NASHVILLE – Nearly five weeks after an April 30 adjournment date legislative leaders once boasted they would meet, exhausted Tennessee lawmakers are crossing their fingers that maybe they can finally get the public’s business done by Saturday night.
Aiming toward that, senators Thursday night began debating in fits and starts legislation that bestows various tax breaks for businesses and economic development while also closing off several tax “loopholes.”
They hoped that was a prelude to later taking up the state’s 2010-11 budget, a spending plan Bredesen administration officials now estimate at $29.9 billion in state and federal funds.
Tired of waiting for senators to act, the House recessed until this morning, hoping senators could finish work on the budget and have it waiting for them.
Most major budget issues were thought to be resolved, but Senate disputes over the “technical corrections” bill – the budget-related legislation dealing with tax breaks and loopholes – suggested the path may not be entirely smooth.
Lawmakers, moreover, still have a number of other bills to consider.
“I think it is the feeling that it looks like tomorrow night (Friday) and Saturday are going to be very late nights,” House Majority Leader Jason Mumpower, R-Bristol, told colleagues as they debated at least 10 minutes before agreeing to adjourn until 10 a.m. today.
Every day lawmakers are here it costs taxpayers $24,400 in expense pay for hotels and meals. Lawmakers are each paid $185 a day for those expenses. But senators used up their 90th and final legislative day Thursday and presumably will be working at their own expense today and Saturday.
The budget continues to make difficult, recession-related cuts to state services, House Finance Committee Chairman Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, said, while simultaneously dipping into reserves by an estimated $185 million.
It anticipates laying off at least 853 state workers and cuts 500 more vacant positions, Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz said.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers argue it is a “no new taxes” spending plan because it rejects an estimated $140 million in taxes and fees recommended by Gov. Phil Bredesen.
But it does depend on a previously approved 3.25 “fee” or tax on most hospitals. That raises $310 million, brings in an additional $582 million in federal matching funds and restores many of the TennCare cuts envisioned by Gov. Bredesen.
Hospital industry officials sought the fee to avoid hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts they said would prove disastrous. Lawmakers insist on calling the tax an “assessment.”
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