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March 29, 2008 Legislation promotes purchase of health insurance by small businesses The Senate has given final approval to legislation, sponsored by Senator Steve Southerland (R-Morristown), to let more small business owners join together to negotiate lower health insurance rates. The bill, SB 4014, is designed to encourage more small employers to purchase health insurance, and give them predictability and stability in health-insurance rates. “Affordable health insurance has been a top concern for many small businesses,” said Senator Southerland, who is Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. “The lack of affordable health insurance hurts small-business owners, their families, and their employees. This, in turn, also raises the cost to taxpayers because many individuals who lack health insurance visit an emergency room for treatment, which is more expensive than a physician visit.” The bill provides more flexibility for those small business owners who may choose to form these pools by raising the threshold for small businesses eligible to participate from 25 to 50 eligible employees, with a two-employee minimum. It would define a health group cooperative as a private purchasing cooperative that contains at least 1,000 employees or that has a minimum of 10 participating employers. Membership would be voluntary, but participants must commit to purchasing coverage of fully funded plans through the cooperative for five years to ensure pool stability. A cooperative must operate as a nonprofit and must register and demonstrate compliance with the Department of Commerce and Insurance, under the bill. "It is very important that we do everything we can in Tennessee to help our small businesses and their owners," Southerland added. “By forming health group cooperatives, small businesses can spread their risk over a broader group to enhance their ability to get lower rates on insurance.” A study conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) 15 years ago showed 75% of its members offered health insurance. Results of the same poll last year showed a drop to only 45% of members offering coverage, with businesses with the smaller number of employees being less likely to offer insurance. While CoverTN, the state-sponsored health insurance for small businesses, just eased the size limitations for eligible companies from 25 employees to 50, some experts do not believe that the program's role will greatly increase. Most of the 13,000 currently enrolled in CoverTN are sole proprietors. "Health care cooperatives are a new opportunity for groups to find quality, affordable health insurance," said Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris. "That's because cooperatives offer people who otherwise shop for insurance as individuals the opportunity to join a large group and gain the power of group purchasing. This bill will encourage more participation and enhance the number of Tennessee employees who are covered by health insurance. I am pleased the Senate has approved this legislation." The bill is one of two bills pushed by NFIB to encourage more small businesses to purchase health insurance for employees. The other bill, SB 2659, would give small businesses a tax credit for continuing to offer insurance. That bill, sponsored by Senator Diane Black (R-Gallatin), will be heard in the Senate Finance Tax Subcommittee next week. Handgun Permit Privacy legislation passes Senate Judiciary Committee Legislation to prevent a publication from listing all Tennesseans who have a handgun carry permit, as well as their home addresses and other information from the permit application, advanced out of the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. The legislation was filed in response to the actions of the Tennessean newspaper in Nashville. Last May, the Tennessean linked the handgun permit data base from the Department of Safety to their website. The link contained a list naming all permit holders in the state and their home address. A public outcry soon ensued and the paper disabled the link after only two hours. “We are weighing First Amendment rights with Second Amendment rights,” said bill sponsor Mark Norris. “It is important to strike the right balance between the public’s right-to-know and the issue of privacy of the sensitive information on the application of our citizens. We are continuing to look at the distinction between ‘access to information’ and ‘publication’ of that information.” The bill is scheduled to be heard in a House subcommittee next week. Bill to prevent discrimination against deployed soldiers unanimously clears the Senate On Monday, a bill to prevent judges from permanently modifying a child custody decree solely on the basis of a parent’s deployment passed the Senate. The bill, sponsored by Senator Mark Norris (R-Collierville), was introduced after an e-mail from a soldier-constituent. “My constituent was involved in a custody hearing, when his ex-wife’s attorney brought his potential deployment before the court as a reason for not awarding custody to him. Rather than face losing the custody of his children, he made the decision to leave the service,” said Norris. “I introduced this bill to ensure that the service of a soldier would never be the sole reason for modifying a custody decree.” Under the legislation, a judge will be prevented from using a future deployment or a previous deployment as a factor in determining which spouse should receive permanent physical custody. While the temporary physical custody may be granted to the non-deployed parent as a result of a soldier’s absence, any court-ordered modification of a child custody decree based on an impending deployment is temporary and shall revert back to the previous child custody decree at the return of the deployed parent. Senate Education Lottery Subcommittee presents plan for distributing recurring scholarship money On Wednesday, Senator Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), Chairman of a subcommittee created to study the best approach for distributing a targeted $22 million in recurring lottery scholarship money, presented their recommendations to the full Committee. Among the many proposals approved by the subcommittee was one to lower the grade point average (GPA) threshold for maintaining scholarships to 2.75 through the end of the junior year, at which time students must bring it back up to a 3.0. Ketron told committee members extending the 2.75 GPA through the junior year would be the first phase of lowering it across the board, due to the limited dollars available. He said the move enabled the subcommittee to prioritize the money to better extend scholarship opportunities, particularly to non-traditional students, while remaining fiscally responsible. The full Committee had charged the subcommittee to stay within a $22 million range. At full implementation, the plan to lower the GPA to 2.75 to all HOPE scholars would benefit 4,164 students at a cost of $17,468,100. The recommendations, as presented by the Ketron Subcommittee, would serve 8,914 students at a cost of $23 million during the first year of implementation. Some of the highlights of the subcommittee’s recommendations include:
“I want to thank the subcommittee for doing a great job in putting together a fiscally responsible package,” said Education Chairman Jamie Woodson (R-Knoxville). “I know the subcommittee spent many hours looking at the best way to distribute these dollars to affect the most students and I particularly appreciate their bi-partisan approach.” Woodson told committee members, “Tennessee's educational attainment ranking is 43rd in the nation. We cannot catch up with the national average by serving traditional students alone. We must reach out to non-traditional students.” To reach the national average in educational attainment, Tennessee would need to graduate roughly 180,000 additional students. Experts maintain an educated workforce is a key factor in determining the location or relocation of corporations. Woodson said reaching these “non-traditional” students will enable Tennessee to supply a workforce capable of attracting businesses and enhance economic development. Two charter school bills progress through Senate Education Committee Legislation, SB 4073, to extend the life of charter schools in Tennessee was approved in the Senate Education Committee this week. The bill, sponsored by Senate Education Chairman Jamie Woodson (R-Knoxville), continues the current state cap of 50 charter schools. The measure also opened up enrollment on a very limited basis to fill vacant slots in the schools. Tennessee has the most restrictive public charter school law in the nation. Currently, a student must be from a "failing" school or the student must be a "failing" student to attend a public charter school. This bill would make a very conservative expansion of student eligibility to public charter schools to fill any empty slots with students who are classified “at risk.” Comptroller John Morgan told the committee that the “at risk” category is defined as two times the poverty level of $18,000, which is would be $35,000 for a family of four. The definition is used by the federal government in distributing Title I funds to schools. Tennessee's charter schools passed their first real performance test this year when the State Comptroller's Office of Education Accountability issued its findings to the General Assembly. The study showed a higher percentage of middle and high school students in charter schools scored "proficient" or "advanced" in 35 comparisons with their traditional school counterparts, while the traditional school students scored higher in 18 of the comparisons. The second bill approved by the committee, SB3283, would allow private accredited universities to sponsor a public charter school. Currently, only public universities may make an application to sponsor the schools. Bill sponsor Senator Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville) said the measure would give universities, like Vanderbilt, an opportunity to create “laboratories of learning” that can be used to foster new and innovative teaching methods. Dr. Steven Ross at the Center for Research in Education Policy at the University of Memphis told state senators earlier this session that when states have very restrictive laws, public charter schools cannot be the laboratories of learning that they are supposed to be. The concept of allowing schools the ability to use innovative teaching methods was one of the driving forces for adoption of Tennessee’s charter school law. Homeland Security expert advises State and Local Government Committee members to continue preparedness efforts General Carl Stiner, a decorated war hero and advisor to the U.S. Government on Homeland Security, spoke to the Senate State and Local Government Committee this week, urging state lawmakers to continue working towards preparedness. The General, who is a resident of Tennessee, congratulated the committee for the progress made by the state in homeland security. This includes a new command center designed to navigate Tennessee through such challenges as natural disasters, terrorist attacks, or an assault on critical infrastructure in the state. “The reality is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ each could occur -- without warning,” Stiner said. “Fundamental to the state’s dealing with such an event is adequate communications.” Stiner said the state must have a good communications architecture to network with Northcom, the four-star level of command responsible for all aspects of homeland defense and communications. He urged Tennessee to continue connectivity with state and local emergency personnel, as well as local hospital officials to properly trained personnel for a potential crisis. “We are a nation at war and this threat is not going to go away,” he added. “We are fighting three wars. We are fighting the War in Iraq. We are fighting the War in Afghanistan. We are also fighting a world-wide war against these Islamic jihadists, fundamentalists who are the most dangerous of all – and, they’re not going to stop. We’ve got to hang in there on that.” “A lot of people have died and shed blood for this country,” State and Local Government Chairman Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) replied. “We would be penny wise and pound foolish not to take your words of wisdom. I know this committee will be very instrumental in state and local preparedness as we move forward in the future making sure that all of our citizens are protected, especially with open borders.” Bills in Brief Crime / Probation -- Legislation, sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) was approved this week on final consideration that cracks down on those who commit a crime while on probation. The bill provides that a person who commits an offense on probation or community correction may be required to serve the sentence consecutively to the original sentence. Under present law, if a defendant is convicted of more than one criminal offense, then the court must order the sentences to run either consecutively or concurrently based on certain criteria. The court may order sentences to run consecutively if the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant is sentenced for an offense committed while on probation. Under this bill, the court may order consecutive sentences if the defendant is sentenced for an offense committed while on probation or community corrections. DUI / Inhalants -- Senator Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) won approval of legislation, SB 169, in the Senate Judiciary Committee this week adding abuse of inhalants to the state’s DUI laws. The bill authorizes various forms of education and treatment; and requires investigation involving inhalant abuse. Inhalants produce an effect that may be similar to alcohol intoxication. Police are seeing a proliferation of this dangerous practice, including a case earlier this month where a driver who had been “huffing” a pressurized dust remover crashed into a Rutherford County special education bus. The man was arrested on three counts of vehicular assault related to crash. Prison Population – Tennessee’s prison population is estimated to grow over the next decade by an estimated 12 percent according to testimony in the General Assembly’s Correction’s Oversight Committee this week. The prison population in 2007 was 26,849. It is projected to grow to approximately 29,983 by the year 2019. Wine sales – Two bills dealing with wine sales were heard in the Senate State and Local Government Committee this week. One bill, SB 3139, that would have allowed wine sales in grocery stores was deferred until the last calendar, where it is expected to be recommended for study until 2009. The bill is sponsored by Senator Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro). The second bill, SB 1977, would have allowed the sale of fine wines through the Internet. Sponsor, Senator Paul Stanley (R-Germantown) told the committee that wines in this category are not readily available in Tennessee. He said the cost of the wines would be prohibitive to cause any potential abuse by underage drinkers. Action on that bill was also deferred. “Red Light” Cameras -- Senator Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville) received final approval of legislation he is sponsoring that says local governments cannot speed up the timing of the amber light at intersections for the purpose of increasing profits from the tickets. The bill, SB 3423, comes after a case in Chattanooga where the timing was set at a quicker pace. After reviewing the timing of the light, a judge there dismissed 176 traffic violations, providing refunds to 150 who paid the fine. The usual rate of the amber light before changing to red is three seconds. Ethics / General Assembly – Legislation that would end the rights of a member of the General Assembly to continue receiving healthcare benefits if they are convicted of a felony was approved in the Senate Finance Committee this week. The bill, sponsored by Senator Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville) requires the state to end the benefits upon conviction or upon a plea of guilty to such charges, if they are in relation to the member’s official capacity as a legislator. The General Assembly has already passed similar legislation ending legislative pensions for those convicted of a crime in relation to their official capacity as a member of the General Assembly. The legislation, SB 2670, does not apply to the former member’s family. Illegal trafficking of music – The full Senate approved legislation this week that would bolster the efforts of state universities to reduce the illegal trafficking of music and other copyrighted works on school computer networks. The legislation, SB 3974, sponsored by Senator Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville) would require all private and public universities to adopt a policy prohibiting students from illegal downloading and educating them about copyright infringement. It also requires any university receiving more than 50 legal notices from the copyright owner to report to its governing body what it is doing to correct the problem on its campus. * * * * * |
