Ron RamseyRepublican Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey says he'll have to sell his own caucus first on a constitutional amendment to validate the state's current method of naming appellate and Supreme Court justices.
On Wednesday, Ramsey, Gov. Bill Haslam and House Speaker Beth Harwell announced they will push legislation to enshrine the current appointment process. They hope to end criticism from some conservatives who argue the Tennessee Constitution calls for popular elections.
Two state Supreme Court decisions have upheld the current process: appointment followed by retention elections that determine whether judges remain on the bench.
Ramsey plans to campaign to get the initiative approved on the 2014 ballot. But he acknowledged Thursday he still must persuade some fellow Republicans.
"There are diverse, to say the least, diverse areas of thinking in our caucus and in the House [GOP] Caucus about where we go from here," Ramsey told reporters.
It will be a "long" process, he said.
"I wanted to stress that yesterday what I did represented my views, where I think that needs to be, but it's not over, is what I'm saying."
DATA DASHBOARD
Republican Gov. Bill Haslam on Friday unveiled the Tennessee Data Dashboard he promised during a 2010 campaign speech.
The website amounts to an annual report card that measures state progress and holds him accountable on key Tennessee indicators such as jobs and economic development, education, health and public safety.
The dashboard measures Tennessee data against other states, sort of. Actually, the comparisons are fairly broad. In many cases, there are no specific rankings among the 50 states.
For example, Tennessee's employment growth of 1.3 percent puts it in a category of top 10 states. That's good and earns the state a green box, but the other states in the top 10 aren't listed, nor is Tennessee's specific rank on the list.
The state's poverty rate of 17.8 percent puts it in a group of 30 states - a yellow box - but doesn't say whether Tennessee falls at No. 11 or No. 30.
Tennessee's worst showing was in the health and welfare area. Its 31.7 percent obesity rate, 7.9 percent infant mortality rate and 55.6 percent teen birth rate all landed it in the bottom 10 among states, with a red box.
On the plus side, a 77.8 percent immunization coverage and 6.9 months on average to adopt a child scored in the top 10 and the green box.
"Our team has worked incredibly hard on this important resource, but this is very much a first step," Haslam said. "We'll be updating the tool over the days and months to come, so feel free to share your ideas and feedback for version two."
Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Bo Watson, R-Hixson, welcomed Haslam's deployment of the dashboard. Such tools are common in the health care industry where he works, he noted.
One Democrat noted to the Times Free Press that the dashboard's three broad categories don't quite match up to the five-level system being used to judge Tennessee teachers on their performance.
Educators can be denied tenure if they score a 3, even though education officials say that category is "rock solid."
Check out the Tennessee Data Dashbard at http://forward.tn.gov/dashboard.shtml.