March 7, 2005

Breaking News

Though the story has been extensively reported and moved ahead by blogs over the last two weeks, the somnolent Tennessee capital press corp continues to largely ignore legislation that is pending in the state legislature that would make it easier for county commissions across Tennessee to raise car tag taxes, and strip citizens of their current right to overturn such tax increases via a petition drive and referendum.

Given that voters in eight counties have defeated such "wheel tax" increases via such referendums in recent months, you'd think the legislative press scribblers and talking heads would have noticed this story. Perhaps they don't read blogs.

The good news: Not every Tennessee reporter is completely asleep on this story...

The Kingsport Times-News has become only the second newspaper in Tennessee to report on the legislation.

The Knoxville News Sentinel was the first - but it was the blogs that first reported this news story more than a week ago, and have covered it extensively, while papers such as The Tennessean and the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, and the Tennessee branch of the Associated Press - all of which have reporters at the state capital - have ignored it. Even the KNS's capital reporter didn't cover the story until after another KNS reporter - who doesn't cover the legislature - mentioned the legislation and blog coverage on his blog.

As for the Kingsport paper, even its story is less than readers deserve, given that the story comes late in the process rather than informing them early about legislation they may have wanted to have a say on. When the first story on a hot issue is a wrap-up, the public isn't being well-served by the media.

The Kingsport paper requires you to register to login, so here is the key excerpt of the story by reporter J.H. Osborne:

A proposed bill that could make it easier for county commissions to impose a wheel tax seems to have lost steam in the past week, with some of its sponsors in the Tennessee Legislature removing their names from the bill. But it has the support of the Tennessee County Commissioners Association.

"It's a tough issue," said Doug Goddard, TCCA executive director. "The county mayors association brought that bill and we endorsed it."

That endorsement by the TCCA's Executive Committee was prior to "furor" over the bill last week, Goddard said. "I'm not sure that bill is going to proceed," he said Thursday. It is one of a host of issues likely to be discussed next week as county officials from across the state attend "County Government Day 2005."

Most Tennessee counties already impose a motor vehicle, or wheel, tax. State law now gives voters in a county the right to petition to require a referendum on a wheel tax if a wheel tax is approved by the county commission. The proposed law change would eliminate that ability. It would require county commissions to either (1) authorize a wheel tax by adopting a resolution by majority vote at two consecutive regular meetings, or (2) direct the county election commission to call an election for the purpose of rejecting or approving a wheel tax.

"We think that the county commission should have the authority to deal with its problems," Goddard said. "And many times there are other obstacles, either people can call for a referendum or there is a referendum. We think the county commission ought to have the authority to do those things. But they don't by law. We have a representative government. We think they ought to have the authority to make decisions over their finances to deal with them. But the law requires in some cases that they have a referendum or there are other restrictions on local autonomy."

Second, thanks to reporter Osborne for covering the story, and getting the details right. As I reported here at HobbsOnline in the past 10 days, some of the bill's sponsors didn't even appear to know what the legislation really did. One of those legislators, Rep. Jerome Cochran, insisted the bill didn't wipe out the petition/referendum process, but later read the bill, admitted he was wrong, and withdrew his support for the bill. Another of those legislators, Rep. Sherry Jones (D-Nashville), insisted to me in an email last week that the bill made it harder for county commissions to raise taxes, though it is clear the legislation makes it easier for them to do so. I patiently explained the facts to Rep. Jones via a response to her email - you can read the whole exchange here. She has not answered.

For past coverage of this story, see these blog entries:
Wheel Tax Greaser Update 4 - March 4
Wheel Tax Spin: Another Legislator Makes Stupid Claims - March 3
Wheel Tax Greaser Update 3 - March 2
Wheel Tax Greaser Update 2 - March 1
Wheel Tax Greaser Update - Feb. 28
Wheel Tax Spin - Feb. 25
Wheel Tax Legislation Gets a Flat - Feb. 25
Legislation Greases Wheels for Wheel-Tax Increases Across Tennessee - Feb. 24

For ongoing coverage of this story that far surpasses anything you're likely to get from the Tennessee news media, stick with HobbsOnline.