NASHVILLE -- Members of the Tennessee General Assembly worked into the night Wednesday, fighting over remaining legislation as they struggled for the second straight week to complete their work for the year.
One major battle Wednesday came over a Republican-backed bill that proponents contend would let Tennesseans opt out of health insurance mandates in the federal health care law.
Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper says the Health Freedom Act violates the U.S. Constitution and that its requirement that he defend it violates separation of powers in the Tennessee Constitution.
Wednesday night's fight involved efforts by Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mount Juliet, to force her original bill onto a somewhat similar measure sponsored by her Republican arch-rival in the House, Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mount Juliet.
Rep. Lynn is challenging Sen. Beavers in the Senate District 17 GOP primary. The Lynn bill only says Tennessee government shall not to carry out the federal legislation. It also excludes provisions seeking to order Attorney General Cooper to sue. Attorney General Cooper says the bill is constitutional.
"It will be up to the House sponsor to either accept this language or to kill the Tennessee Health Freedom Act for this year," Sen. Beavers said.
Her amended version came over to the House, triggering a major row as Democrats sought to kill the bill.
House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada of College Grove urged members to accept Sen. Beavers' version, noting they had passed the bill previously with 53 votes.
"We wanted to send a message that we don't want the federal government to tell us you have to have health insurance," Rep. Casada said.
House Minority Leader Gary Odom, D-Nashville, said Rep. Casada's assertions were "totally false. The Senate has changed the bill."
Efforts to concur with the Beavers amendment failed as did Democrats' effort to re-refer the bill back to committee. Eventually, the bill wound up in a House and Senate conference committee Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, a fight over the renewal of some state agencies and boards continued. Senate Government Operations Committee Chairman Bo Watson, R-Hixson, at press time appeared to send the state's 67-year Judicial Council into oblivion. He moved consideration of a bill extending its existence until Dec. 15, when lawmakers will have long adjourned.
That came after Sen. Watson's effort to curtail the council's ability to review legal legislation failed on a 16-16 tie.
Earlier Wednesday, efforts by Sen. Andy Berke to revive a bill banning the use of "mountaintop removal" in coal mining died in the Senate when only 12 senators backed his motion to pull the bill from a committee where it was mired.
Sen. Berke noted during debate the bill never had been voted on by the Senate Environment and Conservation Committee.
"No more parliamentary tricks," he said, later adding the issue boiled down to "are you on the side of the coal lobby or are you on the side of Tennesseans who want this bill?"
Sen. Ken Yager, R-Harriman, however, said it was unfair to move on the bill because the Senate Environment and Conservation Committee heard from environmentalists who supported the bill but never gave coal industry representatives a chance to speak.
In other legislative action Wednesday:
* Legislation that fundamentally alters standards that restaurants, bars and nightclubs must meet to qualify for a liquor-by-the-drink license is on its way to Gov. Phil Bredesen for consideration.
It does away with provisions in law requiring that food sales constitute the establishments' "principal" purpose. The state Alcoholic Beverage Commission has interpreted that as being below 50 percent and in recent years rarely has revoked licenses in cases where food sales are under five percent, instead simply fining them.
The bill allows licensure of establishments with as little as 15 percent of business in food sales. But such businesses would have to pay higher fees for licenses, up to $4,000 a year. Current fees are linked to an establishment's size, averaging about $850 per year.
* Legislation restricting local governments' use of traffic surveillance cameras to catch scofflaws ran out of gas on the Senate floor when the sponsor, Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, moved the bill back to the Calendar Committee.
"I think it needs to be vetted in both houses," said Sen. Ketron, noting anti-traffic camera enforcement lawmakers in the House "hijacked" his bill, which dealt with updating services for auto clubs and inserted restrictions dealing with speed and red-light cameras.
* The Senate sent a bill requiring city and county jailers to assess whether inmates are in the country illegally to the governor for his consideration. If jailers determine the inmates are here illegally or the inmate doesn't have the necessary documents, jailers would have to notify U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
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