2009 Legislative Summary

 

The following is a review of selected advocacy efforts in 8 broad issue areas which Clifton Government Relations actively worked on this year. This list is not exhaustive but gives a flavor of our work. The list is in alphabetical order by subject.

 

Budget

Looking at the financial picture as a whole, the adopted budget cut over 10% from the appropriations made the previous year. And there is widespread belief that unless the economic situation dramatically improves, leading to an increase in business and sales tax revenue, deep cuts will be necessary next year as well. So far that has not happened. Further, only part of our problem is drop in revenue due to economy. Another large part is tax structure, which results in a fiscal crisis every 7 or 8 years. Not many in the legislative or executive branch seem willing to deal with this structural revenue problem. Our clients, community-enhancing programs and services for our most vulnerable citizens will be major victims of this failure to address the elephant in the room.

 

Early Childhood Education

In 2009, Clifton Government Relations continued its work with the Tennessee Association for the Education of Young Children and other early childhood education advocates to preserve Pre-K education in Tennessee.  Due to draconian budget reductions, there was real concern that Tennessee would not be able to keep its funding for pre kindergarten classrooms intact.  In a budget compromise, however, legislators agreed to fund Tennessee’s nationally recognized pre-K program from the state’s general fund and not from non-recurring dollars, as had been proposed during the budget process.  This action protects the over 900 classrooms currently serving at-risk Pre-K students and especially the  250 classrooms that were in danger of being cut next year had pre-K been left in the “non-recurring” budget category. This was, in part, a result of much advocacy on the part of the Tennessee Alliance for Early Education and other groups and keeps PreK at its current funding level with all but $3 million coming from recurring funds.  To become an individual or organizational member of TAEE see www.prekfortn.com.

 

Elections:

We worked successfully with the League of Women Voters of Tennessee to oppose several bills that would have been detrimental to voting rights. LWVTN provided valuable testimony and advocacy which was instrumental in stopping two bills that would have hampered voter registration efforts.  SB 015/HB 0639 sought to require a photo ID to vote and SB 1999/HB 1838 would have required evidence of U.S. citizenship to vote. Both addressed non-existent problems in our state, in the opinion of LVTN.  Both of these bills failed in the House Elections Subcommittee and an effort to circumvent the subcommittee’s ruling by recalling the bill to the full State & Local Govt. Committee also failed. 

 

In 2008 the League had worked with many other groups to pass the TN Voter Confidence Act that will require the use of verifiable optical scan ballots by 2010. This year, legislation to postpone its implementation until 2012 was proposed.  After much work by advocates, SB 0872/HB 0614 passed in the House but was one vote shy of the 17 needed for passage in the Senate. Tennessee will hopefully have verifiable ballots by the 2010 elections.

 

 

Environment:

Clifton Government Relations has lobbied for environmental issues in Tennessee since 2001 for Tennessee Conservation Voters.  Real progress has occurred in advancing a positive environmental agenda. However 2009 saw an unprecedented number of environmental-related bills before the General Assembly. A large number were harmful. We and the many member groups of Tennessee Conservation Voters spent much of our time ensuring that we did not go backward!   

All in all, we had a surprisingly successful year.  In our key priority areas, the legislation we favored passed and legislation we opposed failed in most (but obviously not all) categories, thanks in large measure to citizen advocates and a few legislative champions, including the indisputable environmental hero of this session, Rep. Mike McDonald of Sumner County.

 

TCV, our member groups and other hard-working organizations and individuals are pleased with several important environmental successes.  Chief among them are:

• SB 2300/HB 2318 which resulted from the work of the Governor’s Energy Task Force.  The Tennessee Clean Energy Future Act of 2009 focused on three areas: requiring state government to “lead by example” with improved energy management in its buildings and vehicle fleet; encouraging job creation in clean-energy technology with key incentives; and promoting greater energy efficiency in Tennessee’s residential sector.  It has been enacted as Public Chapter 529.
• SB 1331/HB 1263 would have prohibited any water quality criterion established for selenium, a hazardous byproduct of coal mining, from being stricter than the national criterion published in draft form for comment by the EPA several years ago.  This bill failed to pass after 2 ½ hours of debate on the House Floor and thanks to the work of many advocates and the empassioned debate of Rep. Mike McDonald.  This bill has passed the Senate and is being held for action next year so stay tuned. 

§  SB 2154/HB 2154 would have given immunity to permit holders (including those found to be polluters) from nuisance claims and damages.  This bill failed to pass but is expected to be pushed again in 2010.      

     This year TCV led a concerted effort to defeat a dangerous agenda of damaging water quality bills. Unfortunately, one of the worst of those, SB632/HB1615, passed.  The wet weather conveyance bill which TCV and most environmental and conservation groups strongly opposed essentially sets up an optional new system for developers and others seeking to alter water courses. Among other provisions, the bill allows hydrologists paid by the developer to submit reports about what is a wet weather conveyance and what is a stream. These reports are presumed to be accurate unless TDEC specifically objects in a short time period. We believe this new reporting process which provides no notice and no appeal right by nearby landowners or other potentially aggrieved parties is a dangerous change. The bill became impossible to defeat or even amend once TDEC expressed its neutrality after a number of weeks of negotiating with the “Water Allies” made up of developers, roadbuilders and other business organizations. Those negotiations were held without the input of TCV or the Tennessee Environmental Council or the input of any of the 25 TCV member groups.

 

Other 2009 environmental outcomes include:

• Passage of SB 976/HB 716 that will allow those who possess a handgun carry permit to do so within the bounds of any local or state park.  Local governments can choose to opt out their local parks.  Enacted as Public Chapter 428 (effective 09/01/2009). We opposed this bill but favored the opt-out once passage become certain.
• Anti-mountaintop removal bills (SB 1398/HB 455 & SB1406/HB 899) did not pass, however SB 2321Kyle/ HB 2300 Turner M. to create the "Responsible Mining Act of 2009" did pass.  This administration bill prohibits the issuance of permits for the removal of coal within 100 feet of “the ordinary high water mark” of any stream.  Enacted as Public Chapter 0289 (effective 05/21/2009).

§  Passage of SB 2294 Kyle / HB 2248 Turner M that restricts destructive rock harvesting practices on state owned land.  Enacted as Public Chapter 211 (effective 5/13/2009).

• Container deposit legislation (SB 1404/HB 1167) received a thorough hearing in the Senate Environment Committee but did not have the votes to pass.                                      
• Due to the dire budgetary constraints, land acquisition, wetlands and related dedicated funds were once again taken for general government use. However an additional $6 million for specific state parks renovation and upkeep passed as part of the revised state budget.

 

Families First:

Clifton Government Relations has been actively involved in advocacy efforts related to the Families First program since its inception under a federal waiver in the 90’s. The waiver from the federal government allowing Tennessee to operate the Families First Program ended on June 30, 2007. New federal guidelines provide less flexibility and limited or no financial support for many of the important far-sighted initiatives that were part of Tennessee’s Families First waiver program, including Families Services Counseling. Unfortunately, the Department of Human Services was forced to reduce that program and will now maintain it with a phone screening process.

 

Judicial Selection:

This issue was a major priority of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee. Our state will maintain a modified system of merit-based appellate and Supreme Court judicial selection and retention. This will allow Tennessee to avoid direct partisan elections with major funding from special interests.  A compromise plan creates a judicial nomination commission and allows the speakers much more leeway by removing group appointments from the process. The majority of members on the nomination commission will be lawyers - at least 12 attorneys, and 1 non-attorney, assuring input from those who best know the needs of the courts. The governor will still make appointments, and these judges will still stand for retention election. The Senate vote was 21-10 to concur with a House amendment to the bill which stripped out a provision to allow the governor to bypass nominees recommended by a Judicial Nominating Commission for a judicial vacancy.  The final Senate vote had been postponed for weeks by Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris, who had pushed for a bill seeking a constitutional convention on judicial selection. The constitutional convention bill did not move forward.  SB 1573 Woodson, Haynes and Overby / HB 1448 McCord has been enacted as Public Chapter 0517 (effective 06/25/2009).

 

Mental Health:

After a great deal of lobbying on the part of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), members of the TN Coalition for Mental Health and Substance Abuse and other advocates, drastic cuts to community mental health programs and other social services were in part avoided. 

The administration restored some funding from its initial budget document and on the final day of budget deliberations, the legislature restored the following funds:

·         Funds to DCS for Group Homes, Youth Development Center Beds and the Relative Caregiver program.

·         $10 M to DMHDD to support the Behavioral Safety Net.

·         $5 M to DMHDD to restore reductions in community based mental health and substance abuse services.

·         $4.9 M to the Department of Education for the coordinated school health program.

NASW also advocated for a change to the Governor’s omnibus bill that would have predicated admission to a mental health facility on ‘available suitable accommodations’.  The bill passed with an amendment that requires the department to expeditiously find a treatment resource to accommodate the person.

 

Senior Issues:

On behalf of the TN Coalition of the Alzheimer’s Association, Clifton Government Relations’ lobbying efforts were directed by the work product of the TN Alzheimer’s Disease Task Force.  Two measures that passed related to this effort were:

• HJR 113 (Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System) which urges the Department of Health to upgrade Tennessee’s method of collecting data on cognitive health and caregivers.  More comprehensive information will greatly improve Tennessee’s ability to respond to the needs of those with Alzheimer’s Disease.
• SB 532/HB 346 which creates a Senior Alert system for locating wandering adults with cognitive loss.  Due to budgetary constraints, this bill did not contain some of the training requirements for law enforcement that produce an effective alert system, nor does it deal with wanderers under 60. Still we consider this law a reasonable first step.