2018 will be a year of change for the Tennessee General Assembly, and 2019 will bring even more, especially in leadership – much depending on the popularity of President Donald Trump.

Not only is the Legislature moving to the Cordell Hull Building, vacating the Legislative Plaza after 45 years or so, a number of legislative faces are changing, too, even before next year’s election.

2. View From the Hill: IMPROVE Act an Insight Into Testy Election Ahead - Thursday, April 27, 2017

In case anyone’s keeping stats, Senate leadership soundly defeated House leadership this session in the gas tax/tax cut battle.

Whether this is a forerunner to a Republican gubernatorial primary remains to be seen as Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris and House Speaker Beth Harwell weigh decisions. It’s not as if they’d be facing off against each other, though, since businessman Bill Lee and former Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd are definitely in the race and not hurting for money.

3. House Concurs on Gas Tax Senate Version, Sends to Haslam For Signature - Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Wrapping up wide-ranging legislation that dominated the opening year of the 110th General Assembly, the House concurred Monday with the Senate’s IMPROVE Act, inserting a $7 million measure to increase property tax breaks for veterans.

4. Memphis, Nashville Mayors Praise Passage of Haslam’s Road Funding Bill - Thursday, April 20, 2017

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland lauded the Tennessee Legislature for passing the IMPROVE Act, including a combination of fuel tax and fee increases designed to improve transportation funding.

5. House, Senate Approve IMPROVE Act - Thursday, April 20, 2017

The House and Senate are nearly ready to send the IMPROVE Act to Gov. Bill Haslam, passing it with relatively wide voting margins after months of debate.

Only one adjustment is needed in a measure providing property tax relief for veterans, the disabled and elderly before the measure can be sent to Haslam.

6. Mistreated GOP Legislators Only Want to Be Heard - Thursday, April 13, 2017

Word has it extra tissue will be placed on the desks of some House members in the coming weeks so they can dry their tears of pain.

It seems a faction of the Republican supermajority just hasn’t gotten a fair hearing – from their own party – on opposition to Gov. Bill Haslam’s IMPROVE Act, which contains a dreaded gas and diesel tax increase to rebuild the state’s roads and bridges. It’s the gas tax versus the surplus, which is pretty big at $1 billion in one-time money and another billion in extra recurring money.

7. Harwell Cites Need for Alternative Transportation Funding Plan - Thursday, April 13, 2017

House Speaker Beth Harwell says she believes it’s important to have a transportation funding plan counter to Gov. Bill Haslam’s gas tax/tax cut act after House Republican Caucus members voted to oppose the governor’s idea.

8. Norris, Proponents of Current IMPROVE Act Stand Firm as Alternative Bills Are Devised - Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris gets revved up when he talks about the IMPROVE Act as a tax-cutting and bridge-safety measure. It’s a message he’s been sending for weeks, yet other lawmakers aren’t catching on.

9. IMPROVE Act Proponents Stand Firm as Alternative Bills Are Devised - Monday, April 10, 2017

Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris gets revved up when he talks about the IMPROVE Act as a tax-cutting and bridge-safety measure. It’s a message he’s been sending for weeks, yet other lawmakers aren’t catching on.

10. IMPROVE Act Could be Renamed; Alternative Plan in the Works - Friday, April 7, 2017

Legislation containing a gas-tax increase moved out of a key committee Wednesday, April 5, with proponents saying it could be called the IMPROVE Act or the 2017 Tax Cut Act because of several tax reductions designed to make it easier for Tennesseans to swallow.

11. Conservative State Republicans Want ‘Restart’ on Gas Tax - Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Claiming they’re not getting fair treatment by House leadership, a group of irritated Republicans demanded the governor’s gas-tax increase package go back to the starting line.

Rep. Jerry Sexton, a Republican from Bean Station in East Tennessee, said in a press conference Monday, April 3, he had spoken with House Speaker Beth Harwell and was told “we would get a restart.” He said the details haven’t been worked out.

12. IMPROVE Act Moves Closer to Passage - Wednesday, March 29, 2017

With hardly a peep of discontent from lawmakers, the governor’s IMPROVE Act containing fuel-tax increases and a host of tax cuts moved out of the House Local Government Committee today.

It heads next to a House Finance committee, where the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Barry Doss, predicts it won’t face a fight.

13. Singing Along With Tone-Deaf Legislators - Thursday, March 16, 2017

Often dull, but never boring. They might even make you break out into song.

Halfway through the 2017 session, the General Assembly could be accused of lacking sharpness or sensibility, but what it lacks in luster it makes up for with lots of political song and dance.

14. House Committee Delays Haslam's Transportation Bill - Thursday, March 9, 2017

NASHVILLE – A split House Transportation Committee slammed the brakes Tuesday on Gov. Bill Haslam’s IMPROVE Act, even though it contains a measure to use the sales tax for transportation funding instead of raising fuel taxes.

15. Governor Haslam’s Fuel-Tax Bill Still Alive After Parliamentary Wrangling - Friday, March 3, 2017

NASHVILLE – Gov. Bill Haslam’s IMPROVE Act and fuel-tax increase plan remains alive after parliamentary moves Wednesday, March 1, in the House Transportation Subcommittee and action that led to the death of a competing bill.

16. Harwell Challenger Matlock Replaced as Transportation Chair - Friday, January 13, 2017

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The state lawmaker who tried to unseat Republican Beth Harwell as speaker of the House has been removed from his position as chairman of the Transportation Committee.

17. Most Top Issues Decided as Session Hits Final Lap - Tuesday, April 9, 2013

NASHVILLE (AP) – The path may have been rocky at times for the new Republican supermajority in the General Assembly, but leaders are pleased that many of the most contentious issues have been decided as lawmakers enter the final few weeks of the session.