The Department of Correction is going to have to cut $52 million. It said it is now left with only two options to get that savings: Either close a prison or early-release 3,300 convicted felons from local jails. The state pays for felons that are currently in local jails. We’re talking about those who have been convicted of class C, D or E felonies. The example TDOC Commissioner George Little used is a convicted drug dealer. TDOC would look at early release for these nonviolent offenders who are at the end of their sentences. In addition, he thinks the recidivism rate for these offenders would be higher, so some of these people would end up back in the system. He didn’t mince words today, but he says the state is out of options. Court intervention dating back to the mid-1980s prevents TDOC from crowding the prisons like California has done during these budget times. Closing a prison, he says, would result in layoffs and possibly destroy a county’s economy. In addition, most of the prisoners in state custody are usually the more serious offenders. The governor wasn’t exactly thrilled at the possibility of early release. He wants to make sure that the state gets the savings it needs to balance the budget if TDOC moves in that direction.
Budget Hearings: Education
I know I’ve been absent from blogging for awhile, but there’s no better time to start it up again then at the start of budget hearings. The governor started out saying that there were going to be some very harsh cuts coming up in this budget. K-12 Education is the first department up. The governor is always trying to protect the BEP money that goes to fund the basics of education statewide (think teachers, books, classrooms etc.). Based on the Department of Education’s budget, they are asking for an increase of more than $82 million increase in the BEP inflationary costs. They are then proposing cutting personnel in the Department of Education administration, Safe School Grants, K-2 Assessment, 10 percent of the funds to Books from Birth. That does not include the stimulus money that is going away. When stimulus money disappears, extended contracts for after-school tutoring will be done, as will school health programs and some professional development.
The governor also asked Commisioner Tim Webb to see if it was possible to ask teachers to step up and help during this budget crisis. He said he hasn’t cut positions or reduced pay; it may be time to ask teachers to maybe help and continue some of the programs, even if they can’t be paid for them. Gov. Phil Bredesen is also floating the idea, worst-case scenario, that he doesn’t fund the BEP inflationary increase. Webb says that would likely have an impact on personnel in most districts, because the majority of that money goes to fund salaries and benefits. Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz is also floating the idea of cutting residential services for blind and deaf students.
Stimulus in Tennessee
According to a release, the state has created or saved 7,710 jobs through the federal stimulus plan. Here’s the release:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee has successfully met its first federal reporting requirements for funds that have flowed to or through the state under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The Recovery Act is providing states with more than $246 billion of a total $787 billion made available to create and retain jobs, invest in infrastructure and speed economic recovery. Tennessee was allocated a total of $5.6 billion; the state reported on $3 billion received and spent by the state through Recovery Act grants.
”Our Recovery Act team and state agencies worked literally hundreds of hours toward an unprecedented accomplishment, with no additional staff hired to handle the reporting process,” Deputy Governor John Morgan said. “It’s important to remember the Recovery Act is a two-year program and this is just the first reporting period. Additional reporting on the use of Recovery Act funds will occur quarterly going forward.”
The state transmitted a total of 310 project reports for the period ending September 30, 2009, via FederalReporting.gov, the central government-wide data collection system. Of those, 258 were for transportation projects alone. The reports represent grants totaling $214.9 million received by 15 state agencies. The reports reflect 7,710.9 jobs created and retained through September 30 through these funds.
A major component of the Recovery Act is the requirement for an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability so people can see how the funds are being spent. Specific reporting requirements have been set for government agencies and recipients of Recovery funds to measure progress.
Federal agencies, prime recipients and sub-recipients are required to submit data within 10 days after the end of each calendar quarter for grants, loans, and federally awarded contracts under the Recovery Act. The first reporting period ended on September 30 and reports were submitted by recipients, including states, between October 1 and October 10, 2009. The next reports will be submitted in January 2010.
The Section 1512 reporting process includes 99 different data elements. The number of data elements reported per program depends on the fields applicable to the program and varies based on the number of sub-awards and vendors, if any, under that program. The state of Tennessee chose to centralize its reporting to minimize the likelihood of duplications in the data or non-compliance with federal requirements. The FederalReporting.gov Web site works in conjunction with the Recovery.gov Web site. The data submitted to FederalReporting.gov will be reviewed and validated by the funding/awarding agencies from October 11-29 and then those reports and visual representations of the information will be available to the public via Recovery.gov.
Recipient contract data will be published on Recovery.gov October 15 and recipient grant and loan data will be published on the site on October 30. The data can be viewed online or downloaded in XML format – a standard structure for the transfer of data – for those who want to create their own reports.
The reporting by the State of Tennessee and other states represents only part of the recovery picture. Funds awarded directly to non-state agencies will have been reported by those recipients and their data will also be published on Recovery.gov.
At one point, the federal government had estimated that about 70,000 jobs would be created in Tennessee through the stimulus plan. During a Fiscal Review Committee meeting last month, state leaders acknowledged that estimate was “aggressive.”
I’m Back!
I know, I’ve been bad. I have no excuses as to why I stopped blogging for so long. There has certainly been plenty going on in the wide world of state government. Several people have approached me over the past few weeks and told me they missed my blogs. So, I’m back!
Today the big news in state government is that Sen. Douglas Henry (D-Nashville) has a primary challenger. Jeff Yarbro, a local attorney, announced today he is running for the seat. Here’s the press release:NASHVILLE – Jeff Yarbro, a well-known local attorney and progressive community leader, announced his intention today to run for the 21st district state senate seat. The seat has been held since 1970 by Sen. Douglas Henry.
“Our elected representatives have wasted too much time playing partisan politics in recent years,” said Yarbro. “We won’t end the sideshow politics of recent years without new leaders willing and able to find real solutions to the problems confronting Tennesseans.”
“I believe my background in law and policy, and my extensive volunteer work with people from all walks of life in the Nashville community make me uniquely qualified to serve the people of the 21st district.”
Yarbro is an attorney at Bass, Berry & Sims. He serves on the board of Nashville’s Metropolitan Transit Authority and is an education adviser to Mayor Karl Dean. He has worked with educators in Nashville’s public schools to reform and re-design the district’s high schools, and to involve Nashville-area businesses in public education initiatives.
Previously, he served as a campaign aide for Al Gore’s presidential campaign and for Harold Ford, Jr.’s campaign for U.S. Senate. A native of Dyersburg, Tenn., Yarbro graduated from Harvard University and the University of Virginia Law School.
He and his wife Tyler live in Sylvan Park with their young son and attend Christ Church Cathedral, where they teach Sunday School to high school students. Yarbro has served as a tutor at Antioch Middle School, and has been an active volunteer with St. Luke’s Community House, the Red Cross, and Room In The Inn.
Of course, this has been the talk of the political blogs all day. Here is how Henry fared in the 2006 elections, courtesy of the Davidson County election commission:
November 2006 General
D. Henry(D)-36,200 votes
B. Krumm (R)-18,521 votes
August 2006 Primary
D. Henry-8568 votes
G. Pennington-2124 votes
Stanley, Morrison and Everything Else I’ve Neglected to Write About for Two Weeks
Normally, I would have been updating this blog routinely with the news that Sen. Paul Stanley (R-Germantown) had been having an affair with his legislative intern, the ensuing alleged extortion plot, etc. Please know, the reason I haven’t updated the blog is because I have spent every second of my time working to get information and interviews on the air.
I had the opportunity to interview McKensie Morrison, the 22-year-old former intern at the center of this scandal. You can watch the entire interview at WSMV.com. One of the things that came out during the interview is that she was often asked to pick up Sen. Stanley’s dry cleaning, take his car to get washed or clean his apartment. Outside of the obvious fact that sleeping with an intern is certainly crossing a boundary of appropriate lawmaker-intern relations, these other tasks didn’t seem to fit into the educational aspects the internship was designed to provide. So, I went to the Rutherford GOP picnic on Saturday and asked Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey about it. Here’s what he had to say:
“That is an inappropriate use of interns, and I’ll say that anytime and anywhere. Obviously, the interns are there to help us through the legislative process, to do research, answer phones. I’ve been a legislator for 17 years, and I’ve never asked an intern to do that.”
So I asked, does this need to be put in writing what a lawmaker can and can’t ask an intern to do?
“That’s a real possibility. Those are the kinds of things that do need to be put in writing. Let me assure you, that you shouldn’t have an affair with your intern shouldn’t be in writing. That should be in your heart. That should be in your gut. You should know better than that.”
Governor Vetoes Menu Labeling Ban
The governor has vetoed the second bill of the session…it’s the one that would prohibit unelected boards from enacting menu labeling provisions (like the Metro Health Board did earlier this year). Remember, the administration had wanted to institute statewide menu labeling for restaurants with at least 15 nationwide locations.
Here’s the veto letter to Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey:
New “Guns in Bars” Development
Tomorrow, Randy Rayburn and 10 Nashville citizens will file a lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court asking for a temporary restraining order and injunction against “guns in bars” legislation, according to a media release.
“The plaintiffs will allege that the bill is illegal on eight counts. Among them being, that the law is an unlawful public nuisance that threatens the life, health and safety of the public, as well as violating due process and increasing civil liability for the restaurants as well as violating Tennessee’s Occupational Safety and Health Act, which expressively requires as a matter of federal and state law that employers provide a safe work place for employees,” the release reads.
The suit is asking for a temporary restraining order and injunction to stop the law from taking effect on July 14th.
Budget Quotes
Both sides are claiming victory in the budget battle. House and Senate Democrats held a joint news conference this morning. Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey met with the media about an hour later. Here is what both sides had to say:
“We’re not going to quit educating our kids, or putting people to work because we are in tough economic times.” -Sen. Jim Kyle, D-Memphis
“We got awfully close to doing some things we don’t want to do in this government, and that is to shut it down and cause more pain than is necessary.” -Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley
“It was so bad that the Senate Republicans didn’t even want to have to vote on it.” -Speaker Emeritus Jimmy Naifeh, D-Covington, about the Senate Republican budget plan.
“I think that’s ridiculous. We didn’t back away from everything.” -Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, on assertations that the Senate caved to the House.
“We have not hit bottom yet, and I want to stress that. I think a lot of people breathed a sigh of relief that they weren’t cut. Well, get ready: It’s probably coming next year because we are going to make sure we don’t raise taxes and live within our means.” -Lt. Gov Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville.
“You could pick this budget apart in the cuts that were made, but the bottom line is we passed a balanced budget that didn’t raise taxes.” -Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey.
Budget is Done
85-12 in the House. 32-1 in the Senate. Both sides came to a compromise after days of negotiating. Will update more tomorrow…or I should say later today.
Email Day 2
I realize I’m a little late posting, but reporting on the budget progress (or lack thereof) kept me busy all day. I did want to put Sherri Goforth’s statement regarding the email on the blog, because based on the number of blog hits today, there is a lot of interest in this story. Here’s what she had to say:
“I want to offer my deepest apology regarding the offensive nature of the email forwarded to several of my colleagues. I want to make it clear that it was forwarded to me from an acquaintance with absolutely no political party ties and who is outside the Tennessee Capitol Hill arena. I should have deleted it upon receipt. Again, I am deeply sorry and offer a sincere apology to anyone I offended.”
The story has gone national. Sen. Diane Black was on CNN this afternoon because of the email brouhaha.
