Legislative Update - February 18, 2019
A look ahead to this week’s legislative activities.
Busy Week Ahead
Since the filing deadlines have come and gone, this week will be the busiest so far this year with much busier weeks to come. Committee calendars are much longer than in weeks past, and there are several bills to watch this week.
Note: The Senate is observing the President’s Day holiday today, but the House is working today with several committees scheduled for hearings.
SB 0079 by *Kurita (HB 0130) by *Reedy
As introduced, authorizes a municipal electric plant to provide Internet and certain other services outside its service area.
Under current law, municipalities that operate an electric plant may contract with a third party to provide telecommunications services within its service area. This bill would remove the limitation and enable services to be provided outside of the service area of the municipal electric plant.
This bill is scheduled in the Senate Commerce & Labor Committee tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.
SB 0355 by *Gardenhire (HB 0327) by *Howell
As introduced, this bill requires brownfield (land that has been previously developed but is not currently in use) redevelopment projects to be sites located in mid-size and small counties; clarifies square footage qualifications for a project to include all facilities taken together; prohibits allocations to the corporation engaged in the project continuing past maturity of the original bond or obligation, which can be no longer than 30 years.
Current law authorizes local governments, in counties with 80,000 or more residents, to provide economic incentives for the development of large brownfield sites in economically disadvantaged areas. This bill would change the law and only allow local governments in small and mid-sized counties to provide such incentives. These incentives would be statutorily prohibited in Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, and Shelby counties.
This bill is scheduled in the Senate State & Local Government Committee tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.
HB 0383 by *Weaver (SB 0488) by *Bowling
As introduced, authorizes an LEA (local education agency) to use the ACT, ACT Aspire or SAT suites of assessments, instead of state-mandated assessments, to test students in grades 9-12 in the subjects of math and English language arts.
Current law and state rules require all traditional public schools, public virtual schools, charter schools and magnet schools to administer the TN Ready assessments.
This bill is scheduled in the House Education Curriculum, Testing & Innovation Subcommittee tomorrow at noon.
This joint resolution would add language to Article II, Section 28, of the Tennessee Constitution to prohibit the general assembly from levying, authorizing or otherwise permitting any state tax on property.
In order to be placed on the ballot, this resolution must pass with a least a majority vote of the House and Senate during this General Assembly, and it must pass with at least a 2/3 vote of the House and Senate during the next General Assembly.
This bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, and it is scheduled in the Senate Finance, Ways & Means Committee tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.
To see the status of all the bills being tracked by the Chamber, click here.