Haslam holds no public events before budget speech

Friday, January 18, 2013, Vol. 37, No. 3

NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam has no public events scheduled this week as he prepares to deliver his annual State of the State address.

The Republican governor has only attended four public events since the beginning the year, with each of them coming last week.

Haslam has been keeping the details of his legislative agenda close to his vest, only giving fleeting details about his plans to introduce measures to create a school voucher program and to change workers' compensation rules.

The governor is scheduled to deliver the speech outlining his annual budget plan and his legislative proposals Monday.

The next day, the state Department of Education is organizing a forum on school safety in the aftermath of the shooting in Connecticut that left 26 people dead.