Month: May 2017

  The final action of the Tennessee House of Representatives 2017  session of the Tennessee General Assembly was for  Rep. Tilman Goins (R-Morristown) to roll a bill he sponsored this year,  HB16/SB38, to 2018, after a conference committee could not reconcile the differences between the House and the Senate. The bill authorizes members of the General Assembly and political campaigns to fund raise during prescribed legislative recesses in even numbered, or election, years. The move was unusual, even in a session of unusual legislative events, most notably an increase in the gas tax which has remained unchanged for nearly three decades and maneuvers that nearly “blew up” the budget. The Senate added an amendment that was not accepted by the House, and the Senate refused to recede from its amendment, thereby creating a kind of stalemate. In such situations, a conference committee is appointed, usually consisting of at least three members of each house.  In this instance, the conference committee consisted of Senators, the Senate bill’s sponsor, Steve Southerland (R-Morristown), Bo Watson (R-Hixson) and Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) and four Representatives, Tilman Goins, Glen Casada (R-Franklin), Andy Holt (R-Dresden), and Mike Stewart (D-Nashville) The conference committee’s mission is “to meet and attempt to…