Tennessee State and Local Government Advocacy

Holland & Knight's Tennessee State and Local Government Advocacy Team is a strong lobbying force before Tennessee's executive branch, Tennessee General Assembly, local governments across Tennessee and the many agencies of state and local government. We also support clients through administrative and legislative advocacy as well as provide strategic and crisis counsel. Our attorneys have experience in key government positions and strong relationships with federal, state and local government staff, lobbyists, legislators and executive branch officials. We have served in various significant government positions and maintain strong relationships with elected officials, lawmakers and their staffs.

The Tennessee State and Local Government Advocacy Team has keen awareness of the economic factors that influence local, regional and national companies wishing to relocate or expand in Tennessee. We have negotiated state and local incentive packages for most of the large relocations and expansions in the state over the last two decades.

In addition to a proven track record of positive results, clients choose our team for our experience negotiating legislation and administrative rules, our broad-based knowledge in healthcare, financial services, hospitality, real estate, energy, professional sports, waste services, technology, mining, manufacturing and other business-related areas, as well as our firsthand experience as counsel for statewide associations.

Our Tennessee attorneys and policy advisors position clients for success before, during and after the political fight. Companies can lose valuable time waiting until new legislation is passed – or the rules have changed – to begin working on a solution. Our team members engage with political stakeholders while also working with Holland & Knight colleagues and the client to develop business solutions that can be implemented quickly. With our Tennessee State and Local Government Advocacy Team, companies can find opportunities in public policy changes where others see only obstacles.

Appropriations and Budget Successes

Holland & Knight's Tennessee State and Local Government Advocacy Team has been successful in securing billions in state and local appropriations for our clients. A few of our successes on their behalf include:

• $769 million in local and state bonds for the construction of a new, enclosed football facility
• $17 million for a motor sports racetrack
• $5 million for infrastructure development for a Tennessee city
• $68 million in annual industry-wide tax savings through a three-year tax exemption for the purchase of broadband equipment for a mobile telecommunications company
• $3 million appropriation for the completion of a national music museum as well as enabling legislation allowing Nashville to impose a ticket user fee at the museum to be used to generate approximately $1 million per year to support its mission
• $4.5 million for competitive grants to volunteer fire departments across the state to be used for equipment and supplies
• More than $60 million for an incentive package for a large multinational tire manufacturer
• Secured amendment to solar power moratorium in a rural West Tennessee county to allow construction in a large solar farm
• More than $50 million for an incentive package for a national financial services company

Legislative Successes

Our Tennessee State and Local Government Advocacy Team often works with clients to achieve legislative success on policy matters while also pursuing important state funding initiatives.

• Led Stadium Capital Improvements and Campus Redevelopment Project: Holland & Knight attorneys and public affairs advisors led the way in securing $500 million in state bonds for the construction of a new, enclosed football stadium. On the local level, Holland & Knight worked to secure $769 million in revenue bonds from a sports authority for the project, funded by diverted sales tax in and around the stadium and a 1 percent hotel tax increase. Passage of these landmark legislative efforts will allow the football organization to work with state and local government entities on solutions to maintain and develop the stadium as a premier venue and event destination in the region for decades. 
• Spearheaded Solid Waste Reform Effort: On behalf of a waste disposal company, our team successfully defeated numerous bills over the past four years that would have detrimentally impacted Tennessee solid waste providers and the communities they serve. Recognizing the need to address the state's looming landfill capacity crisis while balancing local interests, Holland & Knight worked with Gov. Bill Lee's administration and the House and Senate Agriculture Committees to organize a solid waste legislative stakeholder group for the purpose of introducing collaborative industry reform legislation in 2024. Holland & Knight is known for building coalitions to address common policy issues and developing business-friendly solutions.
• Improve Act: Helped create and lead a multidisciplinary team to pass Tennessee's Improve Act, the first material increase in the state's infrastructure funding formula in more than 25 years.
• Pro Sports: Drafted, negotiated and passed multiple pieces of state and local legislation to secure professional sports franchises in the state.
• Lottery Formation: Served as lead outside counsel during formation and start-up of the state's lottery.
• Retail Development: Led the multidisciplinary team that secured the necessary approvals for various retail developments. Each was the largest retail project in the state at the time of approval.
• Crafted Legislative Fix to Address State Agency Dispute: On behalf a privately owned construction aggregate company, Holland & Knight worked with state legislators and environmental state agency staff to pass legislation codifying a settlement to an ongoing dispute regarding the client's permission to dredge sand and gravel from a designated area in the Tennessee River. After negotiations with the department and related legislative stakeholders, Holland & Knight drafted and passed legislation which updated the prior permitting scheme in a manner allowing the client to continue its operations while generating revenue for the state through a royalty fee.
• Enacted Protections for 340B Entities Against Discriminatory Reimbursement Practices: A significant legislative win for our team focused on the passage of crucial protections for nearly 700 340B hospitals and care centers in Tennessee that rely on the 340B program to serve some of the state's most vulnerable patients. Holland & Knight worked with a coalition of industry stakeholders impacted by pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) discrimination to increase transparency and implement accountability measures for PBMs operating in Tennessee. The resulting legislation prevents PBMs from reimbursing 340B-covered entities less than non-340B entities for drug costs or assessing other fees on 340B entities that are not equally assessed on non-340B entities. The reform package was signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee on March 26, 2021.
• Helped Shape Tennessee's New Education Funding Formula: Holland & Knight assisted in the passage of the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act (TISA), the state's new K-12 public education funding formula. The law sets a base funding rate per pupil, then distributes additional funding for students who are from economically disadvantaged families, have unique learning needs or live in rural or impoverished communities.
• Passed Cancer Presumption Benefit for Firefighter Community: In 2019, Holland & Knight lobbied the General Assembly on behalf of fire service organizations to pass the Barry Brady Act, legislation that creates a presumption that all forms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, colon and skin cancer, or multiple myeloma occurred in the course of employment for purposes of establishing eligibility for worker's compensation for the state's firefighters. In 2022, Holland & Knight successfully advocated to expand the list of cancers subject to the presumption, and – while working to pass this expansion – our team simultaneously secured $4.5 million for competitive grants to volunteer fire departments across the state to be used for equipment and supplies