Posted on 02/08/2003 9:07:26 PM PST by GailA
Tennessee Legislature tackles 'Big Four'
Sunday, February 09, 2003
By Hank Hayes Times-News
Tennessee's "Big Four" issues - the budget, TennCare, the lottery and teacher pay equity - are dominating the early days of the 103rd General Assembly.
Gov. Phil Bredesen has begun his quest to get his arms around all four issues and do business with a legislature deeply divided last year by tax reform.
"I am here to say I will end the long franchise on stories about dysfunctional state government," Bredesen said in a speech to members of the Tennessee Press Association Thursday night in Nashville. "I especially want to end the hand-wringing about the problems and get us focused on solutions for the future. ...We're not going to bat a thousand, but I assure you that state government is going to change the way it does business."
State Rep. David Davis, R-Johnson City, likes what he sees from Bredesen so far.
"I've been real impressed to date," Davis told a Hawkins County Chamber of Commerce legislative breakfast in Rogersville on Saturday. "He has been open. He's been running his administration thus far like he runs a business. I think we're looking at a fresh new start in state government."
Facing a budget shortfall of $322 million in this fiscal year and more than $500 million in the next, Bredesen has talked of using the state's road fund and state-shared tax revenues to balance the budget.
The governor also has called on most departments to present plans for an across-the-board 7.5% budget reduction and a long-term call for 2,900 less state positions.
Bredesen has reiterated there would be no new tax hike in his 2003-04 budget. He is required by state law to submit a budget by early March.
TennCare, the state's health care program for the poor and uninsured, has the greatest impact on the budget. Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz told the Senate Finance Committee last week that even if the state uses all of the $140 million in TennCare reserves this year, the program will still face a deficit of $259 million.
Senators, frustrated with continued problems with TennCare, raised questions about the long-term viability of the program. The basic question underlying the TennCare discussion remains: How can costs be controlled while maintaining the goal of providing quality health care to the uninsured and uninsurable?
"While there are cost pressures in all federal health care programs, TennCare's failures are in part a reflection of a flawed management structure," said Bredesen. "TennCare has had eight directors in nine years. There is certainly a need for stability. One of the more frequent questions I get is: Who will be your TennCare director? More and more, I'm feeling the name game is a losing game. It is unrealistic to invest so much in a single individual who might quit, get fired, get run over or get a better offer. When the captain leaves, you have a six billion-dollar rudderless ship. And we all know that rudderless ships quickly end up on the rocks."
TennCare officials say that moving 150,000 clients off the rolls has failed to save the state any money. The administration projects a $500 million TennCare shortfall in the next fiscal year that could grow by $300 million if a federal appeals court re-enrolls those who were removed through a federally-approved reverification process.
On equalizing teacher pay, the numbers remain unclear. In mandating that the state change the way it pays teachers, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled the existing gap between the highest paid and lowest paid teachers is about $16,600. Estimates for meeting the terms of the court ruling range from $50 million to $500 million.
Bredesen points out Tennessee's average teacher salary - approximately $37,000 - is low relative to neighboring states such as Alabama and Georgia.
"What educators, parents and concerned citizens need to know is this: Only after everyone has been elevated to a level playing field within Tennessee can we begin working together to raise all of our teachers salaries to make us more competitive with other states. All this can happen, with time," Bredesen said.
State Rep. Mike Harrison, R-Treadway, said his district, which includes Hawkins and Hancock counties, continues to lose teachers to urban school systems.
"It's gone on long enough," said Harrison. "They need to be paid on an equitable basis."
While TennCare and teacher pay figure into the budget debate, forming a lottery has not. Last Tuesday, state Rep. Chris Newton, R-Cleveland, and state Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, introduced a lottery bill to create the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp., an independent corporation overseen by a seven-member board appointed by the speakers of the House and Senate and the governor. This entity would have the power to advertise the lottery and enter into multistate games such as "Powerball."
The bill would bar ticket sales to anyone under 18 years of age and dedicate approximately $200,000 a year in unclaimed prizes to compulsive gambling programs. It would also require criminal background checks on lottery employees.
Lottery tickets could be available by the end of the year. The lottery is expected to bring in $200 million in its first year.
Bredesen believes the state should avoid promising more in new programs than can be delivered through lottery proceeds.
"We need a conservative approach at the outset," he said. "In other words, don't promise $200 million in benefits until you're sure you have $200 million in lottery proceeds."
Bredesen has also expressed concerns about the Newton-Cohen lottery bill.
As it stands, the bill calls for the governor to appoint one member of the lottery governance board and calls for the legislature to appoint six. In the majority of states with lotteries, the governor appoints these boards, according to Bredesen.
The issue has created tension between Bredesen and Cohen, who worked for 18 years to pass a state lottery.
"I'm concerned because if something goes wrong, Tennesseans ... will be standing at my door demanding to know what happened," he said. "As well you should."
They fought tooth and nail against ANY cuts when we had the RINO don spendquist as gov. BUT then even though spendquist was a RINO he was still a Republican.
What is very funny is the media's role in this. When Marsha Blackburn, Phil Valentine, Steve Gill, and others proposed across the board cuts in the past, the state papers chided them as impractical and narrow minded. Now Bredesen calls for the same across the board cuts at an even higher level and the papers get in line to hail his genius. This should once and for all show everyone how ridiculous the main stream media are today.
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