Lundberg believes bill to allow wine sales in Tennessee's grocery stores will return

JOHNSON CITY — Legislation to allow wine sales in Tennessee’s grocery stores is gone this year but not forgotten, state Rep. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, says.

Lundberg, a co-sponsor of the bill, said he hopes the legislation that was popular with consumers but opposed by mom-and-pop liquor stores has a better chance next year.

“I hope (the legislation’s future is) good,” Lundberg said during a taping of “Legislative Chat,” a public affairs program produced for public television by East Tennessee State University. “There was an interesting alliance. ... You had folks trying to line up with the liquor industry, and they tried to recruit some sections of the religious community trying to say ‘This is bad.’ This was not going to put more wine or liquor in the hands of kids.”

The Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association opposed the legislation, while its main proponent was the Tennessee Grocers and Convenience Store Association.

While sponsors abandoned that legislation, a separate bill to allow Tennesseans to buy and bring home up to five cases of wine from out-of-state wineries has passed in the state Senate and is advancing in the state House.

“In the past it has been literally illegal in Tennessee if you went to another state and said ‘I’d like to bring it back.’... This (legislation) is going to take care of those issues and bring us, I think, up to the standards of the 21st century,” Lundberg said.

While wine bills have drawn much attention, Lundberg’s proposed legislation to cap liability awards in nursing home lawsuits has also captured interest from lobbying groups.

One lawmaker dubbed his bill the “Kill Old People Cheap Act,” but Lundberg defended the legislation scheduled to be considered in a House subcommittee on Tuesday.

“I think the nursing home industry in the state is at a crisis point,” Lundberg stressed. “Right now, for every bed that a nursing home has, they are spending $5,000 a year in liability costs. Lawyers are making tremendous amounts of money out of state. What my bill does is place a cap on punitive damages a lawyer can receive, but ... the cap depends upon the staffing level at the home. So if the staffing level goes up, the cap comes down. ... The majority of the lawsuits are coming from out-of-state lawyers. ... We need to change our focus from lawyers making money to taking care of folks in nursing homes.”

Another of Lundberg’s bills drawing attention is his proposal to ban wireless texting while driving.

The measure, which would impose a $50 fine for reading or composing text messages while driving, is moving toward a Senate floor vote and will be considered soon by the House Finance Committee.

Opponents of the bill claim Tennessee already has a law addressing distracted driving.

“We do have a distracted driving law, but is it illegal to text while you drive? No, it’s not,” Lundberg said in support of the bill. “The number one form of communications among people 45 and lower is the cell phone.”

Another Lundberg bill to be considered soon by the House Judiciary Committee would change the way state judges are picked.

The Judicial Selection Commission is set to expire at the end of June, which would lead to the popular election of all state judges.

Under present law, the commission has 17 members. The speaker of the Senate selects eight members, including three from a list submitted by Tennessee trial lawyers, three from a list submitted by district attorneys general, one non-lawyer, and one lawyer not nominated by a group. The House speaker also selects eight members — two from a list submitted by the Tennessee Bar Association, one from a list submitted by the Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association, three from a list by the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, one non-lawyer, and one lawyer not nominated by a group.

The speakers jointly select the final member under current law. These members serve staggered terms.

Lundberg’s bill would reduce the commission’s size to 15 members and eliminate the requirement that appointments approximate the state’s population with respect to race and gender.

It also says a judge must get a 60 percent — not a majority — vote in a retention election.

Lundberg indicated he does not favor judges being elected like state lawmakers.

“If we start electing Supreme Court judges, we are going to create a partisan judiciary across the state at levels that are frightening in many ways,” he said. “I think some of the most effective judges are not necessarily the most popular ones. ... We need to be very, very careful.”

For more about Lundberg’s legislative agenda go to www.capitol.tn.gov. Click on “Legislators” and then “House Members.”

Lundberg’s appearance on “Legislative Chat” will air Tuesday at 11 p.m. on WETP-TV, Channel 2, and WKOP-TV, Channel 15.