NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The Latest on Gov. Bill Haslam’s annual State of the State address (all times local):
5:25 p.m.
Gov. Bill Haslam is proposing $77 million in pay raises and rate adjustments for Tennessee state workers in the upcoming budget year.
The governor informed public employees about his salary proposal in an email before his annual State of the State address at the state Capitol on Monday.
Haslam says the new money for state workers will be distributed based on performance and in the form of market rate adjustments aimed at high-turnover positions in state government.
The governor says his administration has increased state workers’ salaries by 15 percent since he took office in 2011, and added more than $100 million for salary market adjustments.
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3 p.m.
Republican Gov. Bill Haslam is making the case to lawmakers that increasing the state’s fuel taxes is “the right thing to do” for Tennessee’s transportation needs.
Haslam told reporters before his annual State of the State address on Monday that the state can’t count on occasional surplus money to tackle a more than $10 billion backlog of road and bridge projects around the state.
The state’s 21.4-cent tax on every gallon of gasoline hasn’t been increased since 1989. Haslam is proposing a 7-cent increase on the tax on gas and 12 cents on diesel.
The governor’s transportation proposal would raise about $280 million per year in new transportation funding, while cutting about the same amount in taxes on groceries, income from stocks and bonds and corporate taxes.