Signed by Governor Bill Lee

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes the state budget bill for fiscal years 2020-2021 and appropriates funding for COVID-19 Initiatives.

Highlights:

• Appropriates $75 million to the Health and Safety Emergency and Contingency Funds to increase (Sec. 59 & 61):

• Laboratory capacity;

• Containment efforts;

• Disease surveillance and tracking;

• Mitigation efforts at schools and institutions of higher education; and

• Education and prevention programs.

• Appropriates $30 million for disaster relief grants to the Department of Military, TEMA Disaster Relief Grants (Sec. 59).

• Appropriates $72 million to Community Health Services for communicable and environmental disease and emergency preparedness (Sec. 4).

• Appropriates $10 million for grants to cities and $10 million for grants to counties for the purpose of one time expenses for information technology hardware upgrades, capital maintenance, utility system upgrades, road projects, public safety, and COVID-19 response (Sec. 1).  

• Appropriates $37 million for the Improving Schools Program, and $42 million for non-public education choice programs (Sec. 1).

• Appropriates $8.97 billion to the Department of Finance and Administration, Bureau of TennCare, including $6.98 billion for TennCare medical services (Sec. 4).

• Appropriates $383 million to the Department of Children’s Services (Sec. 1).

• Appropriates $5.1 billion to the Basic Education Program (BEP), including (Sec. 1 & 11):

• $23 million for providing additional BEP funding for student enrollment growth on a current year student basis; and

• $14.5 for addressing teacher compensation disparity.

• Appropriates $3 million to the Department of Health, Health Services for the Health Access Incentive Fund (Sec. 6). 

• Specifies that the legislative intent is for the Revenue Fluctuation Reserve to be set at a level of not less than $1.2 billion on June 30, 2020, and $1.45 billion on June 30, 2021 (Sec. 47).

Full Bill Text