Beacon Center of Tennessee

TCPR was founded in 2004 by Drew Johnson.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070814125443/http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/main/article.php?article_id=89 Drew Johnson - President], Tennessee Center for Policy Research website, archived at archive.org on August 14, 2007. Johnson left TCPR at the end of 2009.[http://nashvillepost.com/taxonomy/term/18323 Clint Brewer Now Top Dog At TCPR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110808143704/http://nashvillepost.com/taxonomy/term/18323 |date=2011-08-08 }}, Nashville Post, October 29, 2009 Justin Owen became president in August 2010.[http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/2010/08/justin-owen-named-tcpr-president/ Justin Owen named TCPR president] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723140846/http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/2010/08/justin-owen-named-tcpr-president/ |date=2011-07-23 }}, Tennessee Center for Policy Research press release, August 27, 2010

TCPR estimated that its 2008 income would total about $400,000 for the year, roughly double its previous year's finances. The increase from 2007 to 2008 was attributed to publicity from its 2007 report on Al Gore's energy use. The organization received $481,000 in donations in 2012, with contributions totaling $1.2 million in 2013. The Beacon Center receives 54 percent of its funding from foundations, 43 percent from individual donors, 1.5 percent from corporate donations and 1.5 percent from other sources.

In September 2011, the organization announced that it had changed its name to "Beacon Center of Tennessee." In a message to supporters, president Justin Owen indicated that the new name would represent the organization's new mission, "to light the way for freedom and prosperity" in the state.[http://www.beacontn.org/2011/09/tcpr-becomes-the-beacon-center-of-tennessee/ TCPR becomes the Beacon Center of Tennessee], Beacon Center of Tennessee website, September 21, 2011

The Beacon Center is a member of the State Policy Network (SPN), a U.S. network of state-specific free-market oriented think tanks.{{cite web|url=http://www.spn.org/about/page/background |title=About » State Policy Network |accessdate=2014-04-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140405044025/https://www.spn.org/about/page/background |archivedate=2014-04-05 }} SPN provides funding, training and other support for its member groups.

The Beacon Center publicizes its views through publications, press releases, media interviews, and guest columns. Its publications include the annual "Tennessee Pork Report" (co-published with Citizens Against Government Waste)Clint Brewer, Justin Owen, and Daryl Luna (2010), [http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2010-Tennessee-Pork-Report.pdf 2010 Tennessee Pork Report] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723141049/http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2010-Tennessee-Pork-Report.pdf |date=2011-07-23 }}, Tennessee Center for Policy Research, Nashville, and Citizens Against Government Waste, Washington, DC. Page 5. and a Legislators’ Guide to the Issues.Drew Johnson, Shaka Mitchell, and Justin Owen (2009), [http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/106thguidetotheissues.pdf 106th Tennessee General Assembly Legislator's Guide to the Issues] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723140903/http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/106thguidetotheissues.pdf |date=2011-07-23 }}, Tennessee Center for Policy Research, Nashville.Justin Owen, Allyn Milojevich, and Jourdon Causseaux (2011), [http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/TCPR-107th-Legislators-Guide-to-the-Issues.pdf 107th Tennessee General Assembly Legislator's Guide to the Issues] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723140925/http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/TCPR-107th-Legislators-Guide-to-the-Issues.pdf |date=2011-07-23 }}, Tennessee Center for Policy Research, Nashville.

Beacon supports reductions in state government spending and the elimination or reduction of several Tennessee state taxes.

The organization supports an amendment to the Tennessee Constitution to ban a state income tax in order to "quash...attempts to pass such a tax once and for all." In 2014, Tennessee citizens voted for a constitutional amendment to ban a state income tax.{{Cite web|url = https://ballotpedia.org/Tennessee_Income_Tax_Prohibition,_Amendment_3_(2014)|title = Tennessee Income Tax Prohibition, Amendment 3 (2014) - Ballotpedia|website = ballotpedia.org|access-date = 2016-03-04}} In 2012, the Beacon Center was involved in repealing Tennessee's Death tax.{{cite news|last1=Boucher|first1=Dave|title=Beacon Center grows, helps defeat Insure TN|url=http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2015/05/22/beacon-center-grows-helps-defeat-insure-tn/27750513/|accessdate=8 July 2015|publisher=The Tennessean|date=May 24, 2015}}

Beacon has advocated reducing or eliminating Tennessee's sales taxes on groceries, cigarettes, and gasoline.{{cite news|first=Josh|last=Flory|url=http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/apr/17/tennessees-levy-burden-well-below-other-states/|title=Tennessee's levy burden well below other states|newspaper=Knoxville News Sentinel|date=April 17, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015022256/http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/apr/17/tennessees-levy-burden-well-below-other-states/|archive-date=October 15, 2012}}

In 2011, TCPR opposed a proposal to extend unemployment insurance benefits from a maximum of 79 weeks to a maximum of 99 weeks.[http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/2011/05/tcpr-opposes-unemployment-benefits-extension/ TCPR opposes unemployment benefits extension] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723141024/http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/2011/05/tcpr-opposes-unemployment-benefits-extension/ |date=2011-07-23 }}, Tennessee Center for Policy Research, press release, May 18, 2011

The Beacon Center and the Tennessee branch of the American Civil Liberties Union have worked together to try to end civil forfeiture in Tennessee.

In January 2015, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam called a special session in order to expand Medicaid in Tennessee under the Affordable Care Act.{{Cite web|url = http://watchdog.org/228216/two-reasons-leave-insure-tennessee-dust/|title = Two more reasons to leave Insure Tennessee in the dust - Watchdog.org|website = Watchdog.org|language = en-US|access-date = 2016-03-04}} The Beacon Center testified before Senate and House committees{{Cite web|url = http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2015/05/22/beacon-center-grows-helps-defeat-insure-tn/27750513/|title = Beacon Center grows, helps defeat Insure TN|website = The Tennessean|access-date = 2016-03-04}} and took credit for defeating the bill.{{Cite web|url = http://nashvillepublicradio.org/post/first-vote-kills-insure-tennessee-medicaid-expansion#stream/0|title = First Vote Kills Insure Tennessee Medicaid Expansion|last = Sisk|first = Blake Farmer, Chas|website = nashvillepublicradio.org| date=4 February 2015 |access-date = 2016-03-04}}

Following the defeat of the Medicaid expansion, the Beacon Center advocated for direct primary care, a program in which patients could avoid purchasing health insurance and contract directly with their primary care physicians.{{Cite web|url = http://www.knoxnews.com/opinion/columnists/justin-owen-direct-primary-care-better-than-health-insurance-2679e388-8504-1380-e053-0100007f110e-362872461.html|title = Justin Owen: Direct Primary Care better than health insurance|website = www.knoxnews.com|access-date = 2016-03-04}}

In 2008, the organization accounted for 16 percent of all open records requests to the Tennessee executive branch. On one occasion, TCPR sued the state Department of Finance and Administration over delayed response to an open records request.Jayme Siemer, [http://sunshinereviewblog.com/tag/tennessee-center-for-policy-research/ TN Leg: Transparency is great… for someone else] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809212110/http://sunshinereviewblog.com/tag/tennessee-center-for-policy-research/ |date=August 9, 2011 }}, Sunshine Review Blog, June 4, 2008 In 2008, state officials responded to a TCPR open-records request for email messages from the Tennessee Department of Revenue by telling TCPR that it would have to pay $3,201 for each day of email messages it sought.Matt Wilson, [http://timesfreepress.com/news/2008/may/27/tennessee-3200-days-worth-e-mails/ Tennessee: $3,200 for a day’s worth of e-mails?] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313180410/http://timesfreepress.com/news/2008/may/27/tennessee-3200-days-worth-e-mails/ |date=March 13, 2012 }}, Chattanooga Times Free Press, May 27, 2008

TCPR operated a website entitled "Carnival of Climate Change" which was skeptical of the scientific consensus on climate change. TCPR was one of the most significant organizations and individuals spreading climate disinformation, according to a 2009 report in Mother Jones magazine.{{cite news |first=Josh |last=Harkinson |url=https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2009/12/dirty-dozen-climate-change-denial-04-tennessee-center-policy-research |title=The Dirty Dozen of Climate Change Denial, No. 10: Tennessee Center for Policy Research (A.K.A. Carnival of Climate Change) |magazine=Mother Jones |date=December 4, 2009 |accessdate=September 30, 2015}}

{{See also|Environmental activism of Al Gore#Environmental criticism}}

In 2007 TCPR issued a report asserting that Al Gore's residence in the Nashville area used more than 20 times the energy of a typical home in the United States.Washington Post: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/28/AR2007022801823.html War on Warming Begins at (Al Gore's) Home.] March 1, 2007.[http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/gorehome.asp Al Gore's Energy Use], Snopes.com, last updated 28 September 2009 Reporters who followed up on the allegations found that Gore's house did use more electricity than a typical home, but they also found that it was about 12 times the average for Nashville (20 times not including power from solar panels at the property), pointed out that the building functioned both as a residence and a business office for both Al and Tipper Gore, it was much larger than a typical home, and that Gore made substantial improvements to the home during 2007 that reduced its electricity consumption.

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