April 24, 2024

TICUA Policy Summary of the Second Session of the 113th TN General Assembly

Gov. Bill Lee delivers his State of the State address to the Tennessee General Assembly in the House chamber of the Capitol in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. | Nicole Hestser / The Tennessean

From the beginning of the Second Session of the 113th Tennessee General Assembly, the focus was on Governor Bill Lee’s school choice initiative. Lee’s intent was to expand his current voucher program beyond the few counties where it currently exists. The House and Senate, however, disagreed on school eligibility criteria and accountability measures. The differences persisted through the entire legislative session and were ultimately too insurmountable to be overcome. While acknowledging the measure was dead, Lee let his intentions be known that the proposal will be back for the 114th General Assembly to consider.

During the opening days of the legislative session, the House and Senate Finance Ways and Means Committees received tax revenue briefings from Jim Bryson, Commissioner of Finance and Administration. Bryson indicated that the tax revenues have been leveling off with a possible overall decrease of just under 3%. As well, there appears to be a legal risk to the current franchise tax assessment on property. As a result, proposed legislation was passed that removes the property measure and authorizes the Department to issue refunds to taxpayers who have paid property-based franchise taxes. The legislature included sufficient funds in their budget to accommodate the tax refund proposal.

Bryson indicated that the base budget would not be reduced but it may impact any proposed increases. TICUA made a visit to Governor Lee’s office in December of 2023 to support the THEC/TSAC budget improvement request for the Tennessee Student Assistance Award. The $35 million recurring improvement was designed to support financially needy students impacted by the federal changes to the FAFSA. The tax revenue forecast, however, scuttled any possibility of an improvement this year.

Without the possibility of additional funds for the state’s need-based student aid program, TICUA took a largely defensive posture when monitoring legislation. TICUA closely scrutinized bills seeking to alter student aid programs, reorganize THEC, expand firearm carry, and more.  

Below is a summary of select measures followed by TICUA. The summary is broken down between those proposals which passed the General Assembly and those which failed.

Measures Passed by the General Assembly

NC-SARA Fee Bill

HB2393/SB2826, as drafted, de-couples the Tennessee Higher Education Commission’s fees from the  NC-SARA fee structure. It allows THEC to not increase the state fee of participating in NC-SARA when the national fees increase. Today, THEC’s fee is directly tied to the NC-SARA structure which has only increased over time.

When the decision was made for THEC to serve as Tennessee’s NC-SARA portal, it was agreed that the state fees would be tied to the direct operating expenses of the portal.  TICUA supported this proposal which will reduce the financial burden on campuses.

Tennessee Future Teacher Scholars

HB2180/SB2659, expands the Tennessee Future Teacher Scholarship pilot program to include Western Governors University. The aid program provides last dollar funding for students during the final two years of their teacher training. Student recipients must commit to serving in a high-need area of the state. Next fall will be year two of a five-year pilot and currently only one student has signed up for the program.

Early Use of Tennessee Promise

HB1803/SB2061, changes the start time for students to enroll in the Tennessee Promise Scholarship program from the following fall after high school graduation to no later than the semester following graduation. Essentially, this allows students to receive Tennessee Promise funds immediately following graduation. Some students complete high school early, and this allows them to take advantage of the program upon graduation rather than waiting until the subsequent fall.

Pepper Spray and Tasers on Campus

HB1909/SB1868, as introduced, specifies that it is not a criminal offense for an adult person to carry or possess pepper spray, a taser, or another similar device for purposes of self-defense when on property owned, operated, or in use by any college or university. An amendment by the House sponsor, Rep. Gino Bulso, removes TICUA member institutions from the bill. Generally, TICUA campuses allow pepper spray but do not allow tasers or any similar devices on campus. The amendment allows TICUA members to remain self-determinant on how to best address security issues on campus.

Bill Addressing Accreditation

HB2625/SB2528, as originally introduced, causes public colleges and universities to regularly evaluate their accrediting affiliations and determine if they best align with the programs offered by the campuses. The bill also indicates that accreditors may not compel public colleges and universities to violate state law. The measure allows the campus the right of action against an accreditor if it does so and instructs the institution to seek a new accreditor during the next accreditation cycle.

The bill went through various iterations that, at times, included TICUA member institutions.  TICUA expressed concern about the measure as originally drafted. House and Senate sponsors placed amendments on the proposed legislation removing TICUA members from the bill. As amended, the bill affirms the ability of public colleges and universities to change institutional accreditors and grants them a cause of action against an accreditor if the agency causes the institutions to violate state law.

Measures Which Failed

Unsuccessful Student Aid Bills

HB0869/SB0833, among other things, sought to clarify that a student receiving a Dual Enrollment Grant must make a cumulative 2.0 GPA to take any additional dual enrollment courses. Failure to maintain a 2.0 GPA results in “permanent disqualification” from receiving Dual Enrollment grants.

HB1912/SB2670, would have allowed Tennessee HOPE scholarship students who earned their first baccalaureate degree in less than five years from initial enrollment and graduated between July 1, 2022, and July 1, 2023, to continue to receive the scholarship for graduate studies. The student needed to have reenrolled at an eligible postsecondary institution, be in pursuit of an advanced degree, and continue to meet all other applicable eligibility requirements.

HB1809/SB1752, extended eligibility for the Tennessee Promise scholarship to students who are enrolled full-time in a private, for-profit trade school. The school must have been approved by the Tennessee State Board of Cosmetology and Barber Examiners. This provision specifically addressed the Knoxville location of AVEDA Institutes. This is a national for-profit chain headquartered in Minnesota. TICUA opposes the inclusion of any educational program into lottery scholarship funds which is not domiciled in Tennessee.

HB2179/SB2327, provided for dual enrollment participation for qualified high school freshmen. The bill required high school students to complete the eighth grade and be admitted to an eligible postsecondary institution as a dual enrollment student to qualify for a dual enrollment grant.

HB2132/SB1672, reduced, from 23 to 21, the minimum age required for a student to be eligible for the Tennessee Reconnect grant. The bill attempted to close the age gap for Reconnect but failed to anticipate the impact on the Hope Scholarship usage. Reconnect does not carry the same rigorous renewal criteria as Hope and there was concern that students failing to meet the Hope criteria may drop out of college in order to re-enter under the Reconnect program.

HB2184/SB1783, as introduced, reallocated 5 percent of the privilege tax collected from licensees that offer sports wagering to be placed in a new Tennessee Promise completion grant special account. The funds were to be designated to assist the Higher Education Commission in awarding completion grants to certain Tennessee Promise scholarship students. This measure would have made the Tennessee Promise Completion Grant pilot project permanent.

No Action Taken on Future Workforce Commission Bill

SB461/HB902, sought to create a Future Workforce Commission to govern the utilization of the P20-TN statewide data system. TICUA is currently a contributing agency to the data system and expressed concern about the proposal. The bill, brought by SCORE, sought to make aggregated data sets more readily available to the public. Too, the bill sought to codify the governing committee, the Office of Evidence Impact (OEI), and establish a series of required annual reports.

The bill was filed during the first Session of the General Assembly but was deferred to the second Session due to a lack of consensus on the wording of the bill. Over the past few months, OEI began to publish data dashboards from the P20-TN data which seemed to satisfy the bill sponsors leading to no action taken on the bill.

Discrimination and Higher Education Bill Defeated

HB1660/SB2351, as introduced, prohibited higher education institutions from defining discriminatory practices in their anti-discrimination policies in a manner inconsistent with the definition of discriminatory practices in state law as described in TCA § 4-21-102. The language of the bill could have been interpreted to include TICUA member institutions.

TICUA communicated with House sponsor, Rep. John Ragan, indicating our opposition to the bill as drafted. TICUA offered some compromise language to which the sponsor first agreed. Less than an hour later, he rescinded his agreement with TICUA and attempted to push the bill through unamended. The bill was voted down in the House Higher Education Subcommittee.

Hunger Free Campus Grant Program Fails

HB1914/SB1977 created a hunger-free campus grant program, to be administered by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC). The measure would have provided grants to the higher education community to be used to address hunger on the institutions' campuses. As used in this bill, a "higher education institution" means an institution operated by the board of trustees of the University of Tennessee; the board of regents of the state university and community college system; or a local governing board of trustees of a state university; or a private postsecondary institution accredited by a regional accrediting association that has its primary campus domiciled in this state.

Firearm Bills Impacting Higher Education Defeated

HB1904/SB2180 exempted persons who are authorized to carry a firearm from criminal offense if they possessed a handgun on a college or university property that is properly posted prohibiting weapons on campus. The person with the handgun must have either a handgun permit or an enhanced handgun carry permit. The weapon must have also been possessed in a concealed manner. If passed, the bill would have overridden punitive actions for carrying handguns on campus.

HB2082/SB2502 as amended, allowed juveniles to lawfully open-carry firearms without penalty. The measure sought to lower the age of lawful carry from 21 years to 18 years. Violation by the juvenile would have only occurred if the juvenile carried the weapon with the intention of using it in an unlawful manner.