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Description
House Business and Utilities Subcommittee - March 17, 2021 - House Hearing Room 3
A
A
A
A
Item
1
has
been
rolled
one
week.
Item
11
has
been
rolled
one
week
and
item
5
has
been
rolled
to
the
heel
of
the
calendar,
so
let's
go
ahead
and
get
started.
First.
Up
today
is
item
number
two
hospital
855
by
chairman
powers,
chairman
powers,
you
are
recognized,
we
have
a
motion.
We
have
a
second
sherman
powers.
You
recognized
on
your
bill.
C
Thank
you,
mr
chairman
committee
house,
bill
855
is
the
tennessee
business
fairness
act
brought
to
me
by
the
nfib.
We've
learned
a
lot
over
the
past
year
regarding
public
health
guard
guidelines,
essential
versus
non-essential,
and
a
lot
more.
We've
also
learned
that
a
small
business
and
certain
industry
were
impacted,
a
lot
more
than
others,
and
we
just
feel
like
government
shouldn't
be
in
the
business
of
picking
winners
and
losers.
C
We've
seen
big
box
retailers
stay
open,
while
small
retailers
operated
at
50
capacity
or
closed
altogether
like
if
you
all,
are
familiar,
I'm
not
familiar
with
phillips
toy
mart,
but
it's
here
in
the
nashville
area.
They
end
up
closing
two
months
while
you
could
go,
buy
a
toy
at
walmart
or
target
right
down
the
street.
C
This
legislation
seeks
to
provide
the
tennessee
business
with
the
assurance
that
they
number
one
cannot
be
forced
to
close
while
larger
competitors
stay
open
and
number
two,
they
can
follow
any
set
of
guidelines,
state
or
local
and
operate
at
the
capacity
that
works
best
for
them,
while
protecting
their
customers
and
employees.
With
that.
Mr
chairman,
I'll
be
glad
to
take
any
questions
from
the
committee.
A
D
Thank
you,
representative
powers.
This
is
a
great
legislation
you
brought
as
a
as
a
business
owner
who
actually
was
impacted
during
that
time.
I
lost
100
of
my
business
during
that
time
and
you
could
go
to
lowe's
or
home
depot
and
see
these
big
box
stores
and
I
often
stood
there
and
wondered.
Is
this
really
fair
and
it's
not
fair?
And
so
my
again
I'll
echo
my
sentiments,
thank
you
for
bringing
this
legislation
to
us.
It's
a
great
piece
all
right.
C
Chairman
powers,
recognized
yeah,
thank
you
and
we've
seen
it
happen,
a
lot
a
pharmacy.
You
know
you
might
have
a
large
pharmacy,
that's
open
and
a
smaller
one.
They
have
to
close
down
or
go
to
50
percent
capacity.
I
know
my
my
business
was
impacted.
We
had
to
lock
the
door
and
close
everything
down
and
work
inside
a
little
bit
or
work
at
home.
So
we
want
to
make
sure
it's
just
a
fair
level
playing
field
for
everybody.
E
C
Chairman
powers,
you
recognize,
I'm,
you
know
the
executive
orders,
I
don't
know
if
the
ones
that
we
had
in
the
past
were
more
of
a
recommendation
than
than
a
mandate
to
close.
So
that
would
be
up
to
legal,
probably
to
figure
that
out.
If,
if
the
attorney
general
ever
or
the
attorney
general
would
have
to
get
involved,
if
you
were
actually
going
to
close
one,
what
they've
done
was
recommend
it.
C
A
E
You
recognize
thank
you,
so
I
guess
my
only
concern
I
mean
I
think
it's
a
good
bill
and
I
I
get
the
problem
right
because
you
know
I've
seen
a
local
nurseries
closed
while
low
selling
plants.
That's
a
problem,
but
I
guess
the
the
only
concern
I
have
is
that
we
don't
have
the
ability
to
close.
If,
if
something
major
were
to
happen,
I
mean,
if
ebola
comes
to
tennessee
and
we're
seeing
a
90
mortality
rate,
or
are
we
going
to
be
able
to
shut
stores
down?
C
Powers
yeah
and
that's
a
great
question
too,
and
I
don't
really
know
the
answer
to
that
either
because
the
state
of
emergency-
I
don't
know
if
that
was
within
the
purview
of
the
governor-
to
to
be
able
to
actually
force
a
business.
To
close,
I
know
we
had
a
lot
that
did
and
a
lot
of
people
were
just
going
by
the
recommendation
and
the
tennessee
guidelines
that
they
or
cdc
guidelines,
but
I
don't
think
that
they
actually
could
force
them
to
close
or
penalize
them
if
they
didn't.
F
The
governor
had
issued
the
executive
orders
that,
during
this
pandemic,
that
had
suspended
different
parts
of
the
statutes,
and
I
know
that
there
is
some
debate
now,
whether
or
not
that
was
within
the
governor's
authority,
but
that
ultimately
would
be
have
to
be
determined
by
a
court.
I
can't
you
know,
say
one
way
or
other
how
they
would
go
on
it,
but
he
was
acting
under
statute
and
promulgated
the
executive
orders.
Pursuant
to
that,
this
language
here
would
instead
say
that
there's
an
option
on
what
your,
what
precautions
and
guidelines
you're
following.
A
A
G
G
A
A
H
H
All
right,
thank
you
for
your
patience
house
bill
28,
authorizes
municipal
electrics,
rural
electric
cooperatives
and
telephone
cooperatives
to
provide
broadband
internet
service
within
distressed
counties
that
are
outside
the
entities,
the
entities,
current
service
area.
It
requires
the
department
of
environment
and
conservation
to
make
broadband
internet
service
available
to
all
state
parks
located
in
distressed
counties,
and
I
brought
this
bill
because
you
know
they'll
be
in
covert
now,
and
many
of
the
youngsters
have
been
out
of
school
for
so
long.
H
But
some
were
able
to
have
lessons
on
the
internet
virtual
lessons
on
the
internet,
but
many
of
them
in
distressed
areas
have
not
been
able
to
to
be
in
school,
and
I
had
real
real
concern
about
that.
I
think
most
of
us
who
know
about
it
have
concerns
about
it,
and
I
went
through
the
code
and
the
code
says
that
that
was
reported
to
me
by
fiscal,
that
there
are
11
counties.
H
H
There
are
five
state
parks
located
within
the
stress
counters,
based
on
information
provided
by
t
cost
of
installing
broadband
at
each
part,
very,
very
based
on
size
and
geography
of
the
park,
and
one
of
the
fire
parks
for
all
creek
falls
currently
meets
the
requirements
of
the
legislation
based
on
recent
upgrades
in
similar
parks
and
facilities.
T
tdec
estimates,
the
installation
of
fiber
optic
cable
within
the
parks
will
cost
thirty
thousand
dollars
per
mile
with
the
following.
H
H
H
But
I
know,
without
my
cell
phone
and
with
my
internet
a
lot
of
information
that
I
would
really
be
hard
would
be,
wouldn't
be
able
to
get
it,
and
that
and
communication
is
one
of
our
biggest
problems
on
anything
that
we're
doing
a
lot
of
times.
People
say
I
have
not
seen
that
I
don't.
I
have
not.
You
know
heard
about
it
unless
you
look
at
television
or
or
something,
but
if
they
don't
have
that
internet
and
telephone,
I
don't
know
how
they're
making
it
so.
With
that.
A
Thank
you,
representative
cooper
for
that
explanation,
and
I
will
appreciate
your
passion
for
this
topic
and
I
and
this
committee
absolutely
shares
that
desire
to
get
broadband
out
there.
We
we
are.
It
has
been
the
practice,
this
meeting
to
kind
of
wait
and
see
with
the
governor
putting
so
much
money
into
broadband
this
year
to
see
if
some
of
the
things
that
you're
wanting
to
do
might
actually
be
covered
with
what
he's
doing,
and
we
don't
have
a
senate
sponsor
on
your
bill.
A
A
B
A
A
B
A
A
A
A
I
A
Thank
you
for
that
explanation,
chairman
vaughn
members.
Do
we
have
any
questions
on
the
amendment
questions
being
called
on
the
amendment
without
objection,
all
in
favor,
say
aye
aye,
all
opposed,
say
no,
the
eyes
have
it.
The
amendment
is
on
the
bill
chairman.
You
recognized
on
the
bill
as
amended.
I
A
Question
has
been
called
without
objection:
we're
voting
on
house
bill
649
as
amended
to
send
it
to
full
commerce,
all
in
favor,
say
aye
aye,
all
opposed,
say
no,
the
eyes
have
it
bill
passes
on
its
way
to
full
commerce
members.
That
concludes
our
business
for
the
day
without
objection.
This
meeting
is
adjourned.