Legislative Update February 16, 2020: Ann Lynn McIlroy

Legislative Update February 16, 2020

Passed in House Education this week:

HM 46 Educator Compensation Task Force
Establishes a 31 member task force to study the way districts are funded for teachers and if/how TCI could be improved.

HJM3 School Personnel Career Pathway
Establishes a collaborative group between PED, HED, and Workforce Solutions along with other key school personnel to study and make recommendations for creating a tiered system for school support personnel.

HB254/a Distributions to School Districts
Increases SB9 distributions to all districts that have a levy in place. Possibly heard 2/12 in HAFC.

HB221 Cultural and Linguistic Education Support
Appropriates $2.6 million to RECs to provide PD that is culturally and linguistically responsive. Possibly heard 2/12 in HAFC.

HB 14 Opportunity Scholarship Act
HEC substitution appropriates $26 million rather than the $35 million in the original bill. Pays tuition and fees for recent graduates and returning students w/o an associates, bachelors, masters, or doctoral degrees if they carry 15 hours and maintain a 2.5 GPA.
Of concern is that ECHS graduates with an associates degree will not be eligible

Tabled in House Education:

HB359 Rural Teacher Tax Credits
The committee was favorable toward the bill but wanted to work to improve the clarity of the language and build a stronger case for the potential financial impact through LESC work in the interim to improve the likelihood of passage in the next legislative session.

Passed in Senate Education this week:

SJM10 CTE Task Force
Creates a working group of schools, businesses, and Workforce Solutions to determine the cost of creating responsive career technical programs.

SB254 Group Health Insurance Employer Contributions
Appropriates $3.6 million to PED for distribution to districts, charters, and participating entities. Would require employers to pay 5% more on lowest-paid employees for health insurance. Referred to Senate Finance.

Passed in House Judiciary this week:

HB184 Law Enforcement Officers at Schools (HJC Substitute)
Authorizes funding for SRO training from the Law Enforcement Protection Fund. Referred to Senate Finance.

Passed in Senate Finance this week:

SB159 Distributions to School Districts
Increases SB9 distributions to all districts that have a levy in place.

BIG TICKET ITEM of INTEREST:

SB110 Public Sector Collective Bargaining Changes
Substantially changes many provisions of the Public Employee Bargaining Act. Specifically, seeks to eliminate or cause to eliminate all local labor boards, eliminates “fair share” contributions, changes the definition of “management employee”, allows for “other concerted activities” excluding strikes, requires the employer to provide all personal contact information of all potential members of the bargaining unit, and generally erode some management rights.

This bill was initially tabled on Monday in SJC but brought back into the mix to be heard on Friday, 2/14. Passed SJC on Friday and went to the Senate floor on Saturday where it was sent back to Senate Finance. However, a dummy bill was introduced in the House Labor Committee and received a Do Pass Sunday afternoon. The bill passed the House early Tuesday morning after a 3-hour debate.