Tents and other “living quarters” would not be allowed on public spaces, under a bill advancing at the Capitol aimed at the Occupy Nashville protest – whose members have been camped on War Memorial Plaza for four months.

Members of that group say the bill would limit free speech and criminalize homelessness. On Wednesday it moved out of a subcommittee to the House Judiciary Committee.

The bill, HB2638, aims to prevent “people from living on publicly-owned property not designated for residential use and prohibits people using publicly-owned property from posing a health hazard or threat to the safety and welfare of others.”

“It is not a bill that will make the protest on the plaza end. It is not a bill that denies First Amendment rights to any individual,” said Rep. Eric Watson, R-Cleveland, the sponsor of the bill. “What this bill does, though, it restores the entire public’s right to utilize all the public property around the state, not just a single group.”

Occupy Nashville released an open letter to Gov. Bill Haslam, the General Assembly and the Highway Patrol in response to this bill’s filing.

The bill was amended Wednesday morning to provide the state with the right to prevent people from camping on public grounds where camping is not permitted.

The new amendment, which is named the “Equal Access to Public Property Act of 2012,” is based on a 1984 federal law, supported by a U.S. Supreme Court decision, that gives the states the right to do this, Watson said.

Additionally, the amendment would change a violation of the no-camping law from a Class C to a Class B misdemeanor, raising the fine from $50 to $500. However, the amendment doesn’t allow for incarceration as a form of punishment.

“This seems to me to be sweeping legislation that could be used to silence dissent and punish our unhoused brothers and sisters for their poverty,” said Bill Howell, a member of Occupy Nashville and the progressive group Tennesseans for Fair Taxation at the subcommittee meeting. “What we see on the plaza every day is the direct result of bad public policy, both state and federal, that has served to further enrich the rich and impoverish the poor.”

Howell said people participating in the round-the-clock protest could catch cold if tents were banned.

The Occupy movement claims the bill is unconstitutional.

“The $500 fine is an infringement of free speech because it would have a negative effect on 24-hour vigils,” said Jane Steinfels Hussain, a group spokeswoman.

Last fall, when the Occupy movement was evicted from Legislative Plaza, Gov. Bill Haslam said that the reasoning behind the new policy was public safety, not to prevent free speech.

A few weeks later Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey said that although he believes in freedom of speech, the Occupy movement had overstepped its bounds.

Gov. Bill Haslam, who wants to expand taxpayer-funded grants to business, is also suggesting that extra information collected to pick the winners be kept hidden from public view.

“Due diligence” documents such as corporate financial statements, budgets, cash flow reports and ownership information would be reviewed by politicians and agency staff but would not be open under a measure, Senate Bill 2207, that advanced out of a Senate committee Tuesday on an 8-0 vote with little debate.

Haslam, a Republican, wants to pump $70 million into the Fast Track grant program which is used to entice companies like Amazon to locate in Tennessee in addition to tax incentives and tax credits. Under SB2207, the state would collect more information from applying businesses but share none of it with taxpayers.

“You have to recognize that as a private company, that they have a need to keep information private,” Sen. Bo Watson, a Hixson Republican and the bill’s co-prime sponsor, told TNReport.

Both Haslam and his predecessor, Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen, have faced criticism for keeping lucrative state deals with corporations shrouded in secrecy. In some cases, it’s hard for the public to even know the final tally of incentives provided because of the privacy of tax information, though in the case of Volkswagen, the bill reached hundreds of millions of dollars for expenses like buying land and training employees to work for the car manufacturer.

The measure comes from a long list of bills Haslam wants to see passed this year, including one that would give the Department of Economic and Community Development more flexibility to offer Fast Track grants for high-impact relocations and expansions.

“Using hard dollars from the FastTrack program is more transparent than the tax incentive process, which is completely confidential under law,” Clint Brewer, an ECD spokesman, said via email. “The due diligence bill does not hide anything ECD is doing, it only protects private company finances.”

The “due diligence” business details, which lawmakers want to add as an exemption from open records laws, are additional bits of information Watson says will help the agency do its “homework.”

Under that legislation, the State Funding Board would be able to review insider details for Fast Track grants but the group — made up of the top five officers in the executive branch — will also be required to keep that information confidential.

ECD now decides which companies to invest in without that “due diligence” level of insider information. It now reviews and keeps proprietary information and any trade secrets close to the vest.

One government transparency advocate contends the documents Haslam is looking to keep out of the public eye are already protected under state law. But push comes to shove, the most important information that needs to be public are the final details of the arrangement: Who is getting how much money?

“Our concern was that language dealing with ownership could be construed to say that they didn’t have to say who they were giving grants to,” said Frank Gibson, director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, who is not fighting the bill because the company name would still be public information on the final ECD contract, even if the owner’s name isn’t.

“Eventually people are able to find out who they are. Volkswagen LLC is still Volkswagen.”

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam put a personal stamp of approval Friday on legislative Democrats’ plans to launch a jobs tour across the state, although Republicans and Democrats have held divergent views on how to approach job creation.

“I think it’s great. I think it’s where we all need to be focused,” the GOP governor said of the tour that begins with a business roundtable in Memphis on Monday. “So I certainly don’t have a problem with them doing that.

“Obviously, an important thing is I hope they’re talking to folks who are making capital investments, because at the end of the day that’s who creates jobs. We can talk about all the programs we want, but at the end of the day we need individuals and companies who are willing to put their capital at risk to grow.”

Democrats from the House and Senate have outlined a six-day tour that moves primarily west-to-east across the state. The kickoff is a corporate jobs roundtable at the University of Memphis on Monday, followed that afternoon with visits to the West Tennessee megasite in Haywood County and the nearby West Tennessee Solar Farm.

The Democrats will be in Madison and Weakley counties on Tuesday, Rutherford and Maury counties Wednesday, Warren and Hamilton counties Thursday, Knox County on Friday and Putnam and Smith counties Saturday. Planned events range from a tour of a Nissan plant in Rutherford County to “drop-ins” on small businesses in various counties across the state.

Haslam, who recently returned from a job recruitment trip to California, said he’s all for the Democrats’ effort.

“I’m glad they’re doing that,” he said. “Like I say, I just encourage them to talk to people who are putting their own capital at risk.”

Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris has ridiculed the Democrats for an “Obama Apology Tour.”

Haslam has held a series of business roundtables accompanying his staff from the Department of Economic and Community Development. The governor was asked Friday his feeling about the overall job expansion effort, and he said several factors are holding back job growth.

“To be realistic, we have a very flat economy. There are a lot of reasons for that, lack of confidence in Washington one,” he said. “I do think automation is a factor. You look at companies as they automate, companies have figured out ways to do things with fewer people. Go to any plant or distribution center, and you’ll see that.”

He also pointed to the housing market.

“You have a housing market with no growth, and you go back seven or eight years, the percentage of the employment that was tied to the housing market is a significant number,” he said. “So you take away housing, take a national economy where people don’t have a lot of confidence in Washington, and you look at the changing market due to automation, all of those are a big factor.

“The net point to all of that is it’s harder right now.”

Haslam was asked about his California trip, which included visits to the Bay Area of San Francisco and Los Angeles.

“We talked with companies that have current presence in Tennessee and to some companies that are looking at that — everything from large multi-billion-dollar corporations that have divisions here to smaller companies that are looking at growing,” Haslam said.

He said the California visit included talks with representatives of the film and entertainment industries. But he doesn’t sound starstruck, indicating he will hold the line on incentives for those businesses.

“Just to be frank, there’s a lot of talk that in Tennessee the incentives have not been that competitive, and that’s probably right,” Haslam said. “The reality there is you have some states that I think have been overly generous when it comes to film and entertainment incentives.

“While we want to attract business, we want to do it at a price that makes sense for taxpayers of the state. Sometimes you have to say, ‘We’d love you to come. Here’s what makes sense for our taxpayers and here’s what doesn’t.’”

Haslam was asked his opinion of President Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan.

“While I think there are some interesting elements to it, again it becomes a question of: How you pay for it?” Haslam said. “If it was about just spending federal dollars for creating jobs, I think the first stimulus plan would have done that, and I don’t think it produced those kinds of results.”

Obama has proposed increasing taxes on upper-level income households, which Republicans in Congress oppose. The president includes projects in his plan like improving infrastructure.

Democrats and Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly have had a running disagreement on job creation this year. Haslam and Republican legislators have said jobs can’t be legislated and that their role is merely to create an environment conducive to job growth, such as keeping taxes low, reducing regulations on businesses, enacting tort reform and taking steps they believe will boost education, thus enhance the quality of the workforce.

Democrats have repeatedly expressed frustration that the Republicans had a short list of legislation related to jobs. Democrats presented a list of jobs bills during the legislative session this year that they said didn’t get a fair shake from the Republican majority. They included bills that largely would create tax credits for employers, such as one based on the unemployment rate in a county at the time a business would hire.

Democrats also found their own targets for ridicule this year, such as zeroing in on the motor coaches the Haslam administration unveiled, with Senate Majority Leader Lowe Finney calling them “RVs.”

“He’s bought three RVs using more than half a million dollars in federal stimulus money to teach people how to create a resume,” Finney said in April. “The problem is once they create the resume, they don’t have anywhere to send it.”

House Democratic Leader Craig Fitzhugh of Ripley appointed a nine-member task force in July of representatives from both urban and rural areas to focus on jobs.

The Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced Thursday the state’s unemployment rate for August was 9.7 percent, a slight improvement from 9.8 percent from July. The national unemployment rate for August was 9.1 percent, same as the national rate in July.

Facebook Post from Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, Sept. 12, 2012:

While I’ve been interacting with constituents and preparing for the upcoming legislative session, I have been appalled at the recent news reports out of Nashville and Memphis.

Gibson Guitars, the iconic manufacturer of the axes wielded by a wide variety of artists from Chet Atkins to B.B. King to Angus Young, has been raided for the second time in the past few years by armed agents of the federal government. Gibson’s crime? Importing a certain type of wood for use in their guitars that may be illegal in a foreign country.

That’s right. Our government executed criminal warrants based on one interpretation of another country’s laws. This would be funny if it wasn’t so downright scary.

A federal raid is a not a small thing. It is a serious undertaking that has consequences for the business against whom it is conducted. Computers get forensically imaged, boxes of files are carted out. Employees are detained and questioned. Business can not be effectively conducted for days if not weeks afterward.

This kind of action can result in lost profits, lost jobs and the bankruptcy of a company. The economic consequences can be dire. Raids such as these should not be taken lightly.

Yet what was the stated need for overwhelming force in this case?

Basically, the federal government is suggesting that Gibson Guitar has violated the Lacey Act. It charges that Gibson imported wood from India that was illegal because it was “unfinished.” The wood is allegedly illegal not because of any law passed by Congress or any state legislature but because of an interpretation of Indian law.

Is this reason enough to hold hostage an employer of over 1200 people?

Even if one concedes the questionable merit of the Lacey Act, which requires American companies be bound by the law of foreign nations, the repeated targeting of one company in this fashion is abhorrent.

Our Constitution was written to ensure that the federal government’s power was not only limited but decentralized. The Founding Fathers wanted a government where no branch or agency of government could have too much power.

Looking at the Gibson case, the US Department of Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service has surely violated that founding tenet. As I mentioned, this is the second time the company has been raided by armed agents of Fish and Wildlife. No charges were ever filed in connection with the first raid in 2009 but the companies property has still not been returned.

Gibson, it should be noted, has provided evidence that the wood imported in both cases was completely authorized as legal by the countries exporting the wood.

What has been most concerning to me is the implicit assertion by the government that if this “unfinished” wood had been finished in India by Indian workers instead of at Gibson by American workers the company would have no legal problem.

It is almost as if the federal government is encouraging Gibson to do what many other companies have done for various reasons: Ship American jobs overseas. Gibson is one of the few major US companies that still produces a tangible product within America’s borders and the federal government targets them because they MAY have run afoul of a foreign law.

I fail to see the need for armed federal agents in a place of business like Gibson. This is not a criminal cartel, it is a musical instrument manufacturer. The company does not thumb its nose at the law, in fact, the company and it’s CEO have clearly made their best efforts to stay within the law.

In fact, the only beef the Obama administration could really have with Gibson Guitars is the political habits of its CEO. Apparently, the head of Gibson has been very generous in his donations to Republican candidates and causes such as Congressman Marsha Blackburn and Sen. Lamar Alexander. One of Gibson’s chief competitors on the other hand prefers Democrat candidates. I hope this is simple coincidence and not something more sinister.

If Gibson Guitars has broken the law, they must pay required penalties. But the resources which have been brought to bear and the manner in which this company has been targeted amounts to a classic case of overreach and overkill.

In an ever increasing competitive global economy, the federal government should be looking for ways to assist and nurture American businesses – not seek to criminalize companies who provide high-paying jobs to American workers.

A proposed crematory in Spring Hill and the volley of assertions about its potential impact on public health have city leaders scratching their heads, and they’ve decided to hire an expert to help them sort out whether the fumes could harm nearby residents.

The Columbia Daily Herald has been following the issue:

Spring Hill Memorial Park and Funeral Home is requesting the city approve a 3,600-square-foot crematory behind the funeral home on Main Street. The request has elicited fears from surrounding residents — mainly in the Witt Hill subdivision — who fear mercury vapors from dental amalgam fillings will be released into the air when bodies are incinerated. …

(The city attorney) told aldermen that hiring an expert would not cost more than $10,000 and would likely be closer to $5,000. In their vote, aldermen did not set a price limit on how much would be spent on the expert.

Silver-colored dental fillings are about half-mercury. The cremation industry points to studies that it says show the emissions from burning them along with a body are innocuous, but residents from Connecticut to Minnesota remain skeptical.

Around one-third of people in the U.S. are cremated at death, according to Scripps Howard News Service. The rate in Tennessee is 16 percent.

Meanwhile, in Britain, where seven in 10 people are cremated at death, the rules on emissions have been tightened, and the debate has moved on to another environmental challenge. Researchers there are looking at how and whether to recycle the heat captured in the process of cremating the body, the Guardian reported in April:

The onus is on UK crematoria to halve mercury emissions, which come mainly from tooth fillings, by 2012 and eliminate them altogether by 2020. Many will need to install new equipment. Those that have already invested in heat-capture technology usually divert the excess heat to other crematorium buildings.

Some crematoria in Sweden and Denmark have gone further, selling surplus heat for use in houses. Many see this as entirely sensible, avoiding the need for crematoria to have expensive and energy-hungry cooling towers. But others wonder if it breaches an ethical code drawn up the International Cremation Federation.

Press Release from the State of Tennessee, Aug 17, 2011:

NASHVILLE — The 2011-12 Tennessee waterfowl hunting seasons will be set at the August meeting of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission. The meeting will be held Aug. 24-25 (Wednesday-Thursday) at the Meadow View Conference Center in Kingsport.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s proposals for 2011-12 will be presented to the commission. The proposals list very few changes in regard to the agency’s waterfowl recommendations with the exception of minor date adjustments to accommodate calendar changes.

The TWRA is proposing a 60-day season for 2011-12 duck hunting, with one split similar to past years, which would end Jan. 29, 2012 with a 6-duck bag limit. TWRA has also recommended using the maximum number of days allowed for the goose hunting seasons under the federal framework.

TWRA’s Fisheries Division will present the 2012-13 sport fishing regulations preview to the commission for discussion and approval to seek public comments. Sport fishing regulations are usually established during the October meeting of the TWRC.

At the request of the TWRC at its June meeting, the TWRA conducted surveys of anglers and fishing guides to get an opinion on the possibility of a fishing guide license. The results of the surveys will be presented for discussion.

Other agenda items include an update on the new statewide wild hog regulations. The new wild hog management plan is an aggressive approach to eradicate or seriously reduce the ever expanding wild hog population in the state. The commission will also hear a report on the Catoosa Wildlife Management Area.

An update will be given on the recently held auction for the final permit to participate in Tennessee’s 2011 elk hunt Oct. 17-21 at North Cumberland WMA.

The commission will conduct committee meetings during the afternoon on Aug. 24, beginning at 1 p.m. (EDT). The formal TWRC meeting will begin at 9 a.m. on Aug. 25. The meetings are open to the public.

Press Release from the State of Tennessee, Aug 18, 2011:

CROSSVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has announced that Catoosa Wildlife Management Area located in Cumberland, Morgan, and Fentress counties will be re-opened to public access effective Saturday, Aug. 20, 2011.

Catoosa WMA has been officially closed since Aug. 8, 2011 due to vandalism in the form of nails, spikes, and nail boards placed in secondary roads and fields across the area. The WMA was closed for public safety concerns related to the vandalism.

Throughout the 12-day closure, TWRA personnel have worked to find and remove the dangerous materials. As a result of the cleanup effort, TWRA officials have made significant efforts to find and remove the hazardous material and now are reasonably assured that the WMA is safe again for public use.

According to Kirk Miles, TWRA Region III Wildlife Program Manager, the re-opening of the WMA comes earlier than expected.

“When we began our cleanup efforts we set a target date of Aug. 27 to re-open Catoosa,” said Miles. “It is a testament to the dedication and diligence of Catoosa WMA personnel, who worked to find and remove the nails and spikes, that we are able to re-open the area earlier than we originally anticipated.”

As the WMA re-opens, visitors should be aware that some danger may still exist on the WMA, particularly when travelling on secondary roads and trails.

“The closure and the circumstances that led to the closure were unfortunate,” said Miles. “The actions of these vandals negatively impacted a lot of recreational users of Catoosa and negatively impacted the local economies of surrounding counties. It will be a good feeling to see Catoosa reasonably safe and open again.”

The earlier than expected re-opening of Catoosa WMA will allow the area to be accessible to the public for Tennessee’s Annual Free Hunting Day on Saturday, Aug. 27. Free Hunting Day in Tennessee is when state residents may hunt without a license. The event coincides with the opening day of squirrel hunting season.

Press Release from the State of Tennessee, Aug. 10, 2011:

NASHVILLE — New regulations regarding wild hog management in Tennessee are now in effect. Changes to wild hog management in Tennessee came as a response to concerns from landowners, the Tennessee Legislature, the Farm Bureau, and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency biologists.

Wild hogs have been removed from big game status to a non-protected nuisance animal marked for eradication. Wild hogs cause extensive damage to farm crops, wildlife habitat, contribute to extreme erosion and stream pollution, and carry diseases harmful to livestock or other animals as well as humans.

A primary reason for wild hogs’ rapid spread is illegal movement by those who wish to establish hog populations for hunting in areas that may have little or no wild hog populations. Therefore, in consultation with other states facing similar problems, the regulations have been changed to allow landowners great leeway to control hogs on their property while removing incentives to transport wild hogs to establish new or increased hunting opportunities, specifically for wild hogs.

The TWRA recognizes two important factors in implementing these changes: (1) hunting is an inefficient way to control wild hogs and does not offset the high survival and reproductive rate of wild hogs (2) illegal transport and release is the leading contributing factor in the spread of wild hogs. In cooperation with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, measures have been implemented which make it illegal to transport or own an undocumented wild appearing hog.

The TWRA is implementing a 5-pronged approach to wild hog eradication in Tennessee:

Eliminate Status

Wild hogs have been removed from big game status and placed in a nuisance category.

Eliminate Hog Hunting

Special provisions have been implemented for landowners and their designees to control wild hogs on their lands. However, sport hunting of wild hogs is legal on only specific wildlife management areas as a part of an overall eradication program for those WMAs. While the TWRA obviously supports hunting, data indicates that sport hunting for wild hogs only adds to the incentive to create new and expanding populations. Similar to the provisions used by many landowners, the TWRA will begin intensive eradication measures on WMAs by trapping, which has been shown to be a much more efficient reduction method.

Increase Landowner Control Opportunities

As a non-protected species, private landowners and their family members or tenants that are exempt for purchasing a license for that property may freely take wild hogs with methods legal for taking big game or small game without license or permission from the TWRA. Landowners may now trap wild hogs without permit but no live hog may be removed from the traps.

Landowners wishing to get a method exemption (e.g., shooting at night, shooting over bait) may contact their local TWRA office and they will immediately be issued an exemption once they provide their name and location of property. Landowners may have up to 10 designees on the exemption form to assist with the wild hog eradication on their property. There is a special eradication program in Cumberland, Overton, Fentress and Pickett counties that allows landowners to use dogs under the methods exemption.

Increase Enforcement

Illegal transport of wild hogs was nearly impossible for the TWRA to enforce under the previous regulations. The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) has jurisdiction over confined swine while the TWRA has jurisdiction over unconfined swine. In conjunction with the TDA and other state and federal agencies, the TWRA is working diligently to tighten enforcement abilities related to illegal transportation and release of wild hogs.

Increase Public Awareness

Current efforts to eradicate hogs, rather than manage wild hogs, will understandably be met with some misunderstanding and resistance. However, the problems related to wild hogs have risen to a critical level and will only get worse without intervention by government agencies, private organizations and the public in general.

The TWRA will work with a variety of organizations to ensure landowners know the consequences of having wild hogs on or near their property. The $1.5 billion lost annually because of wild hog damage, plus the potential crippling effects that disease transmission could have on the livestock industry, and the severe habitat destruction caused by wild hogs are evidence of a need to act as quickly and decisively as possible.

A guiding management plan created with multi-agency input with multi-level approaches is required to attain sufficient pressure on wild hog populations in Tennessee. Complete eradication of wild hogs is the ultimate goal for the TWRA and others, but the agency understands the scale of the hog problem in Tennessee and realizes this is an unlikely goal. However, the TWRA will identify areas where hogs can be eradicated and work diligently to remove hogs from those areas. The TWRA will also work in cooperation with state and federal agencies, and other partners to assist landowners in alleviating problems wherever possible.

TWRA Wild Hog Proclamation Overview

Landowners may use the following methods without exemption.

1. Any legal weapon and ammunition for taking big and small game during daylight hours.
2. Live traps with bait. Bait may not be used during big game seasons without an approved exemption. All targeted wild hogs must be dispatched before removal from the trap.

Landowners will be granted an exemption to the above upon request.

1.) Landowners may request a wild hog methods exemption by two means:

a) Immediate issuance of an exemption when landowners provide information to agency personnel on the phone. The exemption form number issued will serve as their proof of exemption until the hardcopy arrives by mail.

b) Landowners may visit a regional office or request an officer visit to complete a request for exemption.

2) Landowners, family members legally allowed to hunt the property without a license, and up to 10 designees may assist in the control effort provided by the methods exemption. No more than 10 individuals may be used as designees annually, as defined by the TWRA’s calendar year (ending Dec. 31). A notice will be sent in December to landowners and they will have the option to renew.

3) The exemption will allow shooting at night with the aid of artificial light, shooting over bait during big game season, or any other methods, approved by TWRA. Dogs may be used as part of the experimental management program in Overton, Fentress, Cumberland and Pickett counties, but no dogs may be used during November or December.

4) Landowners must keep accurate records of total number of hogs killed on their property. This information must be provided to the TWRA on the provided Wild Hog Methods Exemption Report form provided by the agency within one month of exemption expiration.

Possession of wild appearing hogs.

Possession or transportation of live wild-appearing hogs, without documentation from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture indicating such swine originated from a legal captive source, is prohibited.

One-third of Tennessee’s state’s lawmakers are planning a trip to Memphis this weekend to mingle with hundreds of legislators from other Southern states.

The Southern Legislative Conference, which is closed to the public, is chaired this year by Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris, of Collierville.

“It’s good for business, it’s good exposure, it’s great,” said Norris, who said the conference will bring an estimated $3 million financial boost. “From an economic development standpoint, selfishly speaking, it will be great for West Tennessee.”

The annual event is the 65th of its kind for the Southern Office of the Council of State Governments, which represents 15 states. The first meeting, according to Norris, was held in Memphis.

State lawmakers attend courtesy of state taxpayers who cover their $200 registration fee, a $176 daily per diem to cover meal and hotel expenses and 46-cents-per mile reimbursement to drive there.

Forty-five members of the Tennessee Legislature plan on attending the conference, which runs from Saturday to Wednesday. The list includes top Republicans like Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and Speaker Beth Harwell, along with other high-ranking leaders like the top Democrat in the Senate, Jim Kyle, who hails from the Memphis area, and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Turner.

Michelle Rhee, a charter school advocate and former chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public schools featured in the education reform documentary Waiting for ‘Superman’, is slated to lead a conference session titled “Putting Students First.” She is also the ex-wife of Tennessee’s Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman, who took the job this spring.

Comptroller Justin Wilson is leading a session on the state’s debt management policies. Gov. Bill Haslam is also expected to attend.

While the conference is closed to the general public, it is open to the media and is usually attended by lobbyists, according to Norris.

Tennessee’s delegation is almost evenly split along party lines between the 29 representatives and 16 senators who signed up with legislative staff to attend the five-day conference. Here’s a list of Tennessee lawmakers planning to attend:

Senate
Tim Barnes, D-Adams
Mike Bell, R-Riceville
Mike Faulk, R-Church Hill
Lowe Finney, D-Jackson
Ophelia Ford, D-Memphis
Thelma Harper, D-Nashville
Jack Johnson, R-Franklin
Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro
Jim Kyle, D-Memphis
Beverly Marrero, D-Memphis
Mark Norris, R-Collierville
Doug Overbey, R-Maryville
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville
Jim Summerville, R-Dickson
Reginald Tate, D-Memphis
Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville

House of Representatives
Joe Armstrong, D-Knoxville
Tommie Brown, D-Chattanooga
Sheila Butt, R-Columbia
Scotty Campbell, R-Mountain City
Barbara Cooper, D-Memphis
Lois DeBerry, D-Memphis
Jimmy Eldridge, R-Jackson
Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby
Bill Harmon, D-Dunlap
Mike Harrison, R-Rogersville
Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville
Sherry Jones, D-Nashville
Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga
Steve McDaniel, R-Parkers Crossroads
Don Miler, R-Morristown
Larry Miller, D-Memphis
Richard Montgomery, R-Sevierville
Gary Moore, D-Joelton
Jimmy Naifeh, D-Covington
Antonio “2 Shay” Parkison, D-Memphis
Dennis Powers, R-Jacksboro
Jeanne Richardson, D-Memphis
Bill Sanderson, R-Kenton
Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville
Mike Sparks, R-Smyrna
Curry Todd, R-Collierville
Joe Towns, D-Memphis
Mike Turner, D-Old Hickory
Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville

Press Release from the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, June 28, 2011:

“Tennessee Pork Report” Uncovers $371 Million in Government Waste Watchdog groups expose wasted tax dollars by state and local governments

NASHVILLE, TN – The Tennessee Center for Policy Research today released its 2011 Tennessee Pork Report, exposing that state and local governments across Tennessee wasted $371 million over the past year. For the sixth consecutive year, Tennessee’s premier free market think tank partnered with taxpayer watchdog Citizens Against Government Waste to document waste, fraud, and abuse at all levels of Tennessee government.

Examples of wasteful spending outlined in the 2011 Pork Report include:

• $140 million to pay a European company to relocate to Memphis;
• $14.5 million on an unnecessary solar energy program run by the state;
• $2.5 million to provide tax credits to Nissan Leaf purchasers, which could lead to an increase in state gas taxes;
• $131,000 to send utility district employees on exotic trips around the globe; and
• $95,000 wasted by Nashville’s criminal court clerk who only works three days each week.

“Yet again, state and local governments failed to live up to taxpayers’ expectations by wasting their hard-earned money,” said Justin Owen, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. “With our economy in dire straits, the last thing government officials should be doing is offering handouts to corporations, dreaming up whimsical environmental programs, and using taxpayer money for their personal use. It’s time for them to become better stewards of Tennesseans’ money.”

In addition to exposing wasteful government spending habits, the report also offers three effective solutions to eliminate waste and promote more responsible, transparent government. The report serves as an informative and valuable resource for policymakers and taxpayers alike.

“Tennesseans should arm themselves with the Pork Report and hold their elected officials accountable for government waste,” said Ben Cunningham, spokesman for Tennessee Tax Revolt, who participated in the report’s release. “Only then can we truly cut the fat in government.”

The litany of examples of government waste, fraud, and abuse in the 2011 Pork Report come from state and local government budgets, media reports, appropriations bills, state audits, and independent research conducted by the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.

An electronic version of the report can be found at:http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2011-Tennessee-Pork-Report.pdf or www.cagw.org. Hardcopies can be purchased by calling (615) 383-6431 or emailing info@tennesseepolicy.org

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization committed to achieving a freer, more prosperous Tennessee through the ideas of liberty. Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.