On Thursdays, both chambers usually have a morning session. Afterwards, both Lt. Governor Ramsey and House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh hold news conferences to update the media on the progress each chamber is making through the year. Speaker Naifeh often invites the majority leader, committee chairs and any other House Democrats who wants to mention something to the media. With both news conferences, it’s also a good time to ask about anything else you are working on.
Only the House was in session today, as the Senate Judiciary Committee was conducting a marathon meeting to finish up business for the year. Here are some of the things discussed today:
-DCS cuts: Yesterday, the governor announced that the Department of Children’s services was going to lose $73 million in federal funding due to a change in the way the federal government was dispersing those funds. For a department that operates on a $650 million budget, this is a huge loss. Tennessee is not the only state that’s affected by these cuts. In fact, Congress is already looking at legislation to undo this at a federal level. However, if that doesn’t pass, it falls back on the state to either find the money or make cuts. In a tough budget year, the governor is projecting about 160 layoffs. Today, Majority Leader Gary Odom (D-Nashville) said that his office has already received a proposal from the governor’s office that would give the department some flexibility. Odom indicated that this is a bipartisan issue and that Minority Leader Jason Mumpower (R-Bristol) has indicated he’s willing to work on this.
On the House floor today, Republicans tried to add an amendment to mandate English-only workplaces a bill about sewage systems. The measure has already passed in the Republican-controlled Senate. It died in a House subcommittee. Adding an amendment to an unrelated bill on the floor is just one way someone might try to get around the committee process. This happened all the time with some success when I covered the Kansas Legislature. Today, it didn’t get very far. The measure failed primarily along party lines.
Lastly, a specially-called Joint Subcommittee met for the first time as the legislature begins the process of decided whether or not to remove District Attorney General Bill Gibson. The Cookeville-area DA admitted to sending letters to a convicted murderer prosecuted by his office and commiserated with him. The legislature can remove him if both chambers approve. On April 28th, the committee will hear testimony and evidence from both sides. It’s not a trial, but it sure sounds like one. Today, the committee tried to iron out some of the details, as this is an area they admit they don’t know a whole lot about in terms of the procedure.
