This was a very abbreviated session. It would have been short anyhow due to it being an election year, but it was cut even shorter due to the COVID 19 virus. The General Assembly recessed on March 19 and is scheduled to return for unfinished business on June 1. We won some and lost some, but we didn’t let anything terribly bad get by us.
The Good...
Following a TACIR study last summer, Senators Dickerson and Lundberg, along with Representative Carter, introduced SB 1801/HB 1842, which would have greatly reduced the amount of illegal tire dumping in Tennessee. It was not able to get through committee this year, but will be reintroduced next year. Sierra Club Fact Sheet.
Following the preemption of local single use plastic container policies last year, Senator Briggs and Representative Wright introduced SB 2131/HB 2369, which would have prohibited grocery stores, retail stores, and food service businesses from providing free plastic bags to customers. While sent to a summer study that is not likely to happen due to the COVID 19 virus, it garnered strong bipartisan support and will certainly be back next year. See Two Tennessee lawmakers want to ban plastic bags — and grocery stores are on board.
SB 2475/HB 2613 by Representative Freeman and Senator Stevens was yet another attempt to bring Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy to Tennessee. Unfortunately the session recessed before the bill could make it through committee, but it’s still alive when they come back in June.
SB 2024/HB 2017 by Senator Akbari and Representative Lamar would have furthered efforts to address the problem of lead contamination in plumbing at schools. It didn’t make it through committee before they recessed, but it could come back in June.
The Bad...
SB 2668/HB 2813 by Senator Gresham and Representative Halford would have drastically undermined local communities’ right to manage their own groundwater resources. Fortunately after pushing back with local resolutions and in the media, the bill was taken off notice, and hopefully won’t return this session. See New State Bill Could Remove Local Control of Water Protection and Environmentalists fear bill could gut Shelby’s groundwater safeguards.
SB 1633/HB 1675 by Senator Yager and Representative Keisling was an attempt to make TDEC submit the state’s plan to conform to President Trump’s rollback of the Clean Power Plan two years before it is due. This would have cost the state $300,000 more than necessary just to make a point that the General Assembly loves coal, and was stopped in the Finance Ways and Means Committee.
SB 2224/HB 2206 by Senator Southerland and Representative Zachary would give subdivision developers a free reign in designing and building decentralized sewage treatment facilities. TDEC would have little to no oversight or enforcement powers should those facilities fail to protect the public and aquatic ecosystems. Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) talking points. More SELC talking points on HB2206 as amended. See Bill could limit oversight of some private sewer systems. This will likely come back in June.
SB 1934/HB 1838 by Senator Swann and Representative Boyd preempts local governments from restricted the use of fracked gas. This is a response to several communities nationwide realizing that if we really want to address the greenhouse gas impacts of fossil fuels, as well as the water quality impacts of fracking, we must eventually remove (un)natural gas burning from our homes and businesses. See Berkeley Bans Natural Gas. This bill passed and became Public Chapter 591.
The Ugly...
Due to a 2017 federal court ruling that found Tennessee’s billboard regulations unconstitutional, we were left with a lawless wild west industry in need of reigning in. The General Assembly rightly recognized that we need to have some rules, and the TN Department of Transportation (billboard regulators) and the environmental community did pitched battle with the billboard industry to determine the outcome. Fortunately (or unfortunately) dueling legislation came to no agreement and no bill was passed. This has left us with no regulation for now, but also not with weak rules permanently. In the meantime, please send pictures of any poorly constructed billboards you see going up in your neck of the woods.
For more information, please contact Scott Banbury at 901-619-8567 or scott.banbury@sierraclub.org.