Votes at a glance: Senate Finance committee advances budget bills and 20 other measures to committee on the calendar

The Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee on April 15 recommended a package of budget and member bills for passage to the committee on the calendar and ultimately for floor consideration. Several bills were adopted after brief explanations and mostly routine votes; others drew questions from members and a few recorded dissenting votes.

What the committee advanced (selection of bills acted on April 15; committee action is "recommended for passage to committee on the calendar" unless noted):

- Senate Bill 14-29 (Budget Implementation, BIMP): Committee adopted two amendments removing a proposed redirection of tire sales tax revenue and enacting statutory changes to implement the budget; committee recorded 10 ayes on final passage to committee on the calendar.

- Senate Bill 14-30 (Bond Authorization / Capital Outlay): Committee approved a bond authorization bill as amended that authorizes up to roughly $1.034 billion in general obligation bonds for capital projects, including higher education, agency facilities and highway projects. Members questioned fiscal assumptions and debt-service budgeting; committee recommended the bill for passage to committee on the calendar.

- Senate Bill 3 00 (cognitive-behavioral training for certain misdemeanants): Committee approved an amended bill allowing judges discretion to require cognitive behavioral training for certain class A misdemeanor offenders; recorded outcome: recommended for passage (vote recorded: 6 ayes, 3 noes).

- House Joint Resolution 98 (PACT Act expansion request): Committee recommended urging Congress to expand the federal PACT Act to include certain COVID-19 treatments given under emergency use authorization and to add anthrax vaccinations as qualifying exposures; recommended for passage to committee on the calendar.

- Senate Bill 9 63 (treatment of charges for persons found incompetent to stand trial): The committee approved an amendment extending certain timing and court-notification requirements for cases involving defendants found incompetent; recommended for passage to committee on the calendar.

- Senate Bill 8 69 (allow baiting for deer hunting on private land with a bait privilege license): Committee approved the bill as amended; the sponsor said the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency would retain authority to suspend baiting privileges to prevent disease spread; committee recommendation to calendar noted 8 ayes, 1 no and 1 present on the vote.

- Senate Bill 4 09 (court clerks' fees and a continuing education fund): Committee approved an amendment that phases in modest fee increases over three years and establishes a $2 assessment to fund clerks' continuing education; recommended for passage to committee on the calendar (10 ayes recorded).

- Senate Bill 11 39 (developer plans, utility review timelines; third-party review option): Committee recommended the bill for passage; sponsor said the measure would allow a developer to procure a third-party review if a utility misses a 30-day review deadline and caps third-party inspection fees at 2% of development cost.

- Senate Bill 1 65 (increase ceiling on state matching funds for human services): Committee recommended the bill for passage; fiscal note and caps by local assessment tier were described to the committee.

- Senate Bill 8 43 (TWRA funding, wetlands base reserve): Committee approved an amendment requiring a $6 million base reserve in the TWRA wetlands fund; sponsor said the change preserves wetland acquisition money while allowing other TWRA activities when the reserve exceeds $6 million.

- Senate Bill 6 93 (enhanced penalty for intentional injury to a child): Committee recommended the bill for passage; sponsor said the bill raises the offense for knowingly inflicting injury on a child (9 or older) to a class E felony, while preserving higher penalties for the youngest victims.

- Senate Bill 12 96 (threats of mass violence and doxing): Committee advanced an amended bill that creates felony penalties for knowingly making threats of mass violence in some circumstances and criminalizes posting another person's home address or phone number online with intent to harm; sponsor and members emphasized the need for prosecutorial discretion to avoid overcriminalization.

- Senate Bill 13 06 (codifying Department of Tourist Development divisions): Committee recommended for passage; sponsor described no fiscal impact while formalizing the marketing and welcome-center structure.

- Senate Bill 1 33 (voter registration verification portal): Committee advanced an amended bill to require secure electronic verification of citizenship and felony conviction status in cooperation with the Department of Safety and the TBI; sponsor reported an $800,000 fiscal impact funded in the administration amendment.

- Senate Bill 9 01 (permanent school turnaround program): Committee recommended making the current turnaround pilot into a permanent program with a rolling cohort up to 15 priority schools; recorded recommendation to calendar.

- Senate Bill 12 45 (statewide bondsmen licensing board): Committee approved an amendment to create a centralized statewide licensing framework while preserving local judicial discretion; committee recommended the bill to committee on the calendar.

- House Joint Resolution 100 (opioid-abatement allocation encouragement): Committee recommended the resolution urging the Opioid Abatement Council to allocate at least 25% of settlement funds to overdose initiatives until overdose deaths fall by 25%; the measure is nonbinding.

- Senate Bill 8 61 (transfer of Tennessee Human Rights enforcement to the Attorney General's office): Committee advanced an amended bill that dissolves the Human Rights Commission and moves investigatory and enforcement duties to the attorney general's office; senators raised questions about conflicts and the handling of pending cases; committee recommended the bill for passage to committee on the calendar.

Notes on procedure and recorded votes: Several items were adopted unanimously or with clear tallies recorded in the transcript; where the transcript did not include a clear numerical tally for a particular item, the committee record states only that the bill was "recommended for passage to committee on the calendar." For bills where the transcript recorded explicit tallies, those numbers are noted above.

Next steps: Most measures advanced by the committee will be scheduled on the Senate calendar for floor consideration. The committee chair said the budget bills will be prioritized on the floor schedule in the coming days.