The Tennessee House of Representatives has approved a state budget. It now awaits action from state Senate. Debate on the budget nearly shuttered to a halt in the House today. At issue was the governor’s intent to close Taft Youth Development Center, a maximum security facility in Bledsoe County. The cut upset Democrats and rank-and-file Republicans.
Republican Cameron Sexton tried to add back the funding for the Taft Youth Development Center in his district. Democrats and some Republicans voted with Sexton and refused to back down from the House Republican leadership.
Finance Chairman Charles Sargent chided the offending members after two test votes went against him.
“This may be fun and games to a lot of people. People need to start studying…what they’re doing.”
Leaving the Taft Center open was favored by juvenile judges and by the Tennessee Sheriffs Association.
Representative Eddie Bass, a former sheriff, argued that Taft is the best and most secure facility for the “worst of the worst” inmates of the Children’s Services Department.
The amendment to keep Taft open ultimately failed on a vote of 60 to 30.
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Taft Youth Development Center is in Bledsoe County and serves 156 males.
Sargent argued that the closing of the Taft Center would allow more efficient housing of the inmates at other centers. He called it a hundred-year-old facility.
Representative Bill Harmon, a Democrat from Dunlap, countered that the facility was revamped in 2005. Only one building there is 100 years old. And no other youth development center is as secure, he said.
Rep. Matthew Hill, a Republican from Jonesborough, backed Sexton. He paused to respond to a quiet comment from a nearby legislator. .
“Oh yes, I do know …I do know how much trouble I’m getting in for standing up. Yes, I do. But ladies and gentlemen, we are to make a policy decision…We are here to make a policy decision, that is our job in the legislature. Last year when they closed Green Valley, we were told that they were going to take the mentally ill and move them to a community-based mode. That has not worked.
And now they’re going to take violent juvenile offenders and move them to a community based model. It’s not going to work. “
The Taft fight was the first sign that members of the House aren’t in agreement on the budget. And that’s an indication that the legislature isn’t ready yet to adjourn for the year.
The only thing the legislature is required to do under the state Constitution is pass a budget. Traditionally it’s passed on the last day of the session, thus freeing up the lawmakers to go home.
The appropriations bill is here and it’s commonly referred to as “the budget.” It’s really the state’s spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Several other bills are included in the budget package.
HB 3836 Sargent/ SB 3769 Norris is an authorization to sell almost $382 million in bonds. The money would be used for general purposes, including construction of some buildings.
HB 3837 Sargent/ SB 3770 Norris is an annual technical footnote. The constitution says the budget may not be greater than the estimated growth of the state’s economy.
That can be a problem when estimated state revenues exceed the estimated growth of the economy. The legislature is allowed to pass the larger budget, but they have to pass this bill that recognizes they are making an exception to the constitutional rule.
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