Capitol Update

April 14, 2022

This week was the calm before the storm as the legislature makes its final push to pass a budget, wrap up all remaining bills, and adjourn for the summer to begin campaigning for re-election. TISA was only heard in the House Government Operations Committee, where it received a shorter hearing than in previous committees. It is scheduled to be heard by the House Finance Subcommittee and Senate Finance Committee next week. The Senate State and Local Committee has wrapped up its business and closed for the year. The House Local Government Committee is down to its last few bills. Find more updates here.  

TISA

This week saw less committee time dedicated to the Governor’s education funding proposal than had been the case for the last few weeks where it was center stage in lengthy debates. The bill was only heard in the House Government Operations Committee. That committee approved the bill and referred it to the House Finance Subcommittee where it is scheduled for consideration on Tuesday, April 19. In the Senate, the bill was set to be heard in the Senate Finance Committee this past Tuesday, but Chairman Watson announced at the start of the committee that the Senate did not want to get too far ahead of the House with this proposal and was therefore postponing discussion for a week. 

Budget Discussions Underway

The word in the halls of the legislature is that both chambers intend to move the appropriations bill and related budget legislation through the Finance Committees and to the chambers for a vote by next Thursday, April 21. The various bills needed to appropriate all funds and make other necessary provisions to implement the budget are scheduled to be heard on Tuesday in Finance Committees in both chambers. If all goes smoothly with this process, it is likely the General Assembly will wrap up all other legislation in the following weeks and adjourn for the year during the first week of May. 

Redistricting Allowed to Proceed by the Supreme Court

After an appellate court entered an injunction to prevent the Senate redistricting maps from taking effect, the Supreme Court quickly took up the matter and reversed the appellate court decision. At the heart of the challenge was a technical provision that required counties with multiple Senate districts to have them numbered consecutively. Davidson County has three Senate districts entirely within its boundaries (Districts 19, 20 and 21). Previously, a portion of Davidson County was also represented by Senator Haile in District 18, which also includes Sumner and Trousdale Counties. Under the Senate redistricting plan, District 18 no longer included any part of Davidson County. Instead, District 17, which includes Wilson County, was given a portion of the eastern end of Davidson County. This meant the district numbers were 17, 19, 20 and 21 and technically were not consecutive. The Supreme Court found this was not enough to set aside the new maps and has allowed the election to proceed in accordance with the newly drawn districts. 

Right of Ways and Property Owner Rights

Last week, SB2849/HB2274 (Bailey, Williams) on right-of-way dedications was passed in the Senate. TCHOA has been in support of this bill as amended because it is the result of a TACIR study intended to end an extended controversy on right-of-way dedications. This legislation codifies the Nollan-Dolan test, a U.S. Supreme Court level principle for determining property owner rights. In the House, it was scheduled for the House Finance Subcommittee on Wednesday, April 13. When the bill was called up at the end of the calendar, the sponsor appeared to have mistakenly presented a different bill which had an associated cost and was placed “behind the budget.” We believe this was a simple error and hope to get the legislation back on track next week.

Regulation of Short Term Rentals

A bill that would preempt many local regulations of short term rentals (HB645/SB871) by Rep. Faison and Sen. Stevens, failed in the House Local Government Committee this week. The bill has been in the center of controversy and has even been reported on in local television news for some of the tactics used in pushing the legislation. Although the bill dealt with local government regulations, it wasn’t considered by the House Local Government committee at first. Instead, it was sent through the Commerce Committees in both chambers. Local government associations lobbied to have it double referred to the Local Government Committee as the content of the bill really dealt with placing limits on the ability of local governments to permit and regulate short term rentals like those marketed through Airbnb and similar apps. In the Local Committee, the sponsor offered an amendment that stripped out the provisions that local governments had objected to and instead re-wrote the bill to simply make some non-controversial revisions to language about transferring permits. Under questions, however, the bill sponsor seemed reluctant to commit that the bill would remain in that form once it left committee. After the hard-fought battles over this legislation all session and with concerns the legislation could be greatly expanded on the House floor, the committee members voted the bill down on a voice vote. 

Bid Limits

A proposal to raise the minimum threshold to require competitive bidding is moving forward. Under the bill (HB2600/SB2489) by Rep. McKenzie and Sen. Briggs, counties with a centralized purchasing department and a full-time purchasing agent could raise their bid limit to $50,000. All other counties could increase their limit to $25,000. The bill was approved by the full Senate on Wednesday. It was deferred in the House, but is ready for a floor vote in that chamber as well.