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Article published May 2, 2008 Senate passes statewide cable TV bill
By Joel Davis of The Daily Times Staff
The state Senate on Thursday unanimously approved a bill to create statewide TV cable franchising. State Sen. Raymond Finney, R-Maryville, was one of the 29 senators voting for the bill.
"It will allow us to have another option to the cable companies," Finney said. "That would be any provider that could provide a statewide service. AT T is the only statewide provider that has come forward at the present time. It's hoped that the price of service may come down and the service may improve. I don't know if this will live up to the expectations, but we hope it will and that it will provide more consumer options for people who have television and electronic programming in their homes, probably extending into telephone services and Internet."
The Senate approved the House version of the bill on a 29-0 vote with little debate. The measure pushed by AT T Inc. is the result of two years of negotiations with the cable industry and local governments. Local governments had worried about losing control over setting cable rules and the fees generated from those permits. Cable companies had argued it was unfair that AT T circumvent the existing rules to be able to offer their services statewide.
Gov. Phil Bredesen, who has mostly stayed out of the debate over the proposal, has not said whether he plans to sign the bill into law.
State Rep. Doug Overbey, R-Maryville, said that the cable franchise bill is one of the accomplishments of this legislative session.
"Despite the sort of gloomy fiscal outlook, some positive things have happened in 2008," he said. "You are going to see the passage of three important pieces of legislation -- two we've already passed, the broadband bill and medical malpractice reform legislation, and the restructuring of long-term care to provide our seniors more home- and community-based care options. If you did any one of those three things in a year, you would look back favorably. Those are significant."
Home-based care
The Senate voted 32-0 Thursday to pass the a proposal to start the state down the path of being able to offer more home and community-based care in Tennessee. The bill was carried by Sen. Lowe Finney, a Jackson Democrat.
TennCare, the state expanded Medicaid program, currently spends almost all of its annual $1.2 billion long-term care budget on nursing homes.
The legislation would begin the process of directing about half of those funds toward home-based care over the next decade. It also seeks to simplify the process for determining eligibility and for enrolling in home-based care programs.
The companion bill is awaiting a vote in the House Finance committee.
"The long-term care bill will begin the ball rolling for us to have people stay in their homes if they are elderly or disabled, if they qualify, rather than going into nursing homes," Finney said. "This will save people money. It will save the state and federal governments money. The people will be much more satisfied by having that option. They can stay at home with the comforts of home. Most people would rather do that than be out in a nursing home."