by Jon Styf
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee will be facing a decision on whether to sign several key pieces of legislation this week that were sent to him May 9, following the end of the legislative session.
That legislation includes a change to the way the state’s sportsbooks are taxed, how the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority board members are appointed, an increase in teacher pay in the state, lowering the airplane corporate fuel tax cap and a bill related to posting rules related to partisan primary Election Days.
Once a bill is passed, it needs to be signed by both House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Senate Speaker Randy McNally before it heads to Lee’s desk. Then Lee has 10 days, not counting Sundays, to either sign or veto a bill or it will become law without his signature. Since the Legislature is not in session, bills are then sent to the Tennessee’s Secretary of State.
The Tennessee Legislature passed Senate Bill 978, a bill that requires all polling places to warn voters on election day that it Is a misdemeanor to vote in the primary of a political party without being a bona fide member of the party.
The airport board bill, which only impacts Nashville’s airport, changes the board from the current seven-member board appointed by Nashville’s mayor to an eight-member board with two appointees each for the mayor, governor, House speaker and Senate speaker.
The aviation fuel tax cap is a the continuation of a Republican legislative plan to lower the aviation fuel tax, which FedEx used to pay $45 million for each year. The cap will be down to $1 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year. The current $5 million annual cap per company will cost the state $2.6 million in taxes when it drops to $3 million and then $10.6 million annually when the cap drops to $1 million.
The lowered fuel tax cap has caused the state to spend more on the state’s airports. This year, the budget sent the state’s five major airports receive $59.5 million, the state would give $23.7 million to the smaller airports in general aviation support and $20 million for a Knoxville pedestrian bridge grant.
The sports gambling bill, meanwhile, will change the way sportsbooks are taxed from taxing each book 20% on adjusted gross income to a 1.85 percent tax on all gross wagers.
In 2022, the sportsbooks paid $68.0 million in privilege tax. Under the new plan, that would have been $69.7 million.
The teacher pay bill, proposed by Lee, would bump the base teacher salary to $50,000 in the state by the 2026-27 school year. The bill also will remove the option for teachers to have automatic payroll deductions for professional employee organization dues.
Bill sponsors argued the Tennessee Education Association is a political organization and public entities should not be collecting their dues. They said TEA donated $529,000 to candidates in the 2018 election cycle and had assets of $11.5 million with $9.2 million in revenue and $10.9 million in expenses that year.
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter at The Center Square who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.
Photo “Bill Lee” by Tennessee Office of the Governor. Background Photo “Tennessee State Capitol” by Antony-22. CC BY-SA 4.0.
