Tennessee Lawmakers Return for Second Half of 112th General Assembly
Jan. 11 was the first day of the legislative session in Tennessee with both the House and the Senate reconvening for the second half of the 112th General Assembly.
Because this is the second year of the 112th General Assembly, there are few changes in committee structure to report. Sen. Jon Lundberg was appointed the acting Education Chair this fall. The House Civil Justice Committee will be chaired by Rep. Andrew Farmer, and the Civil Subcommittee will be chaired by Rep. Lowell Russell. The chamber’s only freshman legislator, Rep. Greg Vital, was appointed to the Agriculture, Commerce, and Transportation Committees as well as the Transportation and Business and Utilities Subcommittees.
In conjunction with the 2020 census, the Legislature has been busy over the last year redrawing state legislative and congressional districts. The Republican House leadership released their plans for new state House districts in late December, while the Senate plans to release their state Senate districts this Thursday. While several congressional draft plans have been floated, both the Senate and House have kept their draft plans under wraps. House and Senate will release their plans this week. Both chambers will need to agree on congressional lines, and there is no word yet on whether these House and Senate plans will mirror one another.
The next few weeks will be busy with redistricting negotiations, filing new legislation and committee presentations as the General Assembly awaits the unveiling of the governor’s budget and legislative priorities at the State of the State Address. The State of the State is scheduled for the evening of Monday, Jan. 31. The governor’s Proposed Budget will be released the following day.
So far, over 70 new pieces of legislation have been filed. TSCPA is in the process of analyzing these new bills. As the Legislature’s work gets underway, TSCPA will keep members abreast of anything that may impact the accounting profession.