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From YouTube: House Commerce Committee- March 23, 2021
Description
House Commerce Committee- March 23, 2021
A
A
A
A
A
A
D
D
A
E
Thank
you,
chairman,
very
kind
of
you.
I
had
not
anticipated
the
opportunity
to
speak,
but
I've
been
serving
on
the
tennessee
public
utility
commission,
you
usually
known
as
the
tennessee
regulatory
authority.
It
was
before
the
change
since
2009
and
I
have
enjoyed
my
tenure
and
I'm
looking
forward
to
another
term
that
I
might
be
able
to
serve
the
people
of
tennessee
and
enjoy
that
service.
E
A
Thank
you,
sir,
and
if
we
any
questions
for
dr
hill,
seeing
none
dr
hill,
we're
glad
you're
here
we're
thankful
that
you
took
time
out
of
your
schedule
to
come,
say
hello
to
us
today
and
with
that
we're
going
to
go
back
in
section,
we've
got
a
motion
on
the
floor.
The
bill
is
in
the
proper
posture,
we're
going
to
call
the
question
now
all
those
in
favor
of
dr
hill's
appointment,
please
signify
by
saying
aye
aye
any
opposed.
C
A
A
C
All
right,
as
stated,
I'm
robin
morrison
and
I
currently
serve
as
a
commissioner
of
the
tennessee
public
utility
commission,
I'm
from
chattanooga.
My
background
is
banking.
I
was
originally
appointed
by
speaker,
beth
harwell
and
I'm
honored
that
lieutenant
governor
mcnally
has
reappointed
me
to
the
second
term.
I'd
like
to
thank
representative
hall
for
sponsoring
the
resolution.
C
A
Thank
you,
miss
morrison.
Do
we
have
any
questions
of
miss
morrison,
seeing
none
we're
going
to
go
back
into
session?
Thank
you
for
being
here.
Ma'am
we've
got
a
motion
on
this
appointment,
all
those
in
favor
of
confirming
ms
morrison
to
the
t-puck,
please
signify
by
saying
aye
aye
any
opposed
hearing.
None
we're
moving
on
to
calendar
rules
with
this.
A
A
F
F
Morgan.
It
actually
began
in
their
bylaws.
They
it
had
as
a
five-member
board,
three
of
which
served
from
scott
and
two
from
morgan,
but
with
the
growth
of
morgan
recently
and
with
an
addition
of
some
customers
in
fencers
county
in
a
more
a
remote
section
there.
What
they
decided
to
in
all
fairness
to
a
portion
become
one
of
those
one
of
the
five
becoming
at
large
and
so
it'll
be
two
from
scott
two
from
oregon
that'll
take
effect
in
their
25
2025
election.
F
A
A
B
A
All
righty,
that
is
the
amendment.
Do
we
have
any
questions
regarding
amendment
number?
One
questions
been
called
all
those
in
favor
of
amendment
number.
One
please
signify
by
saying
aye
any
opposed,
no
hearing,
none.
The
amendment
is
attached.
Representative
hurt.
You
want
to
speak
to
us
about
house
bill
716
as
amended.
B
H
H
Well,
mr
chairman
representative
townes,
I'm
trying
to
drill
down
to
figure
out
if
there
is
something
landlord's
intent
is
one
thing,
but
if
the
city
sees
that
they
need
to
do
something,
that's
going
to
be
progressive,
productive
for
the
whole,
the
landlord
and
tenant
what
it
seems
it
will
have
the
the
ability
to
stop
that
and
problem
becomes.
Just
I
don't
know
you
know.
People
have
not
elected
those
folk
landlord
tenant
and
it
may
be
something
good
that
brings
jobs
et
cetera,
et
cetera,
and
I'm
not
really
adept
at
this.
H
H
You
know
they'll,
do
it
sometimes
I
think
they're
wrong
with
their
domain
and
all
that
other
stuff
but
seem
like
this
will
stop
it,
and
I
know
that's
the
case
or
not,
but
then,
if
legally
give
me
an
opinion
or
not
be
grateful,
but
that's
you
know
that
may
be
counterproductive
for
us.
If
it's
something
that's
going
to
cause
us
to
possibly
lose
jobs,
etc.
B
Representative
hurt,
thank
you,
mr
chairman,
and
I
appreciate
the
concern,
but
the
way
I
understand
it
and
again
I
the
way
I
understand
it
is
this
is
the
relationship
between
the
landlords
and
the
tenants
and
how
that
would
affect
as
far
as
development
or
with
the
city
council
and
getting
into
that
side
of
things,
I
don't.
I
am
unaware
of
how
that
would
be
affected
through
the
residential
landlord
tenant
act.
Sir.
A
So
I
think
you're,
we're
cool
on
the
fact
that
it
shouldn't
shouldn't
necessarily
get
into
the
areas
that
you're
concerned
about
which
would
be
limiting
growth,
stopping
city
councils
or
whatever,
from
zoning
those
type.
This
is.
This
is
strictly
limited
to
that
that
relationship
between
these
two
parties
with
regards
to
this,
but
I
I
tend
to
air
on
this.
I
appreciate
the
the
caution
flag.
You
throw
up
there
so,
but
that's
that's
my
understanding
of
this
bill.
Thank
you,
mr
chairman.
C
A
C
Thank
you,
mr
chairman
house,
bill
855
is
the
tennessee
business
fairness
act
brought
to
me
by
the
nfib.
We've
learned
a
lot
over
the
past
year
about
the
guidelines
regarding
public
health,
whether
an
essential
or
non-essential
business.
A
lot
more.
We
also
learned
a
small
business,
and
certain
industries
were
impacted
more
than
others,
and
we
also
think
that
government
shouldn't
be
in
the
business
of
picking
winners
and
losers.
We've
seen
a
lot
of
big
box
retailers
stay
open,
while
small
retailers
generated
I'm
sorry
operated
at
50
capacity
or
had
to
close
all
together.
C
One
example
is
the:
there
was
a
toy
mart
here:
called
phillips
toy
mart
in
nashville
and
they
had
to
shut
down
while
people
were
going
down
the
street
and
buying
toys
at
target
and
walmart.
So
this
legends
legislation
seeks
to
provide
tennessee
businesses
with
the
assurance
that
they
one
cannot
be
forced
to
close.
C
While
larger
competitors
stay
open
and
number
two,
they
can
follow
energetic
guidelines,
state
or
local,
so
they
have
the
option
and
operate
at
a
capacity
that
works
best
for
them,
while
protecting
their
customers
and
employees,
and
with
that,
mr
chairman,
I'll,
be
glad
to
take
any
questions.
The
committee
may
have.
A
A
A
A
Your
your
benefits
are
at
a
12
week
period,
as
opposed
to
automatically
qualifying
for
26
weeks
as
unemployment
increases
for
every
half
percent.
We
see
an
extension
of
a
benefit
week
on
the
end
of
it,
and
so
the
as
opposed
to
people
being
guaranteed
26
weeks
of
unemployment,
regardless
of
the
economic
conditions,
we're
in
we're.
Looking
at
trimming
this
to
where
we
begin
with
12
weeks
during
good
times
and
as
times
get
tougher,
it
extends
up
to
20
weeks.
A
What
this
is
this
is
math
is
that,
under
our
current
system,
we,
our
trust
fund,
was
not
in
the
shape
that
it
needed
to
be,
and
this
is
looking
at
an
attempt
to
bolster
this.
What
this
amendment
does
5608-
which
is
what
we're
what's
in
front
of
you
and
it
will
make
the
bill,
is
this-
gets
the
unemployment
office
started
down
the
track
of
developing
the
rfis,
the
rfps,
the
software's
needed
to
convert
this
system.
A
A
B
Yes,
mr
chairman,
I
didn't
didn't
want
to
interrupt
you
when
you're
on
a
roll
like
that,
but
we
did
need
a
motion
and
a
and
a
second
on
your
amendment
that
you
just
so
aptly
described.
So
thanks
all
right,
we
have
a
question
on
the
amen
amendment
to
get
on
the
bill,
seeing
no
objections
all
in
favor
any
opposed.
D
Yep,
thank
you,
mr
chairman.
So
one
of
my
my
biggest
concerns
on
this
is,
you
know,
we're
going
to
cut
it
down
to
12
weeks
and
good
times,
but
not
all
industries
may
be
in
good
times
during
good
times
I
mean
different
industries
may
lay
off
at
different
times,
so
you
know
we
may
have
low
unemployment,
and
then
some
telecommunications
groups
have
to
to
lay
off
large
groups
of
people
or
whatever
industry.
D
You
know,
construction
industry
may
be
going
through
a
rough
patch,
and
so
we're
going
to
cut
these
people
to
12
weeks
and
in
their
industries,
not
in
good
times.
It
may
take
them
quite
a
bit
longer
to
get
a
job.
You
know
so.
I've
just
got
real
problems,
especially
after
seeing
people
laid
off
for
a
long
period
of
time
during
a
pandemic
to
to
talk
about
even
cutting
unemployment.
D
I'd
much
rather
talk
about
constituents
that
still
haven't
gotten
their
unemployment
because
of
of
how
bad
of
a
job
our
state's
done
in
getting
unemployment
checks
to
to
people.
So
I'm
I'm
going
to
be
voting
no
on
this,
just
because
I
really
think
we
need
to
think
this
through
and
and
yeah
I'll.
Just
leave
it
at
that.
Thanks.
A
If
we,
when
you
look
at
some
of
the
states
around
us,
kentucky,
had
to
borrow
500
million
dollars
from
the
federal
government
and
are
having
to
repay
that,
we
were
fortunate
that
the
cares
act.
Money
came
through
or
we
would
be
in
really
rough
shape,
and
when
I
bring
that
up,
is
I
don't
know
about
you.
I
don't
know
how
many
people,
how
many
people
on
this
committee
have
had
ever
had
to
rely
on
unemployment.
A
I
have
I
want,
and
I
wanted
it
to
be.
I
wanted
something
to
be
there,
and
so
that's
what
we're
talking
about
is
building
a
sustainable
fund
balance
and
changes
have
to
be
made
along
the
process.
We
think
that
this
is
a.
I
believe
that
this
is
a
good
combination
of
addition
of
additional
benefits
on
the
shirt
short
term,
because
we
there
is
and
again
this
is
not
because
of
a
so
sociological
sociological
issue,
but
that
people
do
with
a
shorter
scope
of
benefits
tend
to
seek
employment
more
aggressively.
G
G
A
Yes,
sir,
what
we
would
be
doing
right.
Basically,
the
benefit
has
a
maximum.
Today
of
275
dollars
a
week.
We
would
be
proposing
elevating
that
to
325
a
week,
so
it'd
be
almost
20
increase
in
benefits.
But
what
happens,
though,
with
regards
to
indexing
hold
on?
Let
me
give
you
here:
it
is.
The
department
will
determine
the
state
average
unemployment
rate
biannually
so
we're
going
to
index
it
twice
a
year.
A
Initially,
we
had
proposed
monthly
and
that,
quite
frankly,
was
too
cumbersome
plus
at
the
same
time,
it
reacted
too
much
to
immediate
market
fluctuations.
So
we
think
the
the
every
six
month
category
would
be
our
rate
would
be
better
and
then
it's
the
rate
must
be
equal
to
the
seasonally
adjusted
unemployment
rate
as
published
by
the
u.s
department
of
labor.
Okay,.
A
Yes,
sir,
we
and
one
of
the
reasons
why
we
have
this
implementation
drawn
out
from
from
over
two
and
a
half
years,
is
to
prepare
to
give
the
department
time
to
prepare
from
that
from
everything
from
a
messaging
situation
to
also
vendor
selection.
So
we
believe
that
this
two
and
a
half
year
period
to
make
this
transition
is
a
reasonable
amount
of
time
to
not
only
for
the
department
to
make
that,
but
for
the
public
to
also
be
aware-
and-
and
just
so
you
all
think
this
isn't
representative
vaughn
going
crazy
up
here.
A
We've
seen
that
we
have
examples
of
this
that
has
occurred
in
other
states
in
the
southeast,
which
has
done
the
job
of
doing
the
ma,
increasing
the
math
and
increasing
the
fund
balance,
so,
where
they're
in
a
much
more
stable
position
today
than
they
were
before
they
index
their
unemployment
benefits.
And
so
this
is
a
situation
where
we
aren't.
We
aren't
the
lead
dog
on
this
one,
but,
but
we
are,
we
do
think
it's
a
worthy
pursuit.
G
Oh
one
last
question:
if,
if
federal
dollars
say
you
hit
the
eight
weeks
but
they're
still,
you
know,
god
willing,
we
god
forbid,
we
ever
have
a
god
forbid.
We
ever
have
another
situation
like
we've
gone
through
the
last
year,
but
if
we
did
and
more
federal
dollars
came
in
for
unemployment
for
a
future,
so
you
have
another
pandemic
in,
say
five
years.
Would
this
anyway
preclude
those
federal
dollars
from
still
coming
in
that
they
might
be
eligible
for
that
or
or
would
you
know
if
more
money
came
directly
to
states?
G
A
E
E
The
first
time
I
had
pretty
good
experience,
good
education
and
everything,
but
I
ended
up
being
on
there
for
26
full
weeks,
despite
hundreds
of
resumes,
65
interviews
of
lots
and
lots
of
of
of
networking
at
that
time.
That
particular
time
in
unemployment
nationally
and
in
the
state
was
relatively
low,
but
there
was
a
lot
of
people
in
my
profession
and
lots
of
mbas
cranking
out
of
universities
in
my
area
and
and
so
yeah.
E
E
In
fact,
when
I
was
a
freshman,
we
we
had
a
presentation
on
that
and-
and
I
was
questioning
at
that
point-
I
knew
how
how
you
know
it
seemed
like
we
were
inadequately
funded,
even
at
that
point,
when
we
were
seemingly
in
pretty
good
shape,
but
you
know
it,
it
always
seems
like
every
time
we
have
something
like
this,
whether
it
it
helps
something
like
the
trust
fund
or
it
helps
business
or
something
it
always
is.
The
solution
is
always
on
the
backs
of
working
people.
E
You
know
we
we
we're
it's
almost
like
we
say
well,
if
we
we
have
a
solution,
we'll
just
do
something
bad
for
working
people
and
it'll
help
all
of
us
out
in
the
long
run.
Well,
that's
what
this
does.
It
hurts
working
people
and
we,
I
think,
there's
there
should
be
in
into
my
knowledge,
not
one
right
now,
a
study
that
would.
E
That
would
possibly
find
other
solutions
for
building
the
trust
fund
instead
of
making
us
in
fact,
looking
at
other
states
that
have
had
made
changes
to
their
unemployment
compensation,
we
seem
to
be,
if
not
one
of
the
worst,
not
the
worst
than
one
of
the
worst
of
all.
The
states
that
have
done
this.
We've
reduced
by
this
proposal
we're
reducing
our
hours
down
to
the
very
minimum,
giving
a
small
pittance
of
50
dollars
a
week.
A
The
boyd
center
ut
ran
this
in
2017.
If
we
had
these
these
changes
to
the
system,
we
would
have
seen
a
difference.
We'd
have
seen
the
fund
balance
increase
by
31
million
2018.
It
would
have
increased
by
62
and
a
half
million
by
2019.
It
would
have
increased
an
additional
86.1
million
and
in
2020
we
would
have
been
it
would
have
improved
our
balance
by
237
million
dollars.
A
So
again,
these
are
putting
dollars
back
in
that
we
don't
have
to
that,
that
the
taxes
to
repay
the
interest
and
the
loans
back
to
the
federal
government
that
are
born
by
working
people
this
this
provides
a
trust
fund,
that's
in
place
for
them.
The
other
thing
that
that
I
think
that
kind
of
the
the
other
side
of
this
coin
that
this
legislation
does
not
contemplate
is
the
waste
fraud
and
abuse
that
we
see
prevalent
in
the
system
today.
A
I
While
I
personally
have
never
been
on
employment
on
on
unemployment
in
the
in
the
late
80s,
my
dad
was,
he
lost
his
job
and
as
he
was
starting
a
business,
we
were
on
unemployment,
so
I
can
empathize
with
those
who've
had
their
lights
cut
off
struggling
for
food,
because
I
lived
that
in
my
in
my
early
teen
years,
but
I
also
know
that
unemployment
is
a
bridge.
So
it's
important
to
understand.
This
is
not
a
lifestyle.
I
I
Mr
chairman,
we
have
240
000,
plus
jobs,
available
at
jobs
for
tennessee,
and
these
are
not
just
hourly
jobs.
These
are
incredible
career
opportunities,
so
if
there
is
ever
a
time
to
do
what
washington
dc
refuses
to
do,
they
continue
to
leverage
the
future
of
our
great
grandchildren
we're
going
to
address
an
issue
now
that
we
see
a
problem
pending
we're
going
to
address
that
now,
at
a
time
when
tennessee
is
able
to
do
it
when
there's
many
opportunities
for
tennesseans.
So
I
appreciate
you
bringing
the
legislation.
I
fully
support.
It.
B
F
B
B
A
A
This
bill
was
brought
to
a
freshman
legislature,
legislator,
who
brought
it
to
us,
and
I
started
looking
at
it
and
the
the
core
parts
of
the
bill
had
to
do
with
distressed
utility
districts
and
how
distressed
utility
districts,
who
are
not
doing
what
knowing
finance
they're,
not
financially
solving
or
whatever
the
case,
may
be
how
they
could
force
other
utilities,
how
they
would
merge
with
other
utility
districts.
They
and
the
only
thing
that
was
contemplated.
A
A
Well,
the
the
consequences
of
that
were
that
suddenly
the
senate
sponsor
took
the
bill
off
notice
and
we
received
word
back,
and
so
I
told
our
freshman
counterpart
that
this
obviously
my
amendment
had
caught
was
about
to
cause
stress
for
him.
So
he's
I
signed
on
as
a
co-sponsor
and
took
the
bill
over
so
just
to
be
correct.
In
chronological
chronological
order
following
that,
then
the
senate
sponsor
has
taken
the
bill
off
notice,
and
so
it's
obvious
that
public
utility
districts
don't
want
to
have
anything
to
do
with
investor
owned
utility
district.
A
That's
that's
one
thing
that
I've
seen
about
that,
but
during
this
conversation
that
we've
had
about
these
I've
heard
things
like
that.
These
are
good,
hard-working
people
and
they
served
a
valuable
need
and
establishment,
and
that's
all
good.
But
you
know
I've
never
heard
the
term
ratepayer
what's
best
for
the
ratepayer
I've
heard
what's
best
for
the
districts,
I've
heard
what's
best
for
the
utilities,
but
never
what's
best
for
the
ratepayer,
and
so
as
a
result
of
this
with
us
being
off
notice
in
the
senate.
A
A
I
think
that
it's
going
to
be
important.
I
think
it's
it's
good
for
our
membership
to
learn
how
it's,
how
they're
regulated,
how
the
the
chronological
order
of
the
laws
that
have
have
been
brought
forward
through
time
for
those
purposes
the
same
purposes
as
of
today,
and
it's
not
just
the
water
districts.
It
has
also
to
do
with
electric
districts,
because
I
had
some
questions
last
year
with
regards
to
hours,
and
I
was
surprised
in
the
fact
that
you
really
didn't
have
it.
The
ratepayer
had
nobody
to
appeal
to
because
back
then
they
said.
A
Basically,
tva
was
the
overarching
regulator,
and
so,
as
a
result
of
this
and
now
you're
seeing
utilities
wanting
to
leave
tva.
How
does
all
this
work?
What's
the
rate
payers
remedy
in
any
of
this,
so
this
summer,
we're
going
to
be
we're
going
to
be
opening
up
the
books
and
trying
to
look
at
it
and
figure
it
out
and
see
if
we
can
come
up
with
a
system
that
would
improve
things
for
the
ratepayers
of
the
state
of
tennessee,
and
with
that
sir
I'd
like
to
take
house
bill,
649
off
notice,.