there are now a number of federal lawsuits pending against the state filed by former THP employees. Contrary to earlier testimony by a lawyer for the Department of Safety, the Committee has discovered at least four suits have been filed. "Our intention is to consider what legislative remedies, if any, we can implement to avoid these types of problems. The state faces potential damages of nearly $100 million as a result of these lawsuits,” Norris said. The Committee meets again February 15 and will hear from Department of Safety acting-Commissioner Gerald Nicely on his efforts to reform the beleaguered department. * * * * * Property Rights Protection Bill Advances NASHVILLE --- Senate Bill 2420, Senator Norris’ legislation to protect Tennessee property owners from losing their property to the state for private economic development, passed second consideration in the Senate on Wednesday. Norris introduced the bill last summer in response to the United States Supreme Court’s eminent domain decision in Kelo v. New London. The Norris initiative would make it clear that government cannot seize private property for purely private profit or simply to increase tax revenues. “At issue is whether government can take private property for private economic development under the guise of public use,” Norris said. “We want to make it clear that this is not appropriate in the State of Tennessee.” * * * * * Norris Citizenship to Vote Bill Moves in the Senate NASHVILLE --- Senate Bill 2412, sponsored by Senator Mark Norris, progressed in the Senate this week and would require clear proof of citizenship before casting a vote in elections. “The goal of this bill is to protect the integrity of our elections,” Norris said. “As it stands now, election officials have no way of verifying whether or not someone should be participating in the process.” The legislation would require potential voters to submit evidence of U.S. citizenship to county election officials when applying for a voter registration card. After citizenship has been demonstrated to the administrator of elections, no further submission is required to maintain voter status in that respective county’s elections. “There are no real safeguards in place to restrict non-citizens from registering to vote in elections,” Norris said. “Currently, all that’s required to claim U.S. citizenship for voting purposes is checking the box on the voter form.” Under the proposed legislation, the county administrator of elections could reject any application for voter registration not accompanied by evidence of United States citizenship. Satisfactory evidence would be the applicant’s birth certificate, pertinent pages of the applicant’s United States passport, U.S. naturalization documents or other documents or methods of proof acceptable pursuant to the Federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. * * * * *
The WestStar Leadership Program held their annual visit to Nashville this week to introduce their new members to the General Assembly. Senator Mark Norris, a 1999 WestStar class graduate, attended with State Rep. Delores Gresham (R-Somerville) and Senator Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville) to discuss this year’s legislative agenda. WestStar’s mission is to identify and encourage community-minded people who want to become more involved to learn new leadership skills and develop strategies for assisting communities in solving problems and maximizing potential. * * * * * Special Session Concludes; Regular Session Begins On Monday, the General Assembly wrapped up its Extraordinary Session, also known as Special Session, on Ethics and adjourned sine die, without a day being set to reconvene. Thus was concluded the 56th Special Session held in the state’s history. Immediately, the Senate convened for the first day of its 2006 Regular Annual Session, using the 48th Legislative Day of the 90 days allowed for regular sessions in each biennial General Assembly under the state constitution. Before adjourning Special Session on Monday, the General Assembly passed landmark ethics legislation with both houses adopting the Majority Report that arose from last week’s Conference Committee. The measure slowly and noisily steamed through the Senate but managed to muster an impressive 27-6 vote before quickly and rather quietly passing the House of Representatives in a 90-5 vote with 2 abstentions and with 2 members being absent from the proceedings in the 99-member House. All 18 members of the Senate Republican Caucus voted for comprehensive ethics reform, being joined by nine (9) Democratic Senators in the 33-member Senate. The governor stated afterwards in a press conference that he would sign into law Senate Bill 7001, the Comprehensive Governmental Ethics Reform Act of 2006. http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/bills/currentga/BillCompanionInfo.aspx?BillNumber=SB7001 Key points in this major piece of ethics reform legislation include: the creation of an independent Ethics Commission, a stronger Registry of Election Finance with audit and subpoena powers, a ban on cash campaign contributions in excess of $50, forfeiture of pensions for public officials convicted for abuse of the public trust, required ethics training for legislators and lobbyists, more public disclosure and stricter reporting requirements, open meetings, making audio/video recordings of meetings available, and posting of votes, travel expenses, and per diem payments on the public Web site. Two other bills also passed the General Assembly during the Special Session. SB7003 passed to increase the penalty for bribery of a public official for parties on both sides of the transaction from a Class C to a Class B felony. HB7006/SB7004 passed to appropriate funds for the costs of the Special Session and to fund the ethics legislation which was approved. With Special Session on Ethics concluded, the General Assembly has now begun its annual legislative session. On Tuesday (Feb. 7), members received copies of the governor’s proposed budget and heard the annual State of the State Address. * * * * * Senator McLeary Joins Senate Republican Caucus Senator Don McLeary of Humboldt joined the ranks of the Senate Republican Caucus on Friday (Feb. 3) bringing to 18 the number of members in the caucus. Democrats retain 15 seats in the 33-member Senate. On the House side, Democrats have 53 seats and Republicans have 46 seats. Combining both chambers, Republicans now hold 64 seats in the 132-member General Assembly, while Democrats hold 68 seats. State law, in TCA 2-1-104(a)(11), defines “majority party” to mean “the political party whose members hold the largest number of seats in the combined houses of the General Assembly.” The majority party after the November elections gets three (3) seats on the five-member State Election Commission and the minority party gets two (2) seats. The same basic 3 majority-2 minority balance also applies to each of the 95 County Election Commissions. Who controls these 96 Election Commissions can be crucial in the operation of fair and honest elections and in investigations into alleged election fraud. Currently, there is an ongoing Contest of the Special Election for the Senate District 29 seat formerly held by former Senator John Ford who resigned in the wake of his May 26, 2005, arrest for bribery, extortion, and threatening a cooperating informant in the undercover FBI Operation Tennessee Waltz sting. * * * * * State of the State Governor Bredesen delivered his State of the State Address on Tuesday and rolled out his proposed $25.6 Billion proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2006-2007 which runs from July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2007. This figure is more than $4 Billion larger than Gov. Bredesen’s first proposed budget of $21.5 Billion for FY 2003-2004. Gov. Sundquist’s last proposed budget was approved for only $20 Billion. The proposed budget contains $11 million for the state’s first Sales Tax Holiday this August. His speech was generally considered quite short on specifics, lacking sufficient details to make a judgment yet on whether it is a good budget or not. Legislators, still concerned over last year’s drastic cuts to the TennCare Program, will meticulously pick the budget apart over the next several months to decide whether the state can afford all or even some of the proposed new spending on new and expanded programs and increased spending in existing programs. Republican eyebrows lifted at Bredesen’s use of their mantra of personal responsibility. His comment about the state’s health problems, particularly with obesity, came at the conclusion. “[T]here’s something needed beyond insurance. That something is personal responsibility—there’s no pill to make someone push their plate back or take a walk. We have had for a decade the most comprehensive health care program in the nation, and whatever the merits of TennCare—and there have been many—it has not succeeded in moving those public health indicators one notch. An insurance policy hasn’t worked, but a policy of responsibility can.” * * * * * FAST FACTS This year’s Special Session on Ethics Reform was the 56th Extraordinary Session, the 25th since 1900, and the first since 1999. The last election contest was in 1991 from 1990 election results, Carter v. McKnight.
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