Blog

Sen. Lowe Finney, D-Jackson, is Democratic Caucus chairman; Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, is House minority leader.

Text of the Democratic Response to the State of the State

Hello, I’m House Democratic Leader Craig Fitzhugh. Each year, the Tennessee General Assembly invites the Governor to speak before a joint convention of the House & Senate. On this night, our Governor outlines his plan for the state over the coming year. Tonight, legislators will gather in Nashville to hear Governor Haslam’s third state of the state address. In a news article earlier today, Governor Haslam said we can expect to hear “more of the same” from his administration. More of the same is not going to put people back to work, more of the same is not going to fix our education system and more of the same is not going to be what’s best for the people of Tennessee. Democrats have a different vision.

Published in the December 12th Edition of the Tennessean.

“During the last General Assembly, Republicans focused on politics. They re-litigated the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, fought to ban certain words from school, ran roughshod over local governments and spent an inordinate amount of time talking about guns. We can’t afford another session distracted by social politics.

Let’s focus on jobs.Tennessee’s current unemployment rate is 8.2 percent, meaning that every day 253,600 of our friends and neighbors wake up looking for work. In rural areas like my district, that rate is above 10 percent. Both numbers exceed the national average, so the state must take action to put our people back to work. We can do this by passing the Tennessee Works Act, a measure designed to giveTennesseecompanies first shot at state contracts, so our tax dollars create jobs here in our communities. This is not a partisan idea; it’s common sense.

Let’s focus on education. The term education reform has been thrown around so often that no one really knows what it means. This year, it seems that reform will focus on a new school voucher program or — to use a more accurate description — sending your tax dollars to fund private schools.

Here are the facts.Tennesseehas made tremendous strides in education over the last four years and Gov. Haslam deserves credit for continuing the Bredesen reforms from Race to the Top. These changes have barely had time to show progress, so now is not the time to talk about a radical change in education policy. InLouisiana, a voucher program similar to the one being considered inTennesseewas recently ruled unconstitutional, but not before costing taxpayers more than $25 million a year. We are constitutionally required to fund public education. If we start ripping tens of millions of dollars from public schools with an unconstitutional voucher program, we will most certainly do away with all the progress made under both governors.

Let’s focus on people. Too often in government we forget that what we do has a real-world consequence for Tennesseans. We would do well to remember this fact when it comes to discussions over taxes and health care.

We must focus on tax relief for middle-class Tennesseans. Our state currently has the third-highest tax on food in theU.S.Our food tax is far larger than that of most states around us and it disproportionately taxes middle and low-income families. We need a meaningful reduction in the tax on food. Not a mere quarter percent, but a significant cut with a plan to eliminate the tax altogether over the next five years.

We also need to focus on people, not politics, when it comes to the Affordable Care Act. There is broad agreement that it is in the best interest ofTennesseeto set up our own health care exchange. There is also no question that it’s in the best interest of our citizens to expand Medicaid. Doing this would support our rural hospitals, give coverage to 330,000 people who currently do without and likely extend coverage to 80,000 or more children.

It’s time to cut out the campaigns and get down to business. House Democrats stand ready to help solve the problems that face Tennesseans. We hope we will find a serious and willing partner in the majority.”

State Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, is the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives.

“This morning, we read in the paper a response from Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins regarding our inquiry into the voting irregularities of August 2^nd. While we have yet to formally receive the response, we are troubled by the hasty and dismissive tone of  what we read in the press. We had hoped for a more thorough review of the problems experienced by voters statewide. We have yet to be told how many people were given incorrect ballots and we still do not know the uniform procedure for ensuring voters receive the correct ballot. We are also extremely concerned that the Coordinator of Elections believes these problems to be relegated to Shelby County, when incidents were very clearly identified in Davidson, Dickson, Sumner, Rutherford and Hamilton Counties. While we review our options going forward, we hope that Coordinator Goins will take a more serious look at the voting irregularities of August 2^nd and return a more satisfactory report. The integrity of our elections depends upon it.”

Rep. Craig Fitzhugh                                                Rep. Mike Turner

Minority Leader                                                       Caucus Chairman

Today, I sent the following letter to Secretary of State Trey Hargett regarding irregularities in last week’s elections. 

-Craig

_________________________________________________________ 

Dear Secretary Hargett:

It is with great concern I write you today. As you are no doubt aware, the elections held on Thursday, August 2^nd of this year were plagued with problems ranging from voters not receiving ballots for the correct contests to persons with proper identification not being allowed to vote. These problems were reported across the state and have led many members of the General Assembly to submit the following questions for your review and response:

1. How many persons were not given a correct ballot and therefore not allowed to vote in their preferred primary or rightful district?
2. Is their a uniform procedure used at voting locations to insure that voters are aware of and obtain the correct ballot for their primary?
3. How many persons were denied their right to vote due to issues with identification?

It is essential to the future of our state, and our ability to govern in an honest manner, that the recent problems be identified and addressed in a thorough manner. To deny duly registered voters the right to fully participate in our elections, is unacceptable. We firmly believe that every effort must be made to reveal the cause of the problems with our recent election and hope that your office will lead the way in restoring the integrity of our electoral process.

Best Regards,

Craig Fitzhugh

House Minority Leader

NASHVILLE –Rep. Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley) issued the following statement regarding the June revenue collections, which showed an over-collection of $116,563,000 for the month and $554,650,100 for the first eleven months of the fiscal year:

“Back in April, House Democrats predicted thatTennesseewould have excess revenue well north of $200,000,000 based on trends in over-collections. On multiple occasions, we requested that the State Funding Board call a meeting to revise their revenue projections, so the state’s budget for FY ’12-‘13 would reflect more accurate revenue figures. When the majority party ignored our calls, House Democrats put forward an alternative budget we felt was more in line with revenue trends. Our alternative budget was balanced, it cut the food tax by an additional .25 percent, it restored the 2 percent cut to higher education— which would have helped avoid the 6-9 percent tuition hikes we are seeing across the state. Our alternative budget put $20,000,000 into our community colleges and technology centers, avoided cuts to key services and reduced our reliance on bonds for capital projects. All this could have been done for less than the $200,000,000 we had in over-collections at the time. Now, with double that figure in over-collected revenue, we must act—at the very least—to lower the sales tax on food and stop tuition from continuing to climb. The economy is improving, but our families are still struggling. We have the means to make putting food on the table a little easier and make college a little more affordable. If we ignore this opportunity, it is simply irresponsible, it is morally reprehensible. It’s the people’s money; it should be used to their benefit—not for politics.”

NASHVILLE – Representative Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley) issued the following statement regarding Governor Haslam’s July 10^th Post-Secondary Education Review Kick-off to be held at the Executive Residence with business leaders and other stakeholders:

“While I commend Governor Bill Haslam on beginning a review of higher education, I am disappointed that he has chosen to do so in a partisan manner. When it comes to higher education, we need a diversity of opinions—not the party line. Every major education reform—from Career Ladder to the Basic Education Plan to the Complete College Act—has been done on a bipartisan basis. Yet when the review team meets for the first time today, not a single member of the minority party will be present. We are disappointed that Governor Haslam has chosen to ignoreTennessee’s successful history of bipartisan reforms by excluding legislators from the minority party. House Democrats stand ready to have a serious discussion about higher education. We hope Governor Haslam will reconsider his actions and take a more balanced, bipartisan approach going forward.”

NASHVILLE,TN – State Representative Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley) was in Nashville on Tuesday attending the ceremonial bill signing for his Tennessee Works Act of 2012. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Fitzhugh and signed by Governor Bill Haslam, will help move displaced workers off unemployment and back into jobs.  

“The great thing about this legislation is that it’s not just another entitlement, it actually requires people to work in order to receive their benefits. At the same time, companies get to train a new employee at little to no cost. So by the time the training is done, the displaced worker has a new job and the company has a highly-trained employee. Its win-win,” said Fitzhugh.

The Tennessee Works Act, modeled after successful programs inGeorgia andNew Jersey, will allow dislocated workers to receive on the job training at private companies, while continuing to receive their unemployment benefits for eight weeks. After the eight week period, the company providing the training in lieu of pay will have the opportunity to hire the retrained worker in a full-time capacity. Only employers who demonstrate a pattern of continued employment of retrained workers will be eligible for these grants.

“InGeorgia, the Commissioner of Labor estimated that the program saved the state some $6,000,000 in unemployment insurance, while nearly two-thirds of participants found work within three months of completing the program. That’s real success. I’m hopeful we can replicate that for the 800,000 Tennesseans currently without a job.”

The Tennessee Works Act, funded with federal dollars, will be administered by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, with oversight from the House and Senate Commerce Committees. The program will initially function as a pilot project set to expire in 2014, at which point lawmakers can opt for renewal.

“My number one job as a State Representative is to help get people back to work. We need to try every way possible to make that happen. I think the Tennessee Works Act is a good start and I look forward seeing real results.”

As legislative session continues, I am surprised at the pace with which legislation is passing out of committees. We are literally seeing hundreds of bills each week, many of which we haven’t even had time to properly discuss. I have encouraged those in charge to slow things down a little so members can be fully prepared to vote on important legislation. We need to finish our work quickly, but we also need to do it in an orderly and responsible way. That is what the people expect us to do.

No piece of legislation is more important to carefully examine than the TEAM Act. This bill, proposed by the Administration, would do away with a number of civil service protections for state employees. For many years, state employees were subject to the political whims of whoever was in power. When a Democrat was elected to office, Republican state employees got fired and the same happened to Democrats when a Republican took over. Rep. Kent Williams, a Republican from Carter County, experienced this kind of patronage first hand. He was hired under a Republican, but when Ray Blanton got elected Governor, Rep. Williams found himself with two kids and no job.  That’s why the state implemented civil service in the first place.

Now I am not suggesting that our current Governor would engage in this kind of patronage if he is successful in getting rid of civil service protections, but we cannot be so certain about future administrations. Our state employees are not political and they shouldn’t be hired and fired based on their political party. I am not opposed to some reform, but we need a balanced approach here.  I have offered a number of amendments to the TEAM Act. These amendments would preserve important civil service protections, while modernizing our human resources procedures. I am in business in the private sector, so I understand the need to overcome bureaucratic hurdles in the hiring process. But when it comes to state employees, I think there is a better way to do that than returning to the days of patronage.

In other news, my 2012 Jobs Package(http://www.craigfitzhugh.com/blog/jobs/) is moving through the General Assembly. While these bills still face an uphill battle, I am hopeful that we can continue to attract bipartisan support. In particular I am pleased that the Governor has taken an interest in HB 2314, my “Back to Work Act.” This bill would make a one-time $20 million investment in our technology centers and community colleges. With this money, these two groups could replace equipment, expand programming and produce more graduates. We have done this once before in 2007 with phenomenal results. At a time when everyone agrees we need a more educated work force to attract jobs, I believe this is a worthwhile and sound fiscal investment.  I hope the Governor will come around to this plan and include funding in his budget amendment this year.   

As always, if you are ever in need of assistance or would like to hear more about another issue, please contact my legislative office and we’ll get your questions answered as soon as possible. Have a great week!