We have completed week 7 of the 9 week Legislative Session. We are still awaiting the start to budget conferencing in which the House and Senate will come together to negotiate the differences in the two budgets. Remember the only constitutional requirement of the legislature during legislative session is to pass the same balanced budget out of both chambers.
HERE you will find the legislative bill tracker supplied to us by our team at GrayRobinson. All of the bills we are tracking are listed on the report in numerical order. A few of the bills to highlight:
- HB 1193 Student Assessments by Rep. Plasencia was heard in its last committee in House Education and Employment. There was robust discussion around the amount of testing time as well as what tests are required by the state and how many assessments are required by districts. Much of this conversation came about because of the passionate testimony of teachers from around the state who came to provide public comment. The bill passed out of committee by a vote of 13-5. The bill has now been placed on 2nd reading to be heard on the House floor.
- HB 1421 School Safety by Rep. Hawkins was heard on the House floor this week and passed unanimously. Its companion bill, SB 802 by Sen. Gruters was scheduled to be heard in Senate Appropriations Monday, February 28. Minor differences still remain between the two bills.
- HB 1467 K-12 Education by Rep. Garrison was scheduled to be heard in Senate Rules on Wednesday, February 23. However the bill was temporarily postponed. The bill is back on the agenda for Senate Rules for Tuesday, March 1. Sen. Gruters has filed an amendment to change the term limits of school board members to 12 years. This amendment will be considered when the bill is heard.
