Week of March 5, 2007

Legislation Moves Through the Senate

The 105th General Assembly is in full swing. The week began with a bang on Monday night.  SB 201, sponsored by Sen. Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), passed the full Senate to require that all written drivers license examinations be given in English unless the person has written security clearance from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The Standing Committees were busy this week reviewing proposed budgets and considering legislation.  The Senate Judiciary Committee heard from Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville) on SB 1196.  The bill would require all individuals arrested of violent felonies to provide a DNA sample to the TBI.  Current law provides that persons provide a DNA sample only after they have been convicted and sentenced for certain violent felonies.  Known as the “Johnia Berry Act”, this bill is the result of years of work by Lt. Gov. Ramsey along with the parents of Johnia Berry. 

Johnia Berry was an ETSU graduate student that had moved to Knoxville to enroll at UT to work on a Master’s Degree.  On December 6, 2004, someone entered her apartment and brutally murdered her.  The killer has not been found despite the fact that DNA evidence was taken at the scene.  The parents of Johnia feel that Tennessee does not have enough DNA samples in their data bank.  Last year, Lt. Gov. Ramsey worked with the TBI to get more funding and staffing for the DNA data bank program.  This year Lt. Gov. Ramsey hopes to go all the way with passage of this legislation.  The bill was passed out of the Judiciary Committee and was referred to the Finance Committee.  More information about Johnia Berry can be found at www.johniaberry.org.

Sen. Diane Black (R-Gallatin) was able to pass two bills out of the Judiciary Committee.  One, SB 1178, also dealt with DNA testing.  Currently individuals who are convicted of a felony or certain misdemeanor sexual offenses are required to register with the sexual offender registry.  Only convicted felons are required to submit a DNA sample to the TBI.  This bill would require those misdemeanants that are told to register with the sexual offender registry to submit a DNA sample as well.  The other bill was SB 1172 which would require the Department of Safety to develop a code to be placed on drivers licenses.  The code would be placed on a license of a sexual offender to allow law enforcement the ability of quickly identifying convicted sexual predators.

The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Sen. Jamie Woodson (R-Knoxville), moved out a number of bills this week including one by Sen. Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville). SB 1329 was designed to assist adult education students and teachers.  It would help qualifying adults with GED testing fees and classrooms with technology upgrades.  The bill would also provide for increases in pay for adult education teachers.

Watson Participates in Read Across America

Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixson) spent last Friday reading to students at Hamilton County Schools.  He read from a Dr. Seuss selection at Ganns Middle Valley.  At Hixson High School, Sen. Watson read from three of his favorite books, and lead a discussion on these books with the students. 

Read Across America celebrated the life of Dr. Seuss and his many books including “The Cat in the Hat” on March 2. 

Deanna Johnson, wife of Sen. Jack Johnson (R-Brentwood), also spent the day reading to students at Williamson County Schools. 
     
Budget Battle Brewing

With another week behind us, we have another week of Bredesen trying to strong-arm the Legislature.  Late last week, Gov. Bredesen announced that he did not want to negotiate the size of his proposed 40 cent cigarette tax.
  
"I've put forward a cigarette tax (increase) of 40 cents that I think is a very reasonable and conservative amount of money," Bredesen said. "It still keeps our cigarette tax well below even national averages.

"And I'm not in any sense compromising on that," he said.
                                                                              -Associated Press

Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris (R-Collierville) responded on Monday at the Pachyderm Club in Chattanooga by questioning the need for a $200 million dollar tax increase.   

“If we voted on the budget tomorrow, he couldn’t pass it,” the West Tennessee senator said.

Gov. Bredesen’s $27.48 billion budget for fiscal 2007-08 includes about $941 million in increased spending over this year. It calls for a 40 cent-per-pack hike on cigarette taxes to raise $219 million, mostly for new education programs.

But Sen. Norris said the state’s healthy economy and budget surpluses ought to preclude raising any taxes. The budget anticipates $401 million in Department of Revenue growth.

“There should be plenty of money to fund education programs without the (cigarette ) tax increase,” he told the group of local Republicans. “We should wait before we start raising taxes until we really need the money.”
                                                                              -Chattanooga Times Free Press

On the other side of the budget, Sen. Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) is proposing to eliminate the sales tax on food.  The Governor has called the plan “political voodoo”.  Commissioner of Finance and Administration said this week that the plan will cause harm to the state’s financial future.

 "We will fight this proposal with everything at our disposal," Goetz said.
                                                                              -The Tennessean