Senate delays action on cigarette tax hike for schools

The Daily News Journal
March 27, 2007

NASHVILLE (AP) — The Senate Finance Committee delayed voting on a proposal to increase education funding through a hike in the cigarette tax in the face of resistance from members from both parties Tuesday.

Gov. Phil Bredesen is calling on lawmakers to triple the cigarette tax to raise about $219 million, with most of it going toward K-12 and higher education.

Senate Democratic Leader and bill sponsor Jim Kyle of Memphis agreed to delay the vote but urged the committee members not to put off action for too long. School districts need to start planning based on how much money they are likely to have next school year, he said.

Bredesen, a Democrat, has proposed a balanced spending plan to pay for state operations in the budget year that begins July 1. The education proposals from the cigarette tax would be a separate “bucket of money,” Kyle said.

Kyle urged members of the committee to consider the governor’s call to improve education in Tennessee, which often places near the bottom of national rankings. “He’s asking us not to be mediocre,” Kyle said.

The committee is scheduled to consider the bill again in two weeks. The companion bill likely will face an equally difficult test when it is heard in the House Agriculture Committee.

Administration officials said they will use the extra time to try to persuade committee members to advance the bill to a full Senate vote.

Republicans hold a 6-5 edge in the Senate Finance Committee but have a 16-16 tie with Democrats in the full Senate. Sen. Mike Williams of Maynardville dropped his Republican Party affiliation to become an independent earlier this month.

Sen. John Wilder, D-Mason, said he has voted for every tax bill that has come through the Senate in 43 years but said he’s reluctant to approve the cigarette tax before the rest of the budget is dealt with.

“I really would like for us to finish the budget before we levy a tax,” said Wilder. “And there are some items in this budget that give me concern.”

Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris of Collierville has said Bredesen’s “Schools First” proposal should instead be labeled “Schools Last,” because it doesn’t adjust the state’s regular operating budget to prioritize schools.

State Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz dismissed Norris’ criticism as “rhetoric.”

“Anyone who’s been around here longer than three weeks knows that you always have the base budget plus any improvements that you want to make, and that’s the way it works,” he said.

Norris said Republicans shouldn’t be denied the opportunity to “truly fund education first as we see fit, out of the budget itself.”

Kyle responded that he was unaware of a “secret plan” among Republicans to increase education funding at the expense of other regular budget items.

Kyle said senators have recommend more than $100 million over the Bredesen’s regular spending plan.

“It does not appear to me that our standing committees have any interest in funding the education proposal out of the existing budget, because they are adding money to the budget,” he said.

Senate Finance Chairman Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, pointed out that the budget recommendations of other committees need to be approved by his panel first.

Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey said he was pleased with the decision to put off the governor’s proposal.

“The votes aren’t there right now,” said Ramsey, R-Blountville. “I think the majority of Republicans and several of the Democrats think it’s way to early to be looking at revenues.”