NASHVILLE - A bipartisan majority of Tennessee senators and representatives are calling on the Haslam administration to halt the planned outsourcing of building management services at state universities, colleges and several agencies.
Seventeen members of the 33-member Tennessee Senate have signed a letter to the administration, along with 53 representatives of the 99-member House.
The letter to Terry Cowles, Haslam's chief of customer focused government, seeks a delay to give the General Assembly time to study the issue in depth.
Haslam on Monday defended the plan to outsource facilities management, including building oversight, energy management, repairs, janitorial and groundskeeping, to Jones Lang LaSalle.
It has the potential to hand the remaining 90 percent of state building management over to Chicago-based JLL, which already manages about 10 percent of Tennessee's nearly 100 million square feet of office and building space.
"It's an effort we've been working on for 2 1/2 years. It's been as public as it can be," Haslam told reporters after an event in Lebanon. "Everything about that is out there, OK? The effort is really clear that everybody's job is protected. Nobody loses their job."
He said language in the contract, now under review by state Comptroller Justin Wilson and state bond counsel, provides that state workers who will now be transferred to JLL or one of the companies' two major subcontractors "have more protection than any other state workers.
"Other state workers don't have a guarantee that their jobs won't go away," Haslam said. "These folks actually have more protection than people who are not in an agency that could be impacted. It's pretty good."
While employees would be given a job, it's based on meeting conditions not applied to most state workers, including a criminal background check and drug testing.
Haslam and administration officials say contracting with JLL will save both the state and higher education agencies money.
"The schools themselves or the entities themselves get to decide," the governor said. "And it's been shown by an outside firm that this saves real money.
"I've gone to board meetings all around, and when they look at should we raise students' fees, should we raise tuition or should we look at other ways to save money, I think that people should do their due diligence to see - is this another good avenue to save money so we can keep tuition and fees low?" Haslam added.
Local lawmakers signing the letter include Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga; Rep. Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga; Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah; Rep. Mark Gravitt, R-East Ridge, and Rep. Judd Matheny, R-Tullahoma.
Sen. Janice Bowling, R-Tullahoma, a fierce outsourcing critic, was the only senator in the immediate area to sign the letter.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow on twitter @AndySher1.