April 7, 2005

General Assembly heats up with budget on the horizon
The temperature in the General Assembly heated up a few degrees this week as members worked their way through packed calendars and attempted to review as many bills as possible before the budget debate takes center stage. Based on comments from legislative leaders, that could come as early as April 19 — with a late May adjournment date further along the horizon.

Amidst the flurry, a number of bills of interest to Tennessee lawyers saw action this week.

Property contamination from meth production
A bill that addresses TBA concerns with the governor’s legislation for combating the methamphetamine problem in Tennessee won approval from the Meth Taskforce this week and now goes to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration. The bill (SB2064/HB2086), sponsored by Sen. Mark Norris, R-Collierville, and Rep. Chris Newton, R-Cleveland, would require local law enforcement officers to file a notice with the office of the register of deeds whenever they quarantine a property that had been contaminated by methamphetamine production. Once the property is certified to be clean again, record of that could also be filed with the register of deeds by the landowner or other interested parties.

LLC reform bill passes Senate
The TBA-backed bill to reform the Limited Liability Company Act (SB421/HB1121) passed the Senate by a 28-0 vote today, after the addition of an amendment requested by House leadership. That amendment makes a minor change in the information that is required to be reported to the Secretary of State so that the state does not have to spend money updating its computer system.

With the amendment, the bill no longer carries a fiscal note with it, so it should be voted out of the House Finance Ways & Means Committee’s Budget subcommittee next week. Consideration in the full committee could come soon after that. The bill was prepared by the LLC Committee of the TBA’s Business Law Section.

TBA domestic relations bill wins House committee approval
TBA-backed domestic relations legislation (SB2091/HB2244) this week was voted out of the House Children and Family Affairs Committee without dissent. Bill sponsor Rep. Kim McMillan, D-Clarksville, did an excellent job of outlining the legislation, which would divorce the statutory provisions of child support from those of spousal support. A revised summary of the bill also pointed out that some language changes made by the legislation were being done simply to eliminate parts of the code that had been made superfluous by changes made in 1998.

The Senate earlier passed the bill 33-0.

Marital torts bill deferred by committees
A bill (SB1948/HB0780) that would allow divorcing parents to seek tort remedies, including pain and suffering, for adultery, alienation of affection and other marital misconduct was continued until next week in the House Children and Family Affairs Committee and continued for two weeks in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The TBA is concerned with this legislation because of the likely damage that children could suffer if their parents were battling in a manner encouraged by this bill.

While the legislation requires a high standard of proof, the TBA believes the damage comes not from the occasional judgment, but from the process of litigating these matters. This bill seems to represent a 180-degree reversal of recent legislative efforts to encourage mediation, parenting plans and, in general, cooperation between divorcing spouses for the sake of their children.

The Judicial Council, which reviewed the bill today, will point out operational problems with actions that require a jury trial and those that are dealt with by bench trials, and issues that would arise for courts with special domestic relations jurisdiction.

Contact your senator or representative if you have concerns with this type of legislation.

Custody bill moves out of committee
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill this week that the TBA is opposing. The bill establishes the presumption that equally shared parenting is in the best interest of children in divorces. Similar bills have been before the legislature before and the TBA has opposed them, believing children could suffer through the difficulty brought about through splitting the child’s time into equal parts, especially if the parents don’t live in the same area or school zone.

During hearings on the bill, many members of the committee shared personal experiences they’ve had, and expressed their concerns with how parenting issues are handled. Interestingly, the explanation of the bill was somewhat different than what observers had noted from reading the text of the bill itself. Sen. Jeff Miller, R-Cleveland, was instructed by Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Curtis Person, R-Memphis, to explore this with the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Doug Jackson, D-Dickson, prior to floor action.

Keep up-to-date on legislation of interest
The TBA bill tracking service lets you read abstracts of bills, check their status in both houses, find out who is sponsoring them and link to full versions of the legislation.

TBA Watch List Monitor close to 300 bills and resolutions of interest to the Tennessee legal community.

TBA Action List Monitor legislation in which the TBA has an interest of record — bills the TBA initiated, bills on which the TBA has taken a position or bills on which the TBA has policy.

Questions, comments? Contact TBA Legislative Counsel Steve Cobb at scobb@tnbar.org or TBA Executive Director Allan F. Ramsaur at aramsaur@tnbar.org