League of Women Voters’ Annual Legislative Briefing
League of Women Voters Legislative Briefing
Tennessee Representatives Andrew Farmer and Jeremy Faison (standing)
Photo by K. Pless
The League of Women Voters’ Annual Legislative Briefing was held Saturday, April 12th at Perkins Restaurant in Dandridge. The guest speaker was Representative Andrew Farmer of the 17th district. He gave an ardent speech to the bipartisan group about this year’s balanced budget, on which he worked hard, and was very proud of. “We didn’t raise taxes this year,” he said, “and we didn’t borrow money.” Then he added that in order to attain this feat, “there had to be some cuts to the budget; teacher cuts, state employee cuts, mental illness facility cuts.”
“The 108th general assembly is winding down,” Farmer said, “and should be completed next week.” There are about 100 more bills to debate and vote on. One such extensive debate was how to restrict the production of methamphetamines.
One of his favorite bills that passed this year had to do with “undoing” what the State Board of Education did in regards to linking teacher’s licensure to any state mandated tests. State Representative, Jeremy Faison, was standing in the crowd and said, “The Governor is expected to sign this bill.”
There was a question from the audience concerning opinions on the “Tennessee Promise Scholarship Act of 2014”. This Act provides two free years of community college or vocational school to high school seniors who otherwise would never have the chance to go to college. Both Farmer and Faison agreed this is positive for education, and the act is expected to pass soon.
