FORCED TO CO-SPONSOR DEMOCRATIC BILL TO DELAY HIS OWN LAW
A big win for small independent contractors occurred yesterday when republican Senator Bill Ketron, under pressure from independent contractors across the state, was forced to co-sponsor a Democratic bill he did not support last year to delay his own law, Public Chapter 1041, from taking effect. Ketron has finally agreed to support Democrat Tim Barnes’ bill (SB7001) that postpones until March 11, 2011 the deadline for contractors to purchase costly extra insurance. Interestingly, Ketron just last year did not support the delay sponsored by Senator Barnes of Clarksville, a Democrat.
Barnes sponsored SB2055 in 2009 in order to protect small independent contractors from the high costs of new insurance required by the Public Chapter 1041 Law which Ketron sponsored and passed in 2008. Ketron, a republican from Murfreesboro, abstained from voting for Barnes’ delay.
But now that he’s taken so much heat from Tennessee’s small business owners, he thinks delaying his own law is a great idea. He has demanded to be added to the list of co-sponsors of Barnes’ re-introduced bill (now SB7001), a bill he previously did not support.
Barnes’ bill to delay Ketron’s law will come up for a vote today at 1:00 in the Finance Ways & Means committee during Special Session. Unless Ketron abstains from voting again, he has officially flip-flopped on his own law. Maybe Ketron should have supported a delay led by Democrats last year, before he lost the support of Tennessee’s independent contractors.
NASHVILLE - Citing the slumping economy’s devastating effects on small-business owners, Democratic lawmakers Joe Pitts and Tim Barnes are seeking to delay until 2011 a state law that forces all building contractors to carry workers’ compensation insurance.
The law in question, sponsored by Republican House Leader Jason Mumpower of Bristol and Republican state Sen. Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro, went into effect on Dec. 31. Some building and small-business groups have said the new workers’ compensation policies are too costly for their members, especially at a time when the construction industry is in a downturn.
“Mr. Ketron and Mr. Mumpower are more worried about helping their big business buddies than on helping the self-employed guy out here trying to make ends meet,” Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester said. “The workers’ compensation bill they shepherded through the legislature may put some small-business owners in a real financial bind or even out of business.”
Sen. Tim Barnes (D-Clarksville)
“We need lawmakers in the General Assembly who understand the challenges we face and work tirelessly to make Tennessee a better place to live and raise a family. Policies that create jobs for our communities, ensure our children are well educated and make our lives more comfortable should be at the top of the priority list, not how to take care of a special interest group contributing to your campaign.”
State Rep. Pitts and state Sen. Barnes have introduced a bill delaying the new workers’ compensation law, which forces general contractors to carry the insurance on subcontractors and other workers who were not otherwise covered. As written, the new law also applies to sole proprietors and partnerships with six or fewer employees.
“They can’t pay when they are an industry that has been devastated by this recession and their income has shrunk dramatically,” said Jim Brown, Tennessee director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, during a recent television interview with WSMV-TV in Nashville.
Efforts by Pitts and Barnes to delay implementation of the law were scuttled last year. The General Assembly, however, will convene tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan. 12, a special session dealing with education reforms and the workers’ compensation issue.
Many lawmakers agree the law is flawed and hope it can be delayed until all concerns can be addressed.
“I hope this next session will focus on real concerns for the state and not be a venue to score cheap political points for the November elections,” Forrester said. “We have too much riding on the future of this state to waste time on grandstanding and nonsense.”
Republican Senator Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro is an insurance salesman. He has taken in over $20,000 in campaign cash from big insurance and large homebuilding special interests. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he sponsored a new state law to force small contractors and subconstractors to spend their hard-earned profits with him and his insurance buddies instead of spending it on their families in tough economic times.
Public Chapter 1041, sponsored by Senator Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) and Rep. Jason Mumpower (R-Bristol) was lobbied for heavily by the Tennessee Hombuilders Association (a special interest group that represents large development companies) and the Tennessee Insurors Association, who greased the wheels of government with copious amounts of campaign cash for Republican lawmakers in order to further the interests of big business over the little guy. It would require all contractors to purchase workers’ compensation insurance even if their only employee is themselves. The new law took effect January 1st, and small contractors are howling mad about it:
Gerry Fridlund, owner of Skybright Metal Roofing in Memphis, found out about the law the hard way when his insurance company sent him a bill for $4,300 last summer.
“I told them I wasn’t going to pay it,” Fridlund told NIT. “When I asked who was responsible for this I was told the Home Builders Association pushed this through. I think they wanted to stop the little guy from bidding up against the big boys. They want to squeeze the sole proprietors and make it difficult for people to start small businesses.”
The new law’s Senate sponsor, Sen. Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), is himself an insurance salesman who benefits from raising premiums on small contractor businesses. During his current term, special interest PACs representing large home builders, developers and insurance industries gave more than $20,000 to Ketron’s campaign war chest.
The new law’s House sponsor, Rep. Jason Mumpower (R-Bristol), has received $18,000 from special interest PACs representing large home builders, developers and insurance industries during his current term.
Its all fine with Bill Ketron, who will be sending out grossly inflated insurance bills to his customers this year. He doesn’t really care that jobs may be killed to pay for it as long as he gets paid.
Thankfully, Rep. Joe Pitts (D - Clarksville) and Sen. Tim Barnes (D-Clarksville) have listened to the voices of Tennessee’s small business owners and are seeking to delay the enforcement of the new law in Special Session of the General Assembly next week. HB1899 and its companion bill SB2055 delay Ketron’s law until July 1st of 2010. As usual, its up to Democrats to finally stand up for small business owners when republicans and their big business cronies try to sneak in sweetheart deals for themselves.
WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Bart Gordon announced that he was able to secure funding for Middle Tennessee State University to improve law enforcement and aviation safety training, as well as help MTSU complete a Physical Activity Center that will help fight obesity among children and teens.
MTSU’s Forensic Institute for Research and Education will receive $625,000 to enhance their training program for Tennessee law enforcement and forensic specialists. The Institute brings together faculty and students in several scientific specialties to provide educational and training opportunities for law enforcement officers and personnel.
“At a time when many of our sheriff and police departments can’t afford to offer specialized training to officers, this funding will help MTSU continue to provide quality training to Tennessee law enforcement and educate more students to become forensic scientists and technicians,” said Gordon.
The MTSU Department of Aerospace will also receive $700,000 for MTSU to continue its training of air traffic controllers and pilots. MTSU is one of only 14 universities in the country that participates in the Federal Aviation Administration’s AT-CTI program, which is designed to prepare young men and women to attend the FAA Training Academy in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Gordon also secured $400,000 for MTSU’s Physical Activity Center, which will organize media and advocacy campaigns to emphasize the importance of physical activity for children and adolescents
Joe Bales, Vice President for Development and University Relations at MTSU, said, “We are extremely grateful to Congressman Gordon and the members of the Tennessee delegation for their continued support of our teaching, research and service efforts. These funds will enable us to expand our existing programs in forensics and aerospace and allow us further develop our innovative efforts at addressing childhood obesity, one of our state and nation’s leading health concerns.”
Gordon secured the funding for each project in the Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2010, which was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives today. The bill is expected to be passed by the Senate and then signed into law before the end of the year.
WASHINGTON – Congressman Bart Gordon supported three bipartisan bills today aimed at helping small businesses in Tennessee and around the country. Each bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
The House approved the Small Business Health Information Technology Financing Act (H.R. 3014), which would create a loan program in the U.S. Small Business Administration to help medical professionals purchase health information technology.
“Numerous studies have shown that if doctors and hospitals started using secure health information technology systems, like electronic medical records, billions of dollars could be saved each year nationwide,” said Gordon who has been a longtime advocate for reducing the costs of practicing medicine.
Earlier this year, the President implemented a tort reform initiative that Gordon developed to reduce the number of frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits that doctors face.
The House also passed the Small Business Early-Stage Investment Act (H.R. 3738) and the Expand Entrepreneurship Act (H.R. 1842). Both measures aim to support new, promising small businesses.
“Early-stage businesses have been found to be some of the best job creators, but starting a new business is no easy task,” said Gordon. “These bills create important SBA programs that will assist small businesses in getting up and running. Helping small businesses grow is especially important for Tennessee’s economy, where more than 95% of our state’s private workforce is employed by small businesses.”
The Small Business Early-Stage Investment Act creates an SBA investment program tasked with providing grants to small businesses involved in health information technology, digital technology, defense technology, and agriculture research and development. The Expand Entrepreneurship Act directs the SBA to develop a comprehensive plan that identifies a strategy for each SBA region to create jobs through its programs.
Having passed the House, the three bills will now move to the Senate for consideration.
On this Veterans Day, more than 190,000 of our brave men and women are currently fighting for our country in Afghanistan and Iraq. Going to war takes incredible courage, and each and every service member currently deployed is in our thoughts and prayers. All Americans appreciate their commitment to defending our freedoms.
We owe them more than just our gratitude though; we have an obligation to serve those who have volunteered to serve our country. The unfortunate reality is that here at home, there are about 185,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are unemployed and looking for work. These veterans bravely served our country, and the skills they developed during their military service – from their strong work ethic and unwavering loyalty to their commitment toward achieving goals bigger than themselves – would be of great value to any business.
Many, however, have been caught in the turmoil of the current economic climate. As the United States climbs out of this recession, my goal has been to support efforts aimed at helping them obtain the additional skills needed to compete for today’s jobs.
Last year, Congress passed the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, legislation that expanded educational benefits for military veterans who have served since September 11, 2001. In August, military veterans throughout Middle Tennessee and across the United States started receiving benefits from the new G.I. Bill, which includes covering 100% of a four-year public undergraduate education.
I strongly supported this bill because it will allow an estimated 2 million veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to return to the classroom and get the education they need and deserve without having to worry about costs. Not only does the new G.I. Bill cover tuition, but it also helps with books and housing expenses.
In addition to the new G.I. Bill, the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the Veterans Retraining Act, which will further help veterans obtain the skills needed to get a new job. This legislation would authorize the U.S. Labor Department to pay monthly living and housing stipends to veterans enrolled in employment-training programs that teach skills in particular demand.
In Smyrna, the Department of Veterans Affairs recently announced its plans to open a new patient service call center to help serve veterans and 19 VA hospitals. This center is expected to create as many as 450 new jobs. Hiring will begin later this year, and the federal government will offer veterans special preference for these jobs, which will provide much needed job opportunities for veterans in our area.
As the current economic climate improves, I remain committed to ensuring that veterans are part of the recovery.
WASHINGTON – To build upon the new solar technology jobs being created in Tennessee, Congressman Bart Gordon used his chairmanship of the House Science and Technology Committee to advance the Solar Technology Roadmap Act. The bipartisan bill overwhelmingly passed the full U.S. House of Representatives in a vote of 310 to 106 today.
“If solar power isn’t the first thing you think of when I talk about Tennessee, I’ll forgive you,” Congressman Gordon said during his opening remarks about the Solar Roadmap bill on the House Floor today. “But over the last few years we’ve really seen first-hand the major potential that solar energy has to create new jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil in the process.”
The Solar Roadmap bill, H.R. 3585, would establish a comprehensive process to facilitate the research, development and demonstration of American solar technology in partnership with the private sector. The bill would also direct the Department of Energy to award grants to entrepreneurs, research agencies and academic laboratories that are leading the field in solar technology development and solar manufacturing.
“Solar technology is creating jobs throughout Tennessee and the rest of the country,” explained Gordon. “The short- and long-term roadmap that will be written as a result of this bill is modeled on the successful National Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, which has been instrumental in creating thousands of jobs and helping the semiconductor technology industry advance rapidly over the past two decades.”
The Solar Roadmap bill would require the U.S. Secretary of Energy to appoint an 11-member Solar Technology Roadmap Committee to write, review and update a Solar Technology Roadmap. Moving forward, the roadmap will provide a path to make solar technology more dependable and widely available to American consumers.
“The solar technology plants in Clarksville and Cleveland, as well as Nissan’s electric car and battery plant in Smyrna, are going to be instrumental in making Tennessee a leader in the new clean energy industries that will help our country become more energy independent,” added Gordon. “This bill will help additional solar projects get off the ground and boost job growth in the process.”
The Solar Technology Roadmap Act has been endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In a letter of support, the Chamber wrote, “Increased research, development, and demonstration of solar technology is crucial to America’s energy security needs, and H.R. 3585 would help move one step closer to that goal.”
The bill has also been endorsed by the National Association of Manufacturers, the Solar Energy Industries Association, BP, IBM, Intel and National Semiconductor. Having passed the House, the bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.
WASHINGTON – Over the past five years, China has been violating international trade laws by flooding the United States with cheap Chinese-made tires. In response, the Obama Administration announced over the weekend that it would impose an import tax on Chinese-made passenger and light truck tires – a move that Congressman Bart Gordon urged the Administration to take in May.
“This was the right decision. Chinese tire companies have been violating trade laws, which has contributed to more than 5,000 Americans losing their jobs in the U.S. tire industry,” said Congressman Gordon. “We’ve seen the effects in Middle Tennessee – in January, Bridgestone tires announced it would stop producing passenger and light truck tires at its La Verge plant, and hundreds of workers were laid off.”
In late May, Gordon wrote a letter to the U.S. International Trade Commission, urging that Section 421 of the Trade Act of 1974 be enforced “to restore balance in international trade” of tires. “Your positive action on this matter,” as Gordon explained in the letter, “is essential to saving thousands of U.S. jobs and preserving a vital part of our industrial base.” Section 421 gives workers the right to seek import relief when there are surges of products that have caused injury to affected industries.
After examining the evidence, which showed that cheap Chinese tires in the U.S. market had increased from 5% in 2004 to 17% in 2008, the U.S. International Trade Commission recommended an import tax be imposed. On Friday (Sept. 11), the Administration announced it would act on these recommendations and impose a 35% import tax on Chinese tires, which will go into effect on September 26.
“When China joined the World Trade Organization, it agreed to live up to international trade laws,” Gordon added. “By flooding our country with cheap tires, U.S. tire companies have not been able to compete. A crack down on Chinese tire imports that unfairly undermine American workers has long been overdue.”
Rep. Joe Carr (R-Lascassas) told Channel 4 today that he is refusing a request by voters to return thousands of dollars he recently told the Tennessean he “inadvertently” took from the tax payers and now claims he’s “entitled” to it.
Rep. Carr also told Channel 4 he took over $18,000 (more than any other lawmaker) in expenses to pay for hotel rooms, but no one seems to understand why he’d need that much money when he lives less than an hour from the state Capitol.
In the video above, Rep. Carr couldn’t explain how he “inadvertently” drove himself to the bank to “inadvertently” cash 13 weeks worth of bogus meal and hotel expense checks.
Joe had the nerve to challenge his fellow big spending county Republicans to join him in not accepting anymore expense claims for the entire calendar year after we caught him with his hand in the tax payer’s pocket.
“Mr. Carr seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth on this issue,” Forrester said. “Back home he rants about taxes, but he sure comes to Nashville often to collect his per diem, which reimburses lawmakers for their expenses while doing official business.
“Speaker Kent Williams even sent a letter recently to House members encouraging them to limit use of expense money they collect from the state.”
It must be embarrassing for Rep. Carr to know voters pay attention to these things. For months, Rep. Carr ignored his own party’s leadership warning him and other free -loaders to stop using per diems as his personal unemployment check, but that’s exactly what he’s done.
What’s worse is Rep. Carr doesn’t feel he owes anyone an explanation.
Like many of his constituents, Rep. Carr has fallen on hard times in this 1 1/2 year long Bush recession. But instead of trying to help his district recover from the results of 8 years of failed conservative economic policy, Rep. Carr drafted legislation demanding Gov. Bredesen deny extended jobless benefits to the growing unemployed in Lascassas when they needed it the most. Rep. Carr told listeners on 1450 WGNS that extending their unemployment benefits “would cost too much of the tax payer’s money.”
Now we find out that Rep. Carr, who has no job himself, has been taking his own personal stimulus check directly from tax payers through bogus $171 a day per diem requests meant to pay for hotel and meals for out of town legislators. Rep. Joe Carr claimed more than $18,000 for hotels and meals, even though he lives 30 miles from Nashville. More than $7,000 of that was since July when nothing is going on at the Capitol!
Lascassas deserves an honest, hard working Representative who doesn’t spend as much tax money as Memphis legislators who actually need hotel rooms. The voters ought to ask Rep. Carr what on earth he did with their money.
The state legislature may be out of session but according to local media reports Rep. Joe Carr (R-48) has been spending a lot of summer days at the Capitol claiming per diems, a day’s pay for showing up. Rep. Carr was at the top of the list when it came to which Republican requested the most per diems after the session was already over.
It’s gotten so bad that Republican House Speaker Kent Williams issued a letter to all Representatives asking them to follow some basic guidelines to cut per diem requests. You can read the letter here.
Rep. Carr must not have gotten the memo because he kept requesting money all summer when he thought no one would be watching. Rep. Carr didn’t think twice about pushing his own bill in the last session demanding Gov. Bredesen not accept federal stimulus funds for extended jobless benefits for his district’s growing unemployed. Now that Rep. Carr needs a stimulus of his own, he’s off to collect his directly from the tax payers.
We’ll take a closer look at Rep. Carr’s summer per diem requests later, but first, let’s look at how much our county’s delegation is costing us.
What the list of our county delegation’s per diem requests for the entire session factually shows the voters of our county is a record of spending on the part of the Republican delegation. Rep. Donna Rowland (R-34) doesn’t look that bad on the surface, but then she’s got a lot of making up to do for being deemed the most expensive Republican in the entire House for filing resolutions honoring everything from campaign contributors to her new boyfriend.
The list below does not include per diem requests made after the session, which ought to put Rep. Carr over the top.
Over the past few months several job creation announcements for working families of Rutherford County have given us a glimmer of hope in a recovering economic recession that began in the first part of 2008.
Thanks to a $1.6 billion federal government loan to Nissan, 1,000 workers will be hired and help position Tennessee as a leader in a green auto revolution. Thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, construction firms are bidding on three shovel-ready road projects, and millions more is being spent to retrain workers for these jobs of the future.
Rutherford County’s Tea Party Republicans have taken to the streets 3 times in the last 3 months protesting the tax revenues spent creating these new jobs. They also protested the very incentives being provided companies to relocate manufacturing jobs here in the United States.
What’s worse are Republicans like Sen. Bill Ketron (R-13), Sen. Jim Tracy (R-16) and Rep. Joe Carr (R-48) gleefully taking credit for those jobs.
“We’re going to relight Middle Tennessee,” said Ketron, who was involved with some of the discussions involving the LED business partnerships. “Tennessee is poised to be the alternative energy capital of the world.”
Ketron attended the press conference along with state Sen. Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville, state Rep. Joe Carr, R-Lascassas, and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey.
Companies like NCS Power had strong economic incentives to ship jobs to China throughout President Bush’s 8 years in office. Now months into the Obama Administration those incentives are changing, and NCS Power now sees strong incentives to move 2,000 jobs back to Murfreesboro, TN.
The fact is county Republicans have gone out of their way to oppose changes that help working families. Rep. Carr authored a bill this year demanding Gov. Phil Bredesen reject stimulus funds that extended unemployment benefits for our county’s growing unemployed as well as funds to retrain workers for these new jobs of the future.
Senators Ketron, Tracy and other county Republicans wanted four more years of Bush’s failed economic policy and years more of the results from which we’re slowly recovering.
When Nissan begins hiring 1,000 Rutherford County residents due to the massive government backed auto loan they protested, expect Sen. Ketron, Sen. Tracy and Rep. Carr to pray to God that you’ve forgotten their vocal opposition to those jobs as they gleefully take credit for the hard work it took to bring them here.
$1.6 billion to Nissan North America to retool their Smyrna, Tennessee factory to build advanced electric automobiles and to build an advanced battery manufacturing facility.
A $1.6 billion federal loan for Nissan North America Inc. to build a zero-emissions electric car and battery packs to power them could eventually create more than 1,000 new jobs at the automaker’s assembly complex in Tennessee.
“The loans announced today will have a tremendous, positive impact on Nissan and our state’s automotive industry. Best of all, this means 1,300 more jobs for Tennessee workers and expands our growing clean energy economy. I’m especially pleased these advanced vehicle technology loans will expand the existing Nissan plant in Smyrna and add a new state-of-the-art battery plant. It also complements the state’s efforts to develop electric vehicle infrastructure for the type of zero emission vehicles that will be built in Smyrna.”
Hello fellow Democrats. I’m pleased to inform you that this year’s session of the Tennessee Legislature has finally come to an end. It was a long and arduous one for our own Curt Cobb and Kent Coleman, who had to wade through 142 gun bills and several booze bills sponsored by our republican Senator Bill Ketron and Rep. Joe Carr . At last, republicans proposed a budget that killed recruitment dollars for a private solar power plant that would bring 30,000 jobs to Tennessee , put Pre-K education on the chopping block , gutted the Ethics Commission , repealed the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act , stripped funding for MTSU’s Education Building , halted badly needed road and bridge projects, and even refused to erect statues for Tennessee’s Nobel Peace Prize recipients! Senate Minority Leader Jim Kyle (D - Memphis) likened it to cuttin’ and runnin’ and Governor Bredesen called it “stupid” . Our republican Senators Jim Tracy and Bill Ketron quickly voted for this “stupid” budget, and refused to help MTSU and its Education Building project. Luckily, Democrats in the House were able to fix most of this disastrous budget and forced Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey (R-Bristol) to surrender . We won this round.
But, we weren’t able to save the Ethics Commission, even though Rep. Kent Coleman tried his best to stand up for ethics in government. We also have to live with guns in bars, and paper-verified voting was postponed for another year even though we’re sitting on $34 million to implement it! Bottom line - we need more Democrats in the Tennessee Legislature. This website offers ways to get involved, contribute to the effort, stay updated on the issues, and stay connected. Your continued help and involvement is appreciated.
Gov. Phil Bredesen used one word to describe the budget plan cobbled together at the last minute by state Republican lawmakers: “Stupid.”
State Republicans propose major cuts in education, health care, and jobs after wasting several months on abortion, guns and booze legislation and ignoring the priorities of working families.
The GOP proposal would remove funding for the state to acquire land for a West Tennessee megasite that would be used to attract large manufacturers and more jobs to the state.
It would also scuttle Bredesen’s plan to spend $62 million in federal stimulus money to build a solar generation plant at the site near Brownsville and establish a solar research institute at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
“Some of these cuts are personal. The House spent two months talking about abortion this year, and now we’ve got a budget cut to eliminate the infant mortality money. That borders on being hypocritical as to what you believe in, whether you are pro-family or pro-life. It’s a study on infant mortality. It’s a study on how to keep these babies alive. I’ve got zip codes in my hometown with infant mortality rates of Third World countries. We’ve got to figure out how to stop that and we don’t need to wait until we’ve got a budget surplus to do it.”
Check back later for more focus on the role Rutherford County’s Republican delegation is playing in the state party’s proposed cuts in education, health care and jobs.
FORCED TO CO-SPONSOR DEMOCRATIC BILL TO DELAY HIS OWN LAW
Republican Senator Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro is an insurance salesman. He has taken in over $20,000 in campaign cash from big insurance and large homebuilding special interests. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he sponsored a new state law to force small contractors and subconstractors to spend their hard-earned profits with him and his insurance buddies instead of spending it on their families in tough economic times.
WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Bart Gordon announced that he was able to secure funding for Middle Tennessee State University to improve law enforcement and aviation safety training, as well as help MTSU complete a Physical Activity Center that will help fight obesity among children and teens.
In the video above, Rep. Carr couldn’t explain how he “inadvertently” drove himself to the bank to “inadvertently” cash 13 weeks worth of bogus meal and hotel expense checks. 
