February 13, 2004 

For more details on bills, visit the legislative website at http://www.legislature.state.tn.us.

TennCare: Real Reform At Last?

NASHVILLE-This week on Nashville's Capitol Hill, the administration released the second part of McKinsey's TennCare Report that outlined some possibilities for the future of TennCare.

TennCare, a problem-plagued program from the start, began on Jan. 1, 1994, not as a legislative initiative, but under an executive order from the governor's office as an ultimately failed attempt to stop double-digit annual increases in funding for the state's Medicaid program. Brewing troubles with TennCare are well-documented in newspaper accounts from 1993 even before the program began. Attempts by legislators on both sides of the aisle to ensure that the program got off to a good start were ignored. On March 30, 1994, less than 90 days into the TennCare experiment, the Commercial Appeal aptly sums it up in this gem in its Legislative Briefs:

"TennCare bills killed again

NASHVILLE-They came, they were heard, they were killed.

A House subcommittee that last week had killed six TennCare-related bills without a hearing at the urging of Rep. Shelby Rhinehart (D-Spencer) heard several of the measures Tuesday morning. "It was just like the charge of the Light Brigade - there were no survivors," said Rhinehart, who said his move last week was done only to save time.

The bills, which would have made changes in Gov. Ned WcWherter's TennCare health reform program, are all opposed by the McWherter administration, which is urging legislators to give the program-plagued program more time to work."

Senator Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville) states, "This example from early 1994 is only one of many, many examples in which legislative initiatives to fix TennCare were killed off in committees. Bills introduced by Democratic sponsors shared the same fate with bills introduced by Republican sponsors. "Last year, the current governor, who promised on the campaign trail to either fix TennCare or do away with it, asked for some more time. Now that he has the whole report, we eagerly look forward to working together with him to fix this long-standing problem, a decade after TennCare was first termed 'the problem-plagued program.' "The truly unfortunate thing is that McKinsey's TennCare Report would not be reporting what it is reporting, had TennCare legislation been given fair committee hearings over the years. Over the last decade, dozens of bills to fix TennCare were killed off each year, many never even being heard in committee," concluded Senator Ramsey. "For proof of this, all you have to do is look at the legislative records starting with bills introduced in 1993-1994 under the subject of TennCare and just come forward until today," stated Senator Mark Norris (R-Collierville). Norris has ardently advocated for a viable alternative to TennCare since first being elected to the Senate in 2000. Among the many unheard bills over the last decade are bills early on dealing with TennCare fraud and attempts to limit the costs of pharmacy benefits through various devices. Last year a single formulary bill was allowed to pass into law at long last. Not a novel idea at all, the single-formulary process is said to save the state some $150 million a year. Long before, on Jan. 22, 1996, a Republican-sponsored bill, Senate Bill 2689 was introduced stating: "The director of the TennCare bureau shall develop or may create a committee to develop a drug formulary which will be as fair and equitable as possible in its application. The formulary shall be ready for implementation by July 1, 1996, and shall be the only formulary which may be used after such date by such managed care organizations." "Had that bill been enacted seven years earlier, perhaps a billion dollars in current dollars could have either been saved in the state's Rainy Day Fund or else gone to other programs, such as education," observed Senator Norris. "That bill never got a fair hearing." For years, Republicans also advocated for an effective TennCare fraud unit to help rein in the out-of-control costs of the problem-plagued program. One Republican-sponsored bill in 1995 would have designated the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation as the state fraud control unit to investigate criminal fraud in the program. That bill went nowhere. Only now, years later, does it look like the state will finally see an effective fraud prevention effort - a decade after the program began.

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Sen. Norris to be Honored by TSBA Feb. 17

The Tennessee School Boards Association will honor Senator Mark Norris (R-Collierville) with its TSBA Legislative Award during its annual Day on the Hill event in Nashville on Feb. 17, according to Chattanoogan.com. "Day on the Hill provides a great opportunity for school board members to share the concerns of their communities with legislators," said Stephen Smith, TSBA's director of Government Relations. "There is nothing more crucial to the future of our state than the success of public education, and Tennessee's school board members want to partner with the General Assembly to improve our schools and the achievement of all students." Rep. Les Winningham (D-Huntsville) and Sen. Mark Norris (R-Collierville) will be awarded the "TSBA Legislative Award" for their support of public schools and local boards of education. Award winners are nominated by local school boards or school board members and chosen by the board of directors of TSBA's Legislative Network. For more, see  http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_46649.asp .

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Bills, Bills, Bills

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All things considered: After action this week, the Senate has 3,467 Senate bills filed as of 10:19 a.m., while the House has 3,558 bills. Resolutions: Senate Joint Resolutions now number up to 754; HJRs 869; SRs 126; and HRs 257. Through Thursday (February 12), the Senate has used 60 legislative days with the House having used 54 days. Article II, Section 23 of the state Constitution provides for 90 paid regular legislative session days for every two-year-long General Assembly. The Senate and House return Tuesday for committees. The Senate reconvenes on Wednesday at 3 p.m. and the House Thursday at 9 a.m. under HJR 866.

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Budget, budget, budget & The State of TennCare: The General Assembly is set to hear the governor's Address on TennCare, which continues to consume almost all of the new growth revenue in the state's budget, at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2004, during a Joint Convention of the Senate and the House of Representatives under HJR 867  http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/bills/currentga/BILL/HJR0867.pdf.

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Senate Floor Actions

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SB 2224 by Senator David Fowler (R-Signal Mountain) passed the Senate unanimously Monday to require a stamp used to imprint a seal of an office to be a color other than black that will appear as black when photocopied.

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SB 2614 by Senator Rusty Crowe (R-Johnson City) passed the Senate unanimously Monday to allow the granting of a high school diploma to veterans of the Korean War just as they may be granted to World War I and World War II veterans. All members joined as sponsors of the measure.

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SB 2416 by Senator Ben Atchley (R-Knoxville) passed through the unanimous consent of the Senate Wednesday to provide that a charter school is to administer the state value-added testing for its students.

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SB 2613 by Senator Crowe, Senate Chairman of the Joint Select Committee on Veterans Affairs, passed through the unanimous consent of the Senate Wednesday to include additional medals as qualifying service for educational assistance benefits for veterans.

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SB 2620 by Senator Crowe passed through the unanimous consent of the Senate Wednesday to make stepchildren, as well as natural and adopted children, eligible for waiver of tuition and fees for children of POWs, MIAs, or KIAs.

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SB 2149 by Senator Atchley passed the Senate unanimously Wednesday to revise registration requirements for reflexology practitioners

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SB 2253 passed the Senate by a 24-6-1 vote Wednesday to prohibit a candidate for a local office from transferring funds from that candidate's local campaign fund to the candidate's own campaign fund for General Assembly or governor.

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SB 2183 by Senator Jim Bryson (R-Franklin) passed by unanimous consent of the Senate Thursday to increase the time that utility districts may invest money in funds from two years to four years.

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SB 2184 by Senator Bryson passed by unanimous consent of the Senate Thursday to increase the time that municipalities may invest money in funds from two years to four years.

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SB 2341 passed by unanimous consent of the Senate Thursday to provide that the owner of any new subdivision development located within 1,000 feet of any existing sport shooting range must provide proper notice on the plat filed with a county stating that the property is located near an established shooting range and property conditioned on acceptance of annoyance or inconvenience that might be caused by shooting range activities.

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SB 2430 by Senator Burchett passed by unanimous consent of the Senate Thursday to clarify that firefighters are eligible for educational incentives rather than bonuses, to authorize members of Commission on Firefighting Personnel Standards and Education to remain on the commission until a successor is appointed, and to specify that training and education classifications apply to fire service personnel instead of just firefighters.

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SB 2434 by Senator Burchett passed by unanimous consent of the Senate Thursday to permit the use of return receipt certified mail instead of return receipt registered mail when written notice is mailed to a contractor who executed a bond or to a public official in charge of letting or awarding public contracts.

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SB 2329 passed the Senate unanimously Thursday to provide that certain individuals, who are deemed by the IRS not to be employees of certain firms for purposes of certain federal statutes, shall not be deemed to be employees of such firms for purposes of the Tennessee employment security law. The bill deals primarily with firms which place or refer employees.

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Selected Senate Committee Actions

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Senate Judiciary Committee:

SB 2275 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee to permit the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, as well as the governor, to request investigative records from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and to request that the TBI conduct background investigations on potential appointees.

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SB 2153 by Senator Micheal Williams passed the Senate Judiciary Committee to authorize juvenile court judges to request records from a telecommunications service provider concerning a missing child about whom a missing child order has been issued by that judge and to require the service provider to supply the requested telephone records without charge.

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Senate Education Committee:

SB 2912 passed the Senate Education Committee to allow non-teacher employees to be hired for periods longer than one year at a time.

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Senate General Welfare, Health, and Human Resources Committee: SB 2079 passed out of the Senate General Welfare Committee to require nursing homes and assisted-care living facilities to give documented written notice prior to admission to a resident, or to the guardian, conservator, or representative, regarding the lack of a sprinkler system throughout the facility and/or a smoke detector or an alarm in each room. For residents who are unable to read, the written notice would be read, witnessed and then signed. If there is an internet website, it must have the notice posted on it.