State legislators speak at 2024 Regional Legislative Breakfast

KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — On Friday morning, members of the Kingsport, Johnson City, Elizabethton, and Bristol Chambers, along with the Greene County Partnership, met in Kingsport for the 2024 Regional Legislative Breakfast.

The breakfast brought together members of the commerce to hear from state legislators regarding the upcoming legislative session.

“We love to bring out legislators from District 1 through 11 here to speak to our chamber members,” Lora Barnett, Senior Director of Government Relations and Workforce Development at the Kingsport Chamber, said. “Just to kind of give a preview of the legislative session.”

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The state legislators in attendance included:

• Rep. John Crawford (Bristol/Kingsport)

• Rep. Bud Hulsey (Kingsport)

• Rep. Timothy Hill (Blountville)

• Senator Jon Lundberg (Bristol)

• Rep. David Hawk (Greeneville)

• Rep. Tim Hicks (Gray)

• Rep. Rebecca Alexander (Jonesborough)

Each representative took to the podium to discuss topics from the session that they felt strongly about, including bills that they planned to introduce.

“We’re going to take every vehicle that is sold in the state of Tennessee, new, used vehicles,” Hawk said. “To take those sales taxes and dedicate those to roads and bridges and infrastructure.”

Hawk’s proposed bill would allocate sales tax on motor vehicles to the State Highway Fund.

“We get to a place where we can utilize technology that will benefit patients,” Hill said regarding a bill eliminating the need for an in-person visit to a provider before a telemedicine appointment. “Benefit the rural parts of the state.”

One topic that received attention from lawmakers was education.

“You’re going to hear a lot over the next few weeks about education freedom,” Lundberg said.

A few of the proposed bills covered a variety of topics about education.

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“It requires the Department of Education, the State Board of Education, and higher-ed to come up with alternatives to Algebra II for graduation requirements,” Hicks said, regarding a bill to identify math courses that can be substituted for Algebra II.

“So any kind of device,” Alexander said. “Whether it be a smartphone or an iPad, then we’ve got a bill that will cover that there will be no use of those instruments during school time.”

Cameron Sexton, Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, also took to the podium during the breakfast. Sexton spent time discussing school vouchers, highlighting the importance of what he said is best for the student.

“Up in Northeast Tennessee, you have great schools,” Sexton said. “But sometimes even when you have great schools, there’s just something that the child needs that’s maybe a little different.”

Although the legislators spoke on different topics, Barnett said that hearing from the legislators first-hand is important to those attending.

“It really does give the constituents that opportunity to hear directly from the elected officials and see what matters most to them,” Barnett said.

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