Ramsey: Tenn. revenues won't rebound until 2014
KINGSPORT — Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey said Friday that despite a recovering economy, state government’s revenue picture won’t fully recover until 2014.
“I just don’t want people to think that because revenues are up, that means we have a lot of extra money,” Ramsey, R-Blountville, said after addressing about 175 business leaders at a Regional Legislative Breakfast held at the MeadowView Marriott. “Revenues are up simply because we had a very conservative estimate on growth. We’re still going to be 2014 to get back to 2007 levels.”
Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, will present his proposed state budget for the coming fiscal year to a joint session of lawmakers on Monday.
Jason Mumpower, executive assistant to the state comptroller, pointed out state revenue collections are outperforming projections by $188 million for the first five months of the current fiscal year.
“We are on the upswing. ... That doesn’t mean we can start spending money left and right, but it hopefully means ... we are on the (economic) uptick,” Mumpower, a former state representative from Bristol, told the crowd at the breakfast hosted by Tri-Cities’ chambers of commerce.
The legislative session’s anticipated impact on business is a topic always addressed at the annual breakfast.
State Rep. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, declared the current Republican-controlled General Assembly is “the most pro-business legislature” ever elected.
“We haven’t created any job,” said Lundberg. “We have created the environment for you to create jobs, for you to grow and expand. We can either hurt that environment or help it. My pledge has been since I’ve gone (to the legislature) is to do no harm.”
Deb Woolley, president and CEO of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said a U.S. Chamber report has named Tennessee as “the number one business climate in the nation for taxes and regulation.”
She asked business leaders to support Haslam’s initiatives to reform state government’s employment practices and give local school boards more flexibility in managing classroom size and paying teachers.
“There’s going to be people who fight for the status quo,” Woolley said. “There’s going to be people who say ‘Don’t make this big change so fast.’ The people who can best explain why this move is so good is you all, the private sector, who do it every day.”
Lawmakers also discussed legislative plans to ban synthetic drugs.
Lundberg said he “went into a head shop” to find out what it’s like to buy the synthetic drug known as “bath salts.”
“I said ‘I would like to buy some bath salts,’ and they said ‘We don’t sell bath salts,’” Lundberg said of the experience. “(They said) ‘We sell window cleaner.’ I said ‘OK where do I get the window cleaner?’ He opened up a strongbox and brought up a little vial. ... I said ‘OK, I’m not going to get through many windows with that.’”
State Rep. Tony Shipley, who is advancing legislation to create new felonies for manufacturing, distributing and selling synthetic drugs, described a meeting he had with school students to discuss the issue.
“I said ‘How many of you all know about bath salts?’” Shipley recalled. “Every child held their hand up. Conversely, I went to an Optimist Club meeting, and nobody held their hands up. ... Then I asked the question to our children ‘How many of you all know somebody who has used this stuff?’ Every hand in the room went up. Then I asked the question ‘How many of you have used this stuff?’ No hands went up, but about half of the heads went down.
“If our future employees have burned out their brains on a substance they thought was legal ... we’ve missed the boat, and we’ve missed it severely.”
State Rep. Dale Ford, R-Jonesborough, disclosed he had been asked by a convenience store owner to oppose a synthetic drug ban.
“(The owner) said ‘Dale, we need to keep that on the shelf.’ He said ‘It only gives you a buzz for about 10 minutes,’” Ford said. “I said ‘You know how many people you can kill in 10 minutes?’ I said ‘The only reason you want to keep that is you’re making money on it.’”
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Do these guys talk to anyone other than the Chamber of Commerce?