Buzz For Friday the Thirteenth 2015 in Which Ron Ramsey Tells a Whopper

Ramsey says he gave Insure Tennessee a fighting chance

Insure Tennessee Fails to Win Sound Bite Test

Democrats file bills/resolutions to revive Insure TN

Is this the year school vouchers win legislative approval? McCormick thinks so

A top state House lawmaker says he believes a proposal to create a school voucher program in Tennessee may pass this year after failing in the past two legislative sessions.
Republican House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick of Chattanooga spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday, a day after legislation that gives parents the option to move a child from a failing public school to a private school passed the Senate Education Committee on a 5-1 vote. Two committee members were present but didn’t vote. LINK

Insure Tennessee Fails to Win Sound Bite Test

Fresh off a resounding November re-election victory, Gov. Bill Haslam ran smack dab into the reality of Tennessee politics: The Republican Party abhors anything connected to President Barack Obama.
It’s a mindset he could face again this spring.
In the first test of his second term, the Republican governor failed to garner the support of his own party members, even after making an impassioned plea to supermajorities in a rare special session to catch 280,000 Tennesseans in a coverage gap with his Insure Tennessee plan.
Haslam’s proposal, which would have used more than $1 billion annually in Affordable Care Act funding to offer an expanded Medicaid alternative to uninsured working people, never got one word of debate in legislative committees, much less in the hallowed chambers of the House and Senate.
“It’s amazing,” Middle Tennessee State University political scientist Kent Syler says of the resolution’s failure, but not shocking.
Syler calls it “a symptom of one-party rule in the state,” a situation in which legislators envision their face being put next to Obama’s in a TV ad or direct mail during the next GOP primary.
“It takes several minutes to explain (Insure Tennessee) when it only takes 30 seconds to say it’s Obamacare,” Syler explains. “That’s a big problem on this issue.” LINK

Bill would give undocumented immigrants in-state tuition

Many undocumented immigrants going to college this year will continue to pay substantially more than their peers to stay in Tennessee, unless legislation introduced this week becomes law.
Tennessee lawmakers filed a bill this week that would offer some undocumented immigrants in-state tuition at public colleges. The move was greeted with support from immigration advocates, business leaders and educators.
But the withdrawal of a similar bill in 2014 casts some doubts over this year's prospects.
Rep. Mark White, a Republican from Memphis who is sponsoring the legislation in the House of Representatives, said his support was rooted in his history as a teacher and a self-employed businessman. The bill would help Tennessee recoup the investment made by educating those students from kindergarten through high school, he said.
"We as a state put over $100,000 during that 13 years to educate a student," White said. "If we allow that student the opportunity to earn and pay for a college degree, we can increase our return on that investment."
Gov. Bill Haslam is reviewing the bill, spokesman David Smith said. When a similar bill was filed last year, Haslam "said the idea had some merit," Smith wrote in an email.
But that bill was pulled after its sponsor, Sen. Todd Gardenhire, decided there wasn't enough support for it to pass. At the time, Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, told The Tennessean there was "a lot of misinformation" surrounding the issue, but he added he might try again. LINK

Democrats try to resurrect Insure Tennessee

State Democrats aren't ready to give up on a plan to provide hundreds of thousands of low-income Tennesseans with federally funded health insurance.
Democratic leaders in the state Senate and House introduced legislation Thursday that would revive Gov. Bill Haslam's Insure Tennessee or allow the state to push forward with traditional Medicaid expansion.
"If we're not going to come up with an idea, at the very least we need to get out of the way," said Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville. LINK (Subscription)

Ramsey says he gave Insure Tennessee a fighting chance

If anyone thought the first Senate committee to vote on the governor’s Insure Tennessee plan was stacked, they should have looked at committee No. 2, said Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey.
Had Insure Tennessee squeaked out of the special Senate Health Committee last week, it “didn’t have a prayer” in the special Commerce Committee it was facing next.
“As a matter of fact, I was very cognizant of the fact of giving it a fighting chance in first committee,” said Ramsey, who said he matched four adamant no votes against four lawmakers who’d been reported in the media as being in likely favor of the bill, then filled in the other committee spots with two legislators he believed could be persuaded.
But more than a week after that committee voted 7-4 against the governor’s bill to capture federal dollars to fund the lion’s share of a Tennessee-crafted Medicaid expansion for mostly working-poor residents, House Democrats are pushing to give the proposal another go.
Democrats, who are in the minority of two chambers of Republican super majorities, say they have legislation that would allow the governor to authorize Insure Tennessee, another providing a full expansion of Medicaid, and another to repeal legislation requiring the General Assembly OK an expansion.
“We may not all agree on the right approach, but we can’t just sit by and do nothing. And I think it’s time for the legislature to stop coming up with excuses and start bringing forward ideas,” said Nashville state Sen. Jeff Yarbro. LINK

Press Release: Democrats file bills/resolutions to revive Insure TN

As the regular session of the General Assembly gets underway, it’s time for lawmakers to act on a plan to make health care more affordable, or step aside and let the governor advance his own proposal, House and Senate Democratic leaders said.
“We may not agree on the approach to make health care affordable in our state, but we have to work together on a solution,” state Sen. Jeff Yarbro said. “Gov. Haslam came forward with his plan, we’re coming forward with our proposals today, and we hope more legislators will put forward ideas in the coming weeks.”
Proposals include the full expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, legislation to authorize the governor’s Insure Tennessee plan, and legislation to allow the governor to negotiate a plan without legislative approval.
“Democratic lawmakers agree this issue is too important to let drop just because the governor’s own party let him down,” House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Stewart said. “We are committed to finding a way to bring affordable health care to Tennesseans.”
The following bills were introduced:
• Senate Bill 885, filed by Sen. Jeff Yarbro, would repeal legislation passed by the 108th General Assembly that purportedly requires the governor seek legislative approval before accepting federal funds under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
• A Senate Joint Resolution to be filed today by Sen. Yarbro would authorize the governor to pursue his Insure Tennessee proposal, which could face different odds in the regular committee system.
• A Senate Joint Resolution to be filed today by Sen. Jeff Yarbro would authorize a full expansion of the state’s Medicaid program.
• A Senate bill to be filed today by Sen. Lee Harris, makes part-time state employees eligible for the same health insurance that part-time legislators receive.
“It’s not good enough for lawmakers to make political excuses and not support some kind of plan,” Sen. Yarbro said. “The General Assembly passed a law to make sure we were involved on this issue, and now it’s time to see if we’re up to the job.”

Press Release: Time For Legislature to Act On Affordable Health Care 

As the regular session of the General Assembly gets underway, it's time for lawmakers to act on a plan to make health care more affordable, or step aside and let the governor advance his own proposal, House and Senate Democratic leaders said.

"We may not agree on the approach to make health care affordable in our state, but we have to work together on a solution," state Sen. Jeff Yarbro said. "Gov. Haslam came forward with his plan, we're coming forward with our proposals today, and we hope more legislators will put forward ideas in the coming weeks."

Proposals include the full expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, legislation to authorize the governor's Insure Tennessee plan, and legislation to allow the governor to negotiate a plan without legislative approval.

"Democratic lawmakers agree this issue is too important to let drop just because the governor's own party let him down," House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Stewart said. "We are committed to finding a way to bring affordable health care to Tennesseans."

The following bills were introduced:

• Senate Bill 885, filed by Sen. Jeff Yarbro, would repeal legislation passed by the 108th General Assembly that purportedly requires the governor seek legislative approval before accepting federal funds under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

• A Senate Joint Resolution to be filed today by Sen. Yarbro would authorize the governor to pursue his Insure Tennessee proposal, which could face different odds in the regular committee system.

• A Senate Joint Resolution to be filed today by Sen. Jeff Yarbro would authorize a full expansion of the state's Medicaid program.

• A Senate bill to be filed today by Sen. Lee Harris, makes part-time state employees eligible for the same health insurance that part-time legislators receive. 

"It's not good enough for lawmakers to make political excuses and not support some kind of plan," Sen. Yarbro said. "The General Assembly passed a law to make sure we were involved on this issue, and now it's time to see if we're up to the job."

Crockett Policy Institute
http://www.crockettpolicy.org/