Free Republic

<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Hoping to end a budget impasse that forced half the state's 42,000 workers to stay home, Gov. Don Sundquist on Tuesday proposed a compromise that would include a constitutional convention.</p> <p>"If there was ever a time for compromise, it's now ... We should work around the clock if we have to," the governor said in a news conference.</p>

<p>House members shunned and defeated a tax plan last night — passed earlier by the Senate — that would have let voters decide in November whether they wanted to fund state government through an income tax or through a higher state sales tax.</p>

Tennessee Budget Battle Remarks to the House by Gov. Don Sundquist Email story to a friend June 29, 2002 These are the remarks by Gov. Don Sundquist to the House Saturday as he pleaded with members to pass a bill allowing him to keep essential services operating in case of a government shutdown on Monday. He began his speech about 10 p.m. CDT: "Ladies and gentlemen, we stand 26 hours away from an unprecedented shutdown of government services in the state of Tennessee. "Certainly we're treading on uncharted territory this evening. As I come to you this evening, I do...

<p>The possibility of at least a partial state shutdown will loom large today over the state legislature, which has until midnight tomorrow to approve a state budget. Little progress was made yesterday. The Senate yesterday broke a self-imposed deadline to pass new taxes, delaying votes on two tax proposals, one of them an income tax. A Senate vote was taken on House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh's income tax plan — but in a way that income tax advocates denounced as an insincere ploy. They urged senators to vote against the measure, which had been attached as an amendment to another bill, saying they would bring up the tax bill later for discussion. Not a single senator voted for it in the way it was presented.</p>

Budget thriller takes new twists By Richard Locker and Paula Wade locker@gomemphis.com wade@gomemphis.com June 28, 2002 NASHVILLE - A Senate committee Thursday blocked an attempt to move the outline of a plan coupling sales and business tax hikes with limited spending cuts to the Senate floor for a vote. The attempt by income tax opponents to bypass the Senate Finance Committee's usual review of the so-called CATS plan failed in the committee on a 5-6 vote. Its sponsor, Sen. Doug Jackson (D-Dickson), blasted the panel but pledged to try again. In the House of Representatives, Speaker Jimmy Naifeh said he...