A Look at the Upcoming Legislative Session
A Look at the Upcoming Legislative Session -- The Commercial Appeal has a preview of the coming session of the General Assembly, with the top issues likely being how to deal with excess money in the lottery scholarship fund, whether to continue to fund pre-K education programs, and another fight between the cable industry and AT&T over a statewide TV franchise. Here's a breakdown:
- Lottery - Some Democrats want to lower the GPA standards to get and maintain the lottery scholarship, with considerations for minorities. Gov. Bredesen has proposed a more moderate version of this approach by making some of the lottery scholarship money available for need-based scholarships. Republicans want to keep the GPA standards where they are, but use additional lottery money to help secondary education with capital improvement projects like the construction of new schools.
- Pre-K - Last year, Gov. Bredesen introduced an ambitious plan to develop a comprehensive pre-K strategy to allow any parent who wants to enroll their kids in pre-K to do so. This year, Democrats have vowed to push for continued funding for this approach, but Republicans have said they want to fund the program for at-risk kids only.
- Cable TV - State law currently requires cable tv providers to negotiate deals with local governments for providing service to a particular area. AT&T wants the state legislature to authorize a state-wide franchise for them instead, which they say will increase competition and reduce cable prices. Cable companies, who already have local franchises oppose the plan and all the companies involved have invested heavily in lobbyists for their cause. The City Paper has much more on round two of this fight.
- Open Meetings - A panel recommended that the legislature approve a revision of the state's Open Meeting Laws to allow up to three members of a public panel to meet in private. Current law deems a meeting of any two members in private about public business a violation of the law.
- Abortion - David Fowler argues that abortion may be a big item this legislative session becasue of a renewed focus by the state GOP on the issue. Several years ago, the State Supreme Court rule that abortion has more protection under the state Constitution than the federal standard. Abortion opponents want a constitutional amendment allowing at least some regulation of abortion in TN.
More from the Tennessean.
GOP Gets Prank Calls -- Robin Smith, state GOP Chairman reports the state Republican Party headquarters has changed the voice mail for its telephone system after it was cluttered by long-winded messages from pranksters. State Dem spokesman Wade Munday said the state Dems office occassionally also gets drunks calls, but the calls the GOP got obviously weren't coordinated by Dems. More from the Tennessean.
Briley Now Has Two Challengers -- The City Paper reports that attorney Mike Stewart, who narrowly lost a race for the 52nd District seat to former mayor Bill Boner in 1996, is running against embattled State Rep. Rob Briley. Another attorney, Eric Stansell picked up papers last week for a primary challenge of Briley as well. Briley’s seat became the source of political speculation last year after he was arrested on DUI, evading arrest and a variety of other charges in Wilson County in September.
Local Briefs -- Here's some local news from around the state:
- Spring City Mayor Kelly Reed resigned from the Spring City Commission on Thursday night, saying he would be taking a permanent job with the city’s police department, in order to avoid a conflict of interest, even though there is no provision in the city charter requiring him to do so.
- Andy Meek reports on more on the Memphis corruption ring involving longtime political consultant Joe Cooper and developer Rusty Hyneman. Cooper told prosecutors in the "Main Street Sweeper" case, he had relationships like the one he had with City Councilman Edmund Ford and Rickey Peete with other Memphis politicos, including unnamed County Commission officials.
- The Commercial Appeal profiles Memphis City Councilman Shea Flinn, son of longtime Shelby Co. Commissioner George Flinn. The interesting thing about the Flinn's is while their name is well known in Memphis politics, George is a Republican and his son Shea is a Democrat.
