Haslam Applauds Final Passage of Tennessee Civil Justice Act!

Legislation will help bring predictability and certainty to businesses in state

NASHVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam today applauded the state House of Representative’s final approval of his Tennessee Civil Justice Act of 2011, sending it to his desk for signature.

The legislation revises the state’s civil justice system to make Tennessee more competitive for new jobs with surrounding states by bringing predictability and certainty to businesses calculating potential litigation risk and cost.

House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, and Rep. Vance Dennis, R-Savannah, led the House version of the legislation, and Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris, R-Memphis, Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Collierville, and Sen. Doug Overbey, R-Maryville, guided it in the state Senate. The bill passed out of both houses of the General Assembly with bipartisan support.

“In my first legislative session as governor, I committed to focusing on the several areas – tenure reform, charter schools, lottery scholarship use for summer classes and tort reform – that would have the most significant and immediate impact, and I appreciate the efforts of the sponsors and supporters who helped guide the Civil Justice Act through the legislature,” Haslam said.

“Tennessee has many great attributes going for it as we recruit companies interested in relocating to our state or expanding here, but the global competition for jobs continues to grow,” Haslam added. “This legislation removes one of the few advantages surrounding states had and makes our state even more desirable to businesses as we go out and sell Tennessee as the best place in the Southeast to do business.”

The Tennessee Civil Justice Act is part of Haslam's strategic legislative package focused on education reform and improvements to Tennessee's already attractive business climate to help make the state the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs.