Weekly Bill Check-in!
This information is provided by 70th District State Representative Clay Doggett, R-Pulaski, who represents Giles, most of Lawrence and Lincoln counties.
Rep. Doggett had some great victories and some tough defeats recently (on companion bills in the Senate). Check out where his bills stand in the Tennessee General Assembly!
House Bill 706
House Bill 706 reduces, from nine months to two months, the time a law enforcement officer must be retired before accepting reemployment without a loss or suspension of retirement benefits.
The bill extends the authorization for a retired law enforcement officer to be reemployed without a loss or suspension of retirement benefits from July 1, 2023 to July 1, 2026.
House Bill 706 was to be heard in the Finance, Ways, and Means Committee after passing through the Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee.
House Bill 707
House Bill 707, as amended, raises, from $800 to $1,200, the annual pay supplement provided to local law enforcement officers for completing 40 hours of annual in-service training.
It also changes the mandatory retirement age for state employees and authorizes local jurisdictions to change the mandatory retirement age from age 60 to 65 and provides that supplemental benefits payable to those members under the 2007 or 1997 mandatory retirement provision cease at the age requirement for receipt of old age and survivors benefits under Social Security (age 62) or the month after the member's death whichever is later.
It establishes additional options and requirements for bridge benefits and revises the base benefits improvement for legacy and hybrid retirement plans.
House Bill 1l707 sailed through the Public Service Subcommittee , and it was to be heard in the State Government Committee.
House Bill 1019
House Bill 1019 enacts the "Pregnancy Resource Tax Credit Act," which authorizes business, excise, and franchise tax credits for businesses that make monetary contributions to eligible nonprofit organizations that provide certain pregnancy-related services.
It was placed behind the budget in the Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee.
House Bill 1020
House Bill 1020 requires judges at a polling place to hand count and record the number of ballots counted and compare the number with the tally sheets after the polling place closes.
The Senate companion bill failed for lack of second, so this bill was taken off notice in the Elections and Campaign Finance Subcommittee.
Bills behind the budget:
House Bill 31
House Bill 31 prohibits probation for any person convicted of rape.
House Bill 701
House Bill 701 “cleans up” the Child Sexual Abuse laws, by expanding the offense of solicitation of a minor to include statutory rape by an authority figure and requiring a person convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child be sentenced to community supervision for life.
House Bill 702
HB 702 seeks to address the prevalence of fentanyl in our state by enhancing the punishment for the sale, manufacture, delivery of, and possession with intent to sell, manufacture, or deliver fentanyl, carfentanil, remifentanil, alfentanil, and thiafentanil, from a Class C felony to a Class B felony. This applies to any amount of 0.5 grams or more but less than 15 grams, and for any amount less than 0.5 grams if a weapon was involved or if the offense resulted in death or bodily injury of another person.
House Bill 708
House Bill 708 entitles each local unit of government that requires all full-time certified local correctional officers to complete an in-service training course each calendar year to receive from the Tennessee Corrections Institute (TCI) a pay supplement of $800 for each officer if the training course is: (a) provided or approved by TCI; (b) appropriate to the officer’s rank and responsibility and the size and location of the officer’s department, and; (c) at least 40 hours in duration.
Bills passed in the House:
House Bill 30
House Bill 30 requires a person, in jurisdictions with an adult-oriented establishment board (Board), to obtain a valid entertainer permit from the Board prior to performing adult cabaret entertainment for compensation, and it prohibits public, private, and commercial establishments from allowing a person younger than 18 to attend a performance featuring adult cabaret entertainment, with definitions of what constitutes adult cabaret entertainment.
It failed for lack of second in the Senate State and Local Government Committee.
House Bill 47
House Bill 47 seeks to establish the phrase “Send Me.” as an additional motto of Tennessee.
It has passed the House and awaits the Senate Calendar Committee to place it on the Senate floor Calendar.
House Bill 704
House Bill 704 authorizes the medicaid fraud control unit of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) to investigate misappropriation of funds or property in healthcare facilities receiving payments under the state Medicaid plan and board and care facilities as allowed by federal law and complaints of abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of Medicaid recipients.
It also authorizes the Director of the TBI to create necessary divisions in the bureau.
It passed in the House by way on the House Consent Calendar on March 13.
It had already passed the Senate, so now both Speakers have signed it, and it awaits the Governor's action. Lee has 10 days to sign a bill, or it will automatically become law.
House Bill 705
House Bill 705 requires a court ordering the expunction of a person’s public records of a criminal offense to include the appropriate state control number in the copy of the expunction order it sends to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI).
House Bill 705 was signed by Gov. Lee on March 14, becoming Rep. Doggett's first bill to become law this session!
There's still time left for some great presentations thorough debates and legislative surprises. Follow Rep. Doggett's bills to see which ones make it across the line!