2007 Report Archive

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2006 Year-End Report

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Senate passes 42-cent cigarette tax hike targeted at schools

The Tennessee state Senate passed a 42-cent per pack cigarette tax increase Thursday on a 17-16 party-line vote, more than tripling the state’s current levy to partly fund Gov. Phil Bredesen’s education plan.  The House, waylaid over a separate school debate, delayed a cigarette tax vote until Monday after a marathon session. The hiked cigarette tax, which the Senate increased from 20 cents per pack to 62 cents, has been earmarked to partly fund the Governor’s education initiative. All 16 Democrats in the Senate voted in favor of the 42-cent hike and were joined by the Senate’s lone independent, Sen. Mike Williams (I-Maynardville), to outvote the body’s Republicans, who also stood together, 17-16 to increase the tax.  Some Republicans said they could support a 20-cent increase, while others said the state had plenty of money to fund the education changes without a tax increase.

The Legislature also passed Bredesen’s plan that would make major changes to the state’s Basic Education Program (BEP), which is the state’s funding formula for K-12 education. Bredesen calls his plan “BEP 2.0.”  The education changes include increasing the state’s share of teacher funding from 65 percent to ultimately 75 percent, full state funding for educating low income children, hiring more teachers to teach students who don’t speak English as their first language, and instituting a more transparent formula to determine how much state funding a local school district would receive.

To make all of those changes and invest more than $500 million in the education, the legislature urged the Governor for more accountability measures. The two bodies passed a separate accountability bill 33-0 in the Senate and 52-44 in the House on a party-line vote that Democrats carried.

Other measures that were passed yesterday included a bill prohibiting smoking in the workplace, with several exemptions. Exemptions would allow smoking in bars and other "age-restricted venues," a concession to tobacco interests and lawmakers queasy about more restrictive proposals. Private clubs and businesses with up to three employees would also be exempt from the ban as it was passed.

As the legislature continues to work next week, it is uncertain when they will adjourn.  The House could not muster enough votes late Thursday night to concur in the Senate’s 42-cent cigarette tax increase, so they adjourned until Monday at noon.  The Senate will return on Monday at 4 to also try and finish up this week.  Once a figure on the cigarette tax is set, the members will work to fund a budget and send it to the Governor.  Please call if you have questions.

 

 

Tennessee Legislation Service (c) 2007 M. Lee Smith Publishers
Friday, June 1, 2007

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

SB 0634*
HB 1750
(Full Text)

Allows sale of alcohol on Sundays that are certain holidays. Allows retailers to sell alcoholic beverages on Sundays between the hours of noon and eleven p.m. and on Labor Day, the Fourth of July, and New Year's Day. (S: Marrero; H: Jones U.)
Senate Status: Failed in Senate State & Local Government 03/13/2007 for lack of a second.
House Status: Referred to House Local Government Subcommittee.

SB 0680*
HB 0787
(Full Text)

Cannot sell beer or alcohol near drug treatment facility. Authorizes counties and cities to adopt ordinance or resolution that prohibits sale of beer and alcoholic beverages within 2,000 feet of a drug or alcohol treatment facility. (S: Bunch; H: Campfield)
Senate Status: Referred to Senate State & Local Government.
House Status: Referred to House Local Government Subcommittee.

SB 0795*
HB 1324
(Full Text)

ID tags on beer kegs. Requires retailers to place identification tag on kegs containing beer that identifies the seller. Requires purchaser to pay a minimum deposit of $75 and to sign a registration form. Directs department of revenue to prescribe and supply forms for keg identification so that buyers and sellers can be held accountable for unlawful purchases. Violation is a Class C misdemeanor. (S: Burchett; H: Briley)
Senate Status: Referred to Senate State & Local Government.
House Status: Taken off notice in House Local Government Subcommittee 04/18/2007.

SB 1221*
HB 1194
(Full Text)

Special occasion license for certain events. Allows charitable, nonprofit, or political organization to obtain special occasion license for event in political subdivision that has approved sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises. Clarifies current law that specifies approval only of the sale of alcoholic beverages at retail on the premises. (S: Cooper J.; H: Harmon)
Senate Co-Sponsor: Haynes House amendment 1 rewrites the bill to authorize the Swiss Colony in Gruetli-Lager to give samples of homemade wine at its annual festival.
Senate Status: Senate passed 05/07/2007.
House Status: House 04/09/2007 passed with amendment 1.
Other Status: Enacted as Public Chapter 0203 (effective 05/22/2007).

SB 1223*
HB 1529
(Full Text)

Special occasion license for charitable organization. Permits alcoholic beverage commission to issue a special occasion license to certain 501(c)(3) organizations for selling wine in closed containers for consumption on or off premises. Allows any resident of Tennessee to donate wine to such organizations. (S: Cooper J.; H: Odom)
Senate Co-Sponsors: Haynes; Kyle; Norris; Marrero Senate amendment 1 requires organization to have $1,000,000 annual budget. Also requires donated bottles of wine to be properly registered with the department of revenue.
Senate Status: Senate 05/07/2007 passed with amendment 1.
House Status: House passed 05/24/2007.
Other Status: Sent to the speakers for signatures 05/24/2007.

SB 1224*
HB 1755
(Full Text)

Retail license holder may offer free samples of wine. Permits entities holding a retail license or a winery license to provide free samples of wine to consumers on the premises under certain circumstances. Subjects those who violate specified requirements while providing samples to suspension of license or a fine of up to $3,000. (S: Cooper J.; H: Jones U.)
Senate Co-Sponsor: Haynes
House Co-Sponsor: Tindell
Senate Status: Taken off notice in Senate State & Local Government 05/01/2007.
House Status: Taken off notice in House Local Government Subcommittee 05/09/2007.

SB 1807*
HB 2120
(Full Text)

Any wine made from 50% TN fruit - unlimited sale. Allows any winery selling wine made from 50% of any Tennessee fruit to sell it on premises without restriction on number of gallons sold where grapes were previously the only fruit under this provision. (S: Ketron; H: Litz) Senate amendment 1 allows any winery selling wine made from 50% of any Tennessee agricultural product to sell it on premises without restriction on number of gallons sold. Clarifies that bill's provision apply to Tennessee fruit only. House amendment 1 substitutes the word "grapes" for "agricultural products" and provides that gift, tourism, or wine related items may be sold on the premises of a licensed winery.
Senate Status: Senate 05/07/2007 passed with amendment 1.
House Status: House 05/29/2007 passed with amendment 1.

SB 1821*
HB 1658
(Full Text)

Registration period for beer manufacturers, distributors. Increases time period from 20 to 25 days for manufacturer or distributor of beer to register at the office of the commissioner of revenue. Broadly captioned. (S: Bunch; H: Mumpower)
Senate Status: Referred to Senate State & Local Government.
House Status: Caption bill held on House clerk's desk.

SB 1879
HB 1119
(Full Text)

Beer distributors' registration. Increases time period during which beer distributors must register with commissioner of revenue from 20 to 25 days. (S: Jackson; H: Buck)
Senate Status: Referred to Senate State & Local Government.
House Status: Caption bill held on House clerk's desk.

SB 1977*
HB 1850
(Full Text)

Wine direct shipper license. Creates wine direct shipper license to be issued through the alcoholic beverage commission that would allow an in-state or out-of-state entity to ship wine directly to consumers age 21 years or older in this state for personal use. (S: Stanley; H: Todd)
Senate Status: Senate State & Local Government deferred to 2008.
House Status: House Local Government Subcommittee deferred to 2008.

SB 2072
HB 1899*
(Full Text)

Sales of wine by certain retail food stores. Prescribes the creation of an additional class of licenses allowing the sale of wine at retail food stores. (S: Marrero; H: Kernell)
Senate Status: Failed in Senate State & Local Government 03/13/2007 for lack of a motion.
House Status: Referred to House Local Government Subcommittee.

SB 2289
HB 1825*
(Full Text)

Wholesaler's license expansion. Allows wholesaler's licenses to be granted in any municipality that has approved the sale of alcoholic beverages rather than only those with a minimum population of 100,000. (S: Burchett; H: Lundberg)
Senate Status: Referred to Senate State & Local Government.
House Status: House Local Government Subcommittee deferred to 04/18/2007.

COMMERCIAL LAW

SB 0850*
HB 1019
(Full Text)

Processing fees charged for use of debit or credit card. Prohibits card issuer from charging a processing fee to retail merchants for the use of credit or debit cards that is more than seventy-five hundredths of one percent (0.75%) per transaction for all processing fees involving the use of a credit or debit card. (S: Kilby; H: Ferguson)
Senate Status: Senate Commerce, Labor & Agriculture deferred to 05/01/2007.
House Status: Taken off notice in House Utilities, Banking & Small Business Subcommittee 04/10/2007.

TAXES BUSINESS

SB 1394*
HB 1193
(Full Text)

Increased tax on cigarettes and wine. Increases tax on spirits from $4.40 per gallon to $4.50 per gallon. Also increases tax on wine from $1.21 per gallon to $1.31 per gallon. Increases tax on cigarettes from 10 mills per cigarette to 1.5 cents per cigarette. (S: Crutchfield; H: Harmon)
Senate Status: Taken off notice in Senate Finance Tax Subcommittee 03/20/2007.
House Status: Referred to House Finance Budget Subcommittee.

TAXES SALES

SB 1802*
HB 1296
(Full Text)

Exemptions for certain licensed wholesalers and retailers. Exempts certain sales of tangible personal property and services made by licensed wholesalers and retailers from a central warehouse or distribution point other than its principal place of business from sales and use tax. (S: Ketron; H: Sargent)
Senate Status: Referred to Senate Finance, Ways & Means.
House Status: Referred to House Finance Budget Subcommittee.

SB 1974*
HB 2158
(Full Text)

Alcoholic beverages sold for consumption on premises. Specifies that the burden of proving that a taxpayer's records are inaccurate for the purpose of projecting taxpayer sales of alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption from the taxpayer's wholesale purchases shall be on the department of revenue, (S: Haynes; H: Briley)
Senate Status: Senate State & Local Government 04/17/2007 recommended. Sent to Senate Finance, Ways & Means.
House Status: House Finance Budget Subcommittee 05/23/2007 set behind budget.

 

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©2005 Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association
P. O. Box 58083
Nashville, TN 37205
(615)298-8165