Why am I not surprised?

To quote Gilbert Gottfried, in Iago mode: "That's incredible ... I think I'm going to have a heart attack and die from that surprise."

Insert eyeroll here.

Legislature leans to the mundane
Session is noted more for tweaks than overhauls
By JESSICA FENDER Staff Writer
Tennessee lawmakers spent about a third of their efforts this lengthy legislative session rewriting city charters, changing the way plumbers are licensed and mulling
other similarly narrowly focused rule changes, records show.

The volume of approved housekeeping bills overshadowed the number of successful education, crime and transportation proposals combined, according to a Tennessean analysis of more than 6,000 pieces of legislation filed this session.

Lawmakers say they have a responsibility to oversee every facet of the state — no matter how small — and constituents often directly request the seemingly minor tweaks to government rules.

Political analysts of the academic and armchair varieties alike say the 23-week legislative session, which cost the state $2.3 million, yielded few major initiatives outside of a 42-cent cigarette tax increase that took effect Sunday.

And some voters worry that lawmakers tinkered with local governments, licensing boards, public employee benefits and the like at the expense of bigger-picture issues.

Gallatin headhunter Frank Greggs, 66, wanted officials to focus more attention on immigration and open government reform.

There "are local issues that are dear to my heart, but I go to city hall for that," Greggs
said. "The big thing for me is that the legislature do what's good for the masses."

Crime was a top issue. About 12 percent of successful bills addressed crime, including some touching on illegal immigration. Nine percent addressed transportation issues, and an additional 8 percent focused on education.

That's compared with 30 percent dealing with the way government governs.

The newspaper analyzed data provided by Brentwood-based M. Lee Smith Publishers, which operates a commercial subscription service that tracks
legislation.

It's no surprise that rule changes ate up such a large chunk of the legislature's efforts, said John Vile, chairman of the political science department at Middle Tennessee State University.

Many states, Tennessee included, put constitutional restrictions on local governments, which mean even small changes to city and county operations need approval.

"It seems inefficient to me," Vile said.

Impact can still be big. Not all of the rule tweaks that passed this year have a limited scope. One would allow the Tennessee Highway Patrol to enforce immigration laws statewide, for example.

But the bulk do things like boost the daily pay of supervisors of soil districts (from $15 to $30), add a public safety official to the board overseeing state employees' retirement and regulate helicopter rides in Pigeon Forge.

Those are also the type of bills that are easier to pass than those addressing the
issues at the top of voters' priority lists; they steer clear of ideological quagmires in most cases, said Brenda Erickson, research analyst with the Denver-based National Conference of State Legislatures.

"Changing education funding is very complicated, very controversial," Erickson said. "Changing the way barbers are governed is a little less complicated."

Just because these "protocol" bills seem mundane, doesn't mean they are "frivolous" or have little effect on the average voter, said Sen. Thelma Harper.

The Nashville Democrat leads the Senate committee that hears these proposals, and she is a prolific filer of them herself.

Voters need to know that their public servants are being treated fairly and that the boards licensing beauticians, dialysis clinics and veterinarians are reputable, she said.

Ultimately, that duty rests with the state. Voters probably don't see the impact of the protocol bills "until something goes wrong," Harper said. "Then they say, 'That's your job. Why didn't you know? Why didn't you do your job?' "

Source: The Tennessean, www.tennessean.com