March 17, 2005

TBA-backed bill earns committee support
A TBA-backed bill that would divorce the statutory provisions of child support from those of spousal support (SB2091/HB2244) won passage in the Senate Judiciary Committee this week and is headed for action before the full Senate.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Kim McMillan, D-Clarksville, and Sen. Doug Henry, D-Nashville, in now before the Senate Calendar Committee and should be slated for floor action in the near future. In the House, the Domestic Relations Subcommittee delayed taking action on the bill until members have a chance to review an amendment that was added at the TBA’s request. Committee members had expressed some concern that the bill was connected in some way to the new child support guidelines, but TBA representatives explained that the measure does not deal with that issue.

Action on LLC bill should come soon
The legislature’s legal services office is now preparing the final amendment to the Limited Liability Company Act developed by the TBA’s Business Law Section. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Joe Haynes, D-Nashville, and Rep. Kim McMillan, D-Clarksville, is a complete rewrite and simplification of Tennessee’s 10-year-old statute. Sponsors are putting the bill on notice and expect committee action in the next two weeks. Committee calendars are quite full, however, so action could be delayed.

Judicial Council recommends probate bill
The TBA-backed probate bill earned favorable recommendation from the Judicial Council this week and is scheduled for action by the full House Judiciary Committee next week. The legislation, developed by the Tennessee Probate Study Group and sponsored by Sen. David Fowler, R-Signal Mountain, and Rep. Joe Fowlkes, D-Cornersville, would modernize and update various sections of estate and probate law. Sen. Fowler is expected to put the bill on notice in the Senate soon, so action there should follow shortly.

Guidelines advisory group appointed, TBA members heavily involved
There was activity this week on that front. Human Services Commissioner Gina Lodge appointed an Income Shares Advisory Committee, saying she believes the committee will be “of great assistance with our effort to continue to improve the guidelines.”

Sixteen TBA members (in bold) are included in the 27-member group. Appointed were: Mike Adams, assistant commissioner for child support; Judge Don Ash, 16th Judicial District, Part 3; Kim Beals, assistant general counsel; Steve Cobb, Nashville lawyer and TBA legislative counsel; Jean Crowe, Nashville lawyer; Rep. John DeBerry, D-Memphis; Dot Dobbins, Nashville lawyer; Bill Duffey, program director for child support; Beth Fortune, president of the Nashville Women’s Political Caucus; Barry Gold, Chattanooga lawyer and immediate past chair of the TBA Family Law Section; Jason Johnson, director of TCSES User Support; W. David Kelley, assistant district attorney in the 12th Judicial District; C. Suzanne Landers, Memphis lawyer; Gena Lewis, supervising attorney for Child Support Services in Davidson County; Gina Lodge, commissioner of the Department of Human Services; Jim Martin, Nashville lawyer; Mitchell Morgan of the Child Support Program at the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County; Stuart Wilson-Patton, assistant attorney general and chair of the TBA Family Law Section; Sen. Curtis Person, R-Memphis; Allan Ramsaur, executive director of the Tennessee Bar Association; Scott Rosenberg, child support referee in Davidson County; Scott Roy, chairman of Dads Against Discrimination; Tony Gottlieb, president of Dads Against Discrimination; Sarah Sheppeard, Knoxville lawyer; Judge Marietta Shipley, 20th Judicial Circuit, Division 4 and Division 2; Judge Charles Susano, Tennessee Court of Appeals in Knoxville; Judge W. Neil Thomas III, 11th Judicial District, Division 4; Judge Karen Williams, 30th Judicial District, Division.

The first meeting of the committee will be in late April. The TBA has indicated that it believes the guidelines as adopted are seriously flawed, substantially understating the cost of child-rearing, and that they will significantly increase litigation — all to the detriment of the family and the judicial system.

More about the guidelines and an online CLE program to learn about the guidelines at http://www.tba.org/news/child_support_11_2004.html

Other legislation of interest to Tennessee lawyers
• Alienation of affections. The TBA continues to work to discourage passage of this bill that would reinstate a number of abolished torts in the domestic relations area. The bill, HB0780/SB1948 is scheduled for a hearing in the House Children and Family Affairs Committee next week. Then TBA believes that by encouraging additional litigation leading to possible punitive damages and other tort remedies for marital misconduct, the bill would produce more discord and expense in an already difficult and sensitive area of the law. The bill goes against the trend of the past 15 years, where efforts have been made to reduce the high levels of conflict between parents that can be harmful to children.
• Meth-Free Tennessee Act of 2005. During House Judiciary Committee consideration of the Governor’s methamphetamine legislation this week, the TBA and allies secured public expressions favoring a fix to concerns that there was not sufficient notice of property being quarantined because of contamination. The TBA wants notice made in the register of deeds office — a place people normally look for this kind of information.

• Tennessee Plan. Action on bills that would abolish the Tennessee Plan and move to the popular election of Tennessee Supreme Court and appellate judges was put off this week because the bills’ sponsor was not available for the committee meeting. The bills are now scheduled for committee review next week.

Meanwhile in Washington
The House Judiciary Committee marked up and sent the bankruptcy bill to the floor. The ABA was able to secure promises to address the objectionable attorney liability provisions in a follow up “technical corrections” bill.

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 scobb@tnbar.org or TBA Executive Director Allan F. Ramsaur at aramsaur@tnbar.org