Image Credit: Adelia Kirchner / The Tennessee Conservative
The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –
During Tennessee’s recent special session, lawmakers considered and passed multiple pieces of legislation to provide relief to areas of the state that were impacted by Hurricane Helene last September.
Representatives and Senators alike were on board with this objective, however, many felt that action should have been taken sooner.
“I’m all for helping the folks impacted by Helene,” Rep. Monty Fritts (R-Kingston-District 32) told The Tennessee Conservative. “I was up there just a few days after the floods hit and Unicoi County, my Pastor and I went up, took a tractor and chainsaws, and it was horrific damage.”
Rep. Fritts told us that he and his pastor also brought supplies out to Cocke County during that time.
“We probably should’ve had a special session on this much earlier,” he said. “You know, it’s easy to play armchair quarterback and I don’t mean to be ugly with that, but we probably should have done this some time ago.”
The Tennessee Conservative also spoke with Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville-District 90) who told us that she participated in a forum on the special session right before it began, and that one woman from Knoxville shared concerns about her sister who lives in an affected area.
“We were asking them, what do you want to see in the bill?” said Rep. Johnson. “One of the things she talked about is her sister with her insurance, you know, insurance covers some of this stuff. But she’s got a $2,000 deductible.”
“Everybody doesn’t have $2,000. Can we pay these people’s deductible?” asked Rep. Johnson.
The Democrat lawmaker said that one constituent also brought forward concerns about the homeless population in affected areas.
“He felt like people weren’t looking at it seriously because they’re like, well, they didn’t have anything before, so what’s the big deal? You know, that kind of a thing,” said Rep. Johnson. “But people need to be safe and housed.”
The disaster relief proposed during Tennessee’s special session included several different bills.
Under state law, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), is already responsible for “maintaining a comprehensive statewide program of emergency management” and for “coordination with efforts of the federal government with other departments and agencies of state government, county governments, municipal governments and school boards, and private agencies that have a role in emergency management.”
Senate Bill 6004 (SB6004), added to these duties by authorizing TEMA to assist a political subdivision or local emergency management agency with recovery from disasters and emergencies on public property, should a political subdivision or agency request assistance.
SB6004 also dictated that “upon declaration of an emergency by the governor,” certain eligibility requirements for unemployment may be suspended for “eligible claimants who reside or work in counties for which this state has requested a major disaster declaration.
This bill was sponsored by Sen. Jack Johnson (R-Franklin-District 27) in the Senate and Rep. William Lamberth (R-Portland-District 44) in the House.
It passed unanimously in both chambers of the legislature.
Another part of the disaster relief package was Senate Bill 6003 (SB6003), also sponsored by Sen. Johnson and Rep. Lamberth.
SB6003 created the “Hurricane Helene Interest Payment Fund” and the “Governor’s Response and Recovery Fund.”
The first fund, focusing specifically on damage resulting from Hurricane Helene, will provide funding for the purposes of paying interest costs for up to three years on money borrowed by affected local governments “to pay eligible disaster recovery costs related to Hurricane Helene as long as moneys from the fund only pay interest costs up to 5% or the prime interest rate, whichever is lower.”
The purpose of the second fund is more generalized, with its funds going towards “responding to, or recovering from, an occurrence, or threat thereof, whether natural, technological, or manmade, in war or in peace, that results or may result in substantial injury or harm to the population, or substantial damage to or loss of property (‘emergency’).”
In this context, recovery efforts include “agricultural recovery efforts related to an emergency; unemployment assistance related to an emergency; and business recovery assistance related to an emergency.”
SB6003 also dictates that money in the Governor’s Response and Recovery Fund, only be expended in response to Hurricane Helene or another event “for which the governor declares a state of emergency or disaster declaration pursuant to executive order or proclamation.”
This legislation passed unanimously in the House and by a 32-1 vote in the Senate.
Prior to the floor votes on these bills, Rep. Fritts shared his slight hesitation on the proposed disaster relief legislation, saying that ideally it would simply deal with Hurricane Helene and nothing else.
“I’m a little cautious about dealing with more than – and when I say just, there is no just Helene support, because it’s so bad right – My preference would be to stay focused on Helene support and not expand that to any other emergency,” said Rep. Fritts.
When asked about the disaster relief package proposed under this special session, Rep. Johnson said it felt almost like an insult to the people of Upper East Tennessee.
“The entire package, it’s inadequate to meet the needs of the folks in upper East Tennessee. I feel like Governor Lee put just enough stuff together to call this a package so that he can get his voucher votes,” she said. “It feels insulting to the people of Upper East Tennessee, as if ‘you guys didn’t matter until I had the votes for the voucher bill.’”
“North Carolina has already met three times,” Rep. Johnson continued. “If this was really about the folks in Upper East Tennessee, we’d be making sure they have everything they need. I think this package is not everything the folks up there need. And I think he scraped together just enough stuff to have a special session, so he could say he was helping Helene folks, but really pass a voucher bill that’s come through this legislature year after year. […] The only way he could pass vouchers was to do it in three days, where people don’t have the time to hear what we’re talking about.”
Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby-District 11) also brought a piece of legislation requiring disbursement of payments to “property owners whose real or personal property was destroyed or damaged by a FEMA-certified disaster occurring between September 26, 2024, and September 30, 2024.”
Rep. Faison’s legislation, Senate Bill 6007 (SB6007), carried by Sen. Rusty Crowe (R-Johnson City-District 3) in the Senate, also requires approval of “deployment of the governmental entity’s personnel and equipment outside its boundaries to another governmental entity that has requested emergency assistance during a disaster,” under certain conditions.
SB6007 passed unanimously in both chambers of the legislature.
About the Author: Adelia Kirchner is a Tennessee resident and reporter for the Tennessee Conservative. Currently the host of Subtle Rampage Podcast, she has also worked for the South Dakota State Legislature and interned for Senator Bill Hagerty’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee. Adelia is The Tennessee Conservative’s on-site reporter for the Tennessee General Assembly. You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
