Governor Bill Haslam’s 2012 legislative package is designed to move Tennessee forward by supporting his goal to make Tennessee the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs through economic development efforts, meaningful education reform, a more efficient and effective state government and improved public safety.
The governor’s legislation seeks to move Tennessee Forward by:
Attracting and Growing TN Jobs
- Lowering the state portion of the sales tax on food from 5.5 percent to 5.0 percent over three years.
- Taking a first step in reaching the governor’s goal to raise the state inheritance tax exemption from $1 million to $5 million by increasing it to 1.25 million to lower the tax burden on family farmers and family business owners as these businesses span generations.
- Strengthening the Department of Economic and Community Development’s FastTrack program by budgeting more for the grant program and giving the department more flexibility in utilizing those grants to attract and grow Tennessee jobs.
Making State Government More Efficient, Effective & Customer
Focused
- Restructuring a number of state boards and commissions to eliminate duplicative functions and provide more accountability and oversight of these agencies.
- Updating and reforming the state’s antiquated employment system through the TEAM Act (Tennessee Excellence Accountability and Management) by simplifying the hiring process, providing flexibility to retain and reward outstanding employees and streamlining the appeals process for employees.
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Learn more about the state’s
antiquated hiring system.
Promoting Meaningful Education
Reform
- Providing innovation opportunities to local school districts by eliminating the outdated requirement of state and local salary schedules based strictly on seniority and college training.
Also filed as part of the Governor’s 2012 legislative package:
A series of bills to address public safety issues including prescription drug abuse, tougher sentencing for certain types of gang-related crimes, tougher sentencing for gun possession by those with prior violent felony convictions and mandatory jail time for repeat domestic violence offenders.