Medical Malpractice Bill Slowed In House Subcommittee

A bill that will run Tennessee’s medical liability suits through a pre-certification process was slowed down today/yesterday when the House Civil Practice Subcommittee deferred it for two weeks. The State Senate unanimously passed the bill last night/Monday. The House bill was deferred to April 17 on motion by Representative Rob Briley. Briley is the chairman […]

Advocates for a smoke-free workplace say restaurants employees should be protected from the effects of second-hand smoke. The advocates made their point in front of a potentially hostile House Agriculture Committee today. The committee has long been a place where anti-smoking bills die. The smoke-free proponents made the usual arguments for keeping air clean for […]

A proposal that would allow the Nashville Sounds to build a riverfront ballpark is on the line tonight in the Metro Council. The team and its development partner Struever Brothers have filed a second extension to finalize a financing arrangement for the more than 43-million dollar deal. Not only have the Sounds struggled to warm […]

Governor Phil Bredesen asked school superintendents yesterday to press state lawmakers to pass his 40-cents-a pack cigarette tax increase. Proceeds would add 219-million dollars for local school districts. Bredesen says a Republican effort instead to  use a projected budget surplus for education is misguided. “We’re going to have some more money when the new revenue […]

State legislators are set to begin hearings on a proposed workplace smoking ban (tomorrow/today,) and advocates are staging events across the state this week to sell the idea. Groups that have signed on to the campaign include the Tennessee Medical Association, the American Lung Association and Heart Association, as expected. But the AFL-CIO Labor Council, […]

A bill to streamline how Tennessee courts handle lawsuits against doctors is expected to be debated in a House subcommittee this week. The measure calls for experts to preview each case before it goes to court. When the bill cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, House Judiciary Chairman Robb Briley reacted angrily, saying the […]

Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has spent much of the last few months on medical missions in Africa, and says he’s seen medicine used as – in his words – a ‘currency of peace.’ And, he says that since there seems to be no military solution for the war in Iraq, health care should […]

A broad compromise on medical malpractice reform moved forward today as the state Senate Judiciary Committee approved an amendment that would allow such suits to be reviewed before going to trial. The purpose is to weed out litigation that’s obviously frivolous. The committee approved the bill, clearing its path to the Senate floor. Senator Mark […]

Earlier this week, Governor Phil Bredesen told the Knoxville News Sentinel (see link) that lawmakers may be dragging their feet on a cigarette tax increase because of the tobacco lobby. Today, Knoxville Representative Bill Dunn took exception to the governor’s comments. “His take on it was that basically we are controlled by the cigarette lobbyists […]

Governor Phil Bredesen has called a timeout on pushing for a 40-cents-a-pack cigarette tax increase. Today, bill sponsor Jim Kyle postponed discussion of the administration’s “education first” tax proposal in the important Senate Finance Committee. Kyle says tobacco lobbyists are outworking the education community. “They’ve been very aggressive in their lobbying and the people who […]