Sen. Watson provides updates on third grade retention laws, public safety and slowing inflation rates at Pachyderm Club

With the state’s third-grade retention law in its second year, State Senator Bo Watson challenged Hamilton County Schools to lead the state in literacy.

“We can do this for ourselves if we choose to commit to do it,” Senator Watson told the Hamilton County Pachyderm Club on Monday.

In public safety, where local state Senator Todd Gardenhire is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the state continues to plug away at adult and juvenile criminal justice reform.

Senator Watson said he will push for more mandatory sentencing, forcing convicted criminals to serve whole sentences.

After three years, Senator Watson said, federal stimulus funds are running out and inflation has caught up to Tennessee growth. Growth has settled back to normal this year at 3 to 3.5 percent, down from 11 to 14 percent growth last year, he said.

He praised Tennessee for being a solid “middle class” state, neither wealthy nor poor, that uses its money efficiently to get from point A to point B with no frills.

“We get more out of a dollar than any other state,” he said, and Tennessee is the least-indebted state in the country, he said.