Search Results for: gas tax

The $250 Million Education Bill the Democrats Reportedly Want in Return for IMPROVE Act Support is Still Alive

Laura Baigert

  Twenty-three of the 25 Democrats in the House voted for Gov. Haslam’s gas tax increasing IMPROVE Act last Wednesday,  amid rumors of a $250 million deal made between Governor Haslam and House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley) in a quid pro quo tradeoff: Democrats vote for the governor’s bill, the governor backs House Bill 841, sponsored by Fitzhugh, which appropriates $250 million from excess state tax revenue over-collected in fiscal years 2015-16 and 2016-17 to spend on education in the K-12 Block Grant Act. Democrats would have been expected to oppose the gas tax increase, given the many arguments that the IMPROVE Act’s tax cuts went largely to a handful of businesses, not middle class and working class voters who comprise the traditional Democratic constituency. The higher cost of living for middle class and working class voters resulting from the increased prices for food and other staples of life resulting from higher diesel taxes paid by trucking companies will likely not be offset by the small reductions in the sales tax on food. HB 841 was on the agenda for the House Finance Ways & Means Subcommittee meeting scheduled for Wednesday, April 26, but Leader Fitzhugh said the plan is…

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Nashville Mayor Megan Barry Presents Plans for ‘Income Diversity Within Neighborhoods’ and Mass Transit in State of Metro Address

Wendy Wilson

In her second State of Metro address Wednesday morning, Nashville Mayor Megan Barry presented a laundry list of big-spending plans that liberals will love and make conservatives reach for their Tums. The Democratic mayor called for paid family leave for Metro employees and “income diversity within neighborhoods” that are “transit-oriented.” In addition, she wants environmental programs to make Nashville the “greenest city in the Southeast.” She also used progressive buzzwords about promoting racial and ethnic diversity and welcoming immigrants. “Nashville is a warm and welcoming place,” she said. “We build bridges, not walls, and we welcome and celebrate the diversity that makes us strong.” Barry delivered her State of Metro address outside Bridgestone Arena, where a stage and seating were set up to accommodate the public. The speech featured details of her $2.2 billion budget proposal for fiscal year 2017-2018. The Metro Council will consider the proposal and hold public hearings. She said that Metro Nashville is expected to have the lowest combined property tax rate in its 54-year history of combined city-county government at less than $3.16 per $100 of assessed value following the 2017 property reappraisal. But new taxes are needed for roads and transit, she said. Barry praised passage of…

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Boss Doss Admits To TDOT Contract After Being Elected

Laura Baigert
Tennessee Star

For the first time, State Rep. Barry “Boss” Doss (R-Leoma), who is the House sponsor of Governor Haslam’s IMPROVE Act “Tax Cut Act of 2017” and is serving as Chairman of the House Transportation Committee, admitted to having a contract with the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) since he was elected in 2012. The admission came during an interview with WSMV Monday, as he was attempting to refute conflict of interest charges related to his sponsorship of the IMPROVE Act “Tax Cut Act of 2017.” The potential conflict of interest, as reported by The Tennessee Star, was raised on March 27 via a letter from the Tennessee Republican Assembly (TRA) to Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) that called for an ethics investigation.  Rep. Doss, serving as Chairman of the Transportation Committee and House sponsor of Governor Haslam’s IMPROVE Act with his “capability to sway the committee” or “manipulation of the rules” with the outcome of the legislative process having the potential for “direct financial impact on his business” did not meet the “Guiding Principle” of avoiding even the appearance of conflicts, TRA said. Thus far, Speaker Harwell has not responded to the request for an investigation and Doss had not commented. That was until Monday, when Rep.…

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Williamson County Businessman Bill Lee to Run for GOP Gubernatorial Nomination

Tennessee Star Staff

  “Williamson County businessman Bill Lee, who is filing as a candidate for Governor tomorrow, will hold a media availability at the Nashville Farmers’ Market, talking about the kickoff of his ’95 Counties, 95 Days RV Tour’ and his plans as he begins his campaign running for Governor of Tennessee,” Lee’s campaign said in a media advisory released on Sunday: Bill Lee is the Chairman of Lee Company, a family-owned construction, facilities and home services company with offices and operations throughout Middle Tennessee, Northern Alabama and Southern Kentucky. Lee Company employs more than 1,100 people. Lee currently serves on the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, Belmont University Board of Trustees, is president of Tennesseans for Economic Growth and is past chairman of the YMCA of Middle Tennessee. He serves on the board of Men of Valor Prison Ministry and has been involved with in faith-based ministries in Africa, Central America, Haiti and Iraq. The event will be held at the Nashville Farmers’ Market, located at 900 Rosa L. Parks Boulevard in Nashville. Lee joins former Haslam administration TECD commissioner Randy Boyd, a successful Knoxville businessman, as the only announced candidate for the GOP nomination for Governor. Former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean…

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Jeff Hartline Commentary: In Tennessee, Growing Government is the New Faux ‘Conservative’

Tennessee Star Staff

By Jeff Hartline We hear from time to time the graying generation express “Fifty is the new Thirty” or we hear fashionistas tell us that “Red is the new Black”. In trying to piece together the policy “MOAB” that went off yesterday in the Tennessee General Assembly, we have concluded “Growing Government is the new faux ‘Conservative’ “. How so, you say? Well, for years conservatives have been hearing that all we need to get Tennessee back on track is to elect more Republicans. So, Tennessee voters did just that. In fact, the voters overachieved by electing a Republican Governor, seventy-four State Representatives (out of a possible 99) and twenty-eight State Senators (out of a possible 33). We heard “It matters who governs” and “We want to right-size government”. So, how’s that working out for conservative policy? Well, if you consider conservatism to be standing up for smaller and more limited government, more Constitutionally-focused government, less taxes, limited state spending, more efficiency, more transparency, less cronyism and focused attention on traditional family values, you have been sorely disappointed. Politically-savvy individuals realize that when you have divided government, you must be willing to compromise on issues in order to get anything…

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Brentwood City Commission Debate Focuses on Withdrawing From Williamson County Schools and Forming City School System

Wendy Wilson

Candidates for the Brentwood City Commission tackled school issues, traffic problems and Gov. Haslam’s IMPROVE Act at a debate Wednesday evening. Four candidates are running for three seats in the nonpartisan May 2 election. Three candidates are incumbents. They are Mayor Regina Smithson, Mark Gorman and Rhea Little. The only challenger is John Byers. Around 100 people attended the debate, held at LBMC in the new Hill Center. The top question of the evening involved talk of pulling out of Williamson County Schools and forming a city school system. There has been frustration in recent days with a school district proposal that would send some Brentwood students to schools in other parts of the county because of overcrowding in Brentwood schools. Smithson said the focus for now should be on persuading the county commission to vote for a plan to fund expansions at Brentwood Middle and Brentwood High to prevent the rezoning. Gorman noted that the idea of forming a city school system has been floated before and “perhaps it is time to do a study and revisit it.” Little said it’s not something he has advocated but said he would support a study. Byers called it “a bit premature”…

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Mayor Rick Graham Re-Elected in Spring Hill; 3 New Aldermen Win as Incumbents Fall

Tennessee Star Staff

“Voters in the April 13, 2017, Spring Hill Municipal Election re-elected Mayor Rick Graham to a second four-year term,” the Spring Hill City website reports. “Incumbent Alderman Amy Wurth, who ran unopposed, was re-elected to Ward 1, and three new aldermen will join the board: Jeff Graves in Ward 2, Kevin Gavigan in Ward 3, and Vincent Fuqua in Ward 4, the only seat without an incumbent in the race,” the site adds. “There was a significant victory for conservatives in Thursday’s Spring Hill election,” a source familiar with Williamson County politics tells The Tennessee Star. “In Ward 2, Alderman Jonathan Duda was not re-elected even though State Rep. Sam Whitson, a big supporter of Gov. Haslam’s gas tax increase, had a mailer and ads supporting him. Jeff Graves, the actual Republican candidate won in Ward 2 over Duda by the largest margin of any of the contested races,” the source says. Duda’s mailer included these words of praise from Whitson: “As a member of the Transportation Committee and your State Representative of the 65th District, I know that Jonathan Duda is doing the hard work that is necessary to complete the major road projects that are desperately needed to…

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Commentary: Tennessee Is the Patron State of Fake Fiscal Notes

Tennessee Star Staff

  by John Harris In the movie Shooter, Mark Wahlberg, who is playing a retired sniper, refers to Tennessee as the “patron state of shootin’ stuff.” Some Tennesseans smiled and said, “Yep”! Our volunteer spirit, patriotism, sacrifices in war, and culture of owning and enjoying firearms is a generational right – particularly when it involves constitutionally protected rights. Apparently, many in our Legislature and our Governor have a differing view. The Republican-controlled supermajority, especially Leadership, and a Republican Governor refuse to act like constitutionally principled leaders on 2nd Amendment issues. Their procedural dirty tricks and shenanigans do not just pertain to firearms issues. Consider the stunts being used to pass a massive gas tax increase, their successful effort to take away our right to vote for judges, increasing the state’s budget by approximately $7 billion in just a few years while claiming that they “reduced taxes”, their support of Common Core, Medicaid expansion, and the creation of ObamaCare exchanges. How has this happened? From its procedural toolbox, Legislative leadership has allowed “ghost voting” and secret “pre-meetings” and abused the committee system with pre-ordained members and choreographed committee productions. But perhaps their most effective tool is their use of the Fiscal…

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Islamic Group Aligns with LGBT Advocates to Oppose Tennessee’s Mark Green Appointment as Army Secretary

Tina LaFleur
Tennessee Star

  The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), perhaps best known as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding scandal, issued a statement denouncing Tennessee state senator Mark Green’s nomination to serve as President Donald Trumps Secretary of the Army. CAIR – who forcefully label people and groups with whom they disagree with the Muslim Brotherhood term, “Islamophobic” – announced its opposition to Green’s confirmation due to past remarks and policy positions. Offered as proof of his “Islamophobia,” CAIR’s statement included a laundry-list of quotes by Sen. Green, apparently all from a single appearance at a Chattanooga Tea Party meeting last year. Perhaps most interesting about the pro-Islamic organization’s statement is at the end, with its acknowledgment and alignment with LGBT advocates against Green: Other groups are opposing Green’s confirmation because of his criticism of federal attempts to bar discrimination in workplaces and businesses. SEE: L.G.B.T. Advocates Criticize Nominee for Army Secretary State Sen. Mark Green is a medical doctor, West Point graduate, and a career military veteran with a distinguished record of service. He is a staunch advocate for limited government, secure borders, and fiscal responsibility. Before being tapped for the Army Secretary position, Green was strongly considering a run for…

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LGBT Groups Mount Opposition to Tennessee’s Mark Green as Army Secretary

Tina LaFleur
Tennessee Star

  LGBT advocates like Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Army Military Partner Association (AMPA) are organizing to block the confirmation of Tennessee state senator Mark Green as President Trump’s next Army Secretary. In what appears to be a coordinated media campaign, several news outlets are reporting Green’s policy positions and record on so-called LGBT issues are “deeply concerning.” Friday, the New York Times reported: A Tennessee state senator who has criticized federal attempts to bar discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in workplaces and businesses was nominated on Friday to be President Trump’s next secretary of the Army. After a brief bio, the Times quoted from a blog post by AMPA: On Tuesday, the American Military Partner Association, the largest organization of L.G.B.T. military families, accused Mr. Green of making “a shameful political career out of targeting L.G.B.T. people for discrimination.” Monday, TheHill.com published: LGBT groups are raising pressure on President Trump’s nominee for Army secretary, just three days after the pick became official, and are vowing a fight. Trump “couldn’t have picked a worse nominee to pick a fight with Congress,” David Stacy, government affairs director at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), said Monday. Tuesday morning, the Washington post…

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Tennessee Republican Assembly Honors State Rep. Andy Holt with First Annual Gold Star Award

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

  NASHVILLE, Tennessee–The Tennessee Republican Assembly honored State Rep. Andy Holt (R-Dresden) with the presentation of its first annual Gold Star “Principles Over Politics” Award at its meeting in Nashville on Saturday. TRA President Sharon Ford presented Holt with the award, in recognition of his long standing championship of conservative principles in the Tennessee General Assembly. “Andy Holt first went to the Tennessee House of Representatives as a legislator,” Ford said. “He has become a statesman.” Ford said that Holt had been singled out for calling for a stop to tax payers paying for the lavish lifestyles of state legislators. “Did you know your taxpayer dollars are being used to host fancy parties with open bars, live entertainment, and all you can eat shrimp, steak and other fine eats? Of course, you’re not invited- even though it’s your money… Ruling class only. The culture of elitism is about to come to an end!” the TRA website says of the practice. First elected in 2010, Holt has become known for his inerrant defense of conservative principles and his uncanny ability to generate publicity for his cause. This personal characteristic, Ford noted, that was not unlike President Donald Trump. State Senator Mae…

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Speaker Harwell Says She ‘Cannot Recall a Bill from the Finance Subcommittee’

Christina Botteri
Tennessee Star

  Tennessee State House Speaker Beth Harwell’s office contacted The Tennessee Star Tuesday morning in response to our story Monday about State Representative Jerry Sexton’s press conference. In that press conference, Rep. Sexton (R-Bean Station) called on Speaker Harwell to send back the Gax Tax bill to the House Transportation Subcommittee. “I saw the recent Tennessee Star article entitled “State Rep. Sexton Tells Speaker Harwell: ‘Hit The Restart Button’ On Gas Tax, Send It Back to Subcommittee ‘To Be Debated Fairly and Openly’” and wanted to clarify something,” Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Policy Kara Owen wrote. Ms. Owen continued: The Speaker of the House cannot recall a bill from the House Finance Subcommittee to the House Transportation Subcommittee, per our House rules. This takes a motion on the House floor by a member, and 66 votes (two thirds) for the motion to prevail.    

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Tennessee Republican Assembly Calls for Ethics Investigation of Boss Doss Over TDOT Contracts

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

The Tennessee Republican Assembly has asked Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) to begin an ethics investigation of the business conduct of State Rep. Barry Doss (R-Leoma), a vocal supporter of Gov. Haslam’s gas tax increase proposal, over potential Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) contracts for his firm. “The Tennessee Republican Assembly (TRA) is calling upon you, Speaker Beth Harwell, to investigate a potential ethics violation by Rep. Barry Doss, who also serves as Chair of the Transportation Committee,” the organization said in a letter dated March 27 signed by its entire leadership team and hand delivered to members of the Tennessee House of Representatives on Tuesday. “Chairman Doss should have recused himself from the proceedings that could potentially have a direct financial impact on his business,” the TRA said of his oversight of the Transportation Committee as it considered the gas tax increase proposal last week. “In this role, Rep. Doss has the capability to sway the committee by means of influence or by manipulation of the rules governing the committee derived from Mason’s Manual,” the letter continued. “In a stunning abuse of power, State Rep. Barry Doss (R-Leoma) broke a long-standing rule of the Tennessee House of Representatives to ram…

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Chair of Tennessee Pastors Network: State Legislators ‘Turning Our School Bathrooms and Locker Rooms into Prey-Ins’

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

“The Republican majority in the Tennessee legislature continues to show more allegiance to LGBT activists and the corporate interests that fear them than to the valid concerns of parents, pastors and people of faith,” Dale Walker, Chair of the Tennessee Pastors Network, tells The Tennessee Star, after a bill that “requires students in public schools and public institutions of higher education to use restrooms and locker rooms that are assigned to persons of the same sex as that shown on the students’ birth certificates” failed to make it out of a State Senate committee on Wednesday. “We intend to make sure that Tennessee voters are well informed and fully engaged when they head to the polls next year. We may even host some ‘pray-ins’ to highlight the roll of key legislators who support turning our school bathrooms and locker rooms into ‘prey-ins’,” he adds. “The [State] Senate Education Committee on Wednesday made no motion to consider the legislation,” the Associated Press reported. “The lack of a motion effectively kills the bill for the year,” AP noted. “So-called conservatives in the Tennessee legislature may not be willing to step up and protect our daughters and grand-daughters from having to share school bathrooms, locker…

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Merger of Nashville Metro Planning Organization and Greater Nashville Regional Council Won’t Address Government Waste, Critics Say

Wendy Wilson

The Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and the Greater Nashville Regional Council (GNRC) are moving forward with plans to merge, a plan critics say will do little to address government inefficiency. Last month, a joint committee of the two agencies unanimously endorsed the plan to pursue full integration of the MPO and GNRC staff and board leadership. A formal document to integrate will be adopted in April, according to the minutes of the Feb. 15 executive board meeting of the MPO. The Nashville Area MPO handles strategic planning for the transportation needs of seven Middle Tennessee counties by providing a forum for local communities and state leaders to collaborate. MPOs can be found across the country in urbanized areas of more than 50,000 people. Established through federal legislation, they plan and prioritize projects for federal funds. The website for the Nashville MPO says it “contributes to ongoing conversations about issues such as land use, economic development, climate change and the environment, safety and security, and public health.” The GNRC is a regional planning and economic development agency serving 13 counties and 52 cities in Middle Tennessee. Officials involved in the planned merger say it will help with cost savings…

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Tennessee Department of Transportation Says it ‘Needs’ $46 Million For Distracted Driver Programs

Laura Baigert

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) has identified 15 projects in a budget category best described as “distracted driver programs” that will cost $46.4 million, part of the 962 total statewide transportation projects it has scheduled over the next 12 years at a total cost of $10.5 billion. All these projects will be built, TDOT says, provided the governor’s IMPROVE Act, which contains four state tax increases, including a 7-cent gas tax, a 12-cent diesel tax, $5 on motor vehicle registrations and 3 percent on rental cars, becomes law. The department categorized the 962 IMPROVE Act projects into eight program types: Interstate Modernization, Primary Trade Corridors, Rural Access, Safety, Urban Economic Opportunity, Highway and Facility Maintenance, Technology/Intelligent Transportation System, Local Bridges. “Through this process we have made decisions to include only ‘needs’ vs. ‘wants,’ ” Commissioner John Schroer said at the conclusion of the TDOT budget presentation for FY 2017-18. Among these ‘needs’ are the $46.4 million of projects within the “Technology/Intelligent Transportation System” category that is probably better described as “distracted driver programs.” According to SPOT, a TDOT interactive page (short for Statewide Project Overview Tracker), the program type “Technology/Intelligent Transportation System . . .  [includes] TDOT’s cameras, overhead…

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Report: Speaker Beth Harwell Says She Will Run For Governor

Tennessee Star Staff

Citing a Facebook post on Friday by a former chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported on Sunday that Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) says she will be running for the Republican nomination for governor in 2018: For well over a year, Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell has held her cards close over whether she will seek the 2018 GOP nomination for governor. But the soft-spoken Nashville representative appears to have exposed her hand to former Tennessee Republican Party chairwoman Susan Richardson Williams, who dished Friday in a Facebook post. “Just got a call from Speaker Beth Harwell to let me know she is running for Governor next year too!” wrote Williams. “Let the games begin! Wow!” Asked to elaborate, Williams said in an email she had “nothing more than [Harwell’s] call to let me know she was running” to share. “I congratulated her and said I was happy that we may have at least two women in the race. I have too many friends in this race!!!” A Harwell spokesman did not respond to a Times Free Press email about Williams’ Facebook post Saturday. “Hard to believe this was an attempt at a…

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Metro Transit Authority CEO Steve Bland Asks Nashville Mayor Megan Barry for $85 Million Increase in Capital Budget

Tennessee Star Staff

“The Metro Transit Authority asked Nashville Mayor Megan Barry for a 427 percent capital budget increase on Monday,” Fox 17 WZTV reports. MTA’s request for this quadrupling of its capital budget comes as the Tennessee General Assembly is debating Gov. Haslam’s IMPROVE Act proposal, which would increase gas taxes by 7 cents per gallon and diesel taxes by 12 cents per gallon. As The Tennessee Star reported earlier this week, in FY 2015-2016, highway user fees, primarily gas and diesel taxes, generated $1.2 billion in revenue for the State of Tennessee. $309 million of these highway user fees were given by the State of Tennessee to cities and counties for “transportation” projects: The Haslam administration has not, as of yet, presented evidence that all of the $309 million in highway user fee taxes sent to city and county governments for “transportation” projects is spent on road construction. “The money in the cities and counties column is their share of the collected taxes,” State Rep. Lynn asserted in her email to a constituent. It is at present unknown how much of these $309 million in highway user fee taxes sent to city and county government is spent on projects such as parks,…

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House Transportation Committee Fails To Advance IMPROVE Act, Despite Multiple Tactics By Chairman Doss

Laura Baigert

  The House Transportation Committee failed to advance Gov. Haslam’s IMPROVE Act (HB 0534) on Tuesday, despite multiple tactics employed by Chairman State Rep. Barry Doss (R-Leoma), a vigorous proponent of the governor’s gas tax increase proposal, to accomplish that outcome. The committee voted instead to roll the vote over for another session in one week. Voting in favor of a one-week delay were Representatives David Alexander (R-Winchester), Dale Carr (R-Sevierville), Timothy Hill (R-Blountville), Bo Mitchell (D-Nashville), Courtney Rogers (R-Goodlettsville), Bill Sanderson (R-Kenton), Jerry Sexton (R-Bean Station), Terri Lynn Weaver (R-Lancaster) and Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville). Voting against the delay were Chairman Doss, and Representatives Barbara Cooper (D-Memphis), Bill Dunn (R-Knoxville), Kelly Keisling (R-Byrdstown), Eddie Smith (R-Knoxville), Ron Travis (R-Dayton), Sam Whitson (R-Franklin), John Mark Windle (D-Livingston). Chairman Doss initially declared that the motion to delay the vote for one week had failed, even though the roll call vote was 9 to 8 in favor the delay. When several members vocally objected, Chairman Doss declared the motion passed and the meeting was quickly adjourned. The day began in subterfuge, when Chairman Doss held a bill review session one hour prior to the scheduled full committee meeting. That bill review session was…

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Senate Transportation Committee Approves 15 Percent Increase in TDOT Budget That Includes $278 Million From IMPROVE Act Funding

Laura Baigert
Tennessee Star

The State Senate Transportation Committee voted on Monday to approve the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s (TDOT) 2017-18 budget of $2.2 billion, an increase of 15 percent over the 2016-17 budget of $1.9 billion. Five members of the committee voted in favor of the increased funding, while three passed on the vote. Senators Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville), Becky Massey (R-Knoxville), Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville), Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) and Chairman Paul Bailey voted for the budget, while Senators Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet), Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma) and Frank Nicely (R-Strawberry Plains) passed. Senator John Stevens (R-Huntingdon) did not respond for the roll call vote. The additional $300 million one year increase in the budget incorporates $278 million in additional funding that comes from the 7 cents per gallon tax increase (and 12 cents per diesel gallon tax increase) included in Gov. Haslam’s controversial IMPROVE Act proposal. The move sets up a conflict between the current version of Gov. Haslam’s plan, which passed through the House Transportation Subcommittee last week in an unusual legislative maneuver which required the governor’s allies to bring in House Speaker Pro-Tem Curtis Johnson (R-Clarksville) to break a 4-4 tie in committee. The bill that passed through the House Transportation Subcommittee temporarily…

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Randy Boyd Announces Candidacy for Governor

Tennessee Star Staff

Randy Boyd, former Economic and Community Development Commissioner under Governor Bill Haslam, announced on Monday that he is a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of Tennessee. “I’m running for governor to truly make Tennessee THE state of opportunity. Please join us on this opportunity of a lifetime,” Boyd said in a statement released on his campaign website. “There is not a better time to live and work in Tennessee, but not everyone is sharing in that success. My campaign will be about expanding opportunities for every Tennessee family and community,” Boyd added. Boyd dodged taking a position on Gov. Haslam’s controversial proposal to increase the gas tax by 7 cents per gallon to fund more road construction. “In terms of the ongoing discussion on the state’s infrastructure needs, which has led to Haslam proposing a gas tax increase, Boyd said he preferred to let the governor and the Legislature move forward with their efforts,” the Knoxville News Sentinel reported. “The only thing I would say is they must come up with a solution . . . It has to be solved. We are underfunding our roads,” Boyd told the News Sentinel. The former Tennessee Economic and Community Development…

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State Rep. Susan Lynn Confirms User Fees are ‘Diverted From the Highway Fund’ in Email Sent to Entire Tennessee General Assembly

Laura Baigert

“I actually have a slide in my town hall presentation that shows why money is diverted from the Highway Fund and where it goes,” State Rep. Susan Lynn (R-Mt. Juliet) told a constituent in an email, confirming The Tennessee Star’s report that Highway Fund user fees are being allocated to the General Fund, Education and Debt Service. The constituent had forwarded a link to The Star’s report on  Wednesday that “The Highway Fund receives road construction “user fee” revenues from gasoline tax, motor fuel tax, gasoline inspection tax, motor vehicle registration tax and the motor vehicle title fees. At least 25 percent of those road construction “user fees” go to the General Fund, Education and Debt Service.” In the email reply to her constituent, Rep. Lynn copied every member of the Tennessee General Assembly in both the House and Senate, ensuring that they have knowledge of the “diversion” of user fees from the Highway Fund. You can read the first part of Lynn’s  reply to her constituent here: I actually have a slide in my town hall presentation that shows why money is diverted from the Highway Fund and where it goes.  Each amount makes perfect sense. Please see my slide below with…

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Haslam’s IMPROVE Act Forced Through House Subcommittee in Rare Political Power Play as Speaker Pro Tem Brought in To Break Tie

Laura Baigert
Tennessee Star

Through a series of political maneuvers, Gov. Haslam’s IMPROVE Act has advanced from the House Transportation Subcommittee to the full House Transportation Committee, thanks to the rare tie-breaking vote cast by Speaker Pro Tem State Rep. Curtis Johnson (R-Clarksville).  Johnson was brought in at the last minute to the House Transportation Subcommittee Wednesday afternoon to break a 4 to 4 tie. With Johnson’s yes vote, the IMPROVE Act passed on a 5 to 4 vote. Subcommittee members voting yes on the amended IMPROVE Act bill were State Rep. Barry Doss (R-Leoma), who also serves as chairman of the full House Transportation Committee, State Rep. David Alexander (R-Winchester), State Rep. Sam Whitson (R-Franklin), and State Rep. Barbara Cooper (D-Memphis). Subcommittee members voting no on the amended IMPROVE Act bill were State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver (R-Lancaster), chairman of the Transportation Subcommittee, State Rep. Courtney Rogers (R-Goodlettsville), State Rep. Jerry Sexton (R-Bean Station), and State Rep. John Mark Windle (D-Livingston). The next stop for the IMPROVE ACT is the full House Transportation Committee, chaired by Haslam ally and gas tax advocate Doss. The version of the IMPROVE ACT that passed was amended to remove the gas tax increase originally proposed by the governor.…

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25 Percent of Highway Fund ‘User Fees’ Are Allocated to General Fund, Education, and Debt

Laura Baigert

One of the principles asserted by Governor Haslam in support of his IMPROVE Act and its proposed increase of 7 cents per gallon in the gas tax is that “users” of roads should pay for road construction. The gas tax is proper, he argues, because people who purchase gas to fuel their cars are the users of roads, and the gas tax is the best mechanism to charge them for that usage. For at least a decade, however, revenue sources originally designed to fund highway construction have been intermingled, and that “user” fee principle has not strictly been applied to the funding of road construction. The IMPROVE Act does not fully address the co-mingling of funds. The Highway Fund receives road construction “user fee” revenues from gasoline tax, motor fuel tax, gasoline inspection tax, motor vehicle registration tax and the motor vehicle title fees. At least 25 percent of those road construction “user fees” go to the General Fund, Education and Debt Service. Though the majority of these “user fee” revenues have been allocated to the Highway Fund, between 25 percent and 29 percent of those fees -ranging from $177 million to $196 million annually– have been diverted away from the…

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Shenanigans at the State Capital

Admin
Tennessee Star Letter to the Editor - Shenanigans at the State House

  Dear Tennessee Star, Shenanigans at the State Capitol never cease. The proposed Gas Tax is a tax that will definitely affect every single Tennessee citizen in more ways than one. The Transportation House Sub Committee suddenly adjourned their meeting last week and the next meeting is at HIGH NOON, March 1 in LP Room 16.  I wonder if more time was needed in order to twist more arms in order to vote a certain way. If you like paying more taxes, pay this article no mind. But, if you realize that many politicians can’t spend enough Tennessee citizens’ money…read on and contact the House Transportation Sub Committee members below and then pass this information on to others and ask them to do the same. Haslam’s Gas Tax Proposal The governor proposes a 7 cent increase in gas tax and 12 cent increase in diesel tax Also, there is a pesky automatic index to future gas tax increases…which means this proposed gas tax will automatically increase. That means, this gas tax will keep on taking bigger bites out of your wallet as time moves on, and you, the taxpayer will have no say in the matter. Haslam says that it will be “revenue neutral.” Not buying that one. The math doesn’t add up. Keep in mind of that pesky automatic increase that…

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Gov. Haslam Has Cut State’s Portion of Highway Fund Budget by $56 Million Annually, Compared to Predecessor

Laura Baigert
Tennessee Star - Gov Haslam

During the six years he has served as the head of Tennessee’s state government, Gov. Haslam has cut the state’s portion of the Highway Fund budget by an annual average of $56 million when compared to his predecessor, Gov. Phil Bredesen. In the last six years of Gov. Phil Bredesen’s eight-year term, between FY 2005-06 and FY 2010-11, the annual average state allocation to the Highway Fund was $833 million. While the actual dollars fluctuated from year to year, overall the Highway Fund budget grew about 12 percent in those six years. Under Gov. Haslam, the state’s portion of the Highway Fund budget shrank to an annual average of $777 million during the six years between FY 2011-12 and FY 2016-17. That is  an average annual reduction of $56 million, an overall reduction of 7 percent. The total Highway Fund grew 2 percent per year under Gov. Bredesen, and has been reduced 1.1 percent per year by Gov. Haslam. In that same six-year period, Gov. Haslam’s total state budget grew 18 percent. “The detailed breakdown of reduction in road spending under Governor Haslam is shocking but, unfortunately, not surprising,” State Sen. Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) tells The Tennessee Star. “I…

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Source: State Rep. Barry Doss Huddled With Gov. Haslam’s Top Staffer to Stop Hawk Plan at Subcommittee

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star - Doss Huddle during Transportation Subcommitee Meeting

Reporting by the Chattanooga Times Free Press that State Rep. Barry Doss (R-Leoma), a strong supporter of Gov. Haslam’s plan to increase gas taxes by 7 cents a gallon to fund more road construction, was the driving force behind the sudden adjournment of the Transportation Subcommittee on Wednesday prior to the expected vote on the Hawk Plan, the popular alternative to the governor’s plan, was re-enforced by photographs of the event taken by The Tennessee Star. In that photo, Doss is seen having an intense conversation with two unidentified individuals immediately before the sudden vote to adjourn was taken. According to a long-time legislative operative, the people in the photo appear to be State Rep. Barry Doss, Stephen Smith (the governor’s recently named legislative director) and an unnamed political operative with a beard. If indeed the person whose back is to the camera is Stephen Smith, it would underscore the governor’s near-panic that his gas tax was in major trouble last Wednesday. “I have seen sneaky legislative maneuvers before,” said the source. “And the presence of Stephen Smith huddled together with the governor’s lackey, Rep. Doss, would be understandable. The governor sending his #1 staffer to the legislature at this…

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House Transportation Subcommittee Adjourns Before Any Action Taken on Road Funding Proposals.

Tennessee Star Staff

The House Transportation Subcommittee adjourned suddenly on Wednesday after State Rep. David Hawk (R-Greeneville) presented his alternative road funding plan. A report late Wednesday in The Chattanooga Times Free Press makes it clear that State Rep. Barry Doss (R-Leoma) (pictured in the headline image), a member of the subcommittee, “who is chairman of the full House Transportation Committee and who is carrying the governor’s bill” is the force behind the surprise adjournment. “[W]e were about to get the governor’s bill out today. But evidently there were some people who were uncomfortable, maybe, with the Hawk plan. And they weren’t ready to vote on the Hawk plan,” Doss told The Times Free Press: Doss said he sees the adjournment vote as a response to the Hawk bill. “And I think there’s a lot of people uncomfortable with that bill,” Doss said. “We come back next week and I think more people are comfortable with the governor’s plan.” The “Hawk Plan” increases road funding in Tennessee without increasing taxes and has been embraced by conservative legislators seeking an alternative to the plan presented by Governor Haslam which dramatically increases gasoline and diesel fuel taxes for Tennessee drivers and guarantees automatic future increases through “indexing”. Immediately…

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Pure Foods Goes Bankrupt After Benefiting From $1.2 Million in Tennessee State Economic Development Funds

Laura Baigert

Less than two weeks before Governor Haslam introduced his IMPROVE Act centered on a gas tax increase for road funding, Pure Foods, Inc., a recipient of $1.2 million in state economic development funds, filed for bankruptcy.   The $1. 2 million from the state’s FastTrack Economic Development (ED) Fund did not go directly to Pure Foods. Instead, it was allocated for use by KEDB for construction of a speculative building that Pure Foods leased for 10 years.   According to the Kingsport Tennessee Times News, in March 2015, the Canadian based gluten-free snack food company, Pure Foods, Inc., was set to establish its U.S. headquarters at the Gateway Commerce Park in Kingsport, Sullivan County.  The deal included an investment of $22 million, an 80,000-plus square foot facility, and the creation of 273 new jobs generating an annual a payroll of $8 million. The Kingsport Economic Development Board (KEDB) and the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce also supported the project by providing financial assistance and various incentives, including the purchase of 33 acres of land in the Gateway Commerce Park for $6.5 million borrowed from First Tennessee Bank. According to the Transparent Tennessee website’s FastTrack Project Database, ED grants provide additional support for…

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Gov. Haslam Stumbles in Smith County: ‘The Only Reason Government Exists At All Is to Buy Things for the People That They Can’t Buy for Themselves’

Tennessee Star Staff

“The only reason government exists at all is to buy things for the people that they can’t buy for themselves,” Gov. Haslam told the Smith County Rotary Club on Friday as he continued to promote his proposal to increase the gas tax by 7 cents per gallon. You can hear the governor say this at the 16:50 mark of this video, made available courtesy of The Smith County Insider. Social media across Tennessee lit up Friday and Saturday criticizing Haslam’s articulation of the classic Democrat view of the role of government. It was a statement of the sort Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Hubert Humphrey would have been delighted to claim as their own. Former State Rep. Joe Carr captured the reaction of many opponents to this surprising Haslam statement on his Facebook page. “Wrong! The reason government exists is to ‘secure our unalienable Rights granted to us by God’”, the former State Rep. posted. “I am sure Governor Haslam actually believes this statement along with 90% of the Tennessee General Assembly,” Carr added. Gov. Haslam may not be aware of just how tone-deaf this statement sounds. It is a lightning rod to those who see his proposed gas…

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State Senator Bell Agrees ‘With Most of What I Hear on Flame-throwing Conservative Talk Show in Nashville’

Tennessee Star Staff

State Sen. Mike Bell (R-Riceville) told the Cleveland/Bradley Economic Development Council he listened to the WWTN Gas Tax Town Hall moderated by Ralph Bristol on the Dan Mandis Show on Thursday, the Cleveland Daily Banner reported. “As I drove here, I was listening to a flame-throwing conservative talk show in Nashville, and I listen to it when I am up there and agree with most of what I hear,” Bell said. “What was interesting was out of the whole panel they had, and they had an audience of 100 people as well, there wasn’t a single person–even those who oppose the plan–who did not say we had a need,” Bell said. “So at least we’ve got opponents agreeing that we’ve got a need,” he added. The Tennessee Star, which attended the event, reported that the studio audience size was about 20. The panel at the Town Hall included three State Representatives, two State Senators, a representative of Gov. Haslam, Andy Ogles, executive director of Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee, and former Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey, representing the Transportation Coalition of Tennessee. While all members of the panel, including gas tax increase proposal opponent Andy Ogles of Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee, stated that there was a…

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Eight Alternative Ways to Pay for Highways in Tennessee

Tennessee Star Staff

Increasing the tax on gasoline from 21 cents per gallon to 28 cents per gallon, as Gov. Bill Haslam has proposed, is not the only way to pay for new highways in Tennessee. The 2015 Comptroller’s Report, for instance, lists these eight additional ways: (1) Variable Rate and Indexed Fuel Tax Rates (2) Vehicle Registration Fees (3) Tolls (4) Debt Financing (5) Fees or Taxes on Alternative Fuel Vehicles (6) Local Funding Options (7) Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) Tax (8) Public-Private Partnerships Here’s how that report breaks those eight additional ways down: (1) Variable Rate and Indexed Fuel Tax Rates  Since 1989, when Tennessee last increased its gas tax rate, general inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has increased 85 percent. The Federal Highway Administration’s measure of highway-related construction costs increased 56 percent, with greater fluctuations above and below the CPI. o Several states (18) have implemented variable rate taxes on fuels to allow fuel taxes to better adjust to changes in purchasing power over time. Measures used to adjust the rates include the CPI and/or the wholesale or retail price of fuel. Most states have placed limits on the variable rate to control for the potential…

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Chinese-Owned EV Company Showered Dems with Campaign Contributions

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BYD Car

The U.S. subsidiary of a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer and its top executive have given hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash to Democrats in recent years.

Stella Li, a top executive for BYD Americas, and the company itself have given tens of thousands of dollars in campaign cash to Democratic candidates and organizations in California and beyond over the past decade, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of federal and state political spending records. Based in China, BYD is the biggest EV producer in the world, and Congress moved in January to ban the Pentagon from buying its batteries due to security risks, according to Bloomberg News.

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American Auto Giant Pivots Plans to Build Electric Vehicles at Major Plant to Produce Heavy-Duty Pickups Instead

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Ford EV plant

Ford is reversing course on plans to manufacture electric vehicles (EVs) at a major plant and instead will produce gas-powered, heavy-duty pickup trucks at the facility, Reuters reported Thursday.

The company initially planned to build three-row electric SUVs at its facility in Oakville, Canada, between 2025 and 2027, but the plant will now add capacity to produce 100,000 F-Series Super Duty trucks at the plant, according to Reuters. Ford said that it is still committed to producing those EVs on that timeline, though it is unclear which of its plants will handle that production.

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Commentary: Trump and the Fate of Western Civilization

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President Donald Trump

Less than a week ago, a lone assassin’s bullet came within millimeters of killing Donald Trump. Had it succeeded, the unrest and polarization we already endure in America would have gotten significantly worse. There will be endless theories and explanations about how this near miss will affect the election, inspire more violence, or stimulate calls for unity and calm. But what is it about Trump that has made him a target of relentless and unified defamation, or worse, from every established American institution for nearly a decade?

Trump represents a movement. It is bigger than him, and it is bigger than MAGA. Trump and MAGA have counterparts all over the world, especially in Europe. The people in these movements all share at least two common grievances: they don’t want their national cultures destroyed, and they don’t want their standard of living destroyed. And in every country where these movements have arisen, that is exactly what is happening, and it’s happening fast.

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Commentary: The Biden Titanic

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Joe Biden

Joe Biden’s escalating dementia and the long media-political conspiracy to hide his senility from the public are the least of the Democrats’ current problems.

Biden’s track record as president may be more concerning than his cognitive decline. He has literally destroyed the U.S. border, deliberately allowing the entry of more than 10 million illegal aliens. His callous handlers’ agenda was to import abjectly poor constituencies in need of vast government services without regard for the current struggles of a battered American middle class and poor.

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Alaska Natives File Lawsuit Challenging Federal Overreach in Wake of SCOTUS ‘Chevron’ Ruling

Just the News
Oil Drilling

Alaska Natives are fighting back against the Biden administration’s decision to shut down oil and gas development in northern Alaska, which they say is vital to the prosperity and well being of their communities. 

The Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat (VOICE), a nonprofit advocacy group for Native-American communities living on the state’s North Slope, filed a lawsuit Monday against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland over the final BLM’s final rule blocking 13 million acres in their region to oil and gas development.

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Report: Increase in Virginia Traffic Fatalities Reflective of National Trends

The Center Square
First reponders

Virginia’s traffic fatalities decreased last year for the first time since the pandemic and after a significant increase from 2020-2021 — but they’re still up by 24 percent since 2013.

These trends generally mirror national traffic trends, with traffic fatalities up 25 percent nationally during that same period, according to TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit. The U.S. saw a dramatic rise in traffic fatalities in 2021 and a “modest decrease” in 2022 and 2023. 

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Commentary: The Shot Heard ‘Round America

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Donald Trump

Virginia House Speaker Don Scott and Republican Minority Leader Todd Gilbert issued a joint statement just hours after the attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump in Pennsylvania:

“We were shocked and alarmed to learn of the violence that took place at the rally today. This is not a reflection of our shared values. 

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Biden Admin Cuts Another Huge Check for Automakers to Go Electric as Electric Vehicle Market Struggles

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Tesla being assembled in factory

The Biden administration announced Thursday that it is spending billions of dollars more to help automakers mass-produce electric vehicles (EVs).

The Department of Energy (DOE) is spending $1.7 billion to help manufacturers convert closed or struggling manufacturing facilities to produce EVs or EV components in eight states, including swing states like Pennsylvania and Georgia, as the American EV market struggles. The funding complements $12 billion the DOE unveiled in August 2023 to help major manufacturers retrofit plants for EV production, and the agency projects that the cash announced Thursday will allow for the retention of 15,000 union workers while creating nearly 3,000 jobs.

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Commentary: Gavin Newsom Must Never Become U.S. President

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Gavin Newsom

As President Biden’s age threatens to derail his reelection campaign, waiting in the wings and trying not to appear too eager is Gavin Newsom. It’s not easy. Wanting to be president with an intensity that might make Gollum’s lust for the One Ring appear prosaic, California’s governor knows that if Biden drops out, he’s the oddsmakers’ favorite.

But there is absolutely nothing Gavin Newsom has ever done that qualifies him to be president of the United States. If Newsom becomes the next U.S. president, he will accelerate a process that is already well underway and must be stopped at all costs: turning all of America into California.

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Shaun Kenney: Virginia ‘Most Certainly is in Play’ for November Presidential Election

Kaitlin Housler
Joe Biden and Donald Trump

Shaun Kenney, the senior editor for Virginia-based news outlet The Republican Standard, said Virginia “most certainly” is in play for the 2024 presidential election in November, given President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance last month and Democrats’ reluctance to address Biden’s apparent decline.

Real Clear Politics’ 2024 RCP Electoral College Map lists Virginia as a toss up state for this year’s election despite Democrats’ wins in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections against former President Donald Trump.

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Commentary: Energy Innovation Is Key to Prosperity

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Nuclear Power Plant

In a recent report, “Powering Human Advancement,” The Heritage Foundation laid bare the truth that the driving force behind wealth creation and raising human development standards is the innovative harnessing of energy.

As historian Vaclav Smil sees it, “Energy is the only universal currency.”

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Commentary: Obama’s Intel Czar Rigged 2016 and 2020 Debates Against Trump

RealClearWire
James Clapper

Just before Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton faced off in their second presidential debate, then-National Intelligence Director James Clapper met in the White House with a small group of advisers to President Obama to hatch a plan to put out a first-of-its-kind intelligence report warning the voting public that “the Russian government” was interfering in the election by allegedly breaching the Clinton campaign’s email system.

On Oct. 7, 2016 – just two days before the presidential debate between Trump and Clinton – Clapper issued the unprecedented intelligence advisory with Obama’s personal blessing. It seemed to lend credence to what the Clinton camp was telling the media — that Trump was working with Russian President Vladimir Putin through a secret back channel to steal the election. Sure enough, the Democratic nominee pounced on it to smear Trump at the debate.

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Commentary: The Logic in All the Madness

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Joe Biden

by Victor Davis Hanson   Most Americans believe it is unhinged to deliberately destroy the border and allow 10 million illegal aliens to enter the country without background audits, means of support, any claims to legal residency, and definable skills. And worse still, why would federal authorities be ordered to release repeat violent felons who have gone on to commit horrendous crimes against American citizens? Equally perplexing to most Americans is borrowing $1 trillion every 90 days and paying 5-5.5 percent interest on the near $36 trillion in ballooning national debt. Serving that debt at current interest exceeds the size of the annual defense budget and may soon top $1 trillion in interest costs, or more than 13% of the budget. Why would the United States suspend military aid to Israel as it tries to destroy the Hamas architects of the October 7 massacres? Why would it lift sanctions on a terrorist Iran? Why would it suppress Israel’s response to Iran’s missile attack on the Jewish homeland? Why would it prevent Israel from stockpiling key munitions as it prepares to deal with the existential threats posed by Hezbollah? Why would the Biden administration cancel key pipeline projects and put vast…

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Joe Biden Adviser Had Contact with Burisma During Height of Corruption Probe, Emails Show

Just the News
Former Energy Adviser Amos Hochstein

Hunter Biden’s team arranged for a senior Burisma Holdings executive to meet with one of his father Joe Biden’s advisers at the State Department a decade ago, just months after the Ukrainian energy firm’s owner was targeted in a high-profile and U.S.-backed corruption investigation, according to documents secretly gathered years ago by the FBI. The elder Biden was vice president at the time.

The documents, obtained by Just the News, chronicle a plan in summer and fall 2014 to connect Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi with then-State Department energy adviser Amos Hochstein, now a Middle East envoy for President Joe Biden. It was facilitated by the law firm that employed Hunter Biden at the time, Boies Schiller Flexner.

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Commentary: The Way to Unite America’s Political Spectrum Is Economic

Admin
Middle Class Rally

An insightful, if pithy, tweet surfaced recently on my feed. It nicely summarized what happened to neutralize an awakening electorate in America over the past decade:

“They got you fighting a culture war to stop you from fighting a class war. It was designed that way in 2012 when the woke left & right were created. Occupy Wall Street/The Tea Party were making inroads uniting the political spectrum & the people against Wall Street following the 2008 crash. ‘We’ll get them to argue about women & their cocks instead'”

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Tennessee Grants $17 Million to Local Municipalities to Prepare Sites for Businesses

The Center Square
Interchange Business Park site

Tennessee is sending $17 million in taxpayer funds to communities throughout the state to build out infrastructure on vacant sites being prepared for future businesses.

The largest grant is more than $4.5 million to Crossville for speculative building construction at Interchange Business Park.

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FBI Knew Since 2016 Hunter Biden’s Team Nearly Scored $120 Million Ukrainian Deal While Joe Biden was VP

Just the News

The FBI learned as far back as 2016 that Hunter Biden and his partners had plotted to set up a new venture in tax-friendly Liechtenstein that would be capitalized by a whopping $120 million investment from the controversial owner of the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings, according to documents obtained by Just the News that have been kept from the American public for eight years.

The mega-deal was not referenced inside Hunter Biden’s now infamous laptop or during the 2019 impeachment proceedings involving Ukraine, but was instead chronicled in a trove of 3.39 million documents the FBI seized from Hunter Biden and his business partners during an investigation of securities fraud nearly a decade ago.

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Ford Drops Certain Equipment Requirements for EVs as Sales Continue to Struggle

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Electric Mustang

Ford Motor Company told dealers on Thursday that it was dropping certain equipment requirements to boost the sales of its struggling electric vehicle (EV) line, according to Bloomberg.

Dealers had previously needed to invest up to $1.2 million in certain equipment like chargers in order to be eligible to sell Ford’s EV line, with the change allowing all 2,800 dealerships with contracts to the company to sell EVs, according to Bloomberg. The changes to the program are intended to boost struggling sales of Ford’s EV models, which has contributed to the automaker taking a $1.3 billion loss on its EV production in just the first quarter of 2024 after selling only 10,000 vehicles.

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