------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NewsBank, inc. - The Commercial Appeal - 1999 - Article with Citation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Headline: GENERAL ASSEMBLY Lawmakers have plenty to do this year Date: Sunday, Jan. 10, 1999 Section: Viewpoint Page: B4 Edition: Final Dateline: Memphis, Tenn. Length: 967 words Author: The Commercial Appeal Editorial Index Terms: GENERAL ASSEMBLY TN DISABILITY SHELBY CO Text: THE TENNESSEE General Assembly convenes in Nashville this week, as Gov. Don Sundquist prepares for his inauguration to a second and final term. As usual, a long list of items awaits the attention of the governor and lawmakers; as usual, Tennesseans would welcome progress on even a few of them. House Democrats say their top priority this year will be providing more state aid for home and community-based care of elderly and disabled Tennesseans, as an alternative to nursing home care. That goal is not only appropriate but urgent: Tennessee ranks 49th in state funding per resident for such long-term care, ahead of only Mississippi. Administration officials have proposed a $10 million state contribution to a new program of long-term care, but that pilot project is dwarfed by the $750 million in annual state subsidies to nursing homes. A better balance is necessary, so that expensive institutional care is reserved for those patients who truly need it, while those who don't can continue to live independently, at home or in other community settings. MORE MONEY for long-term care could come out of Tennessee's share of the national tobacco settlement, which will amount to $4.8 billion over the next 25 years. There are plenty of other worthwhile uses related to health care to which the state can put the money it will collect in this year's installment. Yet the administration and legislature should resist the temptation to use the tobacco windfall, this year and thereafter, merely to try to paper over the inequities and inadequacies in the state's tax structure. The state will have to share some of that money with Washington, and revenues will fluctuate with changes in cigarette sales. Although there appears no appetite in Nashville to address broad questions of tax fairness, lawmakers can at least take up individual tax matters. Proposals that would remove the state's high and regressive sales tax from food purchases deserve genuine consideration. So do the governor's efforts to curb the revenue loss caused by the state's friendly tax treatment of so-called limited liability companies. There should be ways to close tax loopholes without harming small businesses or placing Tennessee at a competitive disadvantage in attracting jobs and economic development. THE REPORT due this month from the governor's higher education commission will provide a foundation for lawmakers to look at ways to strengthen the state's system of public universities. Proposals to create a state lottery to pay for scholarships and other classroom improvements have real drawbacks. Still, Tennesseans at least are owed the opportunity to vote on whether they want a lottery. But questions of university governance and programs are at least as important as funding issues. Until the state system undergoes thorough reform aimed at improving quality and accountability and eliminating duplication, the legislature should be wary of sinking a lot of new money into it. LAWMAKERS ARE likely to face renewed pleas this year to equalize the pay of public school teachers across the state. Although improving the equity of Tennessee school finance and elevating the quality of classroom instruction are always worthwhile goals, it's by no means clear that hiking teacher salaries is the only way, or even the best way, to achieve either objective. Easing gaps in per-pupil spending among districts would seem a better way of improving funding fairness. The General Assembly needs to strengthen, not slacken, its oversight of the TennCare system of managed health care for low-income citizens. Disturbing allegations that an external reviewer provided an unjustifiably sunny assessment of TennCare Partners, the troubled state program of mental health care, demonstrates the need for enhanced legislative scrutiny. That might usefully be coupled with a broader review of the state's long-term policy of moving mentally ill and disabled people from state institutions to local communities, which critics contend is helping to swell homeless and jail populations across Tennessee. In the meantime, the governor is wise to place on hold his proposal to merge the state departments of Health and Mental Health and Mental Retardation, even if much of that combination already has occurred informally. SUNDQUIST IS likely to try again during the new legislative session to advance his proposals for the creation of charter schools and greater private administration of state prisons. Both ideas have the potential of providing useful competition to public bureaucracies, but both require more detail than the governor provided last year. Lawmakers can help Memphis by reauthorizing the state racing commission, which went out of business last year. The renewed presence of a regulatory authority would permit a plan for a racetrack in the city to proceed, as Memphis voters have said they want. And on the issue of local control, lawmakers finally can authorize communities to set limits on tobacco sales and related activities, especially involving minors, that are stricter than state laws. They also can protect the safety of young people by establishing a system of graduated driver's licenses, which would enable teenage motorists to gain privileges as they display greater experience and better judgment behind the wheel. Nor do lawmakers need to wait for next year's release of a report by the governor's commission on juvenile justice reform to explore their own ideas for protecting young people from the ravages of violent crime and gang activity. AS ALWAYS, the adoption of this year's state budget will reflect the priorities of the governor and legislature on a broad range of policy issues, including transportation, environmental protection, urban development and family services. It's a full plate, and no one realistically expects the General Assembly to devour all of it this year. But at least a few big healthy bites would help. Copyright 1998 The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN Accession Number: 9810170116 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------