TACIR approves a package of new studies including childcare, vaping and point-of-sale tax remittance

The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations voted May 29 to add multiple research projects to its work program, approving study plans staff drafted in response to 2024 legislation and requests from lawmakers.

Deputy Executive Director Melissa Brown presented three grouped amendments covering legislation that passed both chambers, bills that passed only one chamber and one study requested by letter. The commission adopted Amendment 1 (a study of remittance of state and local sales taxes collected at point of sale) with a staff timeline that sets the report due Jan. 31, 2025. Amendment 1b, a study of the effects of vaping and the use of vapor products by people under 21 (Public Chapter 937, acts of 2024), was also adopted with the same January 2025 due date. Amendment 1c combined two childcare-related public chapters into a single research plan to study state and local laws affecting the startup, operation and expansion of childcare businesses and workforce issues such as compensation and the benefits cliff; that project is due Jan. 31, 2025.

The commission also approved a study of real-estate fraud directed by Public Chapter 941 (no due date specified), and separately adopted Amendment 2 items that passed only one chamber, including a broader feasibility study on establishing a crime laboratory in Shelby County and related statewide implications (SB 2877/HB 2961), and a study referred to TACIR by the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee about district attorney responsibilities for municipal prosecutions (SB 2054/HB 2205). Amendment 3, a staff plan to study school-based services for TennCare-eligible students (requested by letter related to SB 2487/HB 2616), was adopted as a stand-alone item without a specified due date.

Chairman Williams called voice votes for each item; the minutes record that the amendments were adopted by voice vote, with one recorded opposition noted for an open-ended item. Brown told commissioners that researchers will adapt the research plans as needed and that staff welcomes suggestions for additional stakeholders to interview.

The approved studies will be added to TACIR’s work program and staffed over the summer and fall; several have deadlines for delivery of draft or final reports in January 2025. The commission’s published research plans and copies of the underlying legislation are included behind tab 5 of the docket book.