Tennessee legislators extended unemployment benefits, raised the
exemption levels for seniors paying the state investment income tax, legalized
corporate campaign contributions and placed new restrictions on traffic
enforcement cameras before adjourning late Saturday.
Lawmakers sped through scores of bills late Saturday hoping to adjourn
the 2011 session of the General Assembly four months after it began. Other
measures approved Saturday authorize for-profit online "virtual schools" for
K-12 students, increase penalties for shooting into houses, and set up a new
program for early graduation from high school.
Also Saturday, Gov. Bill Haslam announced he will sign into law the bill
that ends 33 years of collective bargaining by Tennessee teachers that the
legislature approved just before midnight Friday night. "I absolutely plan to
sign it. In the end, I think it is a very good product," he said.
The legislature also agreed to spend $3.1 million in opting in to a
federal extension of unemployment benefits for people who lost their jobs
during the recession. The bill approved Saturday will extend jobless benefits
from 79 weeks to 99 weeks, retroactive to the first of the year. The federal
government will pay an estimated $60 million.
Although the extension was opposed by 33 Republicans, it had the backing
of legislative leaders of both parties -- who said it will help those who have
been unable to find work and also stimulate the economy through the spending
on food and shelter -- and the governor.
The changes in the state's personal income tax, levied only on certain
dividend and interest income, increase the income thresholds for those 65 and
older. Currently, seniors are subject to the 6 percent income tax if their
income is over $16,200 for single taxpayers and $27,000 for joint filers.
Effective with tax year 2012, the thresholds are raised to $26,200 for single
filers and $37,000 for joint filers.
The bill will exempt about 5,000 of the 51,000 Tennesseans ages 65 and up
who currently pay the income tax, at a cost of $1.1 million to the state's
revenue coffers.
The bill allowing corporations to make direct campaign contributions to
political candidates in Tennessee was vigorously opposed by Democrats, who
argued that it would open the floodgates to out-of-state corporate influence.
Corporations will be able to give separate $10,200 donations in each the
primary and general elections to individual candidates for statewide office
and the state Senate -- or $20,400 for the full election -- and less for state
House candidates. The limits will rise every two years based on the inflation
rate.
Republicans who backed the bill said it will make the direct
contributions to candidates more "transparent" to the public than corporate
contributions routed through political action committees and other political
funds, as legalized by a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
The new high school early-graduation program called "Move On When Ready,"
sponsored by Rep. Lois DeBerry, D-Memphis, and Sen. Jim Kyle, D-Memphis,
requires students to complete 18 credits, have a cumulative grade-point
average of at least 3.2, complete at least two advanced placement or two
International Baccalaureate credits (or one AP and one IB course), and achieve
a benchmark score on the ACT or SAT tests to be determined by the state Board
of Education.
After three years of work, the legislature also imposed new restrictions
on cities and counties that install traffic enforcement cameras, although any
existing contracts that local governments have with camera companies are
exempt.
The new law will limit any fines, including court costs, to $50; require
traffic engineering studies to show a need for a camera before any new camera
can be put into place; prohibit camera-based citations for a right turn on red
unless right turn on red is not allowed at the intersection; require citations
to be issued within 10 days of the violation; require citations to be reviewed
by a police officer; and prohibit a speed-enforcement camera within one mile
of a drop in the speed limit of at least 10 miles per hour.
Lawmakers protect Overton forest, add juvenile sex-offender registry
The state legislature has designated 126 acres of Overton Park's forest
as a state natural area, giving it a higher level of legal protections against
destruction or encroachment.
"This is 126 acres of old-growth forest sitting right in the middle of
the city. For an urban area, for that much space, it's a rarity," said Rep.
Jeanne Richardson, D-Memphis, just before the House gave the bill final
legislative approval late Friday on a 94-0 vote.
Richardson and Sen. Beverly Marrero, D-Memphis, sponsored the bill and
worked out a compromise with the Memphis Zoo and city officials. It passed the
Senate 32-0 May 4.
In other legislation followed closely by Memphis officials, a
controversial bill to add the names of teen sex offenders believed to be among
the most dangerous to a juvenile sex offender registry won final approval
Saturday.
State Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown., said he believes the bill he
sponsored will be "very helpful for protecting our children in Tennessee."
The registry would only list only those ages 14 and older, so the law
wouldn't address recent cases including the 12-year-old Germantown boy charged
last week with raping a 9-year-old boy or the South Memphis boys, ages 7 and
9, who admitted raping a 2-year-old girl last summer.
