NASHVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Monday unveiled a $41.8 billion budget proposal with new spending and policy priorities while also touting his administration’s health and economic responses to the coronavirus pandemic and praising Tennesseans for their resiliency.
The governor said in his third State of the State address that even as “we mourn the more than 10,000 Tennesseans” who have died so far from COVID-19, Tennesseans “will know tonight that tragedy has no hold on who we are or where we are headed. Tragedy will not define us and will not rob us of the opportunity that 2021 holds.”
In addition to the pandemic, Lee cited a year that included “devastating tornadoes, flooding, violence, unrest, economic collapse, a downtown [Nashville] explosion and witnessing our nation undergo painful turmoil at the highest levels of government.”
His fellow Republicans, who are a majority of members in the General Assembly, cheered repeatedly during his speech, which was moved from the traditional House chamber site inside the state Capitol to the nearby War Memorial Auditorium because of COVID-19 concerns regarding social distancing.
Lee’s recommended budget for the budget year that will start July 1 represents a 3.2% increase over current spending. About a third of Tennessee’s budget depends on federal funding.