MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- WMOT is asking news makers to review the work of the just-completed 107th Tennessee General Assembly. Today the views of 13th District Republican Senator Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro.
Ketron describes the just ended state assembly as a “spectacular session.” He says that he and his fellow legislators passed a number of significant bills and still managed to end the session early.
“You know we cut a billion dollars…almost a billion dollars out of the budget and still kept our core services and kept the state going. We put money in the rainy-day fund because we know next year is going to be even tougher, because all the federal dollars have dried up; the stimulus packages, etcetera, have gone away.”
When asked about some of the session’s more controversial bills, Ketron says it was probably a good thing that some of those measures died in committee.
Looking ahead to the next session, Ketron says Higher Education in Tennessee will likely be a focus of the 108th General Assembly.
“We’re probably the only state in the union that has three governing bodies for higher-ed: the Board of Regents; the Trustees for the University of Tennessee; and TDEC, the Tennessee Higher Education Committee. So we’ll take a close look at that, and I think that’s on the top of calendar for the governor this next year so we’ll be looking hard at that.”
Senator Ketron says one failed bill he expects to see reintroduced next session is the controversial guns-in-parking-lots measure.