Tag: Governor Bill Lee

Kerry Roberts: Now Is a Great Opportunity for Gov. Lee to Show Leadership by Un-Declaring the Tennessee State of Emergency and Put People Back to Work

Julie Carr

On Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed his weekly regular guest and all-star panelist Tennessee state Senator Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield) to the newsmakers line.

During the second hour, Roberts weighed in on Governor Lee’s recent order which allowed law enforcement access to private citizens’ COVID-19 test results. He expressed his disagreement with the order and suggested Lee show leadership by undeclaring a state of emergency.

Read the full story

New American Populist Founder Jeff Webb Criticizes Governor Lee’s Decision to Give COVID-19 Patient Data to Law Enforcement: It’s a Pattern of Government Overreach

Julie Carr

Live from Memphis on the newsmakers line Monday morning, New American Populist founder Jeff Webb joined The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.– to discuss his concerns about government overreach amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full story

Hundreds Rally at the State Capitol from Across the State in Support of the #FreeTN Movement

Laura Baigert

  NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Hundreds of people from all parts of the state gathered again at the state capitol Monday in support of the #FreeTN movement, following a rally of the same name last Sunday. In addition to those standing on either side of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard with a wide variety of messaging on their hand-held signs, numerous others slowly drove in between sporting signs and flags while honking their horns. The #FreeTN movement continues, even as the state is set to start a phased reopening under the guidelines of the Tennessee Pledge launched last week by Governor Bill Lee and Tennessee’s Economic Recovery Group. #FreeTN organizer, Kimberley Edwards scheduled the rally as a follow-up to those held in seven cities across the state last Sunday, The Tennessee Star reported. The bipartisan effort is focused on the immediate lifting of the state and local government’s safer-at-home executive orders, allowing the opening of all businesses without social distancing mandates. After saying that the event should exhibit gentleness, togetherness and kindness, Edwards’ wedding DJ and musician husband led the group in a prayer. The prayer was followed by an acapella rendition of the national anthem by Bridget Cheek, who…

Read the full story

Another Day, Another Rally Telling Governor Bill Lee to Reopen Tennessee

Laura Baigert

  NASHVILLE, Tennessee – For the second time in as many days, Tennesseans rallied at the State Capitol in Nashville on Monday to tell Governor Bill Lee to reopen the state. About 100 people gathered on the sidewalks in front of and across the street from the Capitol Building, on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in downtown Nashville, while others drove by honking horns. Murfreesboro-based DJ Steve Hasty provided music with his elaborate sound system and, acting as emcee for the event, stated repeatedly that it was a rally to reopen Tennessee and not a protest. After a prayer that asked for reopening, Hasty initiated the chant, “Hey Governor Lee, reopen Tennessee.” Governor Lee was encouraged to lead the country in the effort to reopen and show that it can be done in a safe way. Curtis Carney, owner of Nashville’s Off The Wagon tractor tours, who also spoke at the #FreeTN event, told rally-goers he made the decision Saturday to reopen his business. He said the longer the shutdown keeps going, the more people go hungry. Carney said Tennessee needs to reopen and it needs to be done now. A home health nurse named Misty said hospitals are…

Read the full story

State Representatives Martin Daniel and Bruce Griffey Urged Governor Bill Lee to Reopen Tennessee

Laura Baigert

At least two State Representatives, Martin Daniel (R-Knoxville) and Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) wrote formal letters to Governor Bill Lee, urging him to reopen Tennessee immediately.

Representative Daniel, who will have served three terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives, announced last month that he will not seek reelection in 2020.  Representative Griffey is currently serving his first term.

The Representatives wrote their letters based on the input of their constituents and in response to last week’s extension of Governor Lee’s stay-at-home order through April 30.

Read the full story

Tennessee Department of Health Not Providing Number of Current COVID-19 Hospitalizations

Anthony Gockowski

The Tennessee Department of Health said 633 residents have been hospitalized with COVID-19, but that figure is a cumulative – not current – number.

“This number indicates the number of patients that were ever hospitalized during their illness, it does not indicate the number of patients currently hospitalized,” the Department of Health notes in its daily COVID-19 briefing.

Read the full story

Model Lowers Projected Tennessee Coronavirus Deaths by More Than 2,000

Anthony Gockowski

A popular coronavirus model has lowered its total projected deaths for Tennessee by more than 2,000 since Gov. Bill Lee announced a statewide shelter-in-place order.

As of April 2, the University of Washington Institute for Health and Metrics Evaluation (IHME) predicted that Tennessee would have 3,259 deaths over the next four months. The IHME model estimated that the virus would reach its peak in the state on April 20 and would result in 159 fatalities in a single day.

The model now predicts that Tennessee will experience 584 COVID-19 deaths over the next four months – a drop of 2,675 projected deaths since last week. On Sunday, the model was predicting 1,000-plus deaths in Tennessee.

Read the full story

Tennessee Medical Association Asks All Mayors to Issue Shelter in Place Orders

Anthony Gockowski

The Tennessee Medical Association (TMA) sent a letter to every mayor in the state Friday asking them to request authority from Gov. Bill Lee to issue shelter-in-place orders for their communities.

Lee has thus far declined to issue a statewide shelter-in-place order, which prompted more than 2,000 health care workers to sign a petition asking him to change course, The Tennessee Star reported. As of Sunday, 26 states had issued stay-at-home orders, including the neighboring states of North Carolina and Kentucky.

Read the full story

Governor Bill Lee Announces ‘Constitutional Carry’ Legislation

Laura Baigert

At a press conference Thursday surrounded by more than 40 members of the Tennessee General Assembly, Governor Bill Lee announced that he will be introducing legislation supporting the God-given and constitutionally-protected Second Amendment rights of Tennesseans with a Constitutional Carry bill.

Word of an announcement that would generically expand “constitutional rights” got out late Wednesday, although the Tennessee Firearms Association’s Executive Director John Harris said that they were made aware weeks ago of a major announcement on a 2A issue that TFA members would likely be pleased with.

Read the full story

Leahy and Roberts Discuss Governor Bill Lee’s Pattern of Non-Consultation with Legislative Branch

Julie Carr

  On Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Tennessee State Senator Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield) in the studio to discuss this week’s Tennessee General Assembly agenda. Towards the end of the second hour, Leahy and Roberts discussed Governor Lee’s recent executive order on state employee family leave which some statesmen raised eyebrows citing that it was not possible to do without going through legislation. Further on into the discussion Leahy brought up how this seemed to be a pattern with the governor noting that the specifics of the Heartbeat Bill are still up in the air. Leahy: In the studio with our good friend all-star panelist and state Senator Kerry Roberts. It’s time now for the inside scoop about what’s really going on in the Tennessee General Assembly. What were the big issues? The big news going on up there on Capitol Hill? Roberts: It’s been a pretty quiet week with President’s Day on Monday. So, we tried to compress it into a couple of days. But the biggest thing that happened wasn’t legislative. So the governor in his State of…

Read the full story

Governor Bill Lee’s Second State of the State Continues His Priorities in a $40.8 Billion Budget

Laura Baigert
Bill Lee on the State House floor

  NASHVILLE, Tennessee – At his second annual State of the State Address, Governor Bill Lee continued to prioritize education, criminal justice reform, care for the most vulnerable, and rural Tennessee in his $40.8 billion budget for the upcoming 2020-2021 fiscal year. The next fiscal year’s budget reflects a 3.7 percent increase over last year’s $39.3 billion budget and is the first time that the state’s budget has exceeded $40 billion. Providing the General Assembly information on the state of the government is an Article III requirement of the Constitution of the State of Tennessee for the state’s chief executive and was set for Monday, February 3 at 6 p.m. in the chambers of the State’s House of Representatives in the State Capitol. Prior to delivering the State of the State Address, Governor Lee gave a preview in a 5 a.m. release of excerpts from the Address to the governor’s office webpage. Monday evening, legislators, Governor Lee, guests, and other attendees were met – starting at 5:30 p.m. – by a regular protester standing in front of the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest located between the Senate and House chambers shouting, “Remove the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest,” and “Remove…

Read the full story

Brooklyn, New York Based Left-Wing Groups Attempt Political Colonization of Wilson County Commissioners to Accept Refugeees in Tennessee

Julie Carr

Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.– Leahy welcomed Terri Nicholson former Wilson County GOP chair and current member of the Tennessee Republican State Executive Committee to the show.

Read the full story

Concerned Citizens: Leahy Takes Listener Calls and Breaks Down the Consequences of Governor Lee’s Refugee Stance

Julie Carr

“So what the governor’s letter is going to do is make Tennessee a magnet. Tennessee will be a magnet for refugees,” host Michael Patrick Leahy told listeners Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am.

Read the full story

Gov. Bill Lee Offers Incoherent Defense of His Refugee Decision in Interview with Brian Wilson

Chris Butler

  Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee hemmed, hawed, and waffled Friday as he tried to defend his controversial decision to allow more refugees to resettle in Tennessee. This happened when he appeared on Nashville’s Morning News with Brian Wilson, broadcast weekday mornings on 99.7 FM WWTN. Lee was incoherent while answering Wilson’s straightforward questions, including the one Wilson, a former FOX News broadcaster, started off with: You made a decision, one of the few Republican governors who made the decision to continue taking refugees into the state of Tennesse. This was not something that pleased the speaker of the House or the lieutenant governor or many listeners to this show. Many conservatives were not happy with that decision. What led you to make that decision? “Yeah you know, what led me to that decision was my conviction, my beliefs, my principles,  and my values,” Lee responded, before he added several vague platitudes and tried to appeal to the people who voted for him in 2018 — by invoking the name of U.S. Republican President Donald Trump, who is still wildly popular with the conservative base: I think leadership requires that you act on your strong beliefs and principles and convictions…

Read the full story

Tennessee Leads the Way by Being the First State to Propose Receiving Federal Medicaid Funding Through a Block Grant

Laura Baigert

Tennessee became the first state in the nation Tuesday to propose that $7.9 billion in federal funding for the state’s Medicaid program, known as TennCare, would be provided through a block grant.

The release of the 34-page proposal, TennCare II Demonstration Amendment 42, begins a 30-day public comment period, which will end on October 18, 2019.

Read the full story

With One Month Remaining in the Fiscal Year, Tennessee’s Budget Surplus Is Now Up To $649 Million

Laura Baigert

  Department of Finance and Administration Commissioner Stuart McWhorter announced Wednesday that Tennessee’s June revenues were $92.5 million more than the state budgeted for the month, resulting in a total budget surplus of $649.2 million with just one month remaining in the 2018-2019 fiscal year. The state’s revenue collections of $1.6 billion for the month of June, which is the eleventh month of the year on an accrual basis, were $115.3 million more than collected in June of 2018. McWhorter acknowledged that total revenues in June “were notably higher than expected,” which confirms the strength of the Tennessee economy, he said. Revenues have exceeded the budgeted estimates all 11 months of the current fiscal year, with surpluses ranging from a low of $3.2 million in October 2018 to the high of $258.9 million in April 2019. April’s excess revenues alone account for nearly 40 percent of the year-to-date budget surplus. June’s surplus puts revenues to the state 4.8 percent ahead of the budget and 5.6 percent ahead of this time last fiscal year. The Franchise and Excise Tax plus the Sales and Use Tax make up about 80 percent of the State’s total revenues as well as the budget surplus…

Read the full story

Governor Bill Lee Calls a Special Session for August 23 to Elect a New Speaker of the House

Laura Baigert
Bill Lee

  The day following the House Republican Caucus set a meeting to select a new Speaker, Governor Bill Lee issued a Proclamation calling for a special session of the General Assembly on Friday, August 23 at 10 a.m. On Thursday, Governor Lee issued a statement regarding the signing of the proclamation calling for the extraordinary session, “It is in the best interest of our State to select a new Speaker of the House, and so I am calling a special session of the General Assembly for August 23 to accomplish that purpose. I have also asked the General Assembly to take up approval of the recent amendments to the Supreme Court rules, in addition to settling these leadership matters. Any other procedural business would be at the discretion of the General Assembly.” The Proclamation itself states that the Governor was requested to convene an extraordinary session by numerous members of the House of Representatives, including, but not limited to the Majority Leader, who is William Lamberth (R-Portland), and the Majority Caucus Chair, who is Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville). As reported, Leader Lamberth announced Wednesday that the House Republican Caucus would meet on Wednesday, July 24 to select a new Republican nominee…

Read the full story

Ten Months Into the Fiscal Year, Tennessee’s Revenues Exceed Estimates by $556.7 Million

Laura Baigert

  A press release issued Friday by Department of Finance and Administration Commissioner Stuart McWhorter announced that Tennessee’s May revenues were $46.3 million more than the state budgeted for the month. Also reported was that total tax collections by the state so far this year exceeded the estimates by more than a half billion dollars. On an accrual basis, May is the tenth month of the 2018-2019 fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30. McWhorter said that the more-than-estimated May revenues demonstrated sound growth over the same period last year. “Both sales tax and corporate tax revenues were the largest contributors to the month’s growth and taken together continued to outperform expectations, as they have for most of the year. All other tax revenues, taken as a group, were also more than the May estimates” reported McWhorter. Despite cuts made in the IMPROVE Act, or 2017 Tax Cut Act, to the Franchise & Excise Tax and Hall Income Tax – which will be fully repealed beginning January 1, 2021 – as well as Sales & Use Tax on food, the highest revenue increases this year come from these taxes. Sales & Use – $257 million or 3.41%…

Read the full story

As Casada Says He’ll Work to Regain Confidence, House Republican Leadership Calls for Casada to Step Down and Governor Lee to Call Special Session

Laura Baigert

  In response to the State House Republican Caucus meeting which delivered a 45-24 vote of no confidence in Glen Casada (R-Franklin) continuing as Speaker, Casada and House Republican leadership issued divergent statements. Casada, who has been under tremendous public scrutiny as the first year of the 111th Tennessee General Assembly came to a close with him as the Speaker, after receiving 75 votes in January including two from Democrats, as sexist and racists texts involving his now-former Chief of Staff and another staffer from 2016 came to light. Along with the texts, there were allegations of modifying the date of an email in an effort to frame activist Justin Jones who was restricted from being in the presence of Casada following assault charges, followed by accusations of surveillance of committee rooms in the Cordell Hull legislative office building, installation of white noise machines in the Speaker’s office, and attempting to influence the outcome of a House Ethics Committee advisory opinion. In a three-hour, closed-to-the-public meeting held Monday, the House Republican Caucus emerged with a 49-24 secret vote on a resolution of no confidence in Casada as Speaker. Shortly after, Casada issued a very brief statement: I’m disappointed in the…

Read the full story

Victory for Governor Bill Lee’s Education Savings Accounts

Laura Baigert

  NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Victory has finally been achieved for Governor Bill Lee’s Education Savings Accounts program, as both chambers of the Tennessee General Assembly finally adopted the same version of proposed legislation by narrow margins. The final adoption of the Governor’s most significant education initiative, the Tennessee Education Savings Account Pilot Program Act, came with its share of wrangling. After weeks of hearings on the legislation, carried by Speaker Pro Tem Bill Dunn (R-Knoxville) in the House and Senate Education Committee Chair Senator Dolores Gresham (R-Somerville), navigating the numerous committees and negotiating with the Administration, the two chambers eventually passed two different versions of the legislation last week. Passage on the House floor, though, was drama filled as a 40-minute pause was taken in order to break a 49 to 49 tie by flipping the vote of Representative Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) by taking Knox County out as one of the participating counties. Following the refusal by both bodies of the Tennessee General Assembly to back away from their respective versions of the Education Savings Account bills HB 0939 and SB 0795, on Tuesday the Speakers each appointed five members to a Joint Conference Committee. Senate members of the Joint…

Read the full story

Education Savings Accounts Bill Appears Headed to Conference Committee

Laura Baigert

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Gov. Bill Lee’s  Education Savings Account legislation appears headed to a conference committee, as the Tennessee House and State Senate both refused on Monday to move from their respective versions of the bill. The House passed HB 0939 last Tuesday by one vote after a dramatic 40-minute delay to break a 49 to 49 tie to end in a 50 to 48 vote, as reported by The Tennessee Star. The tie was broken by Representative Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville), after Knox County was removed as one of the participating counties covered in the program. Two days later, the Senate took up the measure with different language that that passed by the House. After much less drama and by a wider margin, as reported, SB 0795 passed in the Senate with a vote of 20 to 13. Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), part of a suite of education initiatives by Governor Bill Lee, will provide economically eligible parents with educational choice for their children in school districts with the highest concentrations of poverty and underperforming schools. A portion of state education funds will follow the child to a Tennessee Department of Education approved private school to cover costs of certain…

Read the full story

High Drama as State House Eventually Passes Governor Bill Lee’s Education Savings Account Initiative

Laura Baigert

  NASHVILLE, Tennessee – A much-anticipated vote by the full Tennessee House of Representatives on Governor Bill Lee’s Education Savings Account (ESA) initiative ended in high drama on Tuesday, after it was moved from the second item on the agenda of the Regular Calendar to the end. From the outset of the meeting there were three to four dozen opponents to the ESA legislation in the gallery, most of whom were displaying hand-held no vouchers signs. While there were 13 amendments to the bill proposed in the House, Amendment #1, #3 and #4 were withdrawn and Amendment #2 was rolled to the heel of the amendments. The remaining amendments were largely offered by Democrats attempting to curtail the legislation. For instance, Representative Jason Powell (D-Nashville) with Amendment #5 sought to allow his county of Davidson to opt out of the legislation, saying not one of the delegation supports it. Powell questioned the constitutionality of the bill and said that the funding of Davidson County schools is under attack. “Maybe some of you are fine with the redistribution of wealth,” argued Powell of the amendment he said would shift money to other counties, “but I stand against that.” Powell said that…

Read the full story