The Tennessee House and Senate passed a revised version of Gov. Bill Lee's $59.8 billion budget on Wednesday.
Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixson) said the legislature’s amendment funded their own priorities without increasing the bottom line by redirecting funding from the governor’s proposed budget amendment.
“While some members may see dark clouds on the horizon for the state of Tennessee,” said Watson, “this budget looks forward and I believe puts us in a position to handle any storms that might come our way.”
Watson said for members who were looking for any reason to support the budget, the bill includes $42 million specifically for grants in House and Senate initiatives. The budget also includes $46 million disaster relief funding, $5.4 million for safety upgrades at the University of Memphis, $78 million from TennCare Shared Savings for rural hospitals’ uncompensated care and an additional $35.6 million to the Rainy Day Fund.
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The budget passed the House first (79-16-1) with several amendments. House Amendment 3 makes several changes. Among the most notable is a change allowing Tennessee State University to utilize funds for operations that had previously only been approved for capital projects. The reappropriation of funds is something Rep. Harold Love (D-Nashville) had pushed for this session as a means to help the university right-side its finances.
Another amendment was added to the House legislation appropriating $8 million for reimbursements to county election commissions for primary elections. That was based on a bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), which passed in the House on Monday. For the budget, lawmakers approved House Amendments 2, 3, 4, 12 and 16.
Both Republican and Democratic members who spoke thanked representatives and staff for their work on the budget. Democrats still scolded Republicans for not doing enough to help Tennesseans who are feeling the strain of today’s economy.
Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville), who sits on the Finance, Ways and Means Committee, spoke first on the appropriations bill, saying that while he thought a lot of the work that had been done made this budget better than the version submitted by the governor, he still wasn’t sure he could commit to voting for it. In the 30-2-1 vote, he ultimately voted against the budget, along with Sen. Charlene Oliver (D-Nashville). Senate Democratic Caucus Chair London Lamar (D-Memphis) voted “present.”
“I think that we can do better,” Yarbro said. “We've got to start actually dealing with some of these critical long-term issues.”
Several amendments by Democrats in both the House and Senate were also not added to the bill, being either tabled or withdrawn due to lack of member support. In the Senate, Yarbro suggested an amendment to hold off on funding the governor’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act, known to provide vouchers for children to attend private schools. Yarbro’s amendment would have removed $150 million from the budget for the first year of the program, but would have preserved funding that was promised to school systems and teachers.
Johnson moved to table the motion, noting that in the budget they had proposed an addition of $244 million for the public schools funding formula and highlighted other funds for public education.
"We are doing a lot for public education, and we have in recent years,” Johnson said. “But while we do that, we’re also going to empower parents whose children are not being served by the public school system.”
With the budget now passed, the 114th General Assembly could wrap up its 2025 session as early as next week.
