NASHVILLE – Tennessee Democrats charged Wednesday that policies initiated by Republican House Speaker Beth Harwell after the GOP took control of the chamber helped create the legislative foul-up that may now cost the state $60 million in federal transportation money.
“This was not an accident,” House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Stewart of Nashville said at a news conference. “This was the direct result of specific policies put in place by Speaker Beth Harwell.”
Stewart and other Democratic leaders specifically blamed efforts by Harwell to speed up the legislative process in order to shorten the length of the General Assembly’s annual session.
Democrats also accused Harwell of brushing aside concerns that the lawmakers’ review process for determining financial impacts of bills had broken down. Yet another factor, they say, was Harwell’s capping the number of bills individual lawmakers can introduce each year.
That resulted in members introducing more “caption bills” which open up code sections with only vague descriptions of what is intended until last-minute amendments are made.