Regular Session Reconvenes After Early February Special Session

Date: February 17, 2015

Gov. Haslam's Insure Tennessee proposal fails, attention turns to budget

In June 2014, a survey from Thumbtack and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation rated Tennessee one of the 10 most small business-friendly states in the nation. One reason for this could be recent tax reform efforts that make a difference to small business owners.

During Gov. Bill Haslam’s first term, he led the charge to strengthen taxpayer rights and phase out Tennessee’s inheritance tax.  On Nov. 4, 2014, voters approved a constitutional amendment to ban a state income tax. As a result, Jim Brown, NFIB’s Tennessee state director, says the state tax climate remains overall very positive.

With a bill filing deadline passed, NFIB/Tennessee is diligently reviewing legislation and gathering small business input for all emerging proposals. Here’s an overview of what’s happened so far in Nashville and what to expect.

Governor proposes budget

In a special session convened Feb. 2, Gov. Haslam introduced his Insure Tennessee proposal to expand Medicaid.  The resolution met stiff resistance from conservatives and some moderates who wanted more safeguards. The resolution failed by a 7-4 vote in the Senate Health & Welfare Committee, but proponents haven’t ruled out reintroducing a similar measure in the regular session.

The regular session of the 109th General Assembly reconvened Feb. 9 to hear Gov. Haslam’s State of the State Address.  The focus of his remarks was on a new budget, which is required constitutionally to be proposed and balanced annually.  The governor said he plans to introduce a so-called Revenue Modernization Act to protect “our in-state businesses from unfair competition from out of state companies” and “to level the playing field in terms of sales tax and business taxes.” NFIB plans to review this and other tax proposals thoroughly.
NFIB has already flagged 40 bills of general interest to our membership, including several workers’ comp, labor and regulatory reform bills.  We will likely be tracking as many as 100 bills this session.

For updates, visit www.NFIB.com/TN.

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