Regional jail authority on legislative agenda

This was a busy week but it will get much busier within the next couple of weeks. Last year I compared the legislative process to a ride on a roller coaster. It is slow at first but once you get to the top and start down it gets pretty wild.

This year we are looking at a piece of legislation that establishes the parameters to establish a regional jail authority and I am hopeful the legislature will pass something this year. There are many small counties considering building a new jail and it is really hard for a small county to fund the things associated with running a jail and meet all of its other responsibilities.

In 1999, the legislature passed enabling legislation to allow multiple counties to create and operate a regional jail. To date nothing has happened and there are a couple of reasons. We did not create an incentive for multiple counties to work together, and we did not define exactly what a regional jail authority is.

Last week, the Fiscal Review Committee held a hearing on the governor’s residence project. We were presented with an explanation about how much money the legislature appropriated for 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

We were also given the amount of private dollars raised for renovations. To date $6.4 million has been raised. The underground hall is to be built by private dollars at the cost of $4.8 million. The balance of the $6.4 million private dollars will go to residence renovations.

The appropriation for this fiscal year, July 1, 2007 thru June 30, 2008, is $3.8 million. This money is being used to complete some ADA upgrades to the residence and make a connection to the underground hall by installing an elevator and tunnel along with a drive and round-about at the hall entrance.

The Fiscal Review Committee was considering requesting an audit of the above mentioned funds and how they were spent along with the letting of the contracts. After hearing that all contracts were competitively bid and that the audits conducted for 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 had no negative observations, the committee elected not to request another audit.

This week the Industrial Impact Committee will have two pieces of legislation, one dealing with the fireworks legislation passed last year. The permit application must be accompanied with a statement from a county and or city official stating that the sale of fireworks is legal in their county or city. The other bill is a result of a summer study committee and it establishes the Tennessee Athletic Commission Act of 2008. The purpose of this legislation is to legalize mixed martial arts contests in Tennessee.

Immigration is a topic that will be discussed. Last year, the House passed one of the toughest immigration bills in the country but the Senate failed to vote on the legislation. Hopefully they will pass it this year.

The lottery scholarship will be a focus of the legislature this year. Last year the House passed legislation correcting a number of issues, but the Senate did not vote on it. Hopefully we will be able to work out the differences between the two houses and get it passed this year.