The Tennessee General Assembly returned last week with 23 new faces and a list of old problems to address. The first week of session was primarily ceremonial in nature culminating with the inauguration of Governor Bill Haslam for his second four-year term and the announcement of committee composition in both the House and the Senate. A two-week recess will allow for reorganization, as members will move their offices and staff is reassigned in order to be prepared for the next two years of lawmaking.

They will return on February 2 to begin a special session, called by the Governor, to consider Insure TN. This program is controversial, as it will use a combination of Federal funding and an assessment on hospital revenue to expand the population of citizens who qualify for TennCare (the state’s version of Medicaid). Since it is a special session of the legislature, Insure TN is the only topic that can be considered.

The special session is planned to last one week, with regular session set to commence on February 9. Major issues expected to dominate the headlines after Insure TN is settled include: revisions to the state’s educational standards (known as “Common Core”), proposals to regulate abortion providers and clinics, a discussion about funding for road projects which will include possible restructuring of the gas tax, and the inevitable disagreement over passing the state’s budget and its impact on funding for all other proposed new or revised programs.

Issues of concern for electric cooperatives will be many, although we cannot be 100% sure of all issues until the deadline for filing bills as passed. This year, the deadline is set for February 12 – although any delays in the Special Session could push that deadline back. TECA is proactively encouraging legislation to address liability concerns that arose from a court case regarding property owner claims of inverse condemnation. This legislation would reestablish a statute of limitations on the amount of time a property owner could bring such an action.

Also, TECA has been involved with a coalition of concerned parties who have been studying the State’s reaction to the EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan. Director of Government Affairs, Mike Knotts, testified to joint meeting of the House and Senate Government Operations committees on this topic in December.  Click here to see the full video of the hearing, Mike’s testimony begins at 00:50:30. Legislation is likely to be proposed to guide the state’s reaction to EPA’s plan, once its becomes final later this year. TECA’s main concern is preserving all of the remedies, both legal and legislative, available to ensure that EPA’s plan does not harm cooperative members through unnecessary hikes in rates or reductions in reliability.

If you want to stay informed throughout the legislative session, join the mailing list for our legislative newsletter – View from the Hill.  To do so, sign up by clicking here.

Forty-six high school juniors from across Tennessee attended the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association’s 2014 Youth Leadership Summit March 24-26 in downtown Nashville. Two students from each of the state’s 23 electric cooperatives attended the annual event.

“The Youth Leadership Summit teaches these exceptional students how important electric cooperatives are to Tennessee’s communities and provides them an opportunity to see the legislative process in the Capitol,” said Todd Blocker, TECA director of member relations. “Local electric co-ops, school officials and guidance counselors chose these deserving students to attend the summit based on their interests in government and strong leadership abilities.”

The summit began Monday evening, March 24, with dinner at the group’s hotel, the Millennium Maxwell House. Get-acquainted activities and an introduction to cooperatives followed, led by electric co-op leaders, and the night ended with a leadership development presentation by Amy Gallimore of TRI Leadership Resources LLC.

Students rose early on Tuesday, March 25, for breakfast and preparations for a visit to Legislative Plaza. TECA Director of Government Affairs Mike Knotts introduced Sen. Mike Bell of Riceville and Rep. Cameron Sexton of Crossville, who welcomed the students to Nashville and answered their questions about legislative issues. The 11^th-graders then toured the Capitol and saw state government in action at Senate and House committee meetings before posing for photos in front of the historic building.

Following the visit to Capitol Hill, the group enjoyed lunch and leadership activities at a Nashville-area YMCA camp, where the students were also treated to a hot-line trailer demonstration by Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative and Sunbelt Rentals. SVEC employees showed that electric power does a tremendous amount of work for us, but because it is such a powerful force, we must be careful around it and always exercise safety around power lines. The fun continued with dinner and games at Dave & Buster’s, and the busy day was capped off by special guest speakers Miss Tennessee Shelby Thompson and Tennessee Titans cheerleader Anne Peterson.

Wednesday morning, the students were divided into teams and formed their own co-ops and worked together to “buy” and “sell” power distribution supplies and resolve day-to-day issues local electric co-ops face like power outages and rights-of-way conflicts. Then they got an overview of the history of electric cooperatives and answered trivia questions about electric co-ops and the state in the “Energy Battle” competition.

“These students will soon be our community leaders — and electric cooperative member-owners,” said David Callis, executive vice president and general manager of the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association. “We want them to see what makes their electric cooperative special, appreciate all their co-op provides for their communities and understand why it was so important to form electric co-ops in the first place.”