NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam delivered his 2012 State of the State address Monday, January 30^th before a joint session of the General Assembly in which he shared his vision for the state and called upon those watching and listening to “believe in better.”
 
 “We can believe in better for how state government serves Tennesseans,” Haslam said. “We can believe in better when it comes to the education of our children, and we can believe in better when we talk about a stronger, healthier economy for our state.”
  
During his speech, the governor emphasized the importance of Tennessee job growth, a continued focus on improving education, public safety, a more customer-focused, efficient and effective state government and keeping taxes low.
 
 “Our role in state government is to provide services that Tennesseans aren’t able to get on their own – we build roads, offer higher education options, guard prisoners, help families adopt children, care for the mentally ill, patrol highways, serve veterans and perform hundreds of other services,” Haslam said. “My job as governor is to make sure we are providing those services in a customer-focused and effective way.”
 
Highlights of the budget include:

-Restoration of more than $100 million of the $160 million “core services” funding that was designated two years ago to be cut.
-Full funding for the Basic Education Program
-Nearly $264 million to fund long-deferred capital outlay projects in higher education
-A 2.5 percent pay increase for state employees
-$50 million to the Rainy Day Fund, bringing it up to $356 million
-Continued Commitment to the West Tennessee Megasite with $25 million
-More than $23 million to fund a new veterans home in Bradley County
 
The budget also includes funding for the governor’s legislative proposals announced earlier in the month that include:
 
-Tougher sentences for certain gang-related crimes and for gun possession by those with prior violent felony convictions along with mandatory incarceration for repeat domestic violence offenders
-Raising the exemption level on the estate tax in Tennessee from $1 million to 1.25 million to lower the tax burden on family farmers and family business owners
-Lowering the state portion of the sales tax on food from 5.5 percent to 5.3 percent, with the goal of lowering it to 5 percent during the next 3 years.
 
A complete text of the governor’s speech and an archived video of his speech are available at www.tn.gov/StateoftheState.



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