County lobbyists outline 2026 priorities: revenue-sharing fix, military EV registration exemption and care facility bill

Representative Robert Stevens and county lobbyist Will presented legislative priorities and timing to the steering committee ahead of the legislative session.

Stevens said a revenue-sharing bill passed last year will require a technical fix to determine how the state pays the shared amounts and that he is working on education-related bills with a state senator. He described a proposed bill to allow active military members on out-of-state orders who drive electric vehicles to avoid a state registration tax that currently exempts gas-powered vehicles on deployment. He also said he is reviewing a bill to expand prescribed pediatric extended care facilities for children with severe disabilities and that fiscal analysis will determine whether to file it.

Will provided county-level economic context and noted recent revenue numbers: "our total tax revenue now is 300 and, 27,600,000.0 growth year over year, which is 4.9%." He said the county is roughly $34,900,000 over budget estimates to date and described a proposed real-estate transfer tax-share approach to phase in keeping half of transfer taxes in the community to pay infrastructure projects. Will reminded commissioners the bill-filing deadline is at the end of the month and that filings can take a day to populate in the system.

Both speakers asked the committee to monitor bills relevant to Rutherford County and to be prepared for amendment activity during a compressed bill calendar.