Senate Speaker McNally wants GOP counterparts to take next steps on tuition bill

Senator Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, center, is sworn in as Senate Speaker by former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice William Koch Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, in Nashville, Tenn. McNally succeeds Sen. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, who did not seek re-election. Lawmakers convened for the 110th Tennessee General Assembly with new leadership in the Senate and a House speaker eying a gubernatorial bid. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Senator Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, center, is sworn in as Senate Speaker by former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice William Koch Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, in Nashville, Tenn. McNally succeeds Sen. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, who did not seek re-election. Lawmakers convened for the 110th Tennessee General Assembly with new leadership in the Senate and a House speaker eying a gubernatorial bid. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

NASHVILLE - Republican Senate Speaker Randy McNally said Thursday he'd like his House GOP counterparts to take the next steps on a bill to allow undocumented Tennessee immigrant students to pay in-state tuition rates to attend public colleges and universities.

"There's not a lot of sense on us moving if they have problems on the House side," the Oak Ridge lawmaker said.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Todd Gardenhire, passed the Senate Education Committee last week on a 7-2 vote. This week, the House companion bill sponsored by Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis, cleared the lower chamber's Education Administration & Planning Subcommittee.

Gardenhire passed the bill in the GOP-run Senate back in 2015, but White's companion bill failed by a single vote in the Republican-controlled House.

"I'd probably prefer the House move first on it, because they were the ones who appeared to have a lot of difficulty," McNally said. "A lot depends on what happens on the House side."

Gardenhire argues Tennessee already pays for the K-12 education of students brought illegally by their parents to the U.S. Those Tennessee residents and their teenage or young adult children, the senator said, also pay the state's main tax, the sales tax, on items they purchase.

And, Gardenhire said, college degrees will make the students far more likely to be net contributors to the state than net beneficiaries.

The students now can attend Tennessee public college and universities but must pay out-of-state tuition rates, which can be triple the in-state rates. Critics say that's as it should be, but Gardenhire argues it's unjust to punish undocumented students living in Tennessee for their parents' actions to come here without authorization.

In a departure from two years ago, Republican Gov. Bill Haslam is now backing the bill.

In other news, House and Senate Democrats are urging Haslam and GOP lawmakers to take the lead of at least two other states and return to the issue of Medicaid expansion for Tennessee's working adults after congressional Republicans' failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

"To me it's manna from heaven," said Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, of the federal matching funds.

Fitzhugh said he considers state GOP lawmakers' rejection of Haslam's proposed Medicaid expansion in 2015 their "biggest moral failure."

At least two states are reconsidering Medicaid expansion. Kansas GOP lawmakers recently passed an expansion bill but Republican Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed it Thursday, setting up a potential battle with lawmakers.

In Virginia, Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe has resumed a push for Medicaid expansion.

Haslam last week told reporters, "it's awfully early for that right now. We're going to engage in conversations with folks in Washington just to see under the current program what do we think we can do to serve people and we'll go from there."

Senate Speaker McNally was cool to the idea when he spoke with reporters on Thursday.

"I think we have to wait and see the Congress, what they would be able to do," McNally said. "I think we're still in the same position. We want to see where the federal government" is.

Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow him on Twitter @AndySher1.

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