Policy
2019 State Legislative Scorecards
The Chamber values our partnership with elected officials as we work together to create jobs, develop workforce, and build communities. Every year the Chamber’s board of directors adopts a State and Metro Legislative Agenda based on issues identified by our members in our annual policy survey. These agendas are shared with state and local elected officials.
The following scorecard reports how elected leaders voted on the Chamber’s priority legislative areas.
2019 State Agenda
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Governor Bill Lee passed the first change in thirty years to Tennessee K-12 education funding called the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act or TISA. The Governor proposed this change in the summer of 2021, pulling together eighteen subcommittees of community leaders, stakeholders, students, teachers, and system participants to help craft his administration’s top priority. The Nashville Chamber participated as a subcommittee member and advocated for changes in the bill to benefit students in and around the Metro Service Area. The bill passed with changes lobbied by the Chamber that allowed the formula to account for the higher cost of living in the Midstate and included a definition of economically disadvantaged students. The bill adds more than a billion dollars of new funding to the state’s education system. Further, the bill adds transparency to the school funding formula and some much-needed accountability metrics tied to the new recurring funding.
Chamber Position
The Nashville Chamber supported this legislation to bring fundamental change to the funding structure that supports Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) as well as the surrounding counties’ school systems. A strong K-12 system is the foundation of a capable workforce and is key to the Chamber’s mission to create economic prosperity through community leadership.
Status
The General Assembly acted in support of the Nashville Chamber’s position. The bill (SB2396 / HB2143) has been signed into law as Public Chapter 966.
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Every chartered form of government in the State of Tennessee, except Davidson County, has a recall, referendum, and petition threshold of fifteen percent of the registered voters. The Davidson County Metropolitan government has a confusing and often litigated threshold of ten percent of the last countywide elections. The Nashville Chamber brought forth legislation that proposed to bring Davidson County in compliance with every other charter form of government in Tennessee.
Chamber Position
The Nashville Chamber brought and supported this bill.
Status
The House passed the legislation (SB2544 / HB2277), and it was defeated in the Senate.
