CAI Tennessee Chapter

As the calendar turned to April this week, talk in the halls of the state capitol and legislative plaza turned to budget matters and whether or not adjournment would take place by April 19. On Tuesday, Finance and Administration Commissioner, Mark Emkes, presented the administration's amended budget for fiscal 2013-2014 to both the House and Senate Finance Committees. The proposal includes millions of dollars for a Health and Wellness Fund focused on engaging children in lifetime wellness habits and tobacco prevention in children andpregnant mothers. Total program funding for this initiative is just over $43 million. In addition,the proposed budget continues to fully fund Education's BEP formula for K12 and the performance based formula for higher education. It also makes a significant deposit into thestate's Rainy Day Fund. Legislators in the House and Senate have filed 287 amendments to the budget bill. The Senate Finance Budget Subcommittee began meeting this week to provide an opportunity for
senators to make a pitch for their budget requests. The subcommittee plans to meet several times next week to reconcile the legislative budget requests with the Governor's budget request. The goal is to send a final budget recommendation to the full Senate Finance committee by April 10 and onto the Senate floor by the end of the week. On the House floor Thursday, the Flow Motion was adopted signaling the process of concluding the session. The Flow Motion allows bills to move from committee to committee and onto the floor without the 72-hour meeting notice required by the Rules of the House. Subcommittees, except for those of the House and Senate Finance Committee, have closed for the year and most standing committee have completed their business. Committees still open for business next week include: House Education, Finance, Health, Local Government, Government Operations, and Criminal Justice; and Senate Finance, Government Operations, State and Local Government, and Judiciary. Numerous controversial issues have been taken off the table for this year such as fairness in ticketing, annexation changes, and Haslam's school voucher program. Other issues have been compromised and are moving through the process towards final adoption. The Fairness in Ticketing Act of 2012 was pulled by House sponsors this week after intense lobbying by both sides of the issue. The bill, backed by various performers and venues, would have required ticket brokers to register with the Department of Commerce and Insurance and to disclose details about their ticket offerings including the face value and the exact location of the seats offered. Opponents of the bill said it gave too much power to the venues and restricted the ticket purchasers' right to freely resell tickets lawfully purchased. Governor Haslam sent a letter this week to various Senators informing them that he did not wish his proposal for school vouchers, or "opportunity scholarships," to advance this year. Haslam proposed a pilot program with 5,000 grants to students who qualify for free or reduced price lunches and attend low performing schools. The vouchers would allow these students to take tax money that would have gone to public schools to use for private school tuition.

Several legislators, including Sen. Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) pushed to increase the qualifying income level and to remove the low performing school requirement. Kelsey said he would continue to push for vouchers despite the Governor's action this week.
Legislators will study the process local governments use to annex territory after legislation passed this week calling for a moratorium on annexations until 2015. This action stopped various bills which would have changed different aspects of the process. One such proposal, sponsored by Sen. Bo Watson (R-Cleveland) and Mike Carter (R-Ooltewah), would have required voter approval of any annexation. Tennessee is one of only a few states where voter approval is not required. A proposal to revise procedures for dispensing compounded medications was agreed upon and will move toward approval before adjournment. This measure will allow non-patient specific dispensing of compounded medications in certain limited situations, including (1) drugs
to be used in a health care facility or the prescribing practitioner's office when the product is not commercially available; and (2) drugs used by emergency medical services under authorized control when the drug is not commercially available. In addition, out-of-state compounding pharmacies must be inspected prior to licensing and pharmacies engaging in sterile compounding will be required to report on a quarterly basis to the Board of Pharmacy the quantity of sterile products compounded. This legislation was proposed as a result of the fungal meningitis outbreak.

SB54 / HB19 Property acquired by Hickman County at a tax sale.
Category: Taxes/ Property
Sponsors: :Sen. Jim Summerville / Rep. David Shepard
Description: Establishes that whenever Hickman County acquires property at a tax sale, any nongovernmental entities holding a vested contractual right to payment of fees or assessment secured by such property shall retain such right, provided that the county shall not be liable for payment of such fees or assessments for a maximum of 24 months from the date of order of tax sale. Allows the county to surrender the property to the non-governmental entity in full satisfaction of any fees or assessments. Broadly captioned.
Senate Status 04/02/2013 - Taken off notice in Senate State & Local Government Committee.
House Status 04/02/2013 - House Local Government Subcommittee deferred to 2014.

SB601 / HB493 Revised delinquent property tax sales.
Category: Taxes/Property
Sponsors: Sen. Jack Johnson / Rep. Charles M. Sargent
Description: Revises certain requirements related to the sale of property at tax sales for unpaid delinquent property taxes. Provides for notice to be inserted for 2 consecutive weeks in the month of January in a newspaper by the county trustee stating the additional penalties and costs will be imposed for filing of suits for enforcement of a lien for property taxes. Provides procedure for
notifying delinquent taxpayer that they owe back taxes and that their property may be sold for nonpayment. 16 pp.
Senate Status 04/04/2013 - Set for Senate State & Local Government Committee Final Calendar 04/10/13.
House Status 04/04/2013 - Set for House Finance Committee 04/09/13.

SB625 / HB455 Delinquent tax sale results made available to certain parties.
Category: Taxes/Property
Sponsors: Sen. Mark S. Norris / Rep. G.A. Hardaway
Description: Requires court clerks who are notified by persons having legal claims against property set for
delinquent tax sale to notify such persons of the results of such delinquent tax sale.
Senate Status 04/04/2013 - Set for Senate State & Local Government Committee Final Calendar 04/10/13.
House Status 04/04/2013 - Set for House Finance Committee 04/09/13.
Position:

SB990 / HB382 Bidding on insolvent property at tax sale.
Category: Taxes/Property
Sponsors: Sen. Randy McNally / Rep. Judd Matheny
Description: Creates an alternative method for bidding on property at a tax sale deemed to be insolvent. Specifies that no bid shall be placed on behalf of the tax entity and that the minimum bid amount shall include the total amount of ad valorem taxes, penalties, interest, fees, and costs, and the total amount of other governmental liabilities secured by liens of record against the property. Creates an alternative method for the purchase of property acquired by a government entity at a tax sale which is subject to contractual development covenants or development fees or assessments.
Senate Status 02/08/2013 - Referred to Senate Commerce & Labor Committee.
House Status 03/19/2013 - Taken off notice in House Business & Utilities Subcommittee.

SB1284 / HB1251 Nonprofit home owners' association boards to hold open meetings.
Category: Commercial Law
Sponsors: Sen. Frank Niceley / Rep. Susan M. Lynn
Description: Requires all meetings of a nonprofit home owners' association board to be open to members of the home owners' association, except when discussing delinquent assessments or indebtedness of individual members of the home owners' association.
Senate Status 03/27/2013 - Taken off notice in Senate Commerce & Labor Committee.
House Status 03/26/2013 - House Business & Utilities Subcommittee deferred to first calendar of 2014.
Comment Caption bill. Awaiting amendatory language.