State Budget Cuts Looming in 2010

 Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris (Collierville) addressed a packed room of NFIB members recently at our Memphis Area Action Council at the Regions Bank branch in East Memphis.

An NFIB member, Sen. Norris said he and other leaders will continue to emphasize a fiscally conservative approach to navigate choppy revenue waters.

Last session, the state budget was cut more than 10 percent. Norris said.

He predicted another $350 million in cuts will be needed in 2010, then expressed concern about Tennessee’s rising debt, saying “running up the [state’s] credit card” simply passes on more difficult decisions to future governors and legislatures.

Legal reform on agenda

On a bright note, Norris championed Public Chapter 919, an important tort reform law, he and former Rep. Doug Overbey (Maryville), now a senator, sponsored. With its advance-notice and pre-filing certification requirements, medical malpractice lawsuits have dropped in half nine months after the law took effect.

Norris, a defense attorney, complained about the law’s effect, with tongue in cheek.

“I used to defend those claims,” he said. “Now that we’re wiping them out, I’m looking for work.”

Norris said the 2004 workers’ comp law he helped pass has led to $500 million in savings for businesses, but more reforms are needed. He said the state needs a workplace injury definition, “but it won’t be this year.”

Opportunities for small business

Norris encouraged small business owners to visit three Web sites: TNInvestco, which links entrepreneurs to investment opportunities, as well as Tennessee and state sites linking businesses to opportunities from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.