Tennessee voucher negotiations ongoing as Senate GOP leaders say they have the votes

After a week of rumors and speculation that Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher legislation may be dead for the year, House and Senate leadership all say that negotiations on the bill are ongoing — and GOP Senators say they have the votes to pass their version of the legislation.

“As the sponsor of the bill, I'm the only one who can declare it dead until it comes up for a vote, and then the body can make the decision – and by no means is the bill dead,” Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, told reporters Wednesday. “Those conversations are continuing. And so I hope we get to that place and we bring it to a vote.”

As of Thursday morning, a total of 18 Republican Senators had signed on to co-sponsor the bill. That’s enough to pass the legislation in the upper chamber.

“I think it was a demonstration to show that the Senate believes in school choice, believes in the governor’s proposal,” Johnson said Thursday, adding that he expects that number to grow by a member or two. “We’d like to see this bill get passed this year.”

But with a state budget now finalized that limits the program to the $144 million originally proposed in Lee’s initial proposal — about $250 million less than the House proposal — the bill’s fate seems to be in the House’s hands.

House Republican leaders on Thursday continued to publicly insist voucher talks are ongoing, though Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, acknowledged that the budget limitation will make negotiations harder. Sexton also suggested lawmakers were looking to Lee to make the final decision about when to stop negotiations, which have so far yielded no apparent results.

The governor has been silent this week as the fate of his signature legislation has been in limbo. Lee’s office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

“Until he tells us to stop negotiating and working with the Senate, we're going to continue to do that, because it's his bill and the right thing to do,” Sexton said.

Both Sexton and Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, denied rumors the House might add a voucher amendment to another bill in an attempt to circumvent the committee process. Lamberth more broadly addressed the various speculations that have emerged in a vacuum of substantive updates on the proposal this week.

“A lot of wild rumors and speculation happens this time of year,” Lamberth said. “Quite frankly, you get members that I think will talk to folks who may or may not be involved in the conversation. I get that, but if they're not on the committees that are addressing these issues, if they're not in the middle of those conversations, I think sometimes you just have folks that will speculate.”

While they have the votes to pass the governor’s priority legislation, Senate leaders aren’t willing to play the blame game if the bill doesn’t move forward — as special interest groups backing the bill are sure to do.

“It’s nobody’s fault. It’s just part of the legislative process,” Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, told reporters Thursday in response to questions about which chamber will be responsible if the legislation isn’t successful this year. “Both sides are working very hard to see this pass.”

While leaders in both chambers have agreed not to push the bill through for a vote before coming to a compromise, McNally said Thursday he is optimistic that the two will "come to an agreement, hopefully in the next few days."

Senate leaders say that while budget discussions and negotiations took up much of the last week, more negotiations on vouchers are expected over the weekend.

“We’ll see where we are next week,” Johnson said.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Bo Watson, R-Hixson, indicated that even if the policy is not successful this year, discussion on the issue has “certainly elevated the conversation across the state, and we feel like the position for more choice has been strengthened.”

“Sometimes legislation gets introduced, it creates an incredible amount of awareness,” Watson said. “It may not be ready at a particular time, but it builds great awareness, builds strength behind the idea… and makes the next session debate even easier.”

Vivian Jonesand Melissa Brown cover state government and politics for The Tennessean. Reach them at vjones@tennessean.com and mabrown@tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee school vouchers: Senate GOP leaders say they have the votes