June 14, 2011 Governor's Update

Governor Haslam: It has been a rewarding month so far as we work towards our goal of transforming state government.

On June 6, I had the privilege of signing the anti-meth bill also known as the "I hate meth" bill. This law will increase the penalty for making meth. It will track the sale of products with pseudoephedrine which is used to make meth, and now officers will have access to that real time information.

The new law will also stiffen the penalties for making meth in the presence of children. Depending on the age of the child, an offender would face a class "A" or "B" felony and 15 to 25 years in prison.

I want to thank senators Mae Beavers, and Randy Mcnally along with representatives Debra Maggart and David Hawk for sponsoring this anti meth legislation.On June 8, MTSU hosted us as we celebrated a milestone event in education reform.
One of our initiatives was to make the hope scholarship available for summer courses. Which we believe will help students earn their degree faster.

Senator Tracy: I've been wanting for years to do this, this is a great opportunity to do this it's going to give more students an opportunity to use this Hope scholarship in summer school as Dr. Mcfee said move them through and follow through with what we started 10 years ago on the complete college act of Tennessee so I'm very excited about it.

Governor Haslam: It's important that we align our goals with how we are rewarding people and the chance to talk to several students this morning, every one of them said I go to summer school I have to go to summer school. I want to finish on time, a couple of them said "I'm not going to finish on time" because I have to have hope scholarship money to do it and it's slowing me down or it's costing me more money.

With the help of Senators Mark Norris, and Jim Tracy as well as Representatives Gerald McCormick and Jim Coley, the vision to make hope scholarships available for summer courses is now law.

Thank you very much

Taking personal responsibility for your health is also a focus for our administration. On June 9th, Senator Bill Frist and Dr. John Lacey helped me to shine the spotlight on a cardiovascular disease that doubles the risk of death, while raising awareness for our health and wellness task force.
This kick-off event is just the beginning of a committed focus on health issues that affect Tennesseans.

Senator First: At the end of the day by focusing on prevention and wellness and people taking care of themselves and staying healthy it increases the number of jobs in Tennessee, lifts people up, pushes unemployment down and leads people to have a more happy and productive life

Governor Haslam: There is much more to come this summer. So I would encourage you to keep an eye on our website and our social media outlets for the latest developments in your state government.

Category:

News & Politics

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• Tennessee
• Governor
• Bill
• Haslam
• Anti-Meth
• legislation
• I Hate Meth
• Senator Mae Beavers
• Senator Randy McNally
• Representative Debra Maggart
• Representative David Hawk
• MTSU
• Education Reform
• HOPE Scholarship
• Summer Courses
• Senator Bill Frist
• Dr. John Lacey
• Prevention
• Wellness
• Jobs