Recent editorials from Tennessee newspapers:
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Jan. 24
Times News of Kingsport on bills the General Assembly should support:
Hundreds of lives could be saved annually if the Tennessee General Assembly follows through on its commitment to make fighting the horrific opioid crisis in the state its top priority.
But a variety of other bills also deserve their support, including reinstating a work requirement for able-bodied adults who rely on welfare programs, truth in sentencing, continuing education reform, and support for Aerospace Park at Tri-Cities Airport.
Funding for Aerospace Park, the aviation-related economic development effort at Tri-Cities Airport, holds the promise of thousands of high-quality jobs. And Gov. Bill Haslam’s administration proposes to reinstate the work requirement for able-bodied adults without dependents who rely on the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for assistance. Nearly 60,000 adults who have no dependents and are physically capable of working are receiving that benefit. And that should stop, except in counties designated as distressed and except for senior citizens.
And as Rep. Bud Hulsey notes, “We owe it to the victims of crime to be honest at sentencing time. I have authored legislation requiring that an inmate who is incarcerated awaiting trial cannot earn good behavior or sentence reduction credits that shorten a sentence, until the minimum sentence demanded by statute is fulfilled.”
“It’s difficult enough to be a victim of crime,” Hulsey said, “but even worse to find that only a few short months after sentencing, the perpetrator is ready for parole consideration because of excessive credits awarded due to our overcrowded facilities.”
That bill merits easy approval, as do bills continuing education reform, enhancing the criminal penalty for body fluids thrown on citizens as a personal attack, giving businesses that make donations to nonprofit organizations a tax credit, and changing the DUI law to give drivers a new license denoting a DUI conviction.
Other priorities for our lawmakers are to stop de-annexation legislation which would have a negative impact on cities, the economic drivers for the state, and to provide educational maintenance of effort relief for cities such as Kingsport where counties have reduced the share of education funding the cities receive by withholding county taxes paid by city residents.
Online: http://www.timesnews.net/
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Jan. 27
Bristol Herald Courier on Gov. Bill Haslam announcing a $30 million plan focusing on the opioid crisis:
Tennessee is on the right track in the battle against the opioid crisis, with Gov. Bill Haslam’s announcement Jan. 22 of a $30 million plan that focuses on prevention, treatment and enforcement of laws intended to control the epidemic that reportedly kills at least three people a day in the state.
Under Haslam’s plan, which the governor announced alongside Senate Speaker Randy McNally, House Speaker Beth Harwell, Supreme Court Chief Justice Jeffrey Bivins and other state officials, measures being pushed would limit the amount of opioids someone could get on an initial prescription, and set aside $25 million in state and federal funds to improve treatment and recovery programs.
There also would be a campaign to raise public awareness of the problem, starting with programs aimed at elementary and secondary school students, but also including women of childbearing age who chronically abuse opioids. They would be told more about the risks to babies born to addicted mothers.
Other measures would include hiring more state investigators who would focus on opioid abuse - including targeting those in the medical community who contribute to the problem; setting aside 512 beds in a West Tennessee prison specifically to create a treatment facility for addicts; and doubling the number of beds for opioid addiction treatment throughout the state prison system.
An Associated Press story noted that this would be one of Haslam’s last major priorities in the legislature before he leaves office early next year.
At that Monday’s news conference, Haslam noted that Tennessee has already made some progress against opioids, but said these proposals reflect new ideas that could help end the tragic epidemic or abuse.
Despite a seemingly lukewarm reception to his plan by Assembly Democrats, Haslam said, “The encouraging thing is there is nobody in our state that I have talked to that wants to make this a political issue.”
Let’s hope that there won’t be any Democratic legislators who will fight Haslam’s plan just because it was recommended by a Republican. This should be a no-nonsense, nonpartisan effort to help end a scourge that causes so much grief.
Nobody should be opposing Haslam’s plan purely for political reasons, and it’s really hard to see how anyone could believe that opposing efforts to end the opioid epidemic would ever help them politically.
Haslam is to be commended for his efforts and vision, and perhaps Virginia’s new governor should take note of the Tennessee proposals and use some of them in his state’s own fight against opioid abuse.
At this point, Virginia looks to be behind Tennessee in coming up with a solid plan for fighting the opioid crisis. But the new governor, Ralph Northam, is a physician who must surely understand better than most lay people what is at stake. And the Virginia General Assembly is in session, so the time is ripe for action.
Let’s hope both states can successfully produce programs this year that can help end this problem and save lives.
Online: http://www.heraldcourier.com
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Jan. 31
Johnson City Press on a measure to change how Tennessee’s attorney general is selected:
Tennessee lawmakers are once again pushing a measure to change the way this state’s attorney general is selected. And once again, supporters have yet to offer any compelling reasons as to why a system that has worked so well for more than 130 years should be changed.
Earlier this month, members of the state Senate’s Judiciary Committee passed a resolution to allow the Tennessee General Assembly - rather than the state’s Supreme Court - to select the attorney general.
If the measure is passed by a simple majority by the 110th General Assembly and a two-thirds majority in the 111th General Assembly, the resolution would be put before voters in a statewide referendum in 2022.
The framers of the state Constitution knew what they were doing in devising a system that insulates the state’s top attorney from the ballot box and the whims of both the legislative and executive branches of state government. The intent of this resolution seems clear - to give state lawmakers the power to appoint an attorney general who would act as a rubber stamp for all legislation - good or bad - passed by the General Assembly.
Before advancing this bad idea, Tennessee legislators should examine how this approach has worked in other states where the office of attorney general has been used by the politically ambitious as a stepping stone for higher office.
Thankfully, our constitution here in Tennessee has spared us from such political opportunists. The attorney general in Tennessee spends his or her time on serious legal matters, not politics.
Tennessee has earned a reputation for having long-serving professionals to hold this office. Making the attorney general an elected office or a rubber stamp for the General Assembly opens the door to political opportunists who will seek this job as a means for building statewide name recognition for a future bid for governor or U.S. Senate.
That was one of the reasons the state General Assembly, at the prodding of former Gov. Don Sundquist, agreed in the late 1990s to abolish the three elected officers of the Tennessee Public Service Commission. During its history, the PSC was used by many politicians - with varying degrees of success - as a stepping stone to other statewide offices.
Online: http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/
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