This week saw movement on some important legislation for state employees. The big news was the Senate State & Local Government Committee’s passing of SB0361, the Burden of Proof bill. This is a critical piece of legislation for state employees, and its passage by the Senate State and Local Gov. committee was a crucial first step.
We appreciate Senate Bill Sponsor Sen. Joey Hensley for the work he’s done on this bill. We are also grateful to the committee members for their unanimous 9-0 vote, which indicates an understanding of the bill’s significance and exhibits strong support for state employees. We thank them for their bipartisan support of this legislation and our dedicated, hard-working state employees:
Thank You, Senate State and Local Government Committee, for your support of state employees!
Senator Richard Briggs – Chair (Senate District 7, Knoxville)
Senator Todd Gardenhire – 1st Vice-Chair (Senate District 10, Chattanooga)
Senator Page Walley – 2nd Vice-Chair (Senate District 26, Bolivar)
Senator Ed Jackson (Senate District 27, Jackson)
Senator Brian Kelsey (Senate District 31, Germantown)
Senator Sara Kyle (Senate District 30, Memphis)
Senator Bill Powers (Senate District 22, Clarksville)
Senator Ken Yager (Senate District 12, Kingston)
Senator Jeff Yarbro (Senate District 21, Nashville)
The bill now moves to the Senate Finance committee.
The Burden of Proof companion bill in the House, HB0954 sponsored by Rep. Mary Littleton, is currently scheduled before the House Public Service & Employees Subcommittee on Wednesday, March 17, at 9:00 a.m. CT.
The House Public Service and Employees Subcommittee members include the following Representatives:
(If a committee member listed below is your legislator, please email or call them, let them know you are a constituent and a state employee, and ask them to vote “yes” Wednesday on HB0954. If you do not know who your legislators are, visit this link to find out: https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/Apps/fmlv3/districts.aspx)
Representative Esther Helton – Chair
615-741-1934
[email protected]
Representative Rebecca Alexander
615-741-2251
[email protected]
Representative Darren Jernigan
615-741-6959
[email protected]
Representative Curtis Johnson
615-741-4341
[email protected]
Representative Kelly Keisling
615-741-6852
[email protected]
Representative Pat Marsh
615-741-6824
[email protected]
Representative John Mark Windle
615-741-1260
[email protected]
More information about the Burden of Proof legislation and why it is important for state employees is contained in our Legislative Update from March 5, 2021.
Other news:
On Wednesday, Rep. Tom Leatherwood presented HB1114, which would provide childcare services for the children of state employees, to the Public Service Subcommittee, who passed the bill on to the House State Government Committee. That bill is scheduled before the House State Government Committee on Tuesday, March 16, 2021, at 1:30 p.m. CT.
In addition to the legislation mentioned above, we expect some movement on other legislation in our legislative agenda. All current bill statuses are included below. Budget hearings also continue next week, and we will keep you up to date on notable details from those presentations.
Bill Statuses for TSEA Legislative Agenda Bills:
Burden of Proof
SB0361 | HB0954
Bill Sponsors:
Sen. Hensley, Sen. Yager
Rep. Eldridge, Rep. Littleton
Senate Status: 03/09/21 – Senate State & Local Government Committee recommended. Sent to Senate Finance.
House Status: 03/11/21 – Set for House Public Service Subcommittee 03/17/21.
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Match on 401(k)
SB0516 | HB1016
Bill Sponsors:
Sen. Briggs
Rep. Hicks
Senate Status: 03/10/21 – Set for Senate State & Local Government Committee 03/16/21.
House Status: 03/11/21 – Set for House Public Service Subcommittee 03/17/21.
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Child care authorization
SB0022 | HB1114
Bill Sponsors:
Sen. Kyle, Co-sponsor Sen. Gardenhire
Rep. Leatherwood
Senate Status: 03/08/21 – Senate passed. House Status: 03/11/21 – Set for
House State Government Committee 03/16/21.
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Pension Transfer
SB1520 | HB1540
Bill Sponsors:
Sen. Roberts
Rep. Weaver
Senate Status: 02/22/21 – Referred to Senate State & Local Government Committee.
House Status: 03/01/21 – Referred to House Public Service Subcommittee.
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Restore Longevity for all
SB0402 | HB0414
Bill Sponsors:
Sen. Jackson
Rep. Sparks
Senate Status: 02/10/21 – Referred to Senate State & Local Government Committee.
House Status: 02/10/21 – Referred to House Public Service Subcommittee.
