The Tennessee House and Senate are butting heads on how much the state should give back to businesses that have been paying franchise taxes under the current, property-based model.
Today is the first day of July and that means a host of new laws will take effect in Tennessee.
Senior Editor Chas Sisk discussed the implications of some of the new laws on WPLN’s daily show “This is Nashville.”
Among them are controversial measures. Those include:
- The “Truth in Sentencing” law championed by conservative lawmakers, cutting back early release programs for some violent offenders.
- Anti-LGBTQ legislation that would withhold funding from school districts that allow transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports in public schools.
- A measure allowing the state’s politically appointed textbook commission to remove books from public school libraries statewide.
- A law that blocks cities from preventing new oil pipelines.
- A measure that makes it a felony for people to camp out overnight on public property, a first nationwide. Critics of the law say it targets people experiencing homelessness.
The state’s new fiscal year budget of nearly $53 billion includes a sales tax holiday on groceries for the month of August, a $750 million boost to schools and $100 million in violent crime reduction grants.
Of course, some laws are more banal than others. For example, there’s a new requirement for more coursework to perform ear-wax removal services.
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