School Board meeting of 11/11/2014

I usually try to watch all of the school board meetings and summarize what happens and notate the timestamp location of the good stuff.  However, I am not sure, I will have an opportunity to watch this one in a timely manner, so if you are interested in watching, don't wait for me.  I can normally watch meetings 1 1/2 times the normal speed or sometimes 2x the normal speed and not miss content. If you don't know how to do that, follow this link.

The School Board produces detailed agenda's. With an agenda, you can help navigate the meeting and skip some of the more boring stuff and having an agenda makes the meeting more interesting.. Here is a link to the agenda.

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PRESERVE THE COLONIAL BAKERY MAGNOLIA

I am not a fanatical tree-hugger but I think it would be a shame to see this beautiful old tree cut down.  I have signed the petition respectfully asking the new owners of Colonial Bakery to preserve this beautiful magnolia tree.  You can sign the petition at this link.

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House passes Keystone. See How the Tennessee delegation voted.

In their first major voted since last week's election House lawmakers today easily passed a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline which would bring crude oil from Canada to the U.S. The bill will be voted on in the Senate on Tuesday. The vote was 252 in favor and 161 opposed. All of the Republicans in the House supported the bill and 31 Democrats broke party ranks and joined the Republicans. Tennessee's Fifth District Congressman Jim Cooper was one of the Democrats who voted for the bill. Below is the list of how our delegation voted.

Aye (R) Roe, Phil TN 1st
Aye (R) Duncan, John TN 2nd
Aye (R) Fleischmann, Chuck TN 3rd
Aye (R) DesJarlais, Scott TN 4th
Aye (D) Cooper, Jim TN 5th
Aye (R) Black, Diane TN 6th
Aye (R) Blackburn, Marsha TN 7th
Aye (R) Fincher, Stephen TN 8th
 No (D) Cohen, Steve TN 9th

On Tuesday the measure will be taken up in the Senate where it will require 60 votes to cut off debate and allow the bill to be voted upon. The Obama administration has been slow-walking the review process to run out the clock on Keystone even though his own State Department has said it would be safe and would not significantly add to greenhouse gases.

Construction would add tens of thousand of new high-paying jobs. Many Democrat voters, such as labor union members, are supportive of building the pipeline although activist environmentalist adamantly oppose the pipeline. If the pipeline is not build to bring the crude from Canada to the refineries of the gulf coast, Canada will most likely build a pipeline to the Pacific coast where it will be shipped to China to be refined. As an alternative, the crude oil may be transported by rail and truck to the gulf which is potentially more hazardous to the environment and a more costly way to transport it.

In the Senate, Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu who is in a tough runoff campaign that will be decided on December 6th, is joining Republicans in pushing for approval. Oil refineries are important to the Louisiana gulf coast economy. At least ten other Democrats are ready to join Republicans in voting for passage and it looks like the bill will get the 60 votes necessary to pass the Senate. For several years Senate majority leader Harry Ried has refused to let the bill come to a vote.  Even though the Senate has not yet changed hands and the new Republican majority have not taken office the election is already having an impact. If Republicans cannot get the 60 votes to pass the bill in this lame duck session however, they will pass it after the new Congress takes office in January.

President Obama has hinted that if the bill is passed he may veto it. The new Senate would need 67 votes to override and most pundits do not think the Senate can do it. Even if the Senate cannot override a veto of this bill, Obama's veto of the popular bill will result in a further weakening of his power and prestige he will be viewed as an obstructionist who will not work with Congress. If he uses the veto too frequently, then it becomes easier for Congress to override a veto.

To read more about this issue follow this link, this link, and this link.

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Rep. Diane Black's Legislation would roll back ACA’s reporting requirements & mandate eligibility verification

Reposted from The Ripon Advance, Nov. 13, 2014, by Aaron Martin- Legislation recently introduced by Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) would roll back reporting requirements imposed on employers under the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate.

Rep. Diane Black

Under the healthcare law, employers will be required to collect information about health plans offered to employees, spouses and dependents, as well as their dates of birth and Social Security numbers every month beginning in January.

“Obamacare is killing jobs and putting the personal information of Americans across the country at risk,” Black said. “These burdensome reporting requirements take time, money and resources away from the daily operations of running a business. They also put sensitive personal information at risk as it is transmitted to the IRS, where it is then stored. My legislation would allow employers to voluntarily report employees’ health insurance status one time, up front at the beginning of the year, without including their confidential information. This commonsense measure should be considered immediately to ease Obamacare’s burdens on employers ahead of 2015.”

Black’s Streamlining Verification for Americans Act would stop subsidies until verification is completed. “That is what was originally required by the law, and it is unacceptable that this administration has doled out billions of taxpayer dollars without first checking to make sure those receiving subsidies are truly eligible,” Black said.

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Today is last day to comment on EPA power grab. EPA wants to micromanage all water everywhere.

Sheila K. Butt posted in Tennessee Federation of Republican Women
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! Today is the last day to comment on the new onerous rules being proposed for the Waters of the U.S. The new rules vastly expand the jurisdiction of the EPA and will strip private property rights. Over 1500 people have commented from Texas and only 103 from Tennessee! These new rules will have a detrimental affect on farms and agriculture in our state. For more information see http://www.tnfarmbureau.org/content/time-ditch-rule by Tennessee Farm Bureau. Then PLEASE go to the following link and comment. Your voice can make the difference!

http://www.regulations.gov/…

Time to Ditch the Rule www.tnfarmbureau.org Puddles, ponds, ditches, ephemerals (land that looks like a small stream during heavy rain but isn’t...

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Gov. Haslam announces Kevin Huffman is stepping down

Gov. Haslam announces Kevin Huffman is stepping down

Posted: Nov 13, 2014, News 2

Kevin Huffman is stepping down from his role as the Commissioner of the Department of Education. (Courtesy: TN.gov)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Governor Bill Haslam announced Thursday that Kevin Huffman, Commissioner of the Department of Education, is leaving his position.

Huffman will be departing the administration to move into the private sector.
“Improving education in Tennessee has been a top priority for our administration, and having someone of Kevin's caliber to lead the charge during this time of significant progress has made a difference,” Haslam said.

My Comment: I have been very impressed with the improvement  in education in Tennessee under Kevin Huffman.  I hope Governor Haslam can quickly find a person of quality who has a passion for educational excellence and is a supporter of school choice to replace him. 

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Metro Council takes up regulation of Uber and Lyft.

The Budget & Finance Committee and the Traffic, Parking and Transportation Committee held a joint meeting last night to discuss Ordinance No. BL2014-952 which regulates non-taxi passenger vehicles for hire, such as Uber and Lyft.  Representatives from the Transportation Licensing Commission and some of the companies to be regulated were in attendance to provide information on the proposed changes, as well as to answer questions following the presentation. I was not there so I don't know what happened. Since The Tennessean is so thinly staffed now, I doubt they had a reporter covering the meeting. If Metro Channel Three post a video of the meeting I will watch it and report on it and post it if it is interesting. It is my hope that the Metro Council does not revert back to their anti-competition, price-fixing position and that any regulations are reasonable and not designed to limit expansion of Uber or Lyft or drive them out of business or prohibit future innovation or expansion of transportation options.

Yesterday in writing a post about how the Houston Texas airport was following Nashville's lead and accommodating ride-share companies at their airport, I summarized how at first Nashville was hostile to new forms of livery service and had attempted to prohibit innovation in the Nashville market but then did an about face. I don't suspect that the about face resulted from a rejection of good-ole-boy crony capitalism and price-fixing but was a pragmatic response to a need for these new forms of service.

BL2014-952 is a 34 page bill and I have not had the opportunity to read it.  I hope Uber and Lyft and their attorneys are engaged in this process and I hope some of the Council members who are conservative and believe in capitalism will look carefully at this bill and insure that it is not regulations that stifles competition and innovation and imposes price-fixing.  If there is anything objectionable in this bill I hope those would care are engaged in the process now. BL2014-952 is only on First Reading this coming Tuesday.  It is much easier to stop a bad bill before it is passed rather than try to get it repealed or overturned in the courts once it is passed.

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Video of the East Nashville Parents Advisory Committee meeting.

I have not watched this video myself yet but plan to. We know that there is a real divide in east Nashville ever since Dr. Register proposed a plan to deal with east Nashville's failing schools. Most of the Nashville "priority" schools are located in East Nashville. Register proposed a plan to deal with this which includes allowing some of the schools to close, allowing the establishment of competing charter schools and converting some of the failing schools to charter schools. The charter school experience in Nashville has shown  charter schools can succeed where regular public schools fail. Some in east Nashville have welcomed this new direction and are very supportive, while others do not want to change the old pubic school model and oppose any use of charter schools to improve education in east Nashville. Some seem to actually love their bad schools.

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The Metro Council agenda for November 18th is now available

The Metro Council agenda for November 18th is now available and you can find it at the indicated link. The Council staff analysis is not yet available. If you can wait I will read it for you and tell what of significance is on the agenda, but if you can't stand the suspense, just help yourself.

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Houston follows Nashville's lead and accommodates ride-share livery service at their airport.

Back in September ride sharing companies like Uber and Lyft were authorized to pick up passengers at the Nashville airport, making Nashville the first in the country to authorize such services. Under the regulations that allowed this service, the ride-sharing companies would pay a fee $3.50 each time they pick up a customer, with the service tracked through its geo-fencing technology.  I was proud of our city for being the first airport in the country to accommodate this new form of livery service.

Nashville had, had a terrible record of trying to stamp out competition to limousine service and taxi services. Nashville was one of the most anti-competitive cities in the country. When "Black cars" first appeared in the city a few years ago, the Metro Council passed a minimum fare regulation of $45 for a ride in a limousine and forced Black Cars to operate at if they were limousines. Black cars had been charging as little as $20 for a ride downtown from the airport.  They were licensed by the State and approved at the airport but the city tried to force them out of business.  What has come to called "Black Cars" are nice clean vehicles with no company name on them that are much nicer than a cab but not as ostentatious as a stretch limousine. When the city voted to impose price-fixing and protect the limo companies from competition, not a single member of the Metro Council voted against it. Even the so-called conservatives on the Council voted for this anti-competitive price-fixing.

In addition to the $45 minimum, the city imposed other irrational restrictions on this new form of livery service, such as prohibiting them from taking more than one fare an hour and ridiculously requiring the vehicles be centrally dispatched. When this restraint of trade and price-fixing was challenged in court, there was a long drawn out and expensive court battle with the Institute for Justice representing the Black Car operators. Unfortunately the city won that court battle.

While Nashville was defending price-fixing and opposing technological innovation and new livery service business models, the city build a convention center and needed more reasonably priced livery service. During this time, Lyft, Uber and Sidecar came on the scene in cities across America and the world and found their way to Nashville. The public embraced this new form of livery service and visitors to our city expected it.  In Janissary 2014 the Metro Council reversed itself and lifted the $45 minimum fee and other onerous regulations and allowed vehicles to charge by time instead of miles and allowed point-to-point fees.

I have now used Uber a few times and love it. I was slow getting a "smart" phone but now have one and have downloaded the Uber app and used it. If you are not familiar with it, here is how it works. When you download the Uber app, you register the credit card you will be using. If you need a ride, you click the app and put in your destination. The technology tells Uber where you are. Uber sends you an estimated pick up time and a picture of the driver and the make and model of the vehicle. The vehicle picks you up, takes you to your destination.  No money changes hands and there is no tipping. The fare is charged to your credit card. 

I have used the service about 5 times and it is quick and easy and cheap.  I usually have a car at my door within three to five minutes. To park downtown off lower Broadway can be $20. I can get downtown for less than $5 and if I leave at anytime other than right at the time the bars close I can get back for about $5. If there is high demand then there is  a higher fare charge but you are told in advance.  The higher fare charge causes more drivers to get on the road. This is really a demand-supply market in real time.  The drivers I have met were people who were doing this between "real" jobs or college students making some extra money.  Uber drivers work for themselves and work as little or as much as they want and work their own hours.

Some cities are still fighting to keep out this app-based ride-share type of service and the Black Car service. Nashville went from being one of the worse cities for livery competition and innovation to one of the best.  I don't think the change of policy was the result of a change of ideology.  I don't think suddenly our Metro Council became principled and embraced a market economy and freedom.  I wish I could say that I thought our Metro Council had done that, but I don't think that was it.  I think as a response to demand and a need to accommodate the tourist coming to town, that the city pragmatically decided to change course. Once it is here, I don't think there will be any going back. There may be some modest regulation over time, but I don't expect the city to try to drive this service out of business or fix prices.

Today Houston Texas became the second city to accommodate ride-share livery service at their airport and the Houston Chronicle said of this development, "The Houston rules are similar to those in Nashville, Tenn."  I am proud to see that.

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Mayoral candidate Charles Robert Bone adds to campaign team.

Charles Robert Bone

Charles Robert Bone today announced that Little-Smith Strategies will play a key role in advising the campaign on general strategy, outreach, and targeting. Little-Smith Strategies is a Nashville-based Democrat consulting firm and has served such clients as Judge Rachel Bell, District Attorney Glen Funk, former U.S. Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. and Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen.  Veteran Democratic political strategist Kim Sasser Hayden is serving as manager of the campaign , The Ingram Group is serving the campaign as general consultants, April Orange will handle fundraising and DVL will advise on marketing.

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Amendment 1 lawsuit has no merit and is "absurd."

As you probably know by now, the opponents of Amendment 1 have filed a federal law suit against the outcome challenging the method officials used to count ballot votes.  Their argument is that only those who voted in the governor's race should have their votes counted in the amendment 1 contest. They are asking the court to intervene and require election officials to recount the vote or to declare the outcome invalid. 

According to the way an amendment can be adopted in Tennessee, not only do more people have to vote for it than against it, but the votes for it must add up to one vote more than one-half of the number of votes cast in governor's race.  In order to lower the threshold necessary for amendments to pass, I was one of those who did not vote in the governors election and voted for all of the amendments. I urged others to do the same.

Tennessee election officials have called the Amendment 1 lawsuit "absurd" and without merit. The first hearing in the case is Jan. 12th. Should the opponents of Amendment 1 win their lawsuit, it would be a difficult task to recount and only count the votes of people who voted in the Governor's race, election officials say. There is not an automated way to do that and each vote cast would have to be examined. Even if a recount did occur and ballots like mine were thrown out, it is doubtful it would change the outcome. About 30,000 more votes were cast for or against amendment one than were cast in the governors race.  Some of those, of course, may have been "no" votes who were only motivated to go to the polls to vote against amendment 1. Even if all 30,000 who voted in the Amendment 1 referendum voted "Yes," the amendment would still most likely stand since it got 70,000 more "yes" votes than "no" votes.

Daniel Horowitz, a Nashville attorney and a friend of mine who actually voted "no" on Amendment 1,  offers this analysis:

The problem with the plaintiffs’ position is that it exacts a significant price from voters as a prerequisite to allowing them to vote on constitutional amendments.  Specifically, according to the plaintiffs’ view, a citizen must first vote for a gubernatorial candidate—even if he or she does not support any of the candidates listed—in order to gain the right to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment.  In my opinion, this represents a substantial and unconstitutional infringement on the right to vote and on freedom of association.  See, e.g., Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330,336 (1972) ("In decision after decision, [the Supreme] Court has made clear that a citizen has a constitutionally protected right to participate in elections on an equal basis with other citizens in the jurisdiction."); Kansas City v. Whipple, 38 S.W. 295, 296 (1896) (“if suffrage i[s] a sovereign right of the citizen, he must be as free, according to the dictates of his own untrammeled will and conscience, not to exercise it as to exercise it on any particular occasion; otherwise the right is not sovereign.”); Roberts v. U.S. Jaycees, 104 S. Ct. 3244, 3252 (1984) (“Freedom of association . . . plainly presupposes a freedom not to associate.”).  As a result, because the plaintiffs’ desired interpretation of Article XI, Section 3 poses serious constitutional problems while the State’s interpretation does not, the State’s view should prevail.

Former Senator David Fowler who is head of FACT (Family Action Council of Tennessee) and an attorney, has written a more detailed analysis of the Amendment 1 lawsuit and concludes it has no merit. You can find his analysis at this link.

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