Guest column: Sen. Yager asks for constituent input

NASHVILLE—The 109th General Assembly of the State of Tennessee convened at noon on January 13, 2015, for an organizational session. Among other items on the agenda, the Senate and House of Representatives elected their speakers and adopted rules for the 2015 and 2016 legislative sessions. At the end of the week, on January 17, we will inaugurate the state’s 49th Governor, Bill Haslam, to begin his second four-year term. After a short recess, we will reconvene on February 2 and remain in session until mid to late April.

State spending in a tight budget year will be the predominant driver for legislative action in 2015. Other significant issues expected to be on the legislature’s agenda in 2015 are jobs, healthcare, education, taxes, and legislation stemming from the ratification of the constitutional amendments passed by voters in November. It is very important that I hear from my constituents on these issues as some of them will be controversial.

I will continue the practice of sending out weekly Senate reports during session and appreciate the local papers who publish them. We now send video updates to local papers and audio statements to radio stations during the legislative session which I hope you will access.

You can also keep up with what’s going on in Nashville by going to the General Assembly’s award winning website at www.capitol.tn.gov. I urge you to take a look at the redesigned website which offers Tennesseans with live video streaming of our meetings and a tremendous amount of information regarding our legislature and the issues before us. For example, you can easily track every bill I file through this website. In addition, many of your local access and PBS stations re-broadcast the meetings. These technological advancements will make this General Assembly the most transparent in our state’s history.

Please write, tweet, email or call me with your comments or questions. My address is G-19 War Memorial Building, Nashville, TN 37243, my phone number is (615) 741-1449 (toll free 1-800 449-TENN ext. 11449), my email address is [email protected], and my Twitter account is at @Yagertweet. We try to answer every call, and I can assure you if you send me a letter or email, I will read it myself. And don’t forget you can contact me, too, at my personal website, www.kenyager.com.

Finally, shortly after the legislative session begins, I will mail my biennial constituent questionnaire which will ask your opinions of issues we may face in the legislature. Please invest some time to complete the questionnaire and return it. Volunteers will compile the statistics and I personally read every written comment. Go to my website at www.kenyager.com to look at the results from the 2013 survey

I am privileged to represent the best district in the state (no bias at all)! The 12th District is composed of seven of the finest counties in East Tennessee and the Upper Cumberland. It’s important that I hear from you. Thank you for letting me serve.