Legislative Update – Week Ending 4/14/23

TSEA April 14, 2023 Comments Off on Legislative Update – Week Ending 4/14/23
Legislative Update – Week Ending 4/14/23

This year’s legislative session is nearing its end, and we are pleased to report that it has been an excellent year for state and higher education employees. The budget contains significant pay and benefits investments supporting state and higher ed employees, pending passage. We encourage all TSEA members to thank their legislators for their continued support of state and higher education employees.

The legislative session will likely conclude within the next two weeks. Only a couple of the bills TSEA is working to advance this year remain in the legislative process, but those should be resolved this week.

Paid Leave

We are happy to report that both the House and Senate have approved the Paid Leave Bill, which has been sent to the Governor’s desk for signature. As amended and passed, the bill provides six weeks of paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child by a state employee. Additionally, the bill makes changes to the leave policy to allow employees to receive all their annual leave for the year at once (on your hire date and service anniversary), changes the statute language to allow the state to fund all or part of voluntary benefits (including dental insurance and long-term disability benefits), and clarifies retiree eligibility requirements for various health benefits.


Lobby Day

We would like to thank everyone who attended TSEA’s annual lobby day event at the Tennessee State Capitol earlier this week. Your participation and advocacy are essential to our efforts to promote the interests and rights of state employees in Tennessee. We encourage all attendees to provide feedback on their experience during the meetings with state legislators and share any pictures from the legislative meetings.

To fill out our Lobby Day Legislator Meeting recap form, CLICK HERE.

To upload your photos from the Lobby Day event, CLICK HERE.

Thank you for your continued support of TSEA and state and higher education employees in Tennessee!

Lobby Day Photos

To view photos from Lobby Day, click the link below. We will continue to update this page as photos are submitted.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS FROM LOBBY DAY


Lobby Day Video Recap


Legislation

CLICK HERE for the latest status for key legislation we are monitoring or working to advance.

As a reminder, Livestreams and videos of legislative meetings and activities are accessible on the legislative calendar page at this link: https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/schedule/


That concludes our update for this week. Stay tuned to our legislative updates for the latest news about the work TSEA is doing for you on the hill. Thank you for being a TSEA member!