NASHVILLE - State senators today voted unanimously to repeal a 2016 law that wound up threatening $13 million in state revolving loans for Hamilton County's sewer authority.
"Last session I had a really good idea for the Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authory," Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, told colleagues. "It turns out it wasn't as good an idea as I thought it was."
Watson said the bill repeals provisions added last year in state law and will put the agency "in better position with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation."
The House companion bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, is still in committee.
The 2016 law was intended to force the sewer authority to look at its operations, mission and future with a series of specific reports on its finances.
But the kicker was a provision to dissolve the agency by July 1, 2021 - provided there was a successor entity or entities in place to assume some $10 million in existing debt from state clean water loans.
While Watson and Carter thought they had a green light from state officials on that, Carter said the state Attorney General's office subsequently began raising concerns that ultimately resulted in Environment and Conservation officials refusing to approve another $13 million in new clean water loans, citing uncertainty over who would be legally responsible for repaying them.
Watson recently wryly observed that unlike the U.S. Congress, he and Tennessee legislators don't mind fixing problems of their own making.
Prior to the bill's passage today, Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, asked to be added as a co-sponsor on Watson's repeal legislation.
"Now that Sen. Watson has admitted he's made a big mistake, I'd like to sign on as co-sponsor," Gardenhire quipped.