Tennessee’s public infrastructure, just like the nation’s as a whole, is feeling the physical strain of time, growth and use. According to a new report released by the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR), our state needs at least $28.3 Billion of improvements to be in some stage of development during the five-year period of 2004-2009. Current information about the availability of funding to meet Tennessee’s public infrastructure needs indicates that in dollar terms more than half may go unmet. Of the $23.2 billion in needs for which the availability of funding was reported, local officials are confident of only $9.0 billion of that amount.

The current report, which is based on information provided by state and local officials, shows an increase in needs of $14.7 billion (up 107%) since the first inventory was published six years ago and an increase of about $3.9 billion (16%) from the October 2005 report. These needs fall into six general categories:

-         Transportation and Utilities:  $14.6 billion

-         Education:  $5.7 billion

-         Health, Safety, and Welfare:  $5.2 billion

-         Recreation and Culture:  $1.8 billion

-         Economic Development:  $699 million

-         General Government:  $426 million

According to Dr. Harry Green, TACIR’s executive director, local governments are confident that less than half of the funds necessary to meet these needs have been identified. The largest increase is in the Transportation and Utilities category, which remains the single largest overall. This category increased from $10.4 billion to $14.6 billion. Transportation needs alone represent $13.7 billion (48.2%) of the total infrastructure needs. Most of the rest of the increase from the previous inventory was in non K-12 education with an increase of $355 million; public health facilities with an increase of $99 million; law enforcement, an increase of $93 million; and K-12 existing schools improvements, an increase of $54 million.

This particular TACIR project is the only source of statewide information on the condition of public school buildings and what it would take to get them all in good or better condition, and the news here is good: According to local officials, 91% of local public schools are now in good or excellent condition. They estimate the cost to put the remaining 9% in good or better condition at $608 million, which is a $571 million decrease from the cost reported in the previous report. They also report that 82% of all school systems have sufficient space to house the teachers and classrooms required by the smaller class-size standards imposed by the Education Improvement Act (EIA) in the fall of 2001. The rest use portable classrooms, non-classroom spaces such as libraries and cafeterias for teaching classes, and classrooms that are empty when other teachers have planning periods.

TACIR estimates the cost of the remaining classrooms needed to house these teachers at almost $69 million statewide, which is also a huge drop (about 86% or $410 million) from the cost estimate in TACIR’s last report. School officials have made progress toward providing permanent classrooms for the teachers needed to meet the EIA class size mandates, but systems with higher enrollment growth still face challenges. The amount needed for enrollment growth and replacement schools increased from $1.3 billion in last year’s report to a current total now approaching $1.5 billion.

Other Highlights of the Report

-         Total education infrastructure needs increased from $5.3 billion to $5.6 billion (about 7%) since the last report.  This was the second largest increase among the six categories.  Needs at the state’s public post-secondary schools grew $535 million (about 35%) since the last report and are expected to continue to grow because of lottery scholarship-driven enrollment growth.

-         Health, safety, and welfare at $5.2 billion is the third largest cost category and accounts for 18.3% of the state’s public infrastructure needs.  Water and wastewater needs alone total almost $3.2 billion or over 11% of the grand total and 62% of this one category.  Water and wastewater, transportation, and local public education combined represent more than 70% of total reported needs.

-         The economic development category, which includes business districts and industrial sites and parks, had the largest percentage change as needs decreased by $442 million (40%) from the previous report.  Business district development needs decreased $342 million, with more than half of that decrease attributable to a reduction in the estimated cost of one project in Nashville.

-         Conventional wisdom holds that population density should produce lower infrastructure costs because of economies of scale.  This relationship is not borne out by TACIR’s infrastructure inventories based either on comparisons of counties that rank high and low for population density or on statistical analysis.  The most likely explanation is that urban development requires more infrastructure per capita than rural development does.

TACIR’s mission is to serve as a forum for the discussion and resolution of intergovernmental problems; provide high quality research support to state and local government officials in order to improve the overall quality of government in Tennessee; and to improve the effectiveness of the intergovernmental system to better serve the citizens of

On March 6, 2006, Governor Bredesen commissioned The Governor’s Task Force on DUI Laws In Tennessee.  Today, October 25, 2007, the task force’s recommendations were made public to the state’s Judiciary Committee, which I am a member of.  This issue has taken a front row recently with the high profile DUI arrests of one Senator and one Representative just this year.  Thankfully, no real preferential treatment seems to have been shown to either legislator.  Even more importantly, they did not harm anyone during their respective events.  496 Tennesseans were killed in alcohol related traffic accidents in 2005, with a cost to taxpayers of over $500 million.  Three fourths of the costs are assumed by those not involved in the accident (higher premiums, lost law enforcement assets, etc.).  Following are a list of the primary recommendations from the Task Force, which I am quite sure will be compiled into a comprehensive DUI reform bill to be introduced and hopefully passed in 2008:

1.     Administrative License Revocation

          -This is probably the number one thing we can do to enhance our existing laws.

2.     Class D Felony for 5th Offense

          -prior convictions during a 10 year window from time of arrest would be considered

          -360 day minimum sentence

3.     Vehicular Homicide 100%

          -Aggravated vehicular homicide would be classified by intoxication level

4.     Treatment and Monitoring

          -Give 2nd and 3rd offenders treatment and monitoring options.  After treatment use   technology to stop the offender from driving impaired.  Reward proven sober behavior with legal option to drive with ignition interlock device.

5.     High BAC Level To .15

          -Increase the penalty for high BAC level.  A person is 385 times more likely to be in a fatal crash at .15 than when sober.  No restricted license without ignition interlock for those who were over .15 or refused testing.

6.     Emergency Room Disclosure

          -Emergency room report to police when suspected impaired driver seeks treatment in the same way as mandatory child abuse reports.

7.     Prior Conviction Definition

          -Prior convictions should be included if they occurred within 10 years of arrest and forever if a homicide or vehicular assault.

8.     Blood/Breath Test Time Limitations

          -Current 2 hour limit is often impossible if defendant is transported for medical care and in rural communities, Memphis or Nashville.  The prosecution is currently penalized if officer is delayed due to crash response duties or if the major hospital E.R. has a long waiting period due to business.

9.     Child Endangerment

          -Penalty for child death should not be less than adult death.  Sentences should be consecutive or multiple offenders get a free pass.

10.    48 Hours In Jail for 1st Offenders

          -Trash pick up and public service have reduced jail time, but many never serve this part of sentence due to systematic problems.

11.    Obstructing Traffic

          -According to Tennessee court decisions, if an office activates blue lights to protect the public while checking on a car stopped in a lane of traffic, he has seized the driver illegally without reasonable suspicion.  If lights are not activated, then a bona fide traffic hazard continues to exist.

12.    DUI School Uniformity

          -DUI school is a valuable tool.  Some are very good and some appear to be cash cows.  A uniform curriculum and oversight by a designated agency could improve this tool.

13.    Assessments for 1st Time Offenders and Underage Offenders

          -Most 1st offenders aren’t.  It is the first time they have been caught.  Mandatory assessment would permit the Court to develop a penalty that might work to fix this problem.

14.    Indigent Monitoring Technology Fund

          -Add $25 per DUI case to fund transdermal alcohol monitoring and ignition interlocks for 2nd and 3rd offenders in program.

15.    Preliminary Breath Test (PBT)

          -Non evidential tests to help officer determine probable cause and or need for drug test.  These are not commonly used due to fear that use would exclude further breath testing.

16.    “De Novo” Appeals

          -Eliminate double dipping.  An offender convicted in a bench trial gets to start over with their appeals as if nothing had occurred.  Use Criminal appeal for appellate review only.  Encourage future review of Sessions Court jurisdiction to promote 6 person jury trials.

17.    Establish Permanent Task Force

          -Permit experts to examine how laws are working;  review DUI proposals to eliminate conflicts and respond to issues to advise the Legislature and Administration concerning issues of importance.

This week for me has been hyper-focused on the drought and its possible additional effects. Before I mention the Normandy Reservoir and the Duck River, let me mention what our agriculture industry is facing.We’re looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of $750 million in lost farm income statewide. Remember, the agriculture industry comprises not only livestock, but row crops, hay and the entire horticulture industry. Tennessee is the nursery capitol of the world.

     Yesterday I attended a series of meetings in Nashville which dealt specifically with our drought problems in Tennessee.  First and foremost I was there to help promote a very strong effort by the local governments I represent and the Duck River Utility Commission.  Normandy Reservoir, which empties into the Duck River is literally going dry.  Currently there are about 150 cubic feet of water leaving the lake per second.  There is about 10 cubic feet a second entering the reservoir and the Duck River Utility Commission (which provides potable water to many area communities) pumps about 9 cubic feet a second out of that.    

     There has been an effort underway for quite some months to get the Tennessee Valley Authority to reduce the amount of water leaving the lake to a minimum of 120 cubic feet per second, which is usually done every year around the first of December as the reservoir naturally gets lower during winter months.  This year, however, we are several moths ahead of that customary need.  Finally, in a very strong cooperative fashion (and quite fast for government), the myriad of state and federal agencies have agreed on a plan.  Read this official letter requesting an expedited flow restriction into the Duck River.  The letter goes into a lot of good detail about potential ramifications to various species and consumers.

     We should see the flow reduce from 150 cubic feet per second to somewhere in the neighborhood of 130 cubic feet per second immediately (this week).  The state will then collect some additional baseline data, see how all the various species are faring, then move down to 120 cubic feet per second.  From this point, we will take additional data and make some simulations and predictions about the downstream effects on ever lesser flows…eventually to as low as 80 cubic feet per second.  Members of the USGS and other agencies taking the lead on providing us data all agree there is probably no real and significant rainfall anytime soon, but we never really know for sure.

Here are some other great links to get some more info:

Normandy Operating Guide; Lake Elevation Levels

U.S. Drought Chart

Duck River Utility Commission Website

Department of Environment and Conservation Letter
Regarding Normandy Reservoir Flow Release

As we get ever closer to the next half of the 105th General Assembly, our transportation funding shortfalls are going to dominate more and more of the Legislature’s time.  Rather than try to accurately summarize the problem as a whole, I have attached a few PowerPoint presentations that were provided by the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the NCSL (National Conference of State Legislators).  These slides detail current funds, projected shortfalls and give a good comparative analysis of how Tennessee ranks with other states on the issues and challenges at hand.  The slides are busy in some areas, but the information is very good. Please feel free to post your comments on this important issue.

NCSL Surface Transportation Funding Report

NCSL Tennessee Finance Alternatives - PowerPoint