The bill (SB 200) to overhaul the workers’ compensation system, transfer responsibility to an administrative judiciary and narrow the range of discretion in the system received easy final passage in the state House today.

Meanwhile, budget deliberations, which will formally resume on Monday afternoon, continue to include the McNally amendment. With only one week likely left in the session, and most notice and other rules suspended, advocates must now expand their focus to all members of the Senate Finance Committee to try to head off quick adoption of the proposal by the chair.

With state lawmakers hoping to adjourn next week or soon after, House Speaker Beth Harwell said Wednesday that House members might not have time to consider a review of 10th Judicial District Attorney Steve Bebb even if they decide it's needed. While efforts to access files from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s four-month probe of Bebb have been blocked in the House, the state Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this week directed the TBI to let members examine the files. Lawmakers say their investigation is necessary given the public nature of the allegations and a report by Attorney General Robert Cooper that Bebb’s office exhibited poor judgment, mismanagement and deficient record keeping. The Times Free Press and Cleveland Banner have the news.

A proposed constitutional amendment to ban a state income tax in Tennessee passed the House on Monday and will go before the voters next year, the Memphis Daily News Reports. The chamber voted 88-8 in favor of the measure, sponsored by Republican Rep. Glen Casada of Franklin. The amendment would also ban payroll taxes by the state or local governments.

The state Senate approved a bill today closing public and media access to Tennessee’s handgun-carry permit records in most cases, making confidential the identities of nearly 400,000 citizens licensed to go armed in public. The Senate added an amendment providing limited circumstances when the public may ask if a specific individual who has some brush with the law has a permit, which sends the bill back to the House for concurrence with the amendment only. The Commercial Appeal has the story.

A left-leaning clergy group delivered baskets of loaves and paper fish to each Tennessee legislator on Monday in order to show support for expanding the state’s Medicaid program, NPR reports. Religious advocates gathered to deliver the baskets in an attempted biblical parallel to the miracle of feeding the 5,000. Gov. Bill Haslam has not yet said yes or no the expansion. “That’s a pretty clear command to have concern for the ‘least of these,’” Haslam said. “But we also have a responsibility to make sure that’s something that’s affordable for the state, not just now but 10 years from now.”

The state House unanimously approved a proposal to cut sales tax on groceries. The Memphis Business Journal reports that the proposal, put forth by Gov. Bill Haslam, will decrease sales tax from 7 percent to 5 percent and cost state coffers about $23 million.

The fast pace of this year’s legislative session has sparked bipartisan criticism that some proposed laws are not getting properly vetted, while debate on others is at times short-lived. Lawmakers are set to adjourn by April 18, the earliest date for concluding business since 1990, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. Among others, Transportation Committee chairman Vince Dean, R-East Ridge, and Calendar and Rules Chair Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, have raised concerns as GOP leaders drive lawmakers to complete business quickly.

The Senate Judiciary Committee next week will consider a resolution directing the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to hand over all documents pertaining to the agency’s probe of 10th District Attorney General Steve Bebb. After a four-month TBI investigation, Attorney General Bob Cooper found no prosecutable criminal acts by Bebb, although Cooper did criticize Bebb’s office for poor judgment, mismanagement and deficient record keeping. As part of the panel’s oversight duties, Judiciary Committee Chairman Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, said “we need to be ensuring everyone in the judicial branch is doing their job correctly.” The Chattanooga Times Free Press has the story.

The amended version of the bill that would allow some school staff to carry their weapons in the classrooms passed the House Civil Justice Committee and the Senate Education Committee yesterday afternoon. The measure gives local school districts the final say about allowing employees to carry a weapon on school property, but an added amendment states that any staffer doing so must be certified as a police officer. Former police officers who are now teachers and criminal justice teachers who have extensive police training would qualify. WKRN has the story.

A bill that would have reduced the amount of pseudoephedrine cold medication that can be purchased unanimously passed the House Health Committee but was stopped in the Senate General Subcommittee. HB 617, sponsored by Rep. Tony Shipley, R-Kingsport, aims to reduce the availability of the drug used in making methamphetamine. According to Knoxnews, Shipley expects it to pass the House then he will wait until next session so the Senate can reconsider it.