Tennessee Bill That Seemingly Strips Power From Commission Passes Subcommittee In Voice Vote Led By Iris Rudder

Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov

The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –

A bill that seemingly strips power from a representative commission, handing it over to one state employee, passed the Tennessee House Public Service Subcommittee yesterday afternoon by a voice vote.

Ayes prevailed in the subcommittee led by Representative Iris Rudder (R-Winchester-District 39) with only Representative Vincent Dixie (D-Nashville-District 54) requesting to have his no vote noted for the record.

Chair Iris Rudder chose to use a voice vote to hide the voting records of subcommittee members from public scrutiny. We can only assume that Representative Rudder supports this bill and is responsible for its passage. As chair of the subcommittee, Rudder could have used a transparent roll call vote but opted for a voice vote to shield subcommittee members and herself from accountability.

According to a statement made by Representative Jody Barrett (R-Dickson-District 69) on the Mill Creek View Tennessee Podcast all that is necessary for a legislator to have their voice vote recorded is to simply give a thumbs up or a thumbs down to the clerk. It is very easy then for legislators to put their vote on the record for transparency with their constituents if they so choose.

House Bill 1889 (HB1889), sponsored by Representative William Lamberth (R-Portland-District 44), and corresponding Senate Bill 2102 (SB2102) sponsored by Senator Jack Johnson (R-Franklin-District 27) creates the STREAM Act, which stands for State of Tennessee Real Estate Asset Management.

Representative Tim Hicks (R-Gray-Washington County), who is a co-sponsor of the the HB1889, presented the bill in the House Public Service Subcommittee yesterday.

In our previous coverage of this bill, we surmised from the bill’s summary that a single unelected bureaucrat would be given oversight of millions of dollars in projects and property owned by the state. The bill also seemed to give this one individual decision making power on the spending of multi-millions of taxpayer dollars, a responsibility that is currently held by a commission with elected members.

The subcommittee meeting was attended yesterday by two gentlemen from the Department of General Services who took questions from lawmakers.

“The whole point of this bill is to actually give us statutory authority to do the things we already do,” said John Hull, Deputy Director of the department. 

Hull explained that the way the Department of General Services currently operates is “under an Executive Order created by Governor Haslam in 2011” in which they go to the State Building Commission. Hull said the bill would codify the responsibilities of the department, giving the support and authority needed for capital projects, among other things.

One of the objectives of the bill, Hull told lawmakers, is to allow the Department of General Services to be proactive in working with state agencies on projects instead of waiting to be approached by the agencies when there is a need. Hull assured lawmakers that projects would continue to be approved by the Building Commission.

The bill will go next to the House State Government Committee.

About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. 

You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.