Lee’s budget amendments include tax holidays, technical schools

Gov. Bill Lee this week presented his amended budget, an update to the annual spending plan he originally proposed to lawmakers in February.

The topline items included in the budget amendment, which still requires legislative approval, are a restoration of the governor’s $250 million mental health trust fund, an $80 million plan to clear the 11,000-person waitlist at the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology and a two-week tax holiday for grocery stores and restaurants expected to cost the state $100 million.