Tennessee lawmakers are wrangling with Gov. Bill Haslam over what to do with a half-billion dollar state surplus, Nashville Public Radio reports. House Speaker Beth Harwell kicked off the debate last week, raising the idea of using the state's tax surplus for roads. Haslam has argued that road funding is a long-term problem that needs to be addressed with a gas-tax increase, rather than a one-time infusion from the surplus.

State Rep. Martin Daniel, R-Knoxville, is calling for a refund of most of the $46,000 the state paid for a new logo, saying the design company failed to comply with outsourcing rules and was “substantially over compensated.” Knoxnews reports that Daniel wrote to executives of GS&F, the Nashville advertising firm that developed the logo, to complain about the nature of the final product, the fact that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected trademark protection for the logo and widespread public discontent with the mark.

Tennessee House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick tells the Chattanooga Times Free Press that he plans to slow the effort to remove a bust of Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Tennessee capitol so “a calmer discussion” can take place. McCormick said he still favors removing the statue and intends to talk about it when the State Capitol Commission meets July 17 but that recent “hysteria” over Confederate symbols needs to be replaced with “a calm, reasonable discussion.”

Nearly half of the Republican members of the state House of Representatives met yesterday to begin discussing a possible legislative response to last week’s Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage across the nation. The group reached no consensus, but the discussion ranged broadly — from a special legislative session to try to ensure that clergy, public officials who perform marriages and wedding vendors are “protected” from discrimination lawsuits — to the possibility of Tennessee joining a multistate effort to try to reverse the ruling via a federal constitutional amendment. The Commercial Appeal has the story.

In the wake of last week’s shooting at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and calls in that state and Mississippi to remove the confederate flag from government property, Tennessee lawmakers are calling for area likenesses of Nathan Bedford Forrest to be removed. According to the Nashville Business Journal, both Democrats and Republicans said Monday that a bust of Forrest should be removed from the Tennessee Capitol. Another statue of Forrest is on private land, but lawmakers suggested the state plant trees along the highway to block views of it from Interstate Highway 65.

The Tennessee General Assembly has named two new directors of legal affairs following the retirement of attorney Joe Barnes. Karen Garrett and Doug Himes will co-lead the office. Himes also will continue to serve in his current role as counsel to House Speaker Beth Harwell, while Garrett will remain in the same role for Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey. The Memphis Daily News has the Associated Press story.

A federal grand jury today indicted veteran state Rep. Joe Armstrong, D-Knoxville, on charges he used insider knowledge on a bill he supported to earn $500,000 in a scheme involving the purchase and sale of cigarette tax stamps. He has been charged with conspiring to defraud the United States, attempting to evade and defeat income taxes and making false statements. Armstrong’s accountant already pleaded guilty to helping the legislator by funneling the profits through the accounting firm and lying on Armstrong’s tax return. Knoxnews has the story.

State lawmakers are preparing for a debate over whether terminally ill Tennesseans should be able to get a doctor's help to end their own lives, Nashville Public Radio reports. The Senate Health & Welfare Committee announced it will hold a special meeting next week on the proposed "Death With Dignity" bill. No votes are anticipated, but a variety of witnesses are expected to testify, including bill supporter John Jay Hooker. The civil rights attorney and two-time Democratic nominee for governor has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has made passage of the legislation a personal goal.

State Rep. Ryan Haynes has resigned his seat in the House following his election as chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, Memphis Daily News reports. Haynes, who represented Knoxville in the legislature for seven years, was elected by the state GOP’s executive committee last month to replace Chris Devaney, who stepped down just months into his fourth term to become executive director of the Chattanooga-based Children’s Nutrition Program of Haiti.

The State Building Commission has approved the first step to make the Cordell Hull building next to the state Capitol the new home of the Tennessee General Assembly. The panel that includes Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey of Blountville and fellow Republican House Speaker Beth Harwell of Nashville approved expanding the scope of a $136 million Capitol complex project to make the move possible. The Daily Times has the story from the AP.