TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

Legislature Approves $42.6B Budget, 2.4M Included for ‘Super’ Chancery Court

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Apr 30, 2021

The Tennessee House and Senate yesterday approved a $42.6 billion annual spending plan for 2022, the Tennessean reports. Highlights include $2.4 million to create a statewide chancery court, designed to take constitutional challenges to state laws out of the hands of the Davidson County Chancery Court, and increased funding for the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office. With regard to the professional privilege tax, lawmakers rejected Gov. Bill Lee’s proposal to reduce the tax from $400 to $300, opting instead to enact a more robust reduction, or possible elimination, next year. The bill also includes $784,000 for the District Attorney's Conference to make technology improvements that will complete and expand a new case management system for electronic discovery. The group has begun conversations with the Administrative Office of the Courts and Tennessee Department of Correction on how the system could be used in other ways such as expanding electronic judgements.

The approved plan also includes $121,000 for Lipscomb University’s LIFE Program, which provides opportunities for traditional students to study and learn alongside residents of the Tennessee Prison for Women. Finally, the bill provides a week-long sales tax holiday for groceries and prepared food, funding for a state commission to study medical marijuana, $250 million for a mental health trust fund, $250 million for the state’s retirement fund, and $5.3 million for nonprofit organizations working on sex trafficking issues. Having now passed a budget, lawmakers plan to return to Nashville next week to complete selected remaining legislation, including the “behind the budget” bills that were included in the final appropriations bill. Adjournment is expected to take place sometime the middle of next week.

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