Tennessee state budget (2011-2012)

Note: This article was last updated in 2012. Click here for more recent information on state budgets and finances.

Lawmakers unanimously approved the state's fiscal year 2012 $30.8 billion budget and signed it into law on June 16, 2011. The fiscal year 2012 budget was approximately $1.23 billion, or 3.9 percent, less than the fiscal year 2011 budget.

The state ended fiscal year 2012 with $563 million more in revenue than initially anticipated.

Both chambers of the Tennessee General Assembly unanimously approved a $30.8 billion fiscal year 2012 budget. The Senate voted on May 21, 2011. The House approved the budget 96-0 on May 20, 2011. The approved budget bill can be accessed here.

Governor's proposed budget

Amendments

With state tax collections projected to run ahead of expectations, the governor's administration amended its budget proposal to eliminate some previously planned cuts to the state budget. Specifically, the amendment restored $48 million to TennCare, $22 million to HOPE scholarships to college students attending summer classes and $5 million to let the University of Memphis begin operating Lambuth College, a private institution in Jackson facing financial difficulties, as a branch campus. The budget also included $71 million for disaster relief resulting from recent storms and flooding, $8.5 million to restore previously scheduled rate reductions to TennCare mental health providers, and a $6.9 million grant for three programs at Meharry Medical College.

Original proposal

On March 14, 2011, Gov. Haslam unveiled his $30.2 billion proposed budget. Overall, the spending of state dollars increased 3.5 percent under the Haslam plan thanks to a projected increase in state tax collections. The state would receive and spend about 14.7 percent less from the federal government than in the then-current year. The budget contained no general tax increase.

Haslam's budget sought to begin rebuilding the state's rainy day fund, which decreased from $750 million in 2008 to a projected $257 million at the end of the then-current year. Haslam called for the fund to increase to $326 million by June 30, 2012.

Use of reserve funds

The governor and legislative leaders all said that the fiscal year 2012 budget should include spending around $186 million in "core services reserves" from the fiscal year 2011 budget. "Core services reserves" are funds set aside for specific programs, but the governor had the option of recommending they be used for purposes other than their earmarks in the fiscal year 2012 budget.

The rainy day fund declined from $1.2 billion in 2007 to $500 million in 2012.