Allan F. Ramsaur, TBA Executive Director
(800) 899-6993 or (615) 277-3200
aramsaur@tnbar.org
May 21, 2004
Legislators OK probate bill; workers’ comp changes
Legislators gave final approval to the governor’s plan to change workers’ compensation law Thursday night after efforts to tack on a number of amendments failed to win enough votes.
The final bill, which passed 28-4 in the Senate Thursday, is essentially what the governor had proposed. The House had passed the measure 82-14 last week.
One proposal put forward by the TBA did get incorporated in the legislation — in a way.
The governor’s original proposal had called for a mandatory Benefit Review Conference to be held before a lawsuit could be filed. Arguing that without the assistance of an attorney and necessary discovery, these conferences would not necessarily serve all of the parties, the TBA had proposed allowing discovery to take place in the normal manner before the conferences.
In the final bill, the benefit review specialist is authorized to refer parties to an attorney in the department who would issue the order to make sure the discovery takes place. While this allows discovery to take place, it continues a troubling aspect of the new workers’ comp plan that appears to try to keep lawyers out of the process as much as possible. The argument that involving lawyers in the process prevents cases from being settled and adds to the costs is simply not accurate.
Omnibus Probate Bill
The TBA-backed Omnibus Probate bill (SB2599, HB2639) won approval from the full Senate Wednesday. The bill had earlier passed in the House.
Uniform Trust Code
The TBA’s other major piece of legislation this term, the Uniform Trust Code bill (SB0560, HB0743), was passed by the General Assembly earlier in the session and has been signed into law by Gov. Bredesen. The bill was developed by a joint TBA/bankers committee. Watch for a TBA TennBarU CLE program on the law this summer.
The end is near
The General Assembly is wrapping up business today and is expected to adjourn by the end of the day.
Keep up to date on legislation of interest
The TBA bill tracking service lets you read abstracts of bills, check their status in both houses, find out who is sponsoring them and link to full versions of the legislation.
TBA Watch List Monitor close to 300 bills and resolutions of interest to the Tennessee legal community.
TBA Action List Monitor legislation in which the TBA has an interest of record — bills the TBA initiated, bills on which the TBA has taken a position or bills on which the TBA has policy.
Questions, comments? Contact TBA Legislative Counsel Steve Cobb at SAC@wallerlaw.com or TBA Executive Director Allan F. Ramsaur at aramsaur@tnbar.org
