Tennessee Senator Takes Issue With Taxpayer Funded Lobbying During Committee Meeting

Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov

The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –

Senator Kerry Roberts had stern words for two representatives of a state agency last week. During a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jim Layman from Department of Children’s Services (DCS) and Doug Diamond, general counsel for DCS provided testimony against Senate Bill 2098.

SB2098, sponsored by Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon-District 17) would have changed the length of time DCS could keep records of unsubstantiated claims of child abuse. Pody originally wanted just 90 days for the records to be kept on file, DCS wanted 10 years. Pody then brought an amendment for 3 years.

During their testimony, the two gentlemen from DCS made valid points for why this was too short a timeframe but also overstepped their bounds according to Roberts.

“I’m deeply offended by your testimony,” Roberts began. “You both have sat here and lobbied against a bill by a member of this Tennessee General Assembly. It’s your role to tell us the consequences that you see from your professional opinion but it’s not your role to sit here and say you’re philosophically opposed to a bill. It’s not your role to say it’s bad public policy.”

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Roberts then mentioned being visited by another representative of DCS earlier in the day, who he had told, “We are tired of taxpayer-funded lobbyists coming into our offices and trying to tell us what to do.”

It is Roberts’ belief that state agencies should be neutral. “You ought to be Switzerland,” he said. “No one elected you to be a legislator. This is a legislative branch of government that is charged with responsibility [of] passing laws. If you want to tell us what the consequence of passing that law is we need to hear it. That’s a great use of your time. That’s a great use of our time to listen to it, but it’s not appropriate to come in here and tell us what you think is a good or bad idea.”

A bill to prohibit taxpayer-funded state agencies from lobbying for or against state legislation was taken off notice for the House Public Service Subcommittee on March 2nd, due to the fact that the practice the bill aims to address is most likely already in violation of Tennessee Code and the state’s Constitution.

Representative Smith said, “What I’ve decided to do, rather than run the bill, is I’ve submitted a letter to the Attorney General asking for his official opinion, asking if the current law and our Constitution is being upheld.”

The Tennessee Conservative asked DCS if the agency thinks it is ethical or constitutionally appropriate to use taxpayer dollars to lobby against the interest of citizens or legislators. At the time of publication of this article, no comment had been made by the agency.

Sadly, DCS is not the only state agency potentially violating state law. The following day after Roberts’ remarks the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) testified against HB2509 to the House Criminal Practices Subcommittee.

During the Judiciary Committee, Roberts concluded by saying, “I want every commissioner in Tennessee to hear this. We have three separate branches of government  and it’s our job to pass the laws… I’m tired of having people come in here from a department, a board, a commission or whatever and lobby, paid for by taxpayer dollars. State employees come here and lobby against what the people elected us to do.”

About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.