Tenn. joining evidence-based policy network
Tennessee in joining a national evidence-based policymaking network, according to the Department of Finance and Administration. Here’s the release:
NASHVILLE — Tennessee is joining a network of states to advance state use of evidence-based policymaking. The Office of Evidence and Impact in the Department of Finance and Administration will join the Governing for Results Network, a community of state executive and legislative branch leaders who exchange insights and best practices for greater efficiencies and improved services to citizens. State Senator Bo Watson of Hixson, Tennessee will also participate in the network.
“Gov. Bill Lee made it a priority to place a greater focus on ensuring that we invest in what works to best serve citizens across the state,” OEI Director Christin Lotz said. “We’re excited to join with peer states and collaborate with others who are using data to examine policy outcomes to find the best ways of serving Tennesseans.”
“It’s exciting to be part of a network of states using data for budget and policy decisions, and to compare practices among states so we can all learn from each other,” Watson said. “I’m proud that the state has made this a priority and look forward to the positive outcomes that will result for Tennesseans.”
The project is a collaboration of the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Council of State Governments and the Policy Lab at Brown University. The trio of organizations bring leaders together to have candid conversations, share challenges and ideas, and learn from other states’ approaches. Legislators, legislative staff and executive branch leaders from ten other states—Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, New York, Rhode Island and Utah—comprise the network.
OEI was launched in the spring of 2019, now working with agencies to classify state programs based on the level of available supporting evidence and to follow the principles of evidence-based budgeting.
In 2020 and 2021, the national group Results For America named Tennessee one of the top states in the nation for using data to make decisions. OEI’s Lotz was selected in 2020 to serve on the Federal Advisory Committee on Data for Evidence Building, which makes recommendations to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on how to improve data sharing and data linkage.
Sen. Watson was elected to the Senate in 2005, after first serving in the State House of Representatives. He is chairman of the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Rules Committee.
For more information about evidence-based budgeting, the framework for evaluating state programs or to meet the Office of Evidence and Impact team, visit their website at https://www.tn.gov/finance/oei.html.
CPAC organizer pans Tennessee’s ‘truth-in-sentencing’ bill
The American Conservative Union is speaking out against legislation pending in the Tennessee General Assembly to make people convicted of violent crimes serve 100% of their sentences without the possibility of parole. The measure has been championed by House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) and his Senate counterpart, Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge), but appears to fly in the face of Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s criminal justice reform efforts.
Lawmakers are expected to include the sentencing measure in the annual state spending plan they intend to pass later this week.
Legislative analysts have projected a $28 million annual cost increase for making the change, while the state Department of Correction puts the number at $90 million.
“It would be one thing to spend massive sums on prisons if the proposal was based on evidence that requiring criminals to serve 100% of their sentences would increase public safety,” according to the letter. “However, there is no such data.”
The ACU “strongly opposes” the bill and urges lawmakers to reject it. Voting in favor will adversely affect annual lawmaker rankings, the group said.
Here’s the letter sent to McNally and Senate Finance Chair Bo Watson (R-Chattanooga):
Dear Lt. Governor McNally and Chairman Watson:
The American Conservative Union (“ACU”) is the nation’s oldest grassroots advocacy organization. Founded in 1964 by William F. Buckley, we have a 50-plus-year track record of advancing policies that reduce the size and scope of government, advance liberty, and reduce burdens on families.
Historically, Tennessee has been a beacon of conservative principles and leadership. With an overall rating of 74% all-time from our sister organization, the American Conservative Union Foundation, Tennessee stands head and shoulders above other state legislatures in its conservative voting record. But we find ourselves very concerned about a particular proposal making its way through the legislature: House Bill 2656/Senate Bill 2248.
Commonly referred to as “Truth in Sentencing,” the proposal under consideration would require individuals convicted of certain crimes to serve 100 percent of their sentence before becoming eligible for release. While this sounds tough on crime and reasonable on its face, there are many factors that go into the effectiveness and long-term consequences of such policy changes. More than 90% of those in Tennessee’s prisons will pay their debts to society and return to their communities. Our goal is to have them return as better versions of themselves by completing their education, addressing addiction, and participating in mental health counseling and other proven anti-recidivism programs. Offering prisoners time off for good behavior is a key incentive that makes this possible, and in turn makes Tennessee safer.
Of course, no one is arguing that people should be given a pass for wrongdoing. Those who break the law must be held accountable for their actions. The counter is that if we fail to provide incentives, prisons will remain mere warehouses of humanity. Those returning will be no better than when they went in. And this means that Tennessee communities will forgo public safety benefits that would otherwise be available.
Adding to the concerns around the public safety impact of this bill is the tremendous uncertainty around its true fiscal impact. While the fiscal note indicates this bill will create $27.7 million in increased expenditures, TDOC data reflects costs much closer to $90 million. One report reflects that increasing aggravated burglary offenses alone to 100 percent will cost taxpayers $38.7 million per year, including $8.7 million of that absorbed locally.
As eye-opening as these numbers are (especially for a state that prides itself on fiscal conservativism), this legislation could cost taxpayers far more. According to TDOC testimony before the Senate Judiciary, cost projections around this bill do not account for the possibility that new prison facilities might be necessary to accommodate the prison population growth that would result from the passage of this bill. With Tennessee’s prisons are already operating at 92% capacity, there would become a much higher likelihood TDOC will either have to build new prisons or contract for more capacity. Either option is likely to run into the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in new government spending.
It would be one thing to spend massive sums on prisons if the proposal was based on evidence that requiring criminals to serve 100% of their sentences would increase public safety. However, there is no such data. But there is analysis from the United States Sentencing Commission that indicates that early releases of drug offenders had no adverse impact on crime. In fact, there was a marginal reduction in recidivism for those who were granted early release.
Finally, we would note that eliminating time off for good behavior in the Truth in Sentencing package under consideration would endanger the safety of Tennessee’s corrections officers. Stated simply, those who have nothing to lose have no reason to follow the rules. And this has proven true in other states.
After Arizona enacted its own version of Truth In Sentencing, rules infractions in facilities increased by 50 percent, education program enrollment dropped by20 percent, and the three-year reincarceration rates rose by over 7 percentage points(a nearly 40 percent increase). Unfortunately, this trio of negative results also cost the Arizona taxpayers millions of dollars, while furthering the damage to already broken communities and families.
Accordingly, we view House Bill 2656 and Senate Bill 2248 as proposals that cost too much, do too little to make Tennessee communities safer, and endanger correctional staff along the way.
Accordingly, ACU strongly opposes this legislation and urges you to reject it. We have also recommended to our colleagues at the American Conservative Union Foundation’s Center for Legislative Accountability (Ratings) that they rate a vote to approve HB 2656/SB2248 negatively in our 2022 ratings.
Should you have any questions regarding this matter, please feel free to contact me […].
Respectfully,
Patrick Plein
American Conservative Union
The man from TAKL: Senate majority leader appears in TV ad for employer
Jack Johnson isn’t just the state Senate majority leader. He’s also a TV pitchman for his employer, Takl.
“Growing a business is tough,” Johnson (R-Franklin) says in the ad, according to The Tennessean. “Sometimes you have to think outside the box.”
The Franklin based company is owned Willis Johnson (no relation to Jack Johnson), who gave $8,000 to Gov. Bill Lee’s gubernatorial campaign in 2018, the paper report.
Johnson was chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee when the panel first advanced a 2018 bill to exempt “marketplace platforms” like Takl, Shipt, TaskRabbit, Handy, and Postmates, from traditional employee requirements by declaring their workers to independent contractors.
The measure became law despite concerns raised by then-Gov. Bill Haslam’s administration that the measure threatened to unravel social safety net provisions for employees, including minimum wage requirements, overtime pay, health insurance, unemployment insurance, and worker’s compensation coverage.
The bill was sponsored by Senate Finance Chairman Bo Watson (R-Hixson). Johnson disclosed his role in the company that could benefit from the law change, but did not abstain from voting in favor of the measure.
See the ad here.
