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Rep. Jim Hackworth - House District 33
IMMEDIATE RELEASE May
16, 2008
House Passes Sweeping Lottery Scholarship Legislation
Expands opportunity for better HOPE scholarship
retention and
creates new need-based grants
NASHVILLE (May 16) – This week the Tennessee House of
Representatives began their final days of session by passing sweeping
lottery surplus legislation that will provide students struggling to
maintain their scholarships more academic breathing room by changing the
retention grade point average to 2.75.
“Today we took a giant step forward in providing
Tennessee’s students with a better chance to complete their college
education,” said Rep. Jim Hackworth (D) Clinton. “By
helping more students retain the HOPE Scholarship, we can increase our
graduation rates and help more students finish college without piling up
mounds of debt.”
In addition to the retention GPA adjustment, the new
legislation also creates a new “need-based” scholarship based on
financial conditions. These new grants could potentially assist an
additional 5,000 Tennessee students every year.
“The children of poor and working families need to be
able to earn a college education and do it in a way that doesn’t burden
them with thousands of dollars in loans,” Hackworth said.
“These new grants will help alleviate that burden and make sure we’re
giving an opportunity at the American dream of a college education to as
many students as possible.”
To fund these projects, the bill takes $350 million out
of the Tennessee HOPE Lottery Scholarship Surplus Fund and places it in
an endowment whose interest will go to funding the projects, allowing
for the programs to be reoccurring and not a one-time event.
“When we began the process of deciding how to utilize
these surplus dollars, it was clear we didn’t want to throw it all away
on one-time projects,” Hackworth said. “Through this
endowment, we can continue to reap the benefits of these dollars for
years to come.”
Since the House and Senate version vary on a number of
issues, including to GPA retention change, the bills will be brought
before a conference committee made up of representatives and senators
later next week.
House Passes Resolution Urging Congress to Restore
Medicaid Funding
This week the Tennessee House of Representatives
overwhelmingly passed a resolution urging the United States Congress to
take action to reverse Medicare rule changes proposed by the Bush
administration that would cut $73 million from Tennessee Department of
Children Services.
“It is outrageous that during a time when families
across Tennessee are suffering, President Bush continues to put the
financial burden on working and poor families by cutting important
federal funding for Tennessee Department of Children Services,”
Hackworth Said.
Earlier this year the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS), under the urging of the Bush administration, put in
place a rule eliminating federal Medicaid reimbursement for targeted
case management, a service that coordinates medical and non-medical
services for children under care of Tennessee’s Department of Children’s
Services and for other children not in state custody. These cuts
would cost the state $73 million in federal funding, adding to the
current $468 million shortfall already projected for next year’s budget.
Such a reduction would require the laying off of 160 DCS employees, or
3% of the DCS workforce.
“We have an economic crisis here in Tennessee, but
Tennessee’s Congressional Republicans feel it necessary to punish
Tennessee Department of Children Services,” Hackworth said.
On April 23rd the United States House of Representatives
voted to reverse the rule change back to its original form with enough
votes to override President Bush’s threat of a veto. The Tennessee
House Delegation was split evenly down partisan lines, with all
Republicans voting against the bill.
Bill Protecting Tennessee Consumers from
“Katrina-like” Insurance Practices Passes House
On Tuesday House members unanimously passed a bill to
implement safeguards on insurance practices in Tennessee to protect
those with insurance claims from natural disasters. This bill
makes sure Tennesseans do not suffer the same injustices that many in
Louisiana suffered after Hurricane Katrina.
“After the waters receded, many hard-working folks who
paid their homeowners insurance bills every month found themselves
denied any help and that’s just wrong,” Hackworth said. “People
should be able to depend on their insurance companies to protect them
when disaster strikes and not be cheated out of their hard-earned
money.”
The “Tennessee Unfair Trade Practices and Unfair Claims
Settlement Act of 2009” defines and regulates "unfair trade practices”
in the business of insurance under present law. Under the new
definitions, insurance providers will be required to follow stricter
guidelines with regards to claims requests, approvals and denials and
will be subject to greater scrutiny under the law for questionable
denial practices.
“This bill allows Tennesseans to sleep a little easier
knowing that if something unfortunate occurs they can depend on their
insurance company to come through to help them rebuild,” Hackworth
said.
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