Alliance Annual Legislative Affairs Breakfast Lively/Informative
Monday January 11, 2010
Kingston, TN. - The Roane Alliance and the Roane County Chamber of Commerce' Legislative Affairs Committee hosted a breakfast this morning for 40 of the County's top business and community leaders to meet and talk with Sen. Ken Yager and Rep. Dennis Ferguson.
The annual event is set up each year to allow Alliance and Chamber board members, volunteers and supporters a chance to have an informal discussion with the legislative delegation as they head off to begin their legislative session in Nashville
Leslie Henderson, President/CEO of The Roane Alliance, opened the breakfast by welcoming all parties and thanking them for attending. She then turned the floor over to Senator Yager. The Senator began by stating that this would be an extraordinary session. He announced that he has been appointed to the Education Committee, a matter near and dear to his heart, and would be leaving immediately after the breakfast to attend a meeting and special session in Nashville. He explained that the State must approve certain measures in order to be eligible for some special federal funding for schools, commonly known as the "Race to the Top" funding, and the special session would be primarily to consider those measures.
Representative Ferguson spoke about various road projects that were expected to continue throughout the County, specifically the 4-lane expansion from Gallaher Road to Oak Ridge, and the proposed highway 70 expansion. The floor was then opened for general questions.
Dana Peterka, our local SCORE representative and chair of the chamber's small business and retail committee, expressed concern over the worker's compensation bill that went into effect January 1. He stated that he was afraid many small businesses would be forced to close. Senator Yager responded that there had been a number of complaints and they would be looking into placing a moratorium on enforcing the new law until they could thoroughly investigate the ramifications.
County Commissioner Bobby Collier asked Senator Yager to reject a motion that would force the County to purchase new voting machines before the County was ready to do so. The Senator replied that he thought the matter would be deferred for 2 years. This would give the machine manufacturers time to integrate new technology into the machines before the County had to spend the federal allocation.
Dr. Toni McGriff, Roane County Director of Schools, stated that the Roane County School Board has signed the memorandum of understanding necessary to be eligible for the "Race to the Top" funds and urged the Senator to support the upcoming bill. The Senator replied that he was looking for every opportunity to support the bill.
The final concern came from Johnny Griffin of Griffin Insurance. He asked about the proposed additional cuts to Medicare/Medicaid and called the bill "devastating to Tennessee." Senator Yager responded by saying that the state budget crunch was more serious than last year as stimulus money would be running out. The Governor has asked each department to come up with contingency plans to reduce their budgets by 6-9%. However, the meeting ended on a positive note when the Senator closed by stating that Tennesseans are up for the challenge, and he had complete faith in their ability to come through these tough times and thrive.
The Roane Alliance is Roane County's economic development organization and consists of both public and private organizations, including the Roane County Chamber of Commerce, the Roane County Industrial Development Board and the Roane County Visitors Bureau.
