[wpv-post-title]

Mark White
Tennessee General Assembly, District 83

Q: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

Upon graduation from University of Memphis, I began my career as a teacher and principal at Harding Academy of Memphis. Upon leaving the education field, I spent the next 25 years in small business. I grew my last business to 100 employees and $7 million in annual revenue. It was a special events business called Grand Events and Party Rentals. I sold the business in 2007 and was elected to the Tennessee General Assembly in 2010. I was just elected to my 7th term on November 3, 2020. I currently serve as Chair of the House Education Committee. 

Q: What legislation have you worked on in the past for the hospitality industry in Tennessee?

I have worked with the Tennessee hospitality industry to protect the small business interests of our restaurant owners and worked to protect the tax revenue fees going to the hospitality industry and not to the general fund of communities. 

Q: I heard some talk at our most recent MMHLA board meeting about a piece of COVID-19 related legislation in the works to transfer the decision making power of local health departments in the six autonomous counties over to the Tennessee Health Department. Can you tell me more about that?

Tennessee has 95 counties and 89 of these counties fall under the direction of the Tennessee Department of Health. The six larger counties, or urban communities, currently fall under the direction of their local health departments. With the long term effects of the COVID-19 virus on the small businesses community, there is a current discussion towards putting all 95 counties under the state directives. The argument is that the local health department officials are not elected positions and are not accountable to the citizens. There will be legislation to address this issue in the 112th session.

Q: Understanding that hospitality plays a large part in the Tennessee economy and it’s workforce, is there any talk in the legislature about implementing policy to help our industry out of the COVID-19 era?

I am not hearing of any particular legislation other than helping our 

small businesses get help through the federal PPE funds. The State of Tennessee also took $200 million in federal COVID-19 assistance and dispersed it to our Tennessee small businesses. Why is this important? In 2019 before the virus hit, Tennessee generated $20 billion in tourism trade. We need to regain this momentum as soon as the virus is under control.

Q: Prior to Covid-19, large scale convention events historically filled a huge portion of room nights in Memphis and in other metropolitan areas. Knowing that meeting planners’ confidence in a vaccine being rolled out directly relates to their decision to book these events, what is Tennessee’s plan to implement a vaccine to bring business back to our struggling industry?

Tennessee is now receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. 56,550 doses were shipped out on Wednesday, December 16, 2020, with another 56,000 going out in three weeks. Our healthcare industry will be included in the first phase of vaccinations. Hopefully by April 2021, most Tennessee citizens will have the opportunity to receive the vaccine. 

Q: Aside from COVID-19, what other legislation are you and your peers in the legislature working on to continue to support the interests of the hospitality and tourism industry?

First, we must restore confidence in the general public that travel and large scale gatherings are no longer spreading the virus. Hotels, conventions and other tourism industry businesses will only recover with the large scale events recurring in our state. 

Q: What are some comments you would like to leave with the members of our association?

The small business I operated for 20 years was in the special events arena. This industry played a vital part in conventions, tourism and large gathering such as weddings, etc. This industry dropped to zero revenue in March 2020. I understand fully the impact that this virus and these times are having on our hospitality industry. Unfortunately, the heavy burden of the virus has disproportionately been laid on this industry. I sincerely believe that with the vaccine starting to be distributed that we are seeing a light at the end of this pandemic.