On Tuesday, Nov. 10, state Sen. Brian Kelsey from Germantown spoke to NFIB members and friends in the Memphis area, discussing initiatives for the 2016 session. The Memphis Area Action Council meeting was sponsored by NFIB members Dillard Door & Entrance Control and State Systems Inc.
Kelsey said he will continue working to ensure Tennessee has a solid “three-legged stool of keeping taxes and regulations low,” while ensuring frivolous lawsuits are rare and the state’s workforce is well educated. He chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and serves on the Education Committee.
NFIB/Tennessee State Director Jim Brown said Kelsey’s staunch support for NFIB initiatives like vital tort and labor law reforms and the 2014 balanced budget amendment resolution calling for a limited convention of the states has been well received by members statewide. Kelsey said his most proud accomplishment to date is the recent voter-approved constitutional ban on a state income tax, an NFIB-supported measure.
Kelsey shared he was pleased with the recent state Supreme Court affirmation of Tennessee’s codified summary judgment standard. He sponsored that legislation in 2012 addressing two harmful court decisions relating to summary judgment in employment discrimination and retaliatory discharge cases (Gossett v. Tractor Supply, 2010) and commercial transactions (Hannan v. Alltel, 2008).
Brown thanked Kelsey for sponsoring legislation in 2013 that prohibits local governments passing wage, wage theft, healthcare and leave mandates on private industry.
In 2016, Kelsey plans to argue again for an elimination of the Hall Income Tax and a process for one-time de-annexation efforts. An opponent of Medicaid expansion and Insure Tennessee, Kelsey emphasized commonsense healthcare reform is needed.
“The status quo is not working in healthcare,” he said.
