Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Nashville legislation
Legislation which would have allowed Tennesseans to carry firearms in public without a permit has been killed for this session. The House Finance Subcommittee voted 10-1 on Monday night against the measure sponsored by Republican Rep. Micah Van Huss. The full Senate had passed its version of the bill on a 25-2 vote last week. The measure would have eliminated the state's background and training requirements for openly carrying guns in public, but would have kept the permit rules in place for concealed firearms. The State Board of Education will be able to approve charter schools rejected by local school boards under a bill headed to Gov. Bill Haslam. House members took final action on the bill Monday, voting 61-28 to concur with a minor date change on the Senate-passed measure. The House passed the bill last year, but the Senate did not approve it until this year. The Nashville School Board in 2012 rejected a charter school application and later spurned the State Board of Education's later ruling the charter should have been granted. Haslam, like Harwell a charter schools proponent, later withheld $3.4 million in state funding for Nashville. The bill headed to Haslam only affects five school systems that have at least one "failing" school in the bottom 5 percent of public schools statewide. Under the legislation money would be taken from the struggling public schools and be sent to the privately operated charter schools. The law likely will face a court challenge however because tax dollars would be used to fund private schools. Gov. Bill Haslam's proposal to create a program that would cover tuition at two-year colleges for any high school graduate is a step closer to passage. The Senate approved the plan on Monday, and the companion bill is scheduled to be heard on the House floor. Called "Tennessee Promise," the legislation is a part of Haslam's "Drive to 55" campaign to improve the state's graduation rates from the current 32 percent to 55 percent by 2025 . The move is an effort to help improve overall job qualifications and attract employers to the state. Haslam’s plan is to pay for the program by using $300 million in lottery funds and add to it a $47 million endowment.


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