White House Chamber of Commerce Event

State Legislative Panel- May 14th, 2024

The White House Area Chamber of Commerce hosted an event on Tuesday that included several local representatives.

Representative Lamberth, Garret, and Kumar were included along with Senator Haile. The four men each spoke for several minutes giving a brief update on what they have been a part of or accomplished at the state legislature.

Senator Haile began with the fact that he looked into what illegal immigration is costing the state. He was part of two bills in Tennessee. One of the bills requires any illegal immigrant arrested it needs to be reported. This information would be sent to the attorney general’s district conference. That data can then be compiled to put a dollar amount to it. The other issue Haile has worked on is “Safe Baby Courts.” These are similar to drug courts as in they operate within the court system. There are currently 21 “safe baby courts.” In the past, it has taken 3+ years for a child to be adopted or receive a permanent home when they are in the system. These courts are shortening the time placements take. In 14 courts, there were 1000 children through the system. In 50% of those, the children were reunited with the biological families. The courts help these families with various programs and training. Out of the 500 children that were reunited, only 2 ended up back in the system. Haile has also worked on the priority schools program. Five schools ended up in this program. The state works with a vendor who guarantees that there will be a rise in performance. If performance does not rise, the vendor does not receive their full compensation. Four of the five schools have met their goals and come out of the program. The fifth school opted not to follow the rules and left the program.

Representative Kumar stated that 1600-1700 bills come up each session, but only 600 become law. He worked on GINA (not completely sure that is what he said). This bill states that insurance cannot discriminate based on any genetic testing that you have done. The other bill states that DNA testing must be kept private. Kumar was part of the constitutional carry bill. After that bill was passed, gun safety class enrollment dropped. He was part of a program that offers a $30 supplement towards classes to offset the cost for anyone wanting to take them. He also worked on the domestic violence registry and that is waiting on funding. On the health care side of things, he was part of the group that is requiring pharmacists to make a good effort in finding the best price for a medication and informing the patient. Finally, while trying to park Nashville, he and his wife could not get the QR code to work at one of the parking facilities. He was held there even after offering cash. He is working on a bill that would require an alternate method of payment when the sole method of payment is a QR code.

Representative Garrett has been working on a data privacy bill that will go into effect January 1st, 2025. He stated that AI will need to be the next item up for discussion if he is re-elected. AI scares him. It’s not just deep fakes of politicians, but he has had clients that were victims of fraud. One client got a call from his “grandson” in jail. The criminal was able to use his grandson’s voice to try to scam him out of money. He did not give the money away, but it was close. AI needs to be the focus of the next legislative session. This session they were able to give a large tax break to small businesses by doing away with the franchise tax and the cutting the excise tax. This will be a $400 million tax break for small business.

Representative Lamberth was last to speak. He added that the franchise and excise taxes made Tennessee less competitive and that he hopes to continue reducing taxes. He also added that in the last ten years, Tennessee has spent $3.5 billion in the schools, and $125 million in teacher raises just recently. As a former assistant DA, and the majority leader, he has spent time on criminal justice issues. He was part of getting the Jullian Ludwig Act passed. Ludwig was the Belmont girl who was shot and killed by a man who was deemed incompetent to assist in his defense and had been released. This law now states that if you cannot assist in your defense, you are not allowed to go free, you will be held in a mental facility. The state used to pay for mental health screenings when someone was charged with a misdemeanor. That had stopped for years. The funding has now been reinstated. Lamberth also has a bill that would not give “good time” toward a sentence. He related a story of a man with multiple DUIs who had killed his daughter in a car accident. The man was sentenced to 22 years. He served 12 and was let out with only 3 years of probation. He was given early release and “good time” toward his sentence. Lamberth states that the probation should at least last as long as the original sentence. He also introduced a bill that would make rape of anyone under the age of 12 a capital offense. He believes all rape should be a capital offense, but thought they could at least start with children under 12. It passed, but will ultimately end up at the supreme court. As public safety is his number one concern, repeat offenders bonding out is an issue, there will be a constitutional amendment coming to the voters on bonds. A bill allowing for a lifetime protection order is also on the agenda. The survivors of murder, rape, or robbery should not have to refile an order of protection each year against their attacker. Finally, they are looking to change any attack on a person in a courtroom a felony, not a misdemeanor.

All four men thanked the chamber for allowing them to be there and to speak. All four took questions from their constituents and were mingling both before and after the meeting. All four stayed for the traffic meeting with TDOT and the city of White House.

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