West TN Legislators talk ahead of new session

JACKSON, Tenn. — Tennessee lawmakers are just days away from resuming their post in Nashville, deciding legislation for the Volunteer State.

Legislators here in West Tennessee say the first thing to get to work on is passing the budget.

“Constitutionally, we have to pass a balanced budget,” State Representative Jimmy Eldridge explained. “The big challenge is, how do you get there? We’re going to balance the budget, but where do you make the tough cuts?”

While “Insure Tennessee” probably won’t be getting any more attention this time around, lawmakers on both sides agree it should be revisited.

“I’d like to see us go back and revisit that because I think “Insure Tennessee” would have been good not only for providing the care that is needed for our constituents, but it would have been good for the hospital. It would have created jobs,” Representative Johnny Shaw said.

“There’s 260 thousand, 280 thousand low income people out there that do not have health insurance,” Representative Eldridge said, “so the big question is, what can we do to help expand medicaid, medicare to fund that?”

Meanwhile, they said education in the state needs continued growth.

“We were 43rd, 45th up and down a little bit, now we’re the fastest growing state in education improvement,” State Senator Ed Jackson said. “We’re really proud of that, so we will still be emphasizing education.”

“In West Tennessee as a whole, people are doing well with education, but sometimes the requirements that the state puts on these people sometimes will set them back from being able to do some of the things they want to do,” Representative Shaw remarked.

Even with a Republican super-majority, lawmakers said continued bi-partisan approach will help continue progress in the state.

“We don’t always agree on everything,” Senator Jackson explained, “but when it comes down to it, we might roll a bill for a week or two to discuss it, and let’s come up with a better solution if there’s disagreement on things.”

Lawmakers said there will be a number of bills introduced, including gun legislation, a bill protecting pastors from not marrying homosexual couples and even medical marijuana.