State budget passes after attempts to preserve cost-of-living increases

Governor Bill Haslam announced several days ago that he would be eliminating teacher and state employee pay increases from his proposed budget that had been promised in his State of the State address in February. As a result, several members of the Tennessee General Assembly began pouring over the new budget.

“Several representatives in the House from both parties began trying to formulate alternatives in hopes of preserving the promised pay increases”, says Representative Andrew Farmer. Some amendments were offered in committee, where they failed to pass. Others were offered last-minute in floor session, where they either failed or were withdrawn by the sponsor. “In the end, the budget was able to sustain a separate 1.6% increase for teachers through BEP funding but, regrettably, we weren’t able to preserve an increase this year for our state employees in this budget.”

The Tennessee General Assembly is constitutionally required to pass a balanced budget for each fiscal year. Ultimately, the governor’s proposed budget (HB2501/SB2596) passed 68-27 in the House and 28-3 in the Senate and may well represent the first time that a budget has passed in the General Assembly without a single amendment having been successfully added to a governor’s proposed budget by legislators.

Source: Tennessee Representative Andrew Farmer, 17th District