►
Description
House Finance, Ways, & Means- Budget Hearings- March 15, 2021
A
D
A
Welcome
allison
we're
glad
that
you're
here,
sorry
that
I
know
most
parents
take
their
children
to
beach
trips
and
other
things
for
spring
break,
but
your
dad
brought
you
to
the
legislature
so,
but
we
are
glad
to
have
you
here
any
other
personal
orders
or
announcements
seeing
none.
We
have
several
budget
hearings
scheduled
today.
Committee
members,
it's
going
to
be
another
marathon
and
we
we
are.
We
can
see
the
finish
line,
though
we're
getting
closer
and
the
first
up
this
morning
is
the
department
of
children's
services.
A
A
E
E
The
first,
which
is
a
big
deal,
a
big
piece
of
federal
legislation
that
changes
public
child
welfare
across
the
country
and
we're
excited
about
governor
lee's
and
our
own
department's
focus
on
foster
care
and
adoption,
and
an
initiative
called
tennessee
foster's
hope,
which
is
where
we
have
many
community
partners,
such
as
show
hope.
Tennessee
kids
belong
many
businesses
and
faith-based
communities.
E
We
have
had
a
dramatic
increase
in
the
number
of
children
that
have
reached
permanency
through
subsidized
permanent
guardianship
because
remember,
there's
three
ways:
we
reunify
children
with
their
biological
families,
children
are
adopted
and
then
for
some
families,
it's
a
better,
a
better
fit
to
go
through
the
permanent
guardianship
and
we've
had
an
increase
of
13
percent
that
we're
really
proud
on,
and
also
the
impending
completion
of,
our
fiscal
enhancement
to
our
own
case
management
system,
which
sort
of
is
gonna
revolutionize.
In
a
way.
E
It
is
not
lost
on
me
and
in
fact
I
had
an
opportunity
to
speak
to
representative
shaw
and
the
leader
lamberth
right
before
the
hearing.
All
of
these
things
that
we
want
to
do.
Please
know
that
this
department
recognizes
we
do
nothing
without
you.
It
takes
you,
your
interest,
your
vote,
to
provide
the
resources
to
the
8
800
children
in
state's
custody
in
the
80
18
000
that
we
serve
that
or
not,
and
with
that
we
I
will
begin
our
presentation.
E
I
won't
spend
a
lot
of
time
on
the
numbers,
because
I've
just
told
you
what
they
are
8832
in
states
custody,
but
I
want
to
point
out
that
those
are
broken
down
into
two
populations:
one
dependent
neglected
children
in
foster
care,
which
is
8238
and
the
second
being
those
that
are
juvenile
justice
involved.
594
and
if
you
look
to
the
other
side
of
this
slide,
you'll
see
how
our
numbers
have
changed
from
a
year
ago
and
we're
down
about
500
overall
in
states
custody.
E
E
I
mentioned
to
you
that
permanency
has
well
is
critical
to
our
department.
That's
what
we're
all
about
and
we're
happy
to
report
that
last
year
last
calendar
year,
our
adoption
numbers
were
bigger
than
they
were
the
year
before.
So
that's
a
that's
a
testament
to
both
our
case
managers.
Our
caseworkers,
as
opposed
to
the
courts
because
we
went
up
from
1166
to
1186
and
that
was
doing
a
whole
lot
of
them
by
zoom,
but
we
still
got
them
done
and
we're
really
proud
of
that,
and
we're
also
proud
that
same
time
frame.
E
E
Route-
and
that
brings
us
to
the
department-
has
received
federal
funds
from
two
pieces
of
federal
legislation
to
assist
us
with
increased
costs
associated
with
the
pandemic
and
to
better
serve
children
and
families.
The
first
is
the
family.
First
corona
response
act
and
we
have
what
that
is.
It
provides
a
6.2
percent
increase
in
the
federal
medical
assistance
percentage
that
the
fmap
that
we
receive
so
same
services.
They
just
have
given
us,
6.2
percent
increase.
E
We
found
out
there's
no
limit.
In
other
words,
we
keep
they'll
they'll,
give
us
that
6.2
extra
and
there's
no
at
this
point,
there's
no
end
date
for
it.
The
amount
we've
received
as
of
december,
the
31st
of
last
calendar
year
was
nine
million.
Six
hundred
and
forty
five
thousand
dollars
increase
and
the
second
piece
of
legislation
was
the
cares,
act
money
that
you
hear
a
lot
about
on
the
news.
It's
a
one-time
federal
award
of
a
little
over
one
million
dollars.
E
I
mean
funds,
the
salaries
for
our
case
managers,
so
you'll
see
that's
a
a
big
one
that
orange
section
in
the
and
our
regional
administrators,
and
that
you
saw
in
the
map
are
we.
Our
state
is
divided
up
for
dcs
to
12
different
regions,
so
the
regional
administrators
also
funded
out
of
that
particular
portion
of
our
budget
and
the
family
support
services
portion
funds,
our
prevention
services
for
at-risk
non-custodial.
E
Kids,
remember,
I
said
we
serve
eighteen
thousand
that
are
non-custodial
and
and
support
services
for
those
children
comes
out
of
of
that
of
that
section
or
break
out
of
our
pie
chart.
We
expect
that
with
the
implementation
of
family
first
on
july,
the
first
of
this
year
that
that
will
increase,
because
the
whole
purpose
of
that
legislation
is
to
keep
children
out
of
custody,
meaning
we
will
be
serving
more
children
and
families
that
that
are
not
in
custody.
E
The
custody
and
services
portion
of
the
graph
represents
what
we
spend
on
treatment
for,
just
as
I
said,
those
kids
in
custody
and
payments
made
to
families
that
have
children
in
foster
care
or
subsidized
guardianship,
and
the
adoption,
assistance
and
subsidized
permanent
guardianship
portion
represents
the
payments
made
to
adoptive
and
special
excuse
me:
permanent
guardianship,
subsidized
permanent
guardianship
families
and
we
put
the
amount
beside
each
of
those
sections.
You'll
see
the
biggest
one.
A
E
E
The
next
slide
shows
our
vacancy
reductions.
You'll
see
three
different
places
that
we
found
vacancies,
the
important
part
for
a
total
of
32
vacancies.
The
important
part
of
this
is
just
please
know
that
none
of
these
are
case
managers,
because
we
get
asked
that
a
lot
and
none
of
them
are
case
managers
for
the
most
part.
They
are
administrative
or
we
transitioned
from
well.
None
of
them
were
case
managers,
and
I'm
trying
to
do
highlights
the
next
page,
our
proposed
reductions.
E
You
can
see
those
they're
broken
down
into,
I
think
there's
six
of
them
and
I
will
skip
them
from
now,
but
we
can
go
over
them
if
you
have
questions
because
we
have
the
breakdowns
for
what
they
are
and
finally,
a
summary
of
our
proposed
cost
increases.
You
will
see
we're
asking
for
a
total
of
28.5
million
dollars
of
cost
increases
all
going
directly
to
serve
or
support
children
and
families
and
to
increase
the
salaries
of
our
case
managers
and
our
provider,
our
private
provider
rates.
E
So
those
are
the
three
buckets
that
these
go
to
and
again
I
can
go
through
each
of
them
individually.
If
someone
wants
me
to
and
fine.
Finally,
our
last
slide
is
in
the
a
capital
improvement
2022,
and
it's
wilder
we're
excited
about
that.
You
know
john
wilder's,
where
is
our
hardware
secure
facility,
that's
owned
and
run
by
the
state
in
fayette
county?
E
A
Have
a
a
number
of
questions
and
everybody
does
have
this,
and
I
would
encourage
members
who
we
probably
will
not
get
through
all
of
the
questions
today
and
we
will
be
sending
those
any
additional
questions
that
we
don't
have.
If
you
will
get
them
to
my
office,
then
we
will
forward
them
to
the
department
and
we
will
collect
them
and
get
back
all
the
answers
to
all
questions,
because
if
you
have
a
question,
there's
probably
someone
else
who'd
be
interested
in
that
as
well.
But
to
begin
we
have
chairman
todd.
C
Thank
you,
madam
chair.
I
appreciate
you
being
here
today.
I
think
the
department
is
asking
for
a
little
over
five
and
a
half
million
dollars
total
to
adjust
case
manager,
salaries
to
align
with
southeast
region
market
study,
how
large
of
a
salary
increase?
Will
this
result
per
case
manager
roughly.
E
We
have
four
levels
of
case
managers:
case
managers,
one
two
threes
and
fours
a
case
manager
won
our
minimum
salary
is
31
644,
and
these
are
every
single
one
of
them
has
a
college
degree
or
and
very
often
a
master's
degree.
We
looked
at
alabama,
arkansas
georgia,
iowa
indiana,
kentucky
mississippi
and
oklahoma.
E
If
you
look
at
those
states
once
you've
been
with
the
department
a
year
and
they've
made
it
through
your
probationary
period,
you
automatically
become
a
case
manager
too.
We
looked
at
fewer
states
in
that
one
because
it's
more
difficult
to
match
services,
but
those
states
that
we
did
look
at
mississippi,
oklahoma,
indiana
and
iowa.
E
They
have
a
minimum
average
of
40
472
as
compared
to
our
33
200..
So
the
deficit
grows
to
7
200.
case
manager,
threes,
our
minimum
is
thousand
six
hundred
and
thirty
six.
We
again
looked
at
alabama
georgia,
iowa,
indiana,
kentucky
and
oklahoma.
Their
average
is
forty.
Three
nine
deficits
still
growing.
Seven
thousand
three
hundred
fifteen
and
finally
case
manager.
Fours,
our
minimum
is
38
472..
E
We
looked
at
alabama,
arkansas,
georgia,
iowa
indiana,
kentucky
mississippi
and
oklahoma
and
their
average
start.
Forty
six
thousand
six
hundred
and
ninety
eight
deficit
continued
to
grow
to
over
eight
thousand.
So
if,
if
the
general
assembly
approves
this
ask,
we
are
working
on
a
number
of
different
plans
for
how
we
would
spend
the
money.
Do
we
bring
everyone
up?
You
know
to
the
minimum,
and
if
you
were
already
making
above
that
minimum
average,
you
don't
get
one.
E
E
E
For
case
across
the
board,
the
case
manager
turnover
rate,
and
actually
I
misspoke
before
the
senate-
and
I
went
back
and
corrected
it
with
the
chairman
and
his
committee
members,
because
I'd
been
given
some
information
that
sounded
and
should
have
been
too
good
to
be
true.
They
said
two
percent,
but
that
was
just
for
one
month
this
year
and
we
did
correct
that.
E
But
fiscal
year,
21
from
july
of
last
year
to
february
is
14
and
that's
pretty
in
line
with
the
preceding
years,
a
fiscal
year
18
it
was
13
19,
it
was
17
20,
it
was
18
and
we're
now
at
least
at
14,
and
truthfully
thank
you
for
asking,
because
if
we
want
to
recruit
and
keep
them,
we
have
to
pay
them,
we
have
to
pay
them.
You
know
a
rate
that
makes
them
want
to
stay
with
our
department.
C
Chair,
thank
you,
sorry
for
not
going
back
through
you
a
moment
ago.
The
last
thing
I
want
to
ask
about
was
basically
the
case
loads.
I
know
we
understand
that
there's
some
caseworkers
that
are
juggling
as
many
as
20
cases
at
a
time,
even
though
the
average
to
me,
based
on
the
numbers
you
gave,
looks
like
that
should
be
around
five.
So
is
that
too
much
and
what's
being
done
about
that
that
caseload
for
for
some
of
those.
E
Well,
we
are
required
by
law,
for
every
region
to
have
an
average
caseload
of
20.
is
that
is
that
correct,
yeah,
20
per
case
manager?
It's
like
any
other
thing.
We
work
on.
If
you
guys
only
had
one
of
these
budget
hearings
or
two
imagine
how
much
time
you'd
be
able
to
give
to
that
one.
But
when
you
have
20
and
you're
splitting
your
time
and
your
mental
energy,
of
course
it's
harder.
So
do
we
need
more
case
managers,
of
course,
but
you
know
we
have.
E
E
So
if
we
could
recruit
retain-
and
you
do
that
by
you
know
a
number
of
different
approaches
which
we're
trying
support
mentors
asking
for
pay
increases,
you
know
you
just
have
to
hope
that
you
get
the
right
people
and
they
stay
with
us.
There's
a
statistic:
that's
out
there
that
says
every
time
a
case
manager
leaves
that
the
the
child
that
they
are
working
for
permanency,
in
other
words
working
for
reunification
or
a
foster
family
excuse
me
or
an
adoptive
family
or
a
subsidized
permanent
guardianship.
Their
permanency
is
delayed
by
six
months.
E
A
F
Thank
you,
madam
chairman.
I
wanted
to
ask
you
about
the
safe
baby
courts.
The
proposed
budget
has
175
000
recurring
dollars,
recurring
state
funding
for
the
existing
safe
baby
courts
that
provide
services
to
drug
exposed,
children
and
their
families.
How
will
this
money
be
distributed
and
also
the
safe
baby
courts?
They
are
part
of
the
judiciary.
So
how
does
children's
services
fold
in
there,
especially
in
regard
to
this
money,.
E
All
right,
so,
when
the
k,
when
the
safe
baby
courts
were
formed,
they
were
funded
at
different
levels.
We
now
have
12
and
was
it
year
18
months
ago,
maybe
yeah
so
18
months
ago
it
was
brought
to
my
attention
by
the
judges
and
some
of
the
more
rural
counties
that
had
them
that
they
were
funded
less
than
some
of
the
urban
areas
that
have
more
resources,
and
so
johnson
coffee,
stewart,
madison
and
grundy
were
funded
at
70
000
a
piece,
so
the
department
decided
that
no
one
should
be.
E
None
of
them
should
be
funded
less
than
a
hundred
percent.
Excuse
me
less
than
a
hundred
thousand,
so
we
picked
it
up
and
we're
going
to
ask
that
it
become
recurring,
and
that's
where
you
come
up
with
the
with
the
money
that
we're
asking
for
and
also
rutherford
was
increased
from
one
hundred
thousand
to
125,
000
and.
E
The
way
it's
folded
and
most
of
these
judges
have,
of
course,
a
number
of
different
dockets
and
and
the
safe
baby
court
families
are
both
custodial
families.
You
know
in
that
pot
right
now
of
of
8,
800
children
and
non-custodial.
The
judges
can
decide
what
they're
going
to
do
and
they
also
try
and
limit
the
number
of
cases
that
they
have,
because
these
cases
stay
on
their
dockets
much
longer.
It's
a
recovery
type
court
in
juvenile
court
for
these
babies
and
the
goal,
of
course,
is
to
provide
enough
funding.
E
It's
all
service
related
and
most
most
of
them.
I've
been
through
the
population
not
too
long
ago,
we're
all
drug
related
and
and
because
of
that,
we're
trying
to
give
the
services
the
families,
the
parents,
the
caregivers,
long
enough
to
to
recover,
and
so
they'll
stay
on
there,
a
good
long
while
and
the
it's
the
courts
that
decide
how
they're
going
to
spend
the
money.
But
we
have
we
put
our
staff
in
there
and
muhammad
may
want
to
oh,
dr
all,
casey
might
want
to
add
sorry.
G
F
So,
specifically,
the
money
that
goes
flows
from
children's
services
to
the
courts
is
that
providing
a
a
liaison
from
children's
services,
or
is
the
money
literally
given
to
the
courts
and
they
spend
it
as
they
see
fit?
How?
What?
What
specifically
is
the
money
for
from
children's
services
that
flows
to
the
courts.
E
Well,
they
had
a
good,
they
had
a
good
bit
of
discretion.
We
had
we
had
one
court.
I
believe
it
was
coffee
who
who
purchased
a
vehicle,
because
a
lot
of
these
families
had
no
way
to
get
anywhere,
so
they
chose
to
use
theirs
and
you're
some
of
them
they
pay
for
court
personnel
devoted
to
to
this
program,
but
it
services-
I
mean
it's,
it's
all
the
you
know
drug
counseling,
it's
therapy,
it's
behavior
modification.
F
Are
you
hearing
back
from
the
courts
that
they
are
able
to
service
all
of
the
families
that
could
come
through
the
safe
baby
courts
and
receive
these
services?
Because
I'm
a
great
believer
in
the
program?
I
think
it's
a
great
idea-
and
I
just
want
to
know-
are:
are
they
reporting
back
to
you?
Yes,
we
are
able
to
service
everyone,
or
are
there
some
people?
Well,
we
don't
have
room
for
you,
so
you're
going
to
go
through
the
other.
E
E
And
I,
and
I
have
talked
to
a
number
of
the
judges
about
it
and
and
part
of
that,
is
why
we
funded
the
ones
that
were
at
70
booted
them
up,
because
they
didn't
have
enough
the
resources,
and
it
was
interesting
because,
if
you're
in
a
more
rural
area
where
you
don't
have
as
many
resources
available
to
you,
you
know,
sometimes
it
requires
more
funds
to
get
them
or
to
bring
them
to
you.
So
that's
one
reason
we
did
that
because
we
did
hear
exactly
what
you're
saying
we
can't
service
enough
families.
E
We
can't
serve
the
ones
we
have
well,
and
so
we
did
that
they
were.
They
were
pleased
with
that.
I
I
hear
a
variety.
You
know
some
of
them.
Some
of
the
judges
don't
want
to
handle
non-custodial,
or
some
of
them
don't
want
to
handle
custodial,
and
so
there's
always
some
give
and
take
and
what
they
perceive
to
be
the
most
beneficial,
because
remember
if
one
child
qualifies
to
come
into
safe,
baby
court
and
they're
just
one
and
there
are
other
children
in
that
family
they're
all
served,
and
that's
that's
the
advantage
of
it.
A
E
E
H
H
I
know
that
the
increase
allows
the
department
to
be
more
competitive
in
rates
related
to
beds.
So
with
that
and
madam
chair,
I
do
have
a
couple
of
questions,
but,
commissioner
I'll
just
ask
them
one
at
a
time,
so
you
can
respond
to
them.
How
often
does
dcs's
need
exceed
what's
been
currently
contracted
with
the
providers.
E
Our
level
of
services
changes
all
the
time
you
know
you
could
have.
You
know.
We
have
different
level
we
have
just
like.
We
have
different
levels
of
case
managers.
We
have
level
one
which
is
basically
children
that
just
need
you
know:
housing,
supervision,
food,
you
have
level
two,
it's
it's
characterized
as
being
a
lower
level
of
mental
health
and
behavioral
service
needs,
mostly
level
ones
and
level
twos
usually
can
be
handled
in
a
foster
home
type
situation.
Level.
E
Enhanced
level
three
developed
just
for
them
usually
have
an
extensive
delinquent
history
and
other
factors.
Maybe
drug
and
alcohol
use
chronic
runaway
behavior
both
of
the
level
threes,
provide
the
same
level
of
mental
health
treatment
and
counseling,
but
have
different
settings
because
you
may
you'll
have
the
jj
in
a
more
restrictive
setting.
So
I
have
sat
in
my
office
till
11
o'clock,
with
our
deputy
commissioner
over
child
programs
and
her
executive
director
literally
making
calls
to
find
a
placement.
E
But
your
question
was:
how
frequently
does
it
happen
and
it's
it's
it's
something
that
has
worked
on
every
single
day
and
and
it's
it's
a
challenge.
I
mean
it's
it's,
but
we
managed
to
get
it
done
and
there's
also
level
four
which
is
even
greater,
and
so,
when
you
get
to
those
levels,
sometimes
it's
hard.
H
E
I'm
going
to
say
a
couple
of
comments
and
then
I'm
going
to
ask
dr
casey
to
take
it
over
because
he
has
done
a
whole
lot
of
work.
What
I
will
say
is
that
this
provider
rate
increase
that
we've
asked
for
equates
to
just
a
3.27
increase,
and
the
reason
why
we
need
it
now
is
the
kids
coming
into
custody
are
requiring
higher
levels
of
service
they
are
staying
longer
and
with
the
implementation
of
family.
First,
all
of
those
together
will
cause
us
to,
I
think,
have
a
hard
time
with
our
providers.
E
You
know
under
families.
First,
this
rate
increase
is
tied
to
what's
what
we
call
a
qrtp,
a
qualified
residential
treatment
program
and
it
puts
on
our
providers
additional
requirements
that
they've
never
had
to
do,
such
as
having
access,
24,
7
to
nurses,
therapist
promising
a
six
month
after
care.
When
once
a
child
is
released,
and
if
they
don't
maintain
this
qrtp
status,
then
we
aren't
able
to
draw
down
the
federal
funds
so.
E
G
Okay,
so
we
did
look,
we
did
the
study
and
we
looked
at
other
states
and
insurance
companies
to
compare
the
current
rate
that
we
pay
our
providers
compared
to
the
other
rates.
So
we
looked
at
several
ones,
for
example,
I'll
just
give
few
examples.
For
example,
we
looked
at
the
level
three
special
continuum
special
needs.
This
is
extensive
treatment
requirement
for
kids
and
we
found
that
our
rate
is
216
compared
to
other
state.
G
G
E
So
some
of
our
providers-
you
know
they
may
give
an
example.
They
may
have
60
beds,
they
may
have
promised
dcs
we'll
give
you
20.,
and
so
we
know
that
we've
got
20
beds
on
any
given
day
there
for
this
level
of
service,
but
we
all
know
that
every
single
day
kids
come
into
custody
and
if
we
get
a
child
that
comes
into
custody
that
needs
that
level
of
service,
we
call
them
and
say.
I
know:
we've
already
got
20
there,
but
will
you
also
allow
us
to
to
place
this
child
with
you?
E
And
so
that's?
What
we're
saying
is
the
40
other
beds
if
they
can
get
more
money
either
by
taking
kids
from
out
of
state
or
or
private.
You
know,
kids
that
face
there
through
parents
that
have
insurance,
then
we
lose
out,
and
so,
if
we
can
get
our
rates
up
there
to
match,
we
would
have
a
much
easier
time
because
we
do
have
good
relationships
with
them
and
and
they
work
hard
and
they
try
and
accommodate.
But
you
know
it's
a
business.
H
And
last
one,
madam
chair
go
ahead,
thank
you
and
I
think
you
answered
answered
my
last
question,
but
my
last
question
was:
will
it
meet
the
department's
need
and
from
your
response
it
sounds
like
it's
an
ever-growing
and
ever-changing
need,
so
this
is
just
a
temporary
meeting
of
that
need
correct.
Am
I
right
my
assumption.
E
I
think
you're
correct,
because
the
needs
do
change
and
they
are
growing
one
thing
that
we
are
hopeful
for,
that
with
families.
First,
family,
first
prevention
service
act
that
will
implement
on
july
the
first
across
the
country.
The
goal
will
be
to
keep
kids
out
of
custody
so
that
could
potentially
lessen
our
competition
within
our
state.
H
F
Thank
you,
commissioner,
for
being
here,
I
appreciate
it
and
I
wanted
to
just
it's
practicing
lawyer.
I've
had
many
conversations
with
a
lot
of
your
lawyers
that
work
for
dcs
and
the
amount
of
work
that
they
do
for
our
kids
across
the
state.
The
case
loads
they
have
is
just
phenomenal,
so
they're,
so
there's
so
many
and
they
do
such
a
great
job.
F
So
I
wanted
you
to
know
that,
and
I
appreciate
that
the
assistant
you
provide
the
families
that
need
lawyers
that
can't
that
can
afford
them.
So
I
appreciate
that
I
notice
in
your
budget
you're
asking
for
a
seven
percent
salary
increase
for
your
lawyers,
but
that
wasn't
included
in
the
in
the
governor's
budget
and
also
you're
seeking
two
more
attorney
positions,
which
believe
you
probably
need
a
lot
more
than
that.
But
my
questions
are:
is
how
does
the?
How
does
this
attorney's
salaries
compare
to
other
executives
in
the
executive
branch
agencies
in
tennessee?
F
E
E
E
E
We
have
lost
a
bunch
of
lawyers
and
and
probably
will
continue
to,
and
it's
like
anything
else.
If
you
come
in
and
you
learn
and
you
train
and
then
you
leave
for
more
money,
it
places
a
hardship
on
the
department
that
said,
I'm
supportive
of
the
governor's
budget
and
the
we
will
continue
to
fill
those
spots
and
hope
that
they
stay
with
us
with
the
funds
that
we
have.
E
E
So
one
of
them
went
to
cathedral
of
faith
community
church,
and
that
was
a
reduction.
It
was
was
reduced
from
75
000
to
50
000,
one
of
them,
and
that
was
just
sort
of
a
community
partnership
collaboration.
One
of
them
was
community
alliance
for
the
homeless
and
it
was
rent
support
for
homeless
families,
and
that
was
a
75
75
000
reduction,
which
is
the
equivalent
to
a
50,
and
we
talked.
These
are
people
that
we
have
had
great
relationships
with
and
still
do
still
support
them.
E
You
know
the
children
that
are
in
our
custody
and
the
services
that
we
have
to
and
want
to
provide
for
them.
I
mean
you,
don't
touch
it,
I
mean
we
have
to
have
the
beds
we're
talking,
we'll
have
to
have
the
services.
So
you
started
looking
at
where
we
could
make
other
cuts
and-
and
this
particular
area
was
a
place
that
we
found
some.
D
Thank
you.
Thank
you,
madam
chairman
and
commissioner,
thank
you
again
and
just
echo
chairman
zachary.
We
all
really
deeply
appreciate
the
work
that
you
do
and
as
a
former
prosecutor,
I
know
that
you
bring
a
very
unique
perspective
to
this
position.
You
fought
hard
in
the
court
system
for
children
in
your
district
and
to
bring
justice
to
a
lot
of
the
the
crimes
that
occurred
against
them
and
now
you're
doing
that
statewide,
and
so
thank
you
for
that.
I
want
to
talk
a
little
about
the
family's
first
prevention
services
act.
D
I
know
that
we
invested
15
million
dollars
in
state
funds
in
that,
because
the
programs
that
we
were
you
were
using,
we
knew
they
worked,
but
the
federal
government
wanted
us
to
be
able
to
prove
that
from
an
evidence-based
programming
standpoint
that
they
they
were
up
to
the
standard
that
would
meet
that
federal
requirement.
So
where
are
we
on
that?
I
know
you
mentioned
a
while
ago
on
full
implementation
of
that
really
kind
of.
Where
are
we
on
that?
E
E
This
clearing
house
and
the
five
programs
are,
as
you
said,
evidence-based,
and
we
chose
those
five
based
on
looking
at
the
current
needs
of
our
families
and
our
children,
sort
of
with
a
standardized
assessment
and
looking
at
which
of
the
evidence-based
programs
exist
within
the
state
and
the
location
of
where
we
need
the
services.
So
the
five
that
we
chose
are
motivational,
interviewing,
mst
or
multi-systemic
therapy,
a
parent
child
interaction,
therapy,
home
builders
and
youth
villages
program
called
intercept.
E
We
are
meeting
with
our
providers
monthly
for
both
the
pr
there's,
a
prevention
working
group,
and
there
is
a
care
working
group,
the
prevention
being
these
services
that
were
offered
the
concrete
care.
When
I
talked
about
qrtps
on
all
the
things
that
our
providers
are
going
to
have
to
do
for
us
to
continue
to
draw
down
federal
dollars-
and
we
are
an
answer
to
your
question-
we
are
in
a
good
place.
We
feel
very
confident
about
our
plan.
We
took
a
very
deliberate
thoughtful
approach.
E
We
formed
a
team
or
I
formed
a
team
one
member
is
here.
If
there's,
if
we
have
a
additional
or
a
lot
of
questions,
that
is,
I
think,
the
best
around
and
they
are
working
near
constantly
to
keep
us
in
this
place
that
we
are.
We've
also
had
town
hall
style
kind
of
meetings
with
every
interested
provider.
G
So
to
answer
your
question:
the
stream
of
funds-
that's
going
to
come
to
the
department,
basically
come
from
programs
that
were
state-funded,
for
example,
the
intercept
and
mst.
Those
are
programs
that
already
exist
they're
state
funded
now
july,
1st
we
will
be
able
to
recruit
50
percent
of
the
fund,
so
we
almost
can
increase
the
slots
that's
available
to
serve
kids
just
as
a
result
of
the
families.
G
First,
in
addition
to
that,
also,
in
our
case
management
also,
we
have
a
portion
of
the
case
management
that
that,
prior
to
the
families
first,
we
would
require
what
we
call
penetration
rate,
meaning
reduce
the
amount
that
we
build
the
feds
now
this
can
this
requirement
will
no
longer
be
requirements,
so
we
will
be
able
actually
to
go
from
almost
50
to
100
on
that
piece.
So
there's
a
lot
of
places
that
the
department
and
the
state
is
going
to
benefit
from
families.
First.
E
And-
and
I
want
to
add
one
thing
in
our
budget-
that
we're
asking
for
a
hundred
thousand
dollars
is
for
home
builders,
one
of
the
family's
first
programs
or
one
of
the
evidence-based,
well-supported
programs
that
were
seeking
funding,
for.
I
just
want
to
point
out
that
the
department
of
mental
health
and
substance
abuse
services
currently
operates
a
similar
program
called
ties.
You
probably
have
heard
of
that
t-I-e-s,
which
stands
for
therapeutic
intervention,
education
and
skills.
E
They
currently
have
seven
in-home
therapists
and
this
that
funding
of
this
funding,
if
we
get
it,
the
hundred
thousand
will
allow
them
to
transition
because
they're
willing
to
transition
to
home
builders,
because
they
can
still
do
what
they
do
and
start
serving
this
population,
and
I
think
it's
always
well.
It's
just
a
smart
thing.
If
we've
got
a
state
department,
that's
already
got
it
and
they're
willing
to
transition
to
serve
in
this
population,
and-
and
the
hundred
thousand
would
allow
us
to
increase
the
number
of
children
and
families
they
serve.
J
J
When
we
passed
the
juvenile
justice
reform
act,
there
was
a
lot
of
programs
that
were
going
was
going
into
place
that
was
going
to
result
into
savings
for
the
department,
and
so
I'm
just
wondering
about
those
savings
and
get
that
money
come
back
into
the
juvenile
justice
portion
of
dcs.
But
you
can
get
the
answer
back
to
me
later.
I
know
we
have
to
go.
E
And
we'll
be
glad
to
pull
the
numbers
for
you
and
one
of
the
things
that
I
think
the
savings
were
anticipated
to
come
from
is
because
the
the
youth
that
that
were
in
custody,
where
there
was
a
cap
on
how
long
they
could
stay
there
without
the
judges
looking
at
it
and
making
a
new
sort
of
determination,
but
we'll
be
glad
to
pull
those
numbers
for
you.
Thank
you.
J
A
Thank
you.
We
do
have
as
leader
kemper
alluded
to,
we
have
a
time
limit
because
we
need
to
do
some
sanitation
before
our
next
group,
but
we
have
several
questions
on
our
original
list
and
then
perhaps
others
as
well.
So
what
I
would
ask
leader
camper,
if
you
wouldn't
mind
just
articulating
that
question
get
it
to
my
office.
A
A
I
personally
have
a
friend
who
had
has
some
grandchildren
who,
because
of
an
unfortunate
situation,
have
gone
through
dcs
and
they
have
a
permanent
placement
now,
which
is
incredibly
just
a
huge
relief
for
them
as
grandparents,
and
I
think
just
will
make
a
remarkable
difference
in
those
children's
lives.
So-
and
I
know
those
stories
play
out
across
the
state
every
day,
and
we
thank
you
for
the
work,
the
hard
work
that
everybody
in
your
department
and
all
of
the
you
know.
A
I
think
we
need
to
remember
too,
this
isn't
we're
not
in
this
alone
as
a
state,
we
have
a
lot
of
other
partners,
local
governments
and
the
judicial
system
and
other
not-for-profits
and
so
forth,
who
are
working
in
this
space
as
well,
so
but
you're
you're
the
guys
that
we
look
to
to
kind
of
be
the
tip
of
that
spear.
So
thank
you
for
the
work
that
you
do
and
thank
you
for
joining
us
here
today.
We'll
get
a
list
of
those
additional
questions
to
you.
Thank
you.
A
A
A
A
A
A
K
K
Okay,
the
the
things
that
we
would
like
to
share
with
you
in
our
budget
presentation
this
morning
is
the
if
you
would
run
a
little
bit
backwards
and
then
come
forward.
We
want
to
start
with
just
a
brief
discussion
about
the
year
that
was
and
talk
to
you
about
our
our
tornado
response
and
our
coveted
response
and
then
moving
into
the
here
and
now
talking
about
the
tanf
opportunity,
act
and
and
some
other
relevant
budget
issues.
So
we
could
we'll
dive
right
in.
K
As
I
said,
this
is
the
this
past
year
is
the
year
that
was,
and
it
began
with
a
double
whammy
of
a
challenge.
In
that
first,
we
were
hit
with
a
horrific
tornado
that
literally
destroyed
completely
leveled
one
of
our
offices
here,
and
you
can
see
on
the
screenshot
there.
That's
the
the
the
devastation
the
aftermath
of
the
tornado.
K
But
so
in
addition
to
the
the
day-to-day
administration
of
the
regular
dhs
program
portfolio,
there
were
several
of
these
that
had
to
be
stood
up
and
administered
in
the
midst
of
the
pandemic.
And
I
am
pleased
to
report
that
the
leadership
and
staff
of
the
department
of
human
services
are
reacted
and
served
tennesseans
in
vulnerable
circumstances
with
distinction.
K
And
so
you
can
be
proud
of
the
work
that
dhs
did
in
the
midst
of
in
the
midst
of
the
pandemic.
And
this
here
just
listed
list
some
of
the
direct
responses
that
we
were
required
to
administer
in
the
midst
of
the
pandemic
and,
as
I
said,
I
think
that
you
can
be
very,
very
proud
of
the
work
the
dhs
has
done
in
in
that
regard,
and
and
as
we
as
we
begin
to
to
see
the
clouds
lifting
know
that
we
will
continue
to
to
provide
the
highest
quality.
K
K
So
if
we
can
move
forward
to
the
to
the
the
here
and
now
and
our
tanf
opportunity
act
with
members
of
this
body,
particular
representative
hawk
on
the
contours
of
how
we
are
looking
to
use
tanf
to
serve
families.
Moving
forward-
and
I
want
to
share
just
a
bit
of
that
with
you-
okay,
in
our
view,
the
the
tanf
program
and
the
safety
net
writ
large,
it
ought
to
be
about
lifting
as
many
tennesseans
as
possible
beyond
the
need
for
these
services.
K
Okay,
it
should
not
be
our
objective
to
warehouse
poverty,
disenfranchisement
and
dysfunction.
It
ought
to
be
our
objective
to
lift
as
many
beyond
it
as
possible,
and
so
we
see
the
opportunity
this
opportunity,
the
tanf
opportunity
fund
to
be
able
to
do
just
that,
to
provide
a
pathway
to
prosperity,
pilot
and
and
also
an
allotment
increase.
Those
is
one
of
the
cornerstones
of
of
of
this
initiative
and
then
we're
also
going
to
talk
about
the
tanf
reserve
investment.
K
So,
let's,
let's,
let's
dive
into
our
budget
overview.
Okay
and-
and
I
wanted
to
do
just
a
little
bit
of
a
of
a
dhs
budget
tutorial
before
we
sort
of
dive
into
the
particulars
in
in
the
aggregate
you
will
see
in
this
slide.
That
dhs
is
a
2.5
billion
dollar
agency,
which
is
made
up
primarily
of
federal
funding
sources.
K
So
so
we
are
a
primarily
federally
funded
organization
with
state
support
to
draw
down
those
federal
funds,
and
you
will
notice
when,
if
you're
back
into
that,
you
will
notice
here
our
match
and
maintenance
of
effort,
and
that
is
what
tennessee
is
required
to
expend
to
draw
down
its
191
million
dollar
tanf
grant.
Okay
and-
and
we
primarily
spend
those
dollars
through
the
department
of
education
programs
in
order
to
to
to
meet
the
match
requirement
to
receive
our
tanf
funding.
So
that's
a
little
bit
about
how
our
budget
operates.
K
Now
this
is
a
hundred
percent
funded
by
the
by
the
federal
government,
and
so
this
nine
hundred
thousand
dollar
increase
will
allow
us
to
to
to
to
add
the
additional
disability
claims.
Examiners
that
will
allow
us
to
address
any
backlog
and
disability
claims.
Okay,
and
so
you
will
see
in
reductions
in
in
the
in
the
12
reductions
that
were
proposed
in
the
20
budget.
K
A
million
dollars
of
that
12
was
produced
by
reducing
by
a
million
dollars
that
tanf
maintenance
of
effort,
and
we
have
been
able
to
through
attrition,
reduce
just
under
700
000
in
longevity
compensation
and
then
by
right-sizing
our
appeals
and
and
hearings
administration.
We
also
were
able
to
reduce
another
462
thousand
dollars
there.
Those
are
our
cost
increases
and
reductions
in
dhs.
K
So
what
I
want
to
do
here
is,
I
want
to
explain
a
little
bit
about
how
our
tanf
budget
process
works.
So
I
want
to
begin
with
showing
you
that
every
year,
for
now
25
years,
tennessee
has
received
191
million
dollars
in
a
tanf
block.
Grant
okay
tanf
is
entering
its
25th
year
and
the
the
the
appropriation
that
was
set
for
tanf
of
16
billion
dollars
has
been
unchanged
in
25
years
and
and
so
tennessee
has
received
every
year
for
the
25
years
is
191
million
dollars.
K
K
Now,
with
the
tanf
opportunity
act,
we
would
increase
that
annual
expenditure
by
24
million
dollars
and
you
can
see
in
the
in
the
yellow
or
bay
shaded
part
of
the
pie
graph
or
are
other
tanf
expenses,
and
you
can
chalk
those
up
essentially
to
the
administration
of
the
program.
Okay
and
then.
Finally,
our
our
child
support
re-entry
is
that
very
small
sliver.
K
The
next
section
of
our
expenditures
are
a
couple
of
options
that
are
available
to
the
agency.
The
tanf
statute
allows
for
a
transfer
of
up
to
30
of
that
191
million.
It
allows
it
to
be
transferred
to
the
child
care
and
development
fund
for
for
specific
expenditures
under
the
guidelines
of
ccdf
for
child
care.
Okay,
we
also
are
allowed
to
spend
up
to
another
41
million
dollars
directly
of
tanf
funding
on
child
care.
Now
I
would
tell
you
in
this
past
year
or
so
with
the
challenges
of
kovid.
K
We
we
have
spent
much
more
in
the
child
care
space
than
we
have
historically,
and
so
I
cannot
tell
you
whether
or
not
these
expenditures
will
continue
as
they
have
for
the
past
year.
My
suspicion
again
with
the
kobe
cloud
lifting
those
expenditures
will
adjust
some,
but
I
just
wanted
to
show
you
here:
what
is
the
outside
possibility
of
child
care
spending
in
tandem?
That's
what
you
see
here
and
then.
Finally,
what
you
see
here
is
the
impact
on
the
reserve.
K
K
So
there
is
a
possibility
where
you
see
52
million
dollars
in
tanf
benefits
and
another
24
million
dollars,
with
the
increase
that
we
might
not
reach
that
level,
okay
and
and
and-
and
so
again
this
is
all
based
on
sort
of
annual
estimates.
And
then,
if
we
were
to
to
underspend
this
optional,
there
could
be
as
much
as
almost
30
million
dollars
that
again
would
be
reserved
as
unexpended.
K
K
K
As
I
said
every
year
for
25
years,
tennessee
has
received
191
million
dollars
and,
and
there
is
not
a
requirement
that
every
one
of
those
dollars
is
expended
in
the
year
that
that
it
is
appropriated
and
the
federal
government
simply
holds
those
dollars
in
reserve
until
the
until
the
state
requests
them.
Okay,
and
so
we
report
on
a
quarterly
basis
and
unobligated
balance
and
our
last
report
that
unobligated
balance
with
710
million
dollars.
K
So
we
we
are
proposing
in
the
tanf
opportunity
act
that
we
have
annually
191
million
rainy
day
fund,
and
this
is
again
on
the
on
on
the
on
the
chance
that
we
experience
something
like
we
have
experienced
this
year
and
our
caseloads
go
up.
So
we
do
want
to
hold
191
million
dollars
in
reserve
that
would
take
191
million
dollars
off
of
that
710.
K
So
again
that
comes
off
the
top
of
710
million,
and
then
we
have
in
95
counties
in
tennessee
community
operations
for
our
two
generation
initiative,
which
focuses
on
on
education,
health
and
well-being
for
our
for
our
ten
of
eligible
families.
As
I
said
in
95
counties,
and
we
have
contracted
over
the
course
of
the
next
five
years-
205
million
dollars
to
all
of
those
the
grantees
across
the
state
of
tennessee.
K
So
so
what
you
will
see
by
the
connector
there
is
that
480
million
dollars
of
what
is
considered
unobligated,
not
drawn
down
from
the
federal
treasury.
Okay,
what
tennessee
has
obligations
against
and
so
and
those
obligations
are
future
obligations,
all
right
and
and
and
and
so,
if
you'll
you'll
see
on
the
yearly
allocation
chart,
how
those
future
allocations
break
down
the
the
two
generation
spending
goes
out
over
five
years,
and
it
is
our
total
contracted
amount.
K
A
Commissioner,
I'm
sorry
I'm
going
to
stop
you
there,
but
we
we
asked
for
10
minutes
time
limit
and
we've
sort
of
blown
past
that
whoopsie
I
I
know
that
we
will
come
back.
I'm
sure
that
they're
going
to
be
questions
about
the
ten
of
funding,
so
we'll
try
to
address
those
with
our
questions
and
we'll
begin.
Those
with
chairman
whitson.
H
Thank
you.
Thank
you,
madam
chair
lady
commissioners.
Over
here
there
you
go
how
you
doing
sir.
Thank
you,
commissioner
carter
for
being
with
us
this
morning.
My
first
question,
and
there
will
be
several
follow-ups
to
this.
The
department
has
requested
just
over
900
000
of
federal
funding
for
11
new
positions
to
determine
disability
claims
and
address
the
statewide
backlog
that
we
we
have
I'd
like
to
know.
How
large
is
this
backlog
that
we
have
and
how
long
has
there
been
a
backlog?
Sir.
K
So
so
there
has
been
a
a
backlog
for
several
years,
mr
chairman,
but
again
the
disability,
determination.
This
is
funding
and
an
operation
which
is
100
percent
funded
by
the
federal
government.
So
we
don't
have
hiring
authority
until
the
feds
say
you
can
and
then
provide
the
dollars
too,
and
I
shared
with
you
earlier
in
this
presentation
that
this
nine
hundred
thousand
dollars
it
will
allow
us
to
hire
these
new
disability
determination.
F
H
K
L
Thank
you,
madam
chair,
commissioner
carter.
Thank
you
so
much.
How
are
you,
sir?
As
you
referenced
my
name
earlier,
we
have
been
in
deep
discussions
seven
days
a
week
for
about
six
weeks
now,
so
I
really
appreciate
where
we've,
where
we've
been
and
where
we're
we're
going
with
the
tan
of
funding
and
I'm
not
going
to
go
down
that
road.
L
But
I
do
want
to
say
thank
you
to
to
yourself,
governor
lee
speaker,
sexton
chairman,
terry
chairman
watson,
in
our
whole
tanf
working
group
that
have
have
worked
through
this
and
come
up
with
some
of
the
spending
plan,
the
the
investment
plan
that
we're
working
on
and
again
it's
critical
for
this
committee
to
understand
that
we
are
looking
to
lift
recipients
beyond
the
need
to
be
on
the
tanf
program
and
I'll
I'll
say
that
as
many
times
as
I
can
so.
Thank
you
so
much
in
the
chair.
Ladies
infinite
wisdom.
L
She
chose
not
to
allow
me
to
ask
a
question
on
tana
because
she
knew
I'd
be
here
all
day.
I
do
want
to
ask
about
the
a
recent
program
that
our
ymcas
and
our
boys
and
girls
clubs
have
have
seen
success
in
the
the
the
child
care
essential
worker
program.
You
came
before
us
a
few
weeks
ago
with
a
a
budget
expansion
request
how's
that
going,
I
know,
we're
looking
at
a
march
31st
potential
stop.
Where
are
we
with
that
program
right
there,
commissioner,.
K
K
K
L
Madam
chair,
if
I,
if
I
could
follow
up
and
thank
you
so
much-
and
I
visit
my
local
ymca,
my
local
boys,
boys
and
girls
clubs
every
week
when
I'm
in
it's,
been
a
great
success
there.
I
will
make
a
request
of
miss
page
as
well
as
ms
carr
in
the
audience
that
we
can
back
to
tana
very
quickly.
We've
got
some
mandatory
language,
we're
working
on
we're
looking
to
put
on
full
committee.
L
C
My
question
is
going
to
be
pertaining
to
the
child
care
development
funds
so,
prior
to,
I
guess,
around
2019
I
think
about
20
million
dollars
was
being
referred
or
was
being
unspent.
So
now
all
these
federal
monies
that
we
know
that
that
are
coming
down.
So
what's
that
going
to
look
like
with
are,
are
we
going
to
be
able
to
use
that
effectively?
I
guess
it's
my
first
question.
Then
I've
got
a
couple
of
follow-ups
after.
K
That
so,
mr
jim,
what
we
have
been
discussing
in
amongst
our
team
is
using
the
opportunity
of
this
massive
additional
influx
of
child
care
funding
to
address
system
capacity.
One
of
the
things
that
we
have
found
is
that
there
literally
is
not
enough
child
care
capacity
in
tennessee,
particularly
in
more
rural
areas
and,
and
so
what
we
want
to
do
is
to
not
is
to
focus
more
intensely
on
trying
to
build
that
capacity.
C
K
C
So
what
what
can
and
and
what
I
guess,
what
is
the
department
doing
to
to
make?
I
guess
to
bring
awareness
to
that
there
are.
There,
are
capacity
issues
and-
and
what
are
you
doing
to
you
know,
try
to
help
these
facilities
to
get
back
online
or
bring
new
ones
online.
So
what
what
does
dhs
do
to
help
that.
K
C
Thank
you,
commissioner,
and
representing
a
rural
community.
I
can
tell
you
that
is
really
a
struggle
for
trying
to
find
that
that
child
care.
So
I
I
I
say
kudos
and
I
encourage
you
to
keep
on
doing
the
the
good
work
and
fighting
the
fight
we.
We
certainly
need
that
out
well,
not
only
across
the
state
of
tennessee,
but
certainly
in
those
rural
communities.
Thank
you
again
for
being
here
this
morning.
Thank
you,
chair,
lady.
A
And
I'll
just
make
a
pitch
there's
a
wonderful
piece
of
legislation
out
there
regarding
the
child
care
task
force.
I
know
it's
absolutely
wonderful,
because
I'm
the
sponsor
it
would
it
has
a
fiscal
note
on
it
for
about
eighty
three
thousand
dollars
for
potentially
a
study
again,
I
think
we
all
recognize
that
child
care.
It
was
an
issue
before
the
pandemic.
A
It's
an
even
greater
issue
now
and
I
think
the
pandemic
has
highlighted
the
particular
holes
that
we
have
rural
areas
being
won
and-
and
I
think
with
that,
in
order
to
solve
this
problem,
we
don't
have
enough
money,
even
with
all
the
dollars
that
are
being
drawn
down
to
do
that
on
an
ongoing
basis.
We
need
to
develop
partnerships
in
the
private
sector.
A
K
And,
madam
chairman,
if
I,
if
I
could
in
a
one
of
the
bright
lights
that
has
come
out
of
the
are
our
covet
haze,
is
an
emphasis
on
our
community
partners.
We
have
a
vast
array
of
very
high
functioning
community
partners,
without
which
we
couldn't
do
what
it
is
that
we
do.
This
is
not
simply
about
what
the
government
does
it's
about,
what
the
whole
of
tennessee
does
and
we
have
wonderful
community
partners
to
help
us
in
that.
A
A
To
be
repetitive,
I
think
it's
important
that
we
have
a
a
really
good
data
set
of
what
the
resources
are
who's
attempting
to
solve
the
problem
and
then
look
at
how
we
can
bring
all
of
those
people
together,
so
that
we're
not
duplicating
efforts
that
we're
making
sure
that
we're
using
everybody's
dollars,
whether
they're
taxpayer
dollars
private
sector
dollars
or
the
dollars
that
moms
and
dads
are
paying
for
the
child
care
in
the
most
effective
way.
So
that
is
it's.
A
A
critical
issue
is
ongoing
and
as
our
economy,
our
economy
has
never
been
that
slow
here
in
tennessee,
but
as
it
gears
up
even
more
as
we
all
hope
it
will.
That's
going
to
continue
to
be
an
issue,
because
people
cannot
work
if
they
cannot
have
a
place
for
their
children
to
be
cared
for
and
not
just
parked
right,
but
child
care
that
works
on
development
and
all
of
the
other
things
that
we
would
want
our
own
children
to
have
access
to.
So
again,
that's
an
incredibly
important
issue
and
we
have
beat
this
horse
before.
A
So
I
won't
go
there
again
with
dollars
that
were
unspent.
That
could
have
been
utilized
that
we
did
not
take
advantage
of,
and
I
just
want
to
make
sure
that
that
does
not
happen
again
and
that
we
are.
We
have
this
windfall
and
we
can
spend
lots
of
time
discussing
whether
or
not
we
think
that
was
a
good
thing
or
a
bad
thing.
But
is
the
thing
that
we're
dealing
with?
So
we
have
these
dollars
and
I
think
it
is
just
incumbent
upon
us.
A
J
J
K
Providing
to
the
schools
sure
sure,
let
me
let
me
let
me
back
up
and
run
forward.
Okay,
prior
to
the
pandemic,
children
that
were
eligible
for
free
and
reduced
lunch.
Okay,
that
was
provided,
of
course,
through
the
school
you
go
to
school,
you
get
the
the
free
and
reduced
meals.
Well,
of
course
the
pandemic
happens
school
shut
down.
K
K
So
initially
in
round
one
700,
000
tennessee
children
were
eligible
to
receive
this
benefit
and
and
dhs
stood
up
again
immediately
a
program
to
be
able
to
address
that
we
were,
with
our
first
blush,
able
to
serve
about
500
000
of
those
eligible
children
and
and
then
over
the
course
of
time,
get
to
pretty
much
the
whole
eligible
universe.
There
were
some
hiccups
in
doing
so,
but
standing
up
a
program
like
that
in
the
midst
of
the
pandemic,
was
it
provided
the
challenge
for
us.
J
K
J
K
And
then
our
vendor
will
send
cards.
And
it
is
our
intention
to
buy
the
19th
to
begin
sending
cards
to
every
eligible
child
that
is
identified
through
the
through
the
system.
So
in
partnership
with
not
only
our
department
of
education
but
with
superintendents
all
across
the
state
and
parents
we're
continuing
to
deliver
pebt.
K
A
A
F
K
The
the
only
changes
is
that
we
are
beginning
to
get
back
to
in-person
training.
Of
course,
we
had
gone
completely
virtual
during
during
the
height
of
the
pandemic,
and
that
presents
a
challenge
to
to
to
many
of
the
folks
served
through
smyrna
and
now
again,
as
the
as
the
clouds
begin
to
clear
on
the
from
the
pandemic,
we
are
slowly
moving
back
to
the
the
most
safe
and
healthy
in
person,
training
possible.
F
K
C
K
And
if
our
emphasis
is
on,
how
can
we
help
that
individual
or
that
family
achieve
their
god-given
potential?
That's
what
social
services
needs
to
be
about
not
just
not
just
warehousing
dysfunction
in
in
and
and
disability
and
poverty,
but
literally
understanding
the
strengths
of
that
that
individual,
that
family
and
being
intentional
of
helping
them
grow
beyond.
B
B
However,
it
looks
like
in
spending,
though
we
only
spend
about
half
what
we
receive,
so
even
if
you
were
to
even
if
you
were
to,
if
we
were
the
statutory
required
or
you
were
to
request
us
to
make
sure
that
you
had
those
monies
we're
not
spending
it
we'll
be
right
back
to
where
we
are
right
now,
if
we're
only
spending
half,
could
you
speak
to
that
and
what
the
purpose
of
it
is
and
why
we?
Why?
You
think
that
we
should
need
this
reserve
balance
so.
K
So
so,
mr
chairman,
I
think
I
was
attempting
to
show
you
in
the
presentation
it
it's
not
about
it's,
not
half
it's
more
than
what
we
are.
Our
annual
spending
is
about
124
million
of
the
190
million,
and
then
the
next
part
of
the
chart
shows
you
what
we
have
an
option
to
spend
in
child
care
and
then,
if
we
were
to
exercise
that
full
option,
we
would
actually
expend
more
than
190
million
dollars.
K
But
again
these
are
estimates.
So
so
we
don't
see
going
forward
as
not
expending
our
full
grant.
But
what
will
happen
from
the
tanf
opportunity
act
is
that
we
will
have
in
place
how
we
spend
what
we
spend
and
manage
that
rainy
manage
that
unobligated
balance.
So
we
keep
it
in
that
a
range
of
what
the
annual
grant
is
of
the
191
million
dollars.
B
Thank
you
and
I
get
I
get
the
the
where
you're.
Where
we're
talking
about
this,
I
guess
there
were
some
legislative.
For
instance,
under
previous
speaker,
we
passed
a
bill
to
require
work
requirement.
There
are
people
that
liked
that
they
didn't
like
that
either
way
all
those
states
that
had
a
work
requirement.
Those
were
struck
down.
I
guess
we
had
to
fund
the
budget
based
upon
that
additional
expense.
Where
does
that,
for
instance,
where
does
that
money
go?
Are
we
do?
We
see
it
come
back
or
how
does
that?
K
F
And,
commissioner,
if
I
could
add
on
to
that
as
well,
I
think
one
of
the
things
chairman
williams-
you
were
you're
speaking
of
earlier-
is
that
that
191
and
if
we
only
spend
half
what
happens
to
it
and
that's
part
of
what
we
worked
with
representative
hawk
on
for
the
tanf
opportunity
act-
is
that
any
money?
That's
not
expended
out
of
that
191
at
at
the
end
of
the
year
for
the
next
year.
F
We'll
take
that
and
put
it
into
grants,
programs
throughout
the
state
proportional
to
the
amount
of
poverty
in
those
areas
so
that
we
don't
continue
to
have
this
issue
where
it
builds
up
to
700.
Again,
we
would
just
keep
the
floor
at
190
or
at
the
ceiling
at
191,
so
one
year's
grant's
worth
and
then
anything
else
would
roll
over
into
those
programs.
Every
year.
K
No,
no,
not
not
in
the
third
one
that
is,
you
are
allowed
to
intent
to
spend
a
portion
of
the
tanf
block
grant
directly
on
child
care.
There's
a
statutory
portion
that
you
can
transfer
to
the
child
care
development
fund,
but
then
there's
also
a
portion
that
the
department
could
spend
directly
on
on
on
on
child
care,
and
the
difference
is
what
you
transfer
to
the
child
care
and
development
fund
that
takes
on
the
rules
and
the
texture
of
the
child
care
and
development
fund.
K
K
K
You
can
provide
a
direct
subsidy
to
eligible
families
or,
but
you
have
to
spend-
I
think,
it's
six
percent
that
you
have
to
spend
in
quality
to
ensure
that
the
quality
of
the
child
care
that's
operated
is
as
high
as
possible.
So
that's
what
the
contours
of
the
child
care
and
development
fund
are
in
in
direct
expenditure
from
tanf.
We
can
do
that
just
in
subsidy.
We
could
do
all
of
that
in
subsidy
to
eligible
tanf
families.
F
K
L
Thank
you,
chair,
lady,
and
I
could
just
to
reiterate.
This
is
an
extremely
complex
situation,
and
I
want
to
thank
chairman
williams
and
all
those
folks
who
have
delved
into
this
this
discussion
today
and
we'll
continue
to
delve
into
this
discussion.
This
is
this:
is
an
issue
that's
going
to
be
ongoing.
We've
got
us.
L
What
we
feel
like
is
a
solution
once
again
to
better
invest
these
fam
these
these
funds
into
strengthening
families,
and
we
will
we
will
certainly
get
there,
but
this
is
an
extremely
complex
issue
that
I'll
invite
the
chair,
lady
to
come,
sit
in
one
of
our
sunday
afternoon
meetings
and
you
can
be
completely
debriefed
or
better
yet
we'll
follow
you
to
wherever
you
are
on
sunday
and
we'll
have
we'll
have
a
little
sun
time.
So
thank
you,
madam
chair.
A
A
Those
of
us
who
haven't
delved
down
into
the
weeds
when
we're
looking
at
these
huge
numbers
and
trying
to
understand
again
what
we
need
to
do
to
make
sure
that
the
dollars
are
used
well
and
there
are
other
questions
about
how
these
dollars
will
coordinate.
For
instance,
the
department
of
education
is
getting
a
huge
influx
of
money,
most
of
it's
going
directly
to
the
local
education.
A
K
There
is
madam
chair
this.
This
is
the
current
obligations
that
we
have
against
that
tanf
unobligated
balance
and
what
it
was
our
hope
to
do
by
doing
this
is
to
share
this
framework
with
you
and
know
that
we
will
adjust
based
on
events
on
the
ground
in
this
framework
all
the
time,
so
you
will
be
able
to
have
a
running
view
of
what
the
top
line
number
is
and
all
of
the
adjustments
against
it.
So
so
that
was
the
the
whole
purpose
of
this
exercise
was.
K
The
saying
is
that
there
are
two
things
that
should
not
be
viewed
and
that's
the
making
of
law
and
sausage
okay,
and
this
has
been
law
and
sausage
making
at
its
finest.
But
the
truth
is
is
that
I
believe
that
the
outcome
is
a
very
tasty
dish,
so
I
think
that
everybody's
worked
together
to
get
us
to
a
much
better
place.
A
So
noted,
and
I
we
certainly
hope
that
you're
right,
I
would
say
that
I
appreciate
the
the
fact
that
we'll
have
ongoing
information,
because
there's
a
doubt
in
my
mind
if
we
can
actually
spend
the
amount
of
money
that
we're
going
to
be
getting
for
some
of
these
buckets
in
a
reasonable
way.
So
again,
whether
we
spend
all
of
the
82.7
million
dollars,
that's
in
the
tenf
reserve,
in
addition
to
the
dollars
that
the
department
of
education
will
have
to
address
very
similar.
K
Madam
chair,
I
would
just
say
that
we
are
not
in
any
way
shape
or
form
spendthrifts,
but
there
are
smart
and
impactful
ways
to
put
these
dollars
in
play,
and
that
is
what
we
intend
to
do.
I
I
don't
relish
the
idea
of
sending
dollars
back
to
the
federal
treasury
when
there
continues
to
be
need,
but
we
are
not
going
to
spend
in
a
in
a
harried
way.
It's
going
to
be
very
strategic
and
impactful.
A
And
I
think
that's
what
this
committee
would
request
and
ask
for
yes
ma'am
with
that.
I
see
no
further
questions.
So
thank
you
all
for
joining
us
here
today
and
we
will
hear
from
our
next
group,
which
is
the
department
of
revenue
beginning
at
11
30..
So
let
the
records
show
we
have
a
five-minute
break.
B
A
A
M
M
I'm
david
jorgeno,
commissioner
of
revenue
on
my
right,
is
amanda
mcgraw,
our
chief
financial
officer.
My
immediate
left
is
christine
laps,
our
deputy
commissioner,
and,
on
my
far
left,
is
justin
moorhead,
our
chief
of
staff
and
charlie
hazelwood.
I
thought
we
would
spend
about
five
minutes
touching
on
sort
of
the
pandemic
and
how
it's
impacted
the
department
and
how
we've
responded
to
that
serve
our
customers
and
then
maybe
another
five
minutes
or
so
talking
about
our
requested
budget.
I
think
our
our
budget's
a
pretty
straightforward
request.
M
Turning
to
the
first
slide
in
response
to
to
cover
19,
we
focused
really
on
three
areas:
to
support
taxpayers,
continue
continuity
of
service,
providing
administrative
relief
and
administering
two
business
relief
programs
funded
by
the
cares
act
and
turning
first
to
continuity
of
service.
Like
so
many
organizations
beginning
last
march,
we
needed
to
have
employees,
move
and
work
from
home
in
order
to
protect
their
health
and
slow
the
spread
of
the
virus.
M
M
One
of
the
biggest
unknowns
was
moving
our
fairly
substantial
call
center
operations
from
being
100
percent
in
the
office
to
100
percent
remote,
but
again,
with
the
with
wonderful
help
from
sts.
Frankly,
we
were
able
to
do
that
without
missing
a
day
of
service
and
there's
a
couple.
This
slide
includes
a
couple
of
metrics
that
sort
of
highlight
how
we
maintain
service.
M
I
you
know,
I
just
want
to
briefly
credit
a
couple
of
things
for
that
that
customer
service,
and,
first
and
foremost
our
outstanding
state
employees,
who
did
a
terrific
job
with
the
transition
and
secondly,
having
modern
systems.
This
committee
has
invested
in
system
replacements
both
for
tax
administration
and
motor
vehicle
title
and
registration,
and
I
think
those
investments
certainly
paid
off
when
this
emergency
hit
in
terms
of
administrative
relief.
We're
really
talking
in
the
march
through
july
time
period.
M
We,
the
first
thing
we
did,
as
you
know,
with
your
support,
is
to
extend
due
dates
for
those
big
annual
filings
franchise
and
excise
tax
hall
income
tax
business
tax,
we're
all
moved
from
april
to
the
middle
of
july
professional
privilege.
Tax
was
also
moved
from
june.
To
july,
we
worked
with
our
partners
the
county
clerks
to
extend
motor
vehicle
registrations
that
were
due
in
march
april
may
and
june
out
until
july.
M
We
suspended
the
initiation
of
new
field
audits
in
the
state
for
for
that
period
of
time,
and
we
worked
with
taxpayers
on
how
to
handle
audits
that
were
already
ongoing
before
the
pandemic
hit,
or
some
taxpayers
may
have
preferred
to
push
the
conclusion
that
audited
out
a
little
bit.
Others
may
have
preferred
to
get
it
closed
out,
avoid
any
potential
additional
interest
and
we
worked
with
taxpayers
on
a
case-by-case
basis
to
try
to
accommodate
them
in
the
best
possible
manner.
M
M
The
program
was
10
million
dollars,
but
but
the
larger
percentage
were
the
smaller
businesses
this.
This
is
a
program
that
did
not
require
an
application.
Instead,
we
used
our
we
use
tax
data
that
we
have
in
our
system
to
identify
specific
industries
that
qualified,
and
these
were
essentially
industries
that
were
required
to
suspend
or
significantly
alter
their
operations
by
executive
order
or
otherwise
showed
significant
loss
of
business,
and
we
concluded
that
program
around
april
and
that
I'm
sorry
october
and
that's
when
we
shifted
to
the
second
program,
which
is
currently
ongoing.
M
The
supplemental
employer
relief
grant
program
and
this
this
program
is
different
in
that
it's
open
to
all
businesses,
regardless
of
industry,
as
long
as
the
business
has
less
than
10
million
dollars
in
gross
sales,
but
because
it's
open
to
everyone
it.
It
covers
a
broader
range
of
businesses,
it's
an
application
based
program
and,
to
date,
we've.
The
state
has
approved
for
payment
just
over
47
million
dollars
to
about
2
200
businesses
and
that
that
program
is
currently
funded
at
a
level
of
125
million
and
is
ongoing.
M
With
that,
madam
chair,
I
would
turn
to
our
proposed
budget.
We
have
no
cost
increase
requests
for
fy22.
We
do
have
a
number
of
proposed
budget
reductions
that
should
have
little
or
no
impact
on
services.
In
fact,
the
first
item
on
the
list
is
the
only
one
that
will
really
be
visible
to
the
public
at
all,
and
that
is
the
transition
from
a
an
envelope
with
stuffed
inserts
to
a
postcard
for
motor
vehicle
renewal
notices
that
will
save
about
half
a
million
dollars
a
year.
M
M
So
the
support
that
sts
gave
us
in
supporting
that
mainframe
is
no
longer
needed,
so
these
are
some
of
the
cost
savings
that
follow
the
the
transition
to
the
new
service.
Definitely,
the
new
system,
the
third
category
reduced
operational
expenditures,
1.6
million
sort
of
falls
into
that
category
as
well.
That's
primarily
third-party
contracts
that
are
no
longer
needed.
M
M
M
So,
in
conclusion,
we
have
a
base
budget
of
start
with
a
base.
Budget
of
94.8
million
dollars
have
7.5
million
in
cost
reductions
for
a
total
requested
state
appropriation
of
87.3
million,
combined
with
34.9
million
in
current
services
revenue
for
a
total
budget
request
of
122.2
million
dollars.
Madam
chair
lady,
and
that
that
concludes
my
prepared
remarks.
I
would
be
happy
to
try
to
answer
any
questions.
A
B
Thank
you,
commissioner,
for
being
here
the
I
had
a
question.
Last
year,
the
legislature
set
aside
some
team
of
money
for
tornado
relief,
but
I
also
know
that
in
we
carry
in
the
budget
of
some
disaster
relief
monies
that
balance,
I
think,
is
in
excess
of
about
3.6
million
dollars.
My
understanding
of
that
monies
is
that,
if
somebody
from
my
district
wanted
to
get
tax
relief
on
a
refrigerator,
they
could
submit
the
the
form
to
then
to
the
department
department
reimburse
sales
tax
for
those.
B
I
guess
the
question
is:
is
we
that
process
is
very
cumbersome?
We
don't
have
a
lot
of
people
really
that
take
that
into
consideration,
but
I
also
know
that
many
of
our
communities,
and
over
the
last
year
from
hamilton,
wilson,
mcmahon,
putnam
and
others
there
were
two
rounds
of
tornadoes
that
struck
my.
I
guess
my
question
is:
is:
could
those
monies
be
used
for?
M
Yeah,
thank
you
for
the
question.
So
statutorily.
That's
not
it's
all
it's
it's!
It's
very
specific!
What
that!
How
that
relief
program
works,
the
one
that
the
department
administers
for
sales
tax
reimbursement
it
has
its
history
in
the
2010
floods,
it
was
originally
sort
of
temporary,
then
it
was
made
permanent.
It
is
funded
at
a
certain
level.
M
Every
year
requires
a
disaster
declaration
and
it
requires
that
the
homeowner
receive
federal
assistance
that
triggers
eligibility
for
the
sales
tax
refund
and,
as
you
correctly
mentioned,
it's
for
appliances,
furniture
building,
materials
for
repair
and
that
sort
of
thing.
But
it's
it's
all
specific
in
the
statute,
and
it's
that
particular
program
is
specifically
sales
tax.
I
think
it
would
need
some
some
some
other
alternative
legislation
to
to
go
into
other
areas.
B
E
F
M
So
I
think
yes,
and
that
number
will
be
made
up
200
million
dollars
from
the
original
business
relief
program
and
then
for
supplemental
for
surge,
supplemental
employer
relief,
grant
the
approved
amounts
up
about
48
million.
So
just
to
give
you
an
updated
amount,
so
248,
you
know
we
are
still
working
those
applications
and
working
putting
a
lot
of
focus
on
on
those
to
get
that
amount
out.
I
don't
know
that
we.
M
Have
a
definitive
answer
on
whether
the
entire
125
million
that's
currently
allocated
to
surge
will
ultimately
be
claimed
by
applicants
who
you
know
can
who
do
support
the
full
claim.
So
I
don't
have
a
definitive
answer.
I
don't
want
to
throw
something
out
there
just
to
answer
it.
I
think
it's
a
possibility
that
that
we
can
make
that
mark
or
get
close
to
it.
It's
also
a
possibility
that
it'll
come
in
somewhat
under
under
that
number.
F
C
M
I
think
what
may
be
helpful
sorry
justin
is
we.
We
do
have
current
pending
applications
that
meet
the
125
billion
dollar.
You
know
request,
but
it
is
an
application-based
program
and
that
there
are
federal
oversight
requirements.
It
has
to
be
documented,
it's
basically
a
reimbursement
of
expenses,
direct
expenses
or
for
loss
of
income.
M
You
know
during
the
period
it's
an
either
or
alternative,
and
so
there
are,
there
are
sufficient
applications
that
have
been
brought
into
the
system,
but
it's
a
matter
of
working
with
the
taxpayers
to
get
that
documentation
in,
and
you
know
that's
where
the
sort
of
work
is
both
on
the
taxpayer
side
and
on
the
on
the
state
side
so
and
we've
had
we've
had
applications
withdrawn.
Where
folks
said
well,
you
know
I
immediately.
M
I
initially
submitted
it,
but
for
whatever
reason
for
their
circumstances,
they
say
I'm
not
going
to
proceed
and
then
we
have
been
able
to
bring
in
new
applicants
to
backfill,
so
we
have
sufficient
applications
to
distribute
it
all,
but
we
know
that
they
won't
all
end
up
in
a
disbursement.
So
that's
why
it's
really
sort
of
difficult
to
predict
where
it's
going
to
land
at
the
end.
D
Thank
you,
madam
chair,
commissioner.
Garagano,
a
year
ago,
the
legislature
passed
a
bill
that
would
require
marketplace
facilitators
to
collect
sales
tax
on
out-of-state
sellers,
and
I
believe
the
projection
was
that
we
would
raise
about
85
million
dollars
in
additional
revenue
this
fiscal
year,
we're
well
into
the
fiscal
year.
Where
do
we
stand
right
now
with
those
projections
or
where
are
we.
M
M
D
Okay,
thank
you
for
that
update
and,
if
I
could
ask
one,
I
guess
unrelated
question
in
the
state
of
tennessee,
when
businesses
do
not
make
sufficient
payments
on
their
fne
taxes,
they
are
assessed.
A
penalty
by
the
state
through
your
office
is
the.
How
does
that
penalty?
Compare
to
what
the
federal
government
would
charge
as
a
penalty
for
insufficient
payments?
Is
it?
Is
it
larger,
on
a
percentage
basis,
by
a
substantial
amount.
M
C
M
That's
right,
I
think
we
reduced
it
to
two
percent
a
month,
but
still
can
max
out
it
at
24
for
a
year.
So
you
know,
hopefully
that
was
a
benefit
we
when,
when
that
bill
sort
of
looking
back
on
that,
we
looked
at
other
states
primarily
and
brought
it
and
more
in
line.
I
think,
with
a
lot
of
what
other
states
are
doing
at
the
state
level,
I'm
going
to
be
perfectly
candid.
I
do
not
know
what
the
federal
penalty
rate
is.
D
M
A
And
I
want
to
follow
up
on
chairman
baum's
question
on
the
marketplace
facilitator,
so
we
had
put,
as
I
recall,
about
85
million
dollars
into
this
current
year's
budget,
and
if
I'm
a
you
know,
we
had
the
bump
in
december.
But
I
hear
you
saying
we're
averaging
six
to
seven
million
dollars.
Do
you
anticipate
another
bump
in
any
month
or
if
not
it
looks
like?
We
would
run
a
little
bit
short
of
that
again,
recognizing
that
we,
it
wasn't
effective
for
the
entire
fiscal
year.
A
M
A
M
Yeah,
I
do
think,
if
I
may,
madam
cheerleading,
on
that
those
are
the
numbers
that
that
have
come
from
the
marketplace
facilitators.
I
do
think
it's
important
to
note
that
that's
not
necessarily
all
new
revenue,
because
we
have
two
major
things
going
on
in
sales
tax.
We
have
marketplace
facilitators
collecting
which
we
didn't
have
before,
but
we
also
have
a
very
significant
shift
of
purchasing
because
of
the
pandemic,
so
online
sales
have
at
least
doubled,
and
so
you
know
there's
two
different
things
going
on:
it's
it's.
How
people
are
purchasing
both?
M
Are
they
purchasing
online
or
in
the
store
and
then
who's
collecting
it
online?
So,
yes,
marketplace.
Facilitators
are
new
to
collecting
tax,
but
with
that
huge
shift
in
purchasing,
that's
not
that
a
lot
of
a
significant
amount
of
that
may
be
purchases
that
were
previously
occurring
in
stores
in
tennessee.
A
Just
dollars
made
perhaps
into
a
different
bucket.
Okay,
all
right!
Thank
you
and
we're
running
very
short
on
time,
but
I
have
a
couple
of
folks
with
additional
questions
and
then,
commissioner,
we
would
we'll
probably
be
sending
you
a
couple
of
questions
that
we
didn't
have
time
for
and
just
ask
you
to
respond
to
those
in
writing
and
we'll
share
with
the
committee
chairman
todd.
C
Thank
you,
chair,
lady.
I
I
just
simply
had
a
couple
of
comments.
One
I've
been
very
appreciative
of
your
department
and
how
responsive
you've
been,
and
you
personally
to
concerns
from
the
business
community
and
and
citizens
as
well
about
clarification
on
certain
things
over
the
last
few
years
and
and
we're
continuing
to
work
on
that
and
then
especially
your
staff,
miss
hurt
is,
is
kind
of
the
liaison
I
deal
with
more
often
than
not
extremely
responsive.
C
F
M
A
And
thank
you,
commissioner
giargano
thank
you
for
joining
us
and
I
will
add
my
thanks
to
chairman
todd's.
Your
department
is
always
very
responsible,
responsive
and
responsible
too,
and
we
appreciate
that
so
much
on
behalf
of
those
sitting
up
here,
but
even
more
so
on
behalf
of
our
constituents
who
have
issues,
and
so
thank
you
for
helping
walk
them
through
those
and
again.
We
thank
you
for
taking
the
time
to
join
us
today
and
look
forward
to
hearing
about
some
more
over
budget
numbers
to
go
with
this
other
money
that
we
have
flowing
down.
A
J
A
Welcome
we're
glad
to
have
you
folks
here.
I
know
it's.
It's
been
a
tough
year
for
tourism
and
along
with
other
things
in
the
state,
but
hopefully
we're
beginning
to
see
the
end
of
the
light
at
the
end
of
the
tunnel
and
as
they
say,
we
are
praying
that
it's
not
an
oncoming
train
and
that
we
will
get
back
on
track.
So
with
that,
we'll
ask
you
to
just
proceed
with
your
presentation
as
succinctly
as
possible,
so
we're
going
to
have
time
for
questions.
I
I
So
I'd
like
to
take
less
than
10
minutes
to
talk
about
not
only
our
budget
but
also
the
economic
impact,
some
about
what's
been
going
on
in
our
industry.
As
you
know,
it's
been
the
most
affected
industry
of
the
pandemic
and
then,
lastly,
to
share
how
we
used
cares,
act,
funding
and
then
how
we'll
be
driving
economic
recovery,
because
that
is
our
charge
for
you.
So
it
seems
like
a
long
time
ago,
but
we
had
not
shown
we've
not
been
back
together
to
talk
about
our
2019
economic
impact.
I
So
I
just
hit
a
couple
of
things.
We
were
on.
A
roll.
Tennessee
was
not
only
on
its
10th
consecutive
year
of
growth,
but
our
expenditures
beat
the
national
average
by
63
percent
largest
ever
and
so
that
23
billion
dollars
was
truly.
We
were,
we
were
rolling
and
then
coveted
hit.
All
of
a
sudden.
As
you
know,
this
is
a
tracker
that
we
use
during
the
economic
recovery.
It's
when
on
april
12th,
when
I
was
asked
by
governor
lee
to
help
lead
the
economic
recovery
group
spending
was
down
25
percent.
I
This
comes
from
harvard
and
visa,
so
we
really
needed
to
work
quickly
to
restore
our
economy
to
help
the
businesses
operate
safely,
so
that
a
number
of
people
in
our
department
at
tourist
development
and
then
many
others
all
jumped
in
and
we
helped
introduce
the
tennessee
pledge
with
300
industry
leaders,
health
people
that
helped
us
get
tennesseans
back
to
work
quickly,
keeping
our
communities
safe,
but
really.
How
do
we
do
that
quickly?
So
tennessee
was
the
second
state
in
the
nation
to
reopen
restaurants.
I
The
bristol
event
was
the
largest
event
in
2020,
so
we
showed
how
to
do
that
and
really
it
paid
off
and
because
of
all
the
hard
work
of
tennesseans
the
changes
our
business
made
to
protect
customers.
Honestly,
the
support
we
had
from
y'all
in
helping
communities,
we
were
able
to
get
businesses
open
while
fighting
coveted
19
and
we're
grateful
to
see
that
tennessee
was
only
one
of
seven
states
in
america
to
have
a
positive
change
in
consumer
spending
during
that
period,
so
we'll
quickly
jump
to.
I
While
we
have
some
had
some
good
news
with
that,
let's
move
now
to
the
industries.
We
support
leisure
and
hospitality
and
what
you'll
see
is
how
devastated
that
industry
still
is,
and
it's
why
this
tourism
sustainable
budget's
so
important.
You
can
see
the
numbers,
but
the
revenues
are
still
down
21
for
the
year
and
we
have
unemployment
so
we'll
hit
a
couple
of
slides
on
those
quickly
so
last
year
you
know
we
were
talking
about
the
growth
and
how
we
want
to
deliver
a
lot
of
dollars
to
the
state
budget.
I
A
year
ago
I
talked
about
the
diversity
of
the
assets
that
we
have
as
a
brander,
I'm
new
to
state
government
the
last
couple
of
years
and
was
so
excited.
Little
did
I
realize
just
how
powerful
our
outdoors
were.
We
were
in
the
top
five
most
visited
states
during
covet.
Why?
Because
tennessee
has
amazing
outdoor
assets
and
people
came,
and
we
tried
to
do
that
as
safely
as
we
possibly
could,
and
it
was
our
only
non-beach
state.
I
So,
along
with
that,
because
of
your
generosity
with
the
financial
stimulus,
accountability
group
governor
lee
in
the
fall,
we
were
able
to
secure
a
cares.
Grant
that
allowed
us
to
restore
that
tourism.
We
knew
there
were
people
coming
in
certain
areas
and
then
we
wanted
to
make
sure
everybody
knew
we
were
safe
in
other
areas,
so
they
would
come
and
we
were
granted
25
million
dollars,
15
million.
We
gave
straight
to
all
the
destination
marketing
organizations
in
the
95
counties.
I
I
We
gave
no
less
than
twenty
five
thousand
dollars
to
every
single
county
in
the
state
and
what
we
found
is
people
when
they
get
the
money,
they
need
the
technical
assistance
and
when,
together
we
work
with
that,
we
can
use
tourists
to
help
them
spend
money
in
our
communities
and
that's
what
we're
going
to
do
with
the
office
of
rural
tourism
and
outreach.
This
is
going
to
be
helping
those
distressed,
those
at
risk,
those
smaller
rural
counties
that
really
don't
know
how
to
do
tourism
as
far
as
visitor
spending
as
well
as
we
want
to.
I
So
that's
what
we'll
be
doing
with
the
budget
and
then
our
welcome
centers
just
want
to
give
a
shout
out
to
our
welcome
centers
that
they
stayed
open
the
entire
time,
never
closed.
They
continued
to
provide
for
essential
travel
and
they
came
and
took
care
of
people
provided
mass
kits,
but
also
we
spent,
cares
money
to
be
able
to
communicate
with
visitors
and
that's
going
to
be
a
long
term.
Our
campaign
was
for
the
love
of
tennessee
travel
safe.
I
We
had
a
lot
of
celebrities
drew
and
ellie
holcomb
three
weeks
ago.
People.Com
picked
us
up
again
and
they
did
a
1600
mile
trip
and
that
program
was
so
helpful
in
helping
us
not
have
a
larger
loss
than
we
did
and
as
I
kind
of
wrap
up,
what
we're
going
to
be
doing
with
that
eight
million
dollars
is
we're
going
to
be
talking
about
the
great
assets.
I
What's
exciting.
Is
we
had
50
million
people
watch
ken
burns
coveted
hit?
None
of
those
people
have
been
able
to
come
to
tennessee,
and
so
we're
going
to
get
those
people
to
come,
see,
see
the
places
and
spend
the
money
and
and
use
our
hotels
and
restaurants
and
our
tourist
attractions,
and
when
we
got
that
that
we
are
going
to
get
to
do
both
domestically
and
internationally.
I
I
We
showed
you
our
kid
reviewed
campaign
last
year,
tennessee's
lucky
enough
to
have
35
family
destinations
we
could
promote,
but
that
got
it
put
into
a
contest
and
we
beat
jeep
frito-lay
and
google
for
the
number
one
award.
You
got
the
state
of
tennessee
beating
these
groups
because
of
the
creativity,
so
our
department
can
deliver
on
the
money
that
we
are
asking
you
to
give
us
our
vacation
guide,
as
we
wrap
up
is
to
talk
about
our
culinary
groups,
because
we're
focusing
on
our
eating
and
drinking
places.
I
I
A
F
I
Yes,
sir,
and
the
what
we
did
was
we
used
u.s
travels
expenditures,
it's
that
it's
kind
of
that
travel
bible,
so
that
it
keeps
up
with
every
county's
tax
revenues
that
are
attributed
to
travel,
and
so
people
got
their
percentage
over
the
last
two
years
of
what
they've
been
generating
in
travel
expenditures
so
places
like
nashville
got
over
four
million
dollars.
Memphis
got
over
two
million
dollars
severe
county,
almost
two
million
dollars,
so
that
the
people
who
can
use
that
to
drive
back
roi
were
able
to
do
so.
F
I
It
was
to
use
to
be
able
to
say
to
show
how
you
can
drive
people
into
your
marketplace
in
a
safe,
but
in
a
visitor
spending
kind
of
way,
and
so
our
teams
had
to
work
with
them.
The
bad
news
about
the
cares
act.
Funding
at
the
time
was
it
had
to
be
spent
by
december
31st,
and
so
those
dollars
did
have
to
be
spent.
What's
great
about
our
department.
Is
we
spent
97
of
all
the
funds
that
were
given
to
us,
which
I
think
is
the
highest
of
any
of
the
departments?
F
Shaw,
your
follow-up,
thank
you
and,
and
I'm
going
gonna
be
as
brief
as
I
can,
but
you're
telling
me.
Then
though,
25
000
has
already
been
spent
because
it
had
to
be
spent
yes,
so
it
was
left
up
to
the
counties
to
make
sure
that
they
get
that
out
to
the
citizens.
Okay,
now
our
number
two
do
you
anticipate
any
additional
covet
relief
funds
are
coming.
I
Well,
we're
following
along,
like
everyone
else
and
checking
in
with
the
administration,
to
see
what
flexibility
there
is
and,
and
so
we
don't
have
an
answer
to
that-
to
know
whether
or
not
there
is
the
opportunity
to
apply
for
cares.
Relief
funding
within
the
with
the
administration
of
the
financial
stimulus,
accountability
group.
L
C
I
I
That's
got
to
be
accomplished
with
international,
so
we
have
a
robust
international
program
that
we
put
on
hold
because
people
couldn't
travel
so
we
did
not
spend
those
dollars
and
then
domestically
it
gives
us
the
opportunity
to
not
only
we
have
some
markets,
we've
never
been
in
washington,
dc
baltimore
pittsburgh,
some
of
those
and
in
addition,
a
lot
of
these
dollars.
We've
been
spending
about
four
of
that
eight
million
every
year
to
take
care
of
those
markets
that
are
close
by
to
us
and
what
we
know
is
some
of
those
markets.
I
H
Thank
you,
madam
chair,
commissioner,
thank
you
for
your
and
your
team
and
all
the
hard
work
you
guys
are
doing
what
a
challenging
year
for
so
many
in
our
in
our
state
and
you
guys
have
been
hit
harder
than
anybody
else.
So
thank
you
for
the
consistency
and
the
perseverance
of
your
team,
a
quick
question
about
the
rule
destination
development
program.
I
Absolutely
and
I'd
love
to
have
our
assistant
commissioner
go
into
a
little
more
detail,
but
when
I
came
in
what
you
saw
is
those
especially
the
distressed
and
at
risk
groups,
and
those
small
rules
have
very
little
resources
in
their
own.
Local
communities
might
be
a
part-time
chamber
person
who
does
tourism,
and
so
what
you
saw
was
no
one
was
giving
the
time
to
drive
the
economic
development
part
about
visitor
spending,
and
that's
when
we
started
realizing
with
our
with
our
current
dollars
and
our
people.
I
F
F
They
don't
have
budget
to
do
marketing,
branding
or
even
determining
what
their
top
asset
would
be,
and
so
what
we
found
was,
while
we
offer
grants
we
were,
we
could
give
out
money
through
our
regular
grants,
but
there's
not
someone
in
place
to
be
able
to
really
facilitate
that
the
way
that
it's
needed,
so
one
big
piece
of
this
is
education.
A
second
piece
is
technical
assistance,
and
what
I
mean
by
that
is,
we
would
help
them
with
the
branding
specifically
or
design
or
determining
what
their
logo
is.
F
But
really
the
education
comes
alongside
of
all
of
those
pieces
until
we
can
really
educate
them
on
the
ways
to
do
this
and
how
important
the
budget
is
in
their
communities
and
what
the
economic
impact
is
of
that
then
they
won't
be
successful.
So
we're
really
excited
about
this
program
and
what
we
think
we
can
bring
to
these
rural
communities.
H
One
more
madam
chair,
if
I
may,
commissioner,
if
I'm
not
mistaken
severe
county
right
now,
is
leading
the
way
in
terms
of
tourism
for
the
state.
Can
you
speak
to
maybe
in
middle
and
west
tennessee
we
haven't
seen
those
areas
recover
as
much
in
respect
to
tourism.
Can
you
speak
to
what
you
feel
like
that
the
challenge
has
been
in
those
areas
where
severe
county
and
east
tennessee
has
recovered
so
quickly
and
gone
beyond
what
we
were
pre-pandemic.
I
It's
a
great
question
and
what
we
saw
was
when
you've
got
the
great
smoky
mountain
national
park.
You've
got
the
ability
to
have
a
lot
of
people
and
be
able
to
spread
them
out
when
you've
got
a
music
venue
that
200
people
aren't
willing
or
ready,
or
it's
not
time
to
be
able
to
come
in
to
watch
a
venue.
I
You
have
two
different
business
models,
so
severe
county
is
made
up
of
now.
Dollywood
had
a
limited
effort,
but
outside
of
dollywood,
you
had
a
lot
of
these
smaller
organizations
with
space
to
be
able
to
take
in
people
and
people
wanted
to
come,
and
so
we
saw
a
lot
of
that
in
east
tennessee
in
nashville
and
memphis.
I
The
real
key
is
going
to
be.
Our
number
one
driver
typically
is
out
of
the
music
side
and
or
the
event
side,
that
business
traveler,
the
convention
traveler
those
groups
that
right
now
are
just
starting
to
plan,
we're
seeing
that
market
open
up
for
summer
and
fall,
and
we
got
to
be
there
ready
to
compete
against
because
there's
a
pin
up
demand
of
people
that
are
ready
to
get
back
out,
see
that
show
we
know.
I
They've
got
three
trillion
dollars
in
savings
accounts
and
tennessee
wants
that
visitor
spending
to
be
in
our
marketplace,
and
we
got
the
music
and
the
assets
to
do
it.
But
that's
that's.
We
are
meeting
with
memphis
and
nashville
every
week
right
now
to
say:
how
quickly
can
we
work
on
beale
street?
How
much?
How
can
we
help
get
this
particular
asset
going
and
ready
when
it's
time?
C
C
The
question
I
have
is
is
just
doing
a
follow-up,
maybe
a
question,
or
I
guess,
an
issue
that
we've
had
in
the
past,
500
000
non-recurring
is
was
appropriated
for
grants
to
improve
access
to
otter,
to
waterways,
to
improve
access
to
waterways.
Can
you
talk
a
little
bit
about
these
improvement?
These
grants?
What
have
we
seen
through
this?
What
what
improvements
have
we
seen?
How
many
folks
are
actually
interested
in
these
as
well.
I
We've
had
good
demand,
great
great
question,
and
it
does
come
outside
of
this
budget
when,
when
that
grant
is
chosen
by
you
all,
but
we
are
very
supportive.
What
we
saw
are
a
lot
of
people
chose,
I
mean
if
you're
a
boat
manufacturer.
You
were
up
70
last
year,
so
a
lot
of
people
chose
our
our
lakes
and
our
and
our
streams,
and
we
know
how
important
that
marina
business
is
to
handle
those.
So
we
think
it's
a
it's
a
tax
revenue
source
so
again
we're
just
helping
assist
them
and
melanie
anything
assistant.
F
Sure,
from
the
marina
side-
yes,
certainly
over
the
last
few
years,
while
we've
had
the
budget,
we
have
had
the
majority
of
marinas
in
the
state
take
advantage
of
it,
it's
a
reimbursable
grant,
and
so
typically
they
are
doing
projects
infrastructure
projects.
It
might
be
a
parking
lot,
it
might
be
expanding
their
put-ins
it
sometimes
it's
the
restaurant,
it's
really
and
sometimes
it's
marketing.
It's
anything
to
expect
enhance
the
visitor
experience
at
the
marinas,
and
certainly
they
have
taken
advantage
of
it.
C
Well,
thank
you
and
that's
all
I
have,
commissioner.
We
have
heard
from
a
lot
of
different
departments
and
agencies
and
all
the
commissioners
and
executives
bring
a
lot
to
the
table
when
they
come,
but
I
don't
know
that
any
bring
the
enthusiasm
that
you
have
and
I'll
tell
you.
I
it's
refreshing
to
see,
and
I
felt
that
the
first
time
I
met
you
and
I
can
tell
you
it's
still
out
there.
So
thank
you
for
what
you
do
you
and
your
staff.
Thank
you
very
much.
Thank.
I
A
I
A
A
A
N
These
commissions,
it's
good
to
see
all
of
you
thank
you
for
having
us
here
today
to
present
our
fy
2122
proposed
budget.
I
am
tommy
baker.
The
interim
commissioner
of
the
tennessee
department
of
veterans
services.
I
want
to
take
a
moment
just
to
introduce
some
of
my
team
to
my
right.
Your
left
is
budget
director
jennifer
combs
to
your
right
is
my
general
counsel,
katherine
hale,
our
hr
director,
dolores
keane
and
then
david
salon
in
the
back
is
our
legislative
liaison.
N
I
just
want
to
start
today
by
thanking
everyone
on
this
committee
who
has
served
in
the
past
or
is
currently
serving
here
at
veterans
services.
We
really
appreciate
and
honor
that
service,
so
this
first
slide
talks
a
little
bit
about
how
covid
impacted
the
operations
of
the
tennessee
department
of
veterans
services,
how
we
responded
to
that
and
some
of
the
mitigation
efforts
that
have
come
forth
from
that,
the
top
graph
that
you're
looking
at
there
depicts
the
number
of
claims,
appeals
and
inquiries
that
we
had
over
2019
and
2020.
N
You
will
notice
a
sharp
drop
in
the
month
of
april
and
may
you'll
see
that
that
normalized
a
bit
after
july
and
stayed
normal
throughout
the
year.
It's
still
not
back
to
what
it
was
in
2019,
but
we
think,
as
this
pandemic
lessens
we'll
continue
to
see
that
normalize
back
to
what
it
was
prior
to
the
pandemic.
N
There
are
several
reasons
for
those
numbers
to
drop.
Obviously
va.
Medical
centers
were
basically
locked
down
from
april
to
july.
That's
where
four
of
our
regional
offices
are
located.
That's
where
a
lot
of
our
incoming
traffic
is
so
that
just
has
a
natural
quelling
effect
on
our
numbers.
A
little
bit
down
below
you'll
see
a
graph
that
depicts
the
number
of
burials
that
we've
had
at
our
five
state
cemeteries
over
the
past
three
years.
N
Now
that
thick
red
line
at
the
top
is
what
we're
currently
paced
to
do
this
year,
you'll
see
that
that's
trending
a
little
higher
than
it
did
in
19
and
20.,
and
of
course,
that
number
is
not
yet
fulfilled.
That's
just
through
the
end
of
january,
but
we're
averaging
right
now,
through
the
end
of
january,
about
237
barrels.
A
month
with
the
largest
increase
of
that
volume
down
in
memphis,
so
we
don't
we
we
think
the
pandemic
may
have
contributed
to
this.
N
N
The
next
slide
talks
about
some
of
the
challenges
that
our
customer
faced
during
the
pandemic
and
some
of
the
things
that
we
did
to
make
sure
that
we
complete
completed
our
statutory
requirements,
which
is
connect
veterans
to
the
services
and
benefits
that
they've
earned,
as
well
as
maintain
the
state
cemeteries.
So
one
of
the
first
things
we
had
to
do
during
the
pandemic
was
to
establish
an
electronic
signature
method
that
allowed
us
to
represent
those
veterans.
Some
forms
that
we
just
have
to
have
that
on
to
be
able
to
adequately
represent
them.
N
N
There
are
some
veterans
that
don't
they're
not
in
the
the
digital
age,
and
so
we
had
to
make
sure
that
we
were
able
to
service
them
as
well.
But
what
we
did
do
in
in
that
contingency
plan
was
make
sure
that
we
reduced
as
much
exposure
unnecessary
exposures.
We
did
both
with
our
staff
and
with
them
as
well.
So
the
last
thing
we
did
and
I'll
talk
just
briefly
about
the
map.
N
Those
other
tri-stars
that
you
see
are
kind
of
what
grew
out
of
our
mitigation
efforts.
Some
of
our
veterans.
As
you
know,
they
live
in
remote
areas
of
the
state
they
don't
have
access
to
to
broadband
or
to
any
to
anything
that
would
be
a
good
digital
network
to
operate
from.
So
we
partnered
with
our
counties.
As
you
know,
we
have
those
county
service
officers
out
there
that
we
work
hand
in
hand
with
on
a
normal
basis
anyway.
So
this
allowed
the
veteran
to
have
a
virtual
appeal
hearing.
N
They
didn't
have
to
drive
all
in
to
say
a
memphis
or
a
nashville.
Get
a
motel
room,
spend
their
own
money
as
they
had
in
the
past,
but
yet
they
could
have
a
virtual
appeal
hearing
and
it
also
reduced
a
lot
of
wait
times
on
appointments
and
kind
of
expedited
some
of
those
scenarios,
and
it
seemed
to
be
a
a
very
welcomed
reality
for
some
of
our
customers.
It
moved
them
along
in
the
process
a
little
faster
than
what
we'd
experienced
in
the
in
the
past.
N
So
looking
forward
we're
going
to
leverage
some
of
these
new
techniques
they're
there
for
us
to
to
take
and
grow
and
try
to
make
them
even
more
efficient
in
our
service
delivery
to
our
customer
base,
and
so
when
we
go
forward.
Also
we're
going
to
be
looking
at
an
online
scheduling
for
our
field
office,
veteran
resource
coordinators
that
are
across
the
state,
as
well
as
an
online
scheduling
process
for
our
state
cemeteries.
N
So
this
is
just
a
slide
that
talks
about
the
proposed
reduction
plan
for
fy22.
It's
about
279
thousand
six
hundred
dollars.
Only
thing
that
should
be
noted
about
this
slide
really
is:
is
none
of
these
operational
reductions
will
reduce
or
decrease
or
alter
the
service
we
provide
to
our
veterans
and
their
families.
N
N
N
As
you
can
see,
three
of
those
positions
out
of
the
six
were
here
at
the
headquarters
in
nashville.
We
purposely
directed
that
because
we
want
our
folks
out
in
the
field
who
are
really
the
ones
that
are
the
front
line
of
support
to
our
veterans.
We
wanted
to
make
sure
we
mitigated
those
losses,
so
we
spread
those
other
three
losses
out
across
the
three
regions:
an
admin
assistant
up
mountain
home,
a
veteran
resource
coordinator
here
in
middle
region
and
then
a
caretaker
down
at
parker's
crossroads.
N
N
So
it
is,
if
you've
ever
been
there,
there's
there's
some
traffic
flow
issues
with
that
cemetery
getting
in
and
out
of
there
a
lot
of
times,
it's
so
busy
that
the
group
that's
coming
in
with
a
loved
one
is
kind
of
mingling
with
the
group
that's
going
out
and
because
the
scheduling
is
really
really
tight,
so
it's
just
it's
just.
It
needs
to
be
restructured
of
some
parking
area
added
to
that
and
to
make
that
more
accessible
for
those
customers
down
there
that
21
000.
You
see
there
is
just
our
state
match.
N
The
other
one
is
a
state
project
that
concerns
two
stone
houses
that
are
located
out
at
our
middle
tennessee
state
veterans,
cemetery
out
here
at
the
edge
of
pigram
davidson
county
there,
so
those
stone
houses
have
been
there
since
that
property
was
purchased
by
the
state
back
in
the
90s.
They
are
in
complete
disrepair
to
the
point
of
some
structural
deterioration
both
on
the
outside
and
starting
to
on
the
inside.
So
this
is
is
just
a
a
some
grading
and
some
structural
repairs
to
prevent
those
from
completely
deteriorating.
H
H
When
I
made
a
request,
he
was
charged
with
a
hospital
bill
and
they
worked
it
out
with
the
va
and
the
local
hospital
great
service,
great
team,
and
I
just
want
to
tell
you
how
much
I
appreciate-
and
I
know
this
veteran
who
suffers
some
issues
really
y'all
did
great
and
just
won't
appreciate
that
and
general
before.
I
ask
a
question
too:
could
you
put
colonel
wendell
in
the
front
leading
rest
position
for
the.
N
In
years
past,
it's
been
as
high
as
40
with
our
caretakers,
it's
been
as
high
as
20
percent,
with
our
veteran
resource
coordinators.
Part
of
that
is
obviously
those
are
entry-level
positions,
but
they
are
very
vital
in
completing
our
statutory
mission.
I
mean
maintaining
cemeteries
and
connecting
veterans
to
resources
and
benefits.
That's
what
we
that's
what
we
do
so
and
it
represents
about
55
of
our
entire
workforce,
those
two
categories,
so
their
counterparts,
our
current
caretaker
ones,
are
coming
in
around
twenty
two
thousand
annual
salary,
their
counterparts
over.
N
N
They
start
out
at
around
28
a
year
annually
and
we
their
counterparts
on
the
federal
level
start
out
around
40.,
so
quite
a
disparity
there
in
starting
salary
and
we're
just
trying
to
get
that
a
little
closer
with
our
proposal
so
that
we
can,
you
know,
use
utilize
that
as
part
of
our
talent
management
program.
That's
not
everything,
obviously,
but
it
is
vital
to
us
keeping
that
continuity
that
we'd
like
to
achieve.
H
Thank
you,
and
I
know
chairman
vaughn
kevin
vaughan,
has
legislation
situations
come
up
where
we
lose
an
active
duty
soldier
guard,
reserve,
active
duty
and
accommodate
the
families
on
weekend.
Burial
requests,
I'm
glad
to
see
you
there
to
give
that
perspective,
and
and
again
I'm
just
glad
to
have
you
on
board,
and
I
appreciate
your
team.
You
got
a
great
one.
Thank
you.
L
First,
I
want
to
thank
you
for
your
service
in
armed
force,
the
united
states.
It's
appreciated
not
overlooked,
and
I
can
testify
that
among
your
subordinates,
you're
respected
and
capable
leader
and
also
a
decent
person,
and
that's
not
overlooked
either,
and
we
really
appreciate
you
or
those
that
work
for
you
appreciate
you,
which
I'm
one.
L
L
N
Okay,
so
I'll
take
the
last
one
first
and
because
it
was
it
was
resolved
within
the
department,
the
caretaker
we
took
a
caretaker
from
parker's
crossroad,
which
is
our
least
volume
of
burials,
it's
in
a
rural
area
and
moved
that
position
down
to
west
tennessee,
so
that
took
care
of
that.
The
other
two
appeal
positions.
N
When
the
appeals
modernization
act
was
passed
in
2017,
it
was
designed
basically
to
you,
know,
unstop
the
waiting
line
at
the
appeals
at
the
veterans
board
of
appeals
level,
and
it
gave
veterans
some
options
that
they
didn't
have
previously.
It
really
was
designed
to
increase
appeals
and
to
get
that
docket
way
down
and
it
did
such
so
that
act
passed
in
17
and
18
and
19.
N
We
seen
our
appeals
numbers
go
from
231
to
531
around
a
244
increase,
so
when
they
came
in
prior
to
the
pandemic
last
year,
proposing
two
appeals
advocates.
We
kind
of
did
some
some
projections
there
and
we
thought
well
if
it
increases
in
20
and
21
like
it
did
in
18
and
19
we're
going
to
be
up
around
700
and
something
appeals
a
year
which
would
have
overwhelmed
our
appeal
staff.
So
that's
why
we
asked
for
it
in
20,
so
the
pandemic
comes
along.
N
Now
that
you
know
post-pandemic,
those
may
go
back
to
what
we
was
seeing
as
a
trend
develop
those
first
two
years
after
that
act
had
been
passed
and
if
it
does,
we
may
be
having
to
readdress
that
as
we
go
forward.
But
that's
why
we
didn't
ask
this
year.
The
numbers
were
more
like
they
were
before
the
act
had
passed
or
or
had
not
increased
the
way
we
thought
they
would.
A
Obviously,
we
can
never
do
enough
because
of
the
sacrifices
that
they
and
their
families
have
made
on
our
behalf,
but
I
think
tennessee
we're
not
called
a
volunteer
state
for
nothing.
We
recognize
that
we
have
people
who
volunteer
on
a
daily
basis
to
do
very
difficult
work,
but
I
I'm
proud
that
we
make
every
attempt
to
make
sure
that
we
do.
The
best
we
can
to
care
for
those
folks
once
they're
back
home
and
living
amongst
us.
So
with
that
commercial
message,
I'll
move
on
to
chairman
williams.
B
Thank
you,
chairley.
Thank
you,
general
for
being
here.
First
of
all,
I
wanted
to
say
thanks
as
well,
but
the
partnership
we
have
with
our
local
county
services
office
is
really
important
as
it
relates
to
making
sure
that
we
meet
the
needs
in
our
little
local
veterans.
So
I
appreciate
the
service
and
collaborative
work
that
you
do.
I
know
in
2020
we,
the
budget,
included
the
purchase
of
a
new
upper
cumberland
veterans
cemetery.
B
It's
my
understanding
that
the
land
has
been
found
and
purchased.
Could
you
give
us
a
quick
update?
I
some
of
our
members
might
not
know,
but
just
adjacent
to
where
the
property
is
and
speaker
sexist
district,
still,
one
of
the
highest
per
capita
locations
for
world
war
ii
veterans,
and
so
it's
pretty
pretty
amazing.
There's,
unfortunately
going
to
be
a
great
need
for
that
in
the
upper
criminal
area
coming
up,
but
I
was
hoping
maybe
give
us
a
quick
update.
N
Yes,
sir,
so
the
I
was
out
there
this
past
friday.
In
fact,
we
were
up
there
meeting
with
the
upper
cumberland
cemetery
association
by
the
way
that
started
at
the
grassroots
level,
which
is
is
always
the
best
place
to
start
things
and-
and
they
got
out
raised
a
lot
of
money.
They
were
talking
friday
about
different
things.
They
wanted
to
do
fundraisers
to
for
different
things.
They
wanted
there
at
the
at
the
new
cemetery.
N
It's
just
outside
of
sparta,
just
east
of
sparta,
I
mean
it's,
you
can
throw
a
rock
from
the
city
limits
and
hit
it
a
great
piece
of
land
about
127
acres.
You
know
the
the
pre-grant
money
has
already
been
approved.
We
will
submit
the
grant
application
this
fall
and
compete,
hopefully
at
the
national
level.
For
that
for
that
to
take
place,
you
know
I
don't
know
what
a
I
would
hate
to
to
speculate
as
to
when
we'll
break
ground
down
there,
but
the
money
the
land
has
been
purchased.
N
It's
going
to
serve
about
12
counties
up
there,
one
distress,
county,
pickett
county
and
what
it
also
does
is
achieve
one
of
our
strategic
goals.
So
we
want,
within
the
state
a
a
national
or
state-run
cemetery
for
veterans
within
75
miles
of
every
home,
a
record
of
a
tennessee
veteran.
When
that
cemetery
is
completed,
we
will
have
accomplished
that
goal.
So
it's
great,
I
know
that's
your
area
up
there
and
it's
a
lot
of
areas
that
it'll
serve
in
in
and
around
there.
J
You,
madam
chair,
hey
general,
thank
you
for
being
here.
Thank
you
for
your
commitment
to
the
veterans
of
state
of
tennessee,
two
questions,
one
on
the
since
you're
talking
about
the
veterans
purchasing
land
for
veterans,
homes
and
cemeteries
and
the
like.
Could
you
give
us
an
update
on
the
west,
tennessee
veterans,
home.
N
Yes,
representative,
the
the
one
down
in
arlington
yeah,
thank
you
for
referencing,
so
it
has
as
well.
The
the
pre-grant
state
match
has
been
already
certified.
It
will
go
in
competition
for
those
federal
grant
dollars.
This
fall
as
well.
So
right
now
that
construction
document
is
in
approval
stage,
looks
like
it's
moving
along
swiftly.
The
there's
gonna
we're
gonna
have
to
go
back
and
do
some
work
to
the
access
road
in
there
we're
working
with
sbc
on
that
and
I
think
there's
some
rezoning.
N
J
N
I
appreciate
that
I
have
I've
sent
out
a
letter
a
couple
months
ago,
kind
of
what
we
were
doing
to
mitigate
that
that
early
january
we
were
hearing
that
the
wait
times
were
as
high
as
four
weeks,
and
I
you
know
we
didn't-
have
really
a
set
standard
in
an
apartment,
but
but
I
talked
to
the
assistant
commissioners-
and
I
said
you
know-
I
just
don't
think
that's
reasonable
or
prudent.
I
think
we
need
to
outside
of
10
days.
N
We
need
to
try
to
do
something
with
that,
so
we
started
working
with
our
local
funeral
homes
down
there.
We
were
averaging
around
six
barrels
a
day
through
our
mitigation
efforts.
A
couple
weeks
ago.
We
actually
had
15
barrels
a
day
for
for
about
a
week
to
catch
up,
so
we
have
mitigated
that
down
to
now,
where
anything
outside
of
that
10-day
business
window
is
at
the
request
of
the
family.
So
it
took
a
lot
of
effort.
We
were
able
to
move
our
caretakers
from
parker's
cross
roads
down
there
and
help
out
some.
N
We
sent
also
our
cemetery
director
from
parker's
crossroads
and
east
tennessee
at
john
sevier
down
to
help
got
a
new
director
down
there.
Mr
rodney
shaw
that
just
took
over
at
the
west
tennessee
veterans
cemetery
about
a
month
ago,
so
I
hope
you
can
get
by
to
meet.
Rodney
he's
come
over
from
partner
safety
and
he's
doing
a
great
job,
but
it
is
by
far
our
busiest
cemetery
so
we're
watching
it.
We're
going
to
stay
on
top
of
that
and
appreciate
the
representation
that
are
helping
us
stay
aware
of
that.
J
Thank
you
and
I
appreciate
that
your
department
was
very
helpful
for
a
constituent
who
was
on
active
duty
and
came
home,
and
it
was
just
taking
such
a
long
time
and
they
were
able
to
help
move
it
up,
so
he
had
to
keep
extending
and
extending
his
leave.
So
I
really
appreciate
the
work
and
the
support
that
you
all
gave
on
that
effort.
A
A
N
Yes,
chatter,
lady,
we
was
up
there
a
couple
weeks
ago,
in
fact,
looking
at
that,
the
construction
is
about
40,
complete
right
now,
we're
hoping
to
have
a
construction
finished
around
next
january
february.
If
everything
goes
as
planned,
the
grant
money
match
is
already
there,
as
you
well
know,
and
it's
in
construction
phase,
and
so
you
know,
if
everything
goes
good
mayor
brooks,
was
actually
there
that
day
that
we
got
to
tour
the
ground
and
looks
like
you
know.
N
F
F
L
E
L
So
we're
talking
about
state
cemeteries.
I
I
appreciate
that
and
in
greene
county
national
cemetery
is
full
where
president
andrew
johnson
is
buried.
Our
it's
been
operational
for
150
years
now
in
the
national
cemetery
is
closed.
We've
got
some
properties,
green
valley
properties
that
we've
talked
about
for
years,
and
I-
and
I
just
put
that
as
you
talk
about
grassroots
efforts
for
other
state
cemeteries.
L
That
certainly
is
something
that
that
our
community
would
embrace.
As
you
talked
about
having
a
a
state
cemetery
within
75
miles
of
every
veteran,
it
would
certainly
serve,
although
there
is
a
national
cemetery
in
washington.
Excuse
me,
washington,
county,
but
it
would
certainly
serve
nine
counties
in
the
region
of
northeast
tennessee
very
well.
So
I
would
like
to
put
that
on
your
radar
screen.
N
F
Thank
you.
Thank
you,
my
chair,
and
thank
you
general.
I
appreciate
you
so
much.
I
just
wanted
to
get
a
quick
update
on
the
pockets
crossing
garden.
We
talked
it's
so
beautiful.
It
catches
my
eye
every
time
I
pass
there
and
I'd
have
to
give
kudos
to
past
representative
steve
mcdaniel
because
he
worked
hard
on
that.
But
can
you
just
give
us
an
update
on
how
many
employees
you
got
out
there
now
and
how
things
are
going.
N
So
we've
we
have
a
cemetery
director
of
mr
eddie
long.
I
don't
know
if
you've
met
eddie
or
not,
he
has
an
administrative
district
assistant,
and
then
we
have
a
foreman,
a
heavy
equipment
operator
and
then
three
cemetery
caretakers
so
about
seven
folks
total.
It's
it's
the
least
busiest
of
our
cemeteries.
It
is
a
beautiful
cemetery
right
there
on
the
interstate,
but
it's
in
a
rural
area,
and
so
it's
just
not
as
as
busy
as
a
middle
tennessee,
state,
cemetery
or
memphis.
F
Well,
I
thank
you
so
much
and
we
thank
you
for
that
particular
area
out
there.
It's
it's
been
good
for
west
tennessee.
In
so
many
ways
we
don't
have
to
drive
all
the
way
back
to
nashville
or
memphis,
and
we
appreciate
that
by
the
way
I
know
rodney
shaw.
When
you
see
him,
you
just
tell
him
if,
if
he
gives
you
into
trouble,
you
call
me.