NASHVILLE – Various proposals to fund Tennessee roads were left in limbo for a week by the House Transportation Subcommittee this afternoon after a majority of the panel abruptly approved a motion to adjourn and left.
The move came after Chairman Terri Lynn Weaver, R-Lancaster, an opponent of Republican Gov. Bill Haslam’s proposed fuel tax increases, took up an alternative bill that sought to divert a quarter percentage of the existing sales tax into Tennessee’s highway fund.
Rep. John Mark Windle, R-Livingston, then offered an amendment to remove the sales tax 7 percent sales tax from purchases of baby formula. Weaver ruled Windle’s amendment out of order, noting the deadline for amendments had been at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Windle responded with a motion to adjourn, a non-debatable motion. After some confusion, the committee then voted 5-3, adjourned and left the room.
“You know how committees go,” Weaver said after the abrupt end of the meeting where votes on one or more road funding bills had been expected. “That was a surprise to me too.”