Joint Government Operations Committee advances broad package of agency rule updates; housing choice voucher change draws questions

The Joint Government Operations Committee met July 23, 2025, and gave positive recommendations or advanced a series of agency rule changes affecting utilities oversight, housing choice vouchers, public records, professional licensing, health facility abuse reporting and K–12 charter school rules. Lawmakers asked detailed questions on a proposed Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) change to allow project-based vouchers and on enrollment and funding details for newly authorized "opportunity" public charter schools.

Committee members advanced the majority of rules with positive recommendations; a few items recorded split recommendations between the House and Senate. The package moved rules intended to modernize agency procedures, align rule language with statute or federal guidance, and repeal outdated regulatory language.

The meeting opened with the Tennessee Board of Utility Regulation (TBOR) presenting rules that repeal and replace the regulations formerly governing two predecessor boards consolidated by a 2023 law. Edwin Carter, legislative senior auditor with the comptroller’s office and a TBOR appointee, explained the rules govern board operations. Lawmakers asked about board composition and subject-matter specialties; Rachel Buckley, general counsel, said appointments typically include representatives from municipal utilities, utility districts and members with finance backgrounds. The committee voted to recommend the rules positively in both chambers.

THDA officials summarized proposed changes to the agency’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) administrative plan to add a project-based voucher (PBV) chapter. Jeremy Hyde, THDA director of government affairs, and Pascual McLeod, assistant director for Section 8, told the committee that HUD permits a public housing agency to project-base up to 20% of its HCV allocation and that THDA intends to start with an initial 5% allocation and seek authority to increase toward the 20% cap. McLeod said THDA serves more than 6,200 families in 72 counties and that about 600 voucher holders statewide are currently unable to find landlords willing to accept vouchers. Committee members pressed for detail on the percentage, effects on housing density, whether vouchers would be used for new construction or condo units, vacancy payment policies, Davis-Bacon wage implications for construction costs, and whether federal funding could be clawed back. THDA stated PBV rental payments continue to go directly to landlords, that voucher subsidy amounts are set by HUD, that vacancy claim payments were not adopted in the administrative plan (landlords are responsible for their own waiting lists), and that administrative fee reserves can hold unused HUD administrative funds. Lawmakers requested follow-up materials on several operational…