Casada makes move, says ‘it’s time for House to lead’ on IMPROVE Act
An unexpected move from a top Republican leader in the House on Thursday underlined the remaining differences between the two legislative chambers in terms of the governor’s plan to fund state road projects and cut taxes elsewhere.
House Majority Leader Glen Casada, R-Franklin, sought to quickly advance a bill from Rep. Timothy Hill to give disabled veterans and the elderly property tax relief, which lawmakers have included in the latest version of Gov. Bill Haslam’s gas tax plan known as the IMPROVE Act.
“It’s time for the House to lead,” Casada said on the House floor as he made a motion to suspend legislative rules to speed up hearings on Hill’s bill.
The move would have basically allowed the House to hear Hill’s legislation in a subcommittee and a full committee in a single week, when it normally takes two weeks. The idea was to allow the House to have the legislation appear on the chamber’s finance subcommittee agenda on Wednesday, the same day that it takes up Haslam’s gas tax legislation.
Several members of the House, including Republicans, stood to object to Casada’s move, which he later withdrew.
“I think that bill needs to track with the IMPROVE Act,” Casada said, adding that he withdrew his motion to suspend legislative rules because he sensed confusion among the members as to what he was trying to accomplish.
Hill’s legislation has more than 60 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle. There are other bills that aim to provide similar relief, which differ slightly on some of the terms, like property value.
Casada said he thinks he has twothirds of the chamber to vote on the rules suspension, and would try again Monday to advance the bill more quickly.
The effort to include property tax relief in the governor’s plan has faced sharp criticism who say veterans are being used as political pawns to get Haslam’s plan approved.
The governor’s plan includes a graduated tax increase on gasoline and diesel fuel and tax cuts for businesses and food.
The inclusion of the property tax relief into the IMPROVE Act was negotiated between Senate leaders and Haslam over a few weeks ago, but the property tax issue itself has been a topic of debate in the legislature for several years.
Some Republicans have been fractured over the gas tax proposal, with a handful standing firm in their resistance to any kind of tax increase while the state tries to wrestle with a $1.1 billion surplus. But others have said the legislature is returning that surplus to the citizens through pay increases for state employees, reductions in the food tax and other areas. “There are people that are part of that wing of the Republican Party that are with Rep. (Jerry) Sexton,” said Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis.
Sexton has been one of the more vocal opponents to Haslam’s plan because of the proposed tax increase at the time of a budget surplus.
As has been the case since the governor’s gas tax proposal was amended in the Senate to include the tax relief effort, the chamber’s leadership dismissed the notion that they were playing politics.
“Our ultimate objective was to ensure that we got property tax relief for the elderly, the disabled and the veterans,” Senator Majority Leader Mark Norris said.
State Sen. Randy McNally said the rationale for the Senate to add the tax relief effort into the IMPROVE Act was to ensure it was funded. McNally and Norris expressed concern that if the measure was its own bill, there would be less of a guarantee in terms of funding.
“As part of the IMPROVE Act, it will be funded in the budget,” McNally said, noting that any separate legislation could be vetoed by Haslam or the funding itself could face a line-item veto.
“I just think that we thought this was a better way to get tax relief for veterans, the elderly and the disabled than the other alternatives,” Norris said. Joel Ebert contributed to this report. Jake Lowary covers Tennessee politics and state government for the USA TODAY NETWORK. Reach him at 615881-7039 and on Twitter @JakeLowary. Reach Joel Ebert at jebert@tennessean.com or 615-772-1681 and on Twitter @joelebert29.