Bible Park Legislation Goes To The Governor

Today, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed a bill that would use sales tax proceeds to help build a tourist attraction – potentially a theme park about the Bible in Rutherford County.

State Representative Donna Rowland represents the area in Rutherford County where developers hope to locate the attraction. She, along with four other lawmakers, voted against the bill.

“This piece of legislation would have allowed a diversion of local dollars, that would have gone to our local county budget, to be diverted to a for-profit, private enterprise to pay off their capital improvement. And I just don’t think that’s a wise use of tax dollars.”

Such deals usually give a tax credit to the attraction equal to the sales tax on the tickets it sells.

The bill passed Wednesday in the Senate, 27 to 1, with Senator Bill Ketron voting against it. Ketron is the senator in whose district the Bible-theme park would be located.

The Rutherford County Commission would have the final say-so over the project under the enabling legislation, which now goes to the governor for his signature.

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Rowland say in the Blackburn area of Rutherford County residents want to keep the area residential and small business are opposed to a large theme park.

“I’ve been returning phone calls and e-mails on end, for a couple of weeks now, and I’ve only had two people call, and those have just been today, that have expressed any support of the legislation. Everybody had been opposed, not only to the tax break, but also to the project in general. And we don’t, obviously, have a vote on the project; that goes back to our local governmental body.”

The bill is HB 1692 Todd/SB 1924 Tate, amended away from its original purpose (see Senate amendment 4) to establish two Tourism Development Districts, potentially in Rutherford County and in Shelby County.