The Realities of Republican Service

by Senator Mark Norris
June 3, 2003

As the Senate Republican Caucus Secretary, I appreciate the opportunity to inform our Shelby GOP membership about recent developments in the Tennessee General Assembly. Few of the “rank and file” ever get to Nashville and fewer, it seems, relate well to what we do there as your Republican elected officials. During the coming months, I hope to shed some light in the Thundering Herd on what it means to be a Republican in office.

Local media provide very little coverage of the breadth and scope of the legislation we handle. In addition to the budget, education and lottery, we address every conceivable issue from abortion to aerial spraying, price controls to predatory lending, and transportation to TennCare. Of course, there is the occasional lighthearted legislation, like designating the tomato the official state fruit, but it is otherwise usually pretty serious business.

Shelby County has only two Republicans out of 33 members in the Senate (Curtis Person and I), but there is a total of 15 Senate Republicans from across the state. This year, I believe we have been more effective than in previous years making our conservative influence felt. We stood firm to make lottery scholarships available to private as well as public schools. We pushed for amendments to the Bredesen budget to save local governments’ state-shared taxes which are essential for local programs. The state budget should not be balanced on the backs of city and county governments. As Republicans, we opposed this because we know local property tax increases are certain to result.

We also work incessantly to reform and slow the growth of state government so that increased spending is not necessary. TennCare is the best example. The program has become essential to nearly 25% of Tennessee residents at a cost of $7 billion per year – one third of our annual budget! Governor Bredesen asked for and received yet another $370 million in additional funding for TennCare next year, but the program is still plagued with inefficiency and fraud, and it is forcing hospitals and doctors to fail for lack of payment. Instead of enhancing access to affordable healthcare, which Republicans support, TennCare threatens to take the entire system down if it goes under. The Comptroller of the Tennessee Treasury’s most recent audit finds 39 serious failures in the program many of which have recurred every year. According to the June 30, 2002 audit highlights, “Of these 39 findings, 7 are new, one has been repeated for seven years, one has been repeated for six years, 3 have been repeated for five years, 3 have been repeated for four years, 11 have been repeated for three years, 6 have been repeated for two years, and 7 have been repeated for one year.” Is there no end in sight?

I sponsored and passed into law the TennCare Wind Down Act which forces the Administration to “fix it or quit it” by January 2004. Under the Wind Down Act, they must attest to the viability of TennCare, present a plan for its continuation including a resolution to pending litigation, and present an alternative budget for discontinuing the program in the likely event it is deemed no longer viable. I also passed through committee the TennCare Cost Containment Act, and co-sponsored a similar bill which adopted the language of my original bill which passed the Legislature last week. This legislation will save the state over $150 million per year by creating a responsible prescription drug program. Moving to enforce Senate Resolution 13 which I passed in March, we took the TennCare Bureaucrats to task for failing to properly file “placeholder claims” entitling local schools across the state to federal funds for children in need. Shelby County has lost nearly $1million due to the TennCare Bureau’s ineptitude. All school systems across the state have lost nearly $50 million.

Republicans believe that government must be accountable and maintain economy. Individual rights erode when citizens are oppressed by excessive taxation and government waste. On its present course, TennCare has become one of the largest threats to our individual liberties because it has become the epitome of government waste. As Senate Republicans, we are unified in our fight to end this abuse, and we must succeed.

As the first half of this 103rd General Assembly comes to a close, rest assured that we will continue to fight for the Republican values we all hold dear.