Legislative regular session through May 28. 2016

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 606 passed the Senate and was sent to the governor; HB 842 was sent to the governor; HB 922 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; HB 948 passed the Senate; HB 1019 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; HB 1081 passed the Senate and was sent to the governor; HB 1155 passed Senate committee; HB 1156 passed the Senate; SB 329 with major amendment passed the House and was concurred in; SB 446 with minor amendment passed House committee; SB 466 with minor amendment passed the Senate; SB 473 with minor amendment passed the House.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 32 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; HB 223 passed the Senate; HB 266 passed the Senate; HB 805 passed Senate committee; HB 878 was deferred involuntarily; HB 1102 was concurred in; SB 260 passed the House; SB 262 passed the House.

SCORECARD:

Committee action, May 24: SB 446, HB 922, HB 1019

DID YOU KNOW?

SB 446 by Sen. Sharon Hewitt would have the Board of Regents conduct a review of its operations. She explained to the House Education Committee that a systematic reporting was necessary in order to use most efficiently resources, with an eye towards the future. Limited financial resources made an understanding of what resources were at hand, what gaps exist, and what must be done to close these crucial. The report should have an ideal end state, present state, and the barriers from going to the former from the latter. Then the Legislature would deal with the results next year. She had offered amendments that would clarify expectations, which were adopted unanimously.

Rep. Chris Broadwater found merit to the bill, saying it would prompt the Regents to move faster and farther than might happen otherwise. Four years from the past revision of the master plan he thought meant it was time to review it. But, he said he did not want the bill to make it stale for the future, so he suggested a sunset date. Hewitt said she agreed, and Broadwater offered an amendment to sunset at the end of the next fiscal year that was adopted without dissent.

Rep. Pat Smith wanted to know if Hewitt was amenable to amending to gather data on diversity and degreed status of staff. She didn’t, and the amendment was adopted without objection.

Legislative regular session through May 21, 2016

SB 373 exits the list of good bills, as amendments allow for a needless commission with a needless duty to stay in existence.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 386 was signed by the governor; HB 606 passed Senate committee; HB 842 was concurred in; HB 948 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; HB 1081 passed Senate committee and the Senate; HB 1156 passed Senate committee; HB 1167 failed to pass the House; SB 80 with minor amendment passed House committee; SB 317 with minor amendment passed House committee; SB 473 with minor amendment passed House committee.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 7 was signed by the governor; HB 223 passed Senate committee; HB 771 was deferred involuntarily; HB 985 was deferred involuntarily; HB 1102 passed the Senate; SB 254 was deferred involuntarily; SB 260 passed House committee; SB 262 passed House committee.

Committee action, May 17: SB 260, SB 473

DID YOU KNOW?
SB 260 by Sen. Dan Morrish would repeal the local charter authorizer portion of state law. Currently, BESE may designate up to 40 statewide, and these may bypass local boards. He stressed to the House Education Committee they were not elected, unlike the other entities, and didn’t like the idea that chartering could occur without elected official participation.

Supporters of the bill testified that to allow this was akin to having a nongovernment organization making law, that meritorious schools will get charters through elected bodies, that multiple authorizers tend to produce schools with lower outcomes, and duplicated regulation. However, they admitted through questioning that no authorizers existed, and only two applicants ever.

Opponents noted authorizers also were adjuncts of government agencies, faced rigorous qualifications and oversight as well as any schools the authorized, and maximized choice. Rep. Chris Broadwater, however, wondered whether a system never used ought to be retained and what should happen to encourage its use. He was told the rigor and lack of knowledge of the system might be the cause, and noted in other states this worked. It was supposed to be stringent to ensure quality; indeed, these were higher standards than any other schools in the state.

Legislative regular session through May 14, 2016

This week, HB 454 mutated into a benign form by removing from it a burdensome requirement to have the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget approve of over a hundred state contracts a month. And another bill that by substitute became HB 1167 becomes good, by Rep. Stuart Bishop that would allow school choice within any school district, subject to legal constraints and availability. Also, by substitute SB 342 transformed into a benign bill.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 386 was concurred in; HB 573 was withdrawn; HB 606 passed Senate committee; HB 812 was signed by the governor; HB 842 with minor amendment passed the Senate; HB 922 passed the House; HB 1005 passed Senate committee; HB 1081 passed Senate committee; HB 1156 with minor amendment passed the House; SB 80 with minor amendment passed House committee; SB 174 was signed by the governor; SB 329 passed House committee; SB 373 passed Senate committee and the Senate; SB 466 with major amendment passed Senate committee; SB 473 passed Senate committee.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 7 was concurred in; HB 74 was deferred involuntarily; HB 109 was signed by the governor; HB 1102 passed Senate committee; SB 256 with minor amendment passed Senate committee and the Senate; SB 262 with minor amendment passed Senate committee and passed the Senate; SB 332 passed Senate committee

Committee action, May 9: HB 256, HB 454, HB 74, HB 1005

DID YOU KNOW?
HB 256 by Sen. Mike Walsworth would carve out appropriations to higher-qualifying senior citizen centers, he told the Senate Finance Committee. But Sen. Jim Fannin asked for with Walsworth’s assent an amendment to make this award discretionary. That was adopted without objection, and so was the bill.

DID YOU KNOW?
HB 454 by Rep. Dee Richard would lower threshold for legislative review of contracts from $40,000 to $25,000 using all means of finance. Sen. Jack Donahue, noting that the threshold for letting was only $20,000, asked how many more would be included for review, which would be about 130 a month; currently, the law includes only discretionary general funding so none yet have needed review. He expressed skepticism that such a workload could be maintained. Even Richard said he would not look thoroughly at so many, but said he wanted to publicize the issue of their numbers and amounts to cut these. Donahue, a contractor by trade, said it took him considerable time to review these for his business.

Fannin said the process to do this would be so time consuming that the bill should have a fiscal note. Chairman Eric LaFleur said this change would move from transparency to oversight of contracts.

Sen. Bret Allain offered an amendment to move the amount back to $40,000 and eliminated the approval requirement. Fannin wondered whether a 30-day window could work, but some contracts are of such duration that this would rush the procurement process. Allain said his amendment would be a workable way to accomplish this. Sen. Sharon Hewitt said priority should go to larger contracts, but seemed unsure whether this bill would properly do this. Without objection, the amended was adopted, which cut down the number to about 120 a month.

Dueling motions to report or defer came up. It was reported favorably with all Republicans present voting for it, all Democrats present against.

DID YOU KNOW?
HB 74 by Richard would reduce contracts from the present level by $183.2 million. That number matched the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students shortfall. Fannin wanted to know how it worked; Richard said that was left up to administrative discretion.

Sen. Regina Barrow argued that this bill would be too restrictive, but Richard said there would be sufficient slack for cuts to be made without affecting crucial services. The bill also allows waivers for several conditions, so that it may not achieve savings anyway.

Other senators agreed, assuming that all health care contracts were off the table. Hewitt said the appropriations process might be a better venue to make more targeted. The bill then was deferred involuntarily.

DID YOU KNOW?
HB 1005 by Rep. Tom Wilmott would prevent agencies spending above monthly averages of the previous fiscal year in the last two months of the current fiscal year without approval by the commissioner of administration, in acquisitions, supplies and travel. Currently agencies have incentive to spend everything, but if the spending rate is lower than historical norms, this may indicate not as much should have been appropriated. Wilmott said he had research to show spikes in spending in these areas in the last two months. Without objection, it was favorably reported.

Legislative regular session through May 7, 2016

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 386 with minor amendment passed Senate; HB 392 was substituted for and became HB 1156; HB 453 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 558 passed the House; HB 586 with major amendment failed to pass the House; HB 594 was deferred involuntarily by Senate committee; HB 812 passed the Senate; HB 842 passed Senate committee; HB 1005 passed the House; HB 1148 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 1155 passed House committee; HB 1156 passed House committee; SB 174 passed the House and was sent to the governor; SB 317 with minor amendment passed Senate committee and passed the Senate; SB 406 with major amendment passed House committee; SB 446 with minor amendment passed Senate committee and passed the Senate.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 7 passed the Senate; HB 74 passed the House; HB 109 was sent to the governor; HB 266 passed Senate committee; HB 454 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 805 with major amendment passed Senate committee; HB 1045 was deferred involuntarily; HB 1102 with major amendment passed the House; SB 433 passed House committee.

SCORECARD:

Committee action, May 4: HB 892, HB 543, HB 971, HB 805

DID YOU KNOW?
HB 892 by Rep. Ted James would change existing tenure laws for teachers. He told the House Education Committee he had not reached consensus on the bill and asked for voluntary deferral, getting it.

DID YOU KNOW?
HB 543 by Rep. Frank Hoffman would dilute accountability standards for teachers. He said the value-added mechanism was not working as intended, and the bill would allow voluntary use of it. But he asked for a voluntary deferral, saying more negotiation with others to present some kind of change was needed, and this was granted.

DID YOU KNOW?
HB 971 by Rep. Steve Carter would restrict the ability of university sports teams to play away from home. He said he thought it the most controversial he ever had brought, but said a drafting error might have contributed to that. He offered an amendment to clear that up, which was accepted that applied the measure only to money not self-generated, not from students. The 375-mile limit would not apply to football or basketball.