State and Local Government Committee advances tax, pension and social-policy measures; adopts three agency budgets

The Tennessee Senate State and Local Government Committee advanced several bills and approved three state agency budgets in a four-hour meeting that combined tax fixes, pension divestment language, local tax and rental rules and measures aimed at preventing discrimination by state-funded programs.

Why it matters: The committee moved measures that could change how local governments manage small delinquent tax accounts, how pension funds screen direct holdings, and how state-funded nonprofit and religious organizations must treat eligible participants in programs financed with public money. The committee also forwarded the proposed budgets for the Department of Human Resources, the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance and the Department of Veterans Services to the Finance Committee.

The committee voted first on a bill brought by Senator Gordon Hyer that would let local governing bodies decline to bill certain very small property-tax delinquencies and abate related penalties and interest. The change aims to reduce collection costs for counties by avoiding pursuit of accounts the county considers uneconomical to collect. Will Denami, testifying for the assessors of property, opposed the measure on constitutional grounds and urged caution, saying Tennessee law requires uniform, equitable assessment and collection.

"Tennessee is required to be fair, equitable, uniform," Will Denami, speaking on behalf of the assessors of property, told the committee, and he said the existing constitutional framework makes a statewide exemption difficult to implement without a constitutional amendment.

Sponsor Gordon Hyer responded that the bill is permissive and would allow — not require — local governing bodies to decline to pursue very small balances. The committee approved the bill and will send it to the Finance Committee.

The committee also approved legislation that would require public pension plans to review and divest directly held equities of majority-owned Chinese companies. Senator Jon…