Lawmakers pass $27.7 billion budget after ‘Bunker’ brawl

Running late into the night Wednesday, the 105th General Assembly finally concluded. Matthew Williams/File/The City Paper

Concluding a more than four-month session, the General Assembly approved a scaled-back, $27.7 billion state budget Wednesday after the House defeated a GOP move to restrict funding on an underground ballroom at the governor’s mansion.

The 105th General Assembly ended its session late Wednesday night and adjourned for the year.

Battling a tough economy, $468 million was removed from the budget that Gov. Phil Bredesen originally proposed in January — the result of dwindling tax revenues as the legislative session progressed.

Overall, the budget for next year is 1.2 percent less than the current spending plan.

The cutbacks particularly affected state employees, as they did not receive permanent pay increases, will have to pay more for their health insurance co-pays and deductibles and more than 2,000 state jobs were eliminated.

“I know it makes it tough on them, because the inflation rate that we have, the high cost of gasoline,” said Sen. Joe Haynes (D-Goodlettsville). “As soon as we can, we need to come back and fix that.”

Bredesen made an effort to cushion the blow state employees were receiving through offering a $50 million voluntary buyout as opposed to laying off 2,000 workers.

In addition, at the request of House Democrats, the budget funds a $400 one-time bonus for state employees, teachers and higher education officials, which costs $48 million, and continues the state’s contribution to employees’ 401(k)’s at $50 per month.

Besides state employees’ pay raises and health insurance benefits, the budget cuts $55 million from higher education funding, delays a beginning of a new TennCare program for the medically needy, doesn’t fund any new pre-Kindergarten classrooms and halts the second installment of reforms to the state’s Basic Education Program (BEP).

“There’s no smoke and mirrors in this budget,” said Rep. Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley), the House sponsor of the appropriations bill. “I believe it is a responsible one.”

The House passed the budget 91-4, after defeating moves to restrict using reserve funds of health-related boards and prohibiting further expenditures on building an underground ballroom in the front yard of the governor’s mansion.

Rep. Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) tried to amend the budget to ban further spending on constructing Conservation Hall, a 15,000-square-foot underground ballroom that critics call the “bunker.”

“This ballroom is being built primarily to entertain legislators,” Kelsey said. “The people of Tennessee are never going to step foot inside it. So they also should not have to pay for it.”

The House defeated Kelsey’s amendment 57-37 after Rep. Charles Curtiss (D-Sparta) said the state was spending $2.8 million related to Conservation Hall and it would cost more, $3.5 million, to halt construction. Private dollars are building the hall, he said.

“We’re so far into this project right now, we’re not going to be saving money by doing this,” Curtiss said. “We’re actually going to be wasting money.”

While the House debated at length, the Senate approved the budget 32-1 with limited discussions but then conformed unanimously to the House’s budget.

Sen. Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) was the only senator who opposed the budget, saying she thought the state had its priorities wrong.

“I didn’t like some of the expenditures in the budget,” Beavers said. “There’s still all kinds of money going to museums and things like that at the same time we’re laying off state employees.”

One of the only improvement items in the budget maintains full funding of the BEP, the state’s funding formula for K-12 schools.

It also sets aside a $100 million “contingency fund” for economic development, which would be used to pay for infrastructure and job training of companies possibly moving or expanding to Tennessee.

Volkswagen is considering opening an auto plant in Tennessee and has reportedly met with state economic development officials.