Days to Sine Die - 48

Hello All,

We are getting close to the days of session where if a bill has not received a hearing it is more likely than not dead (zombie bills are rare but possible).

Here is this week's run down :

• Select Committee on Youth Health & Safety is meeting now on 15 bills, 10 bills of which are related to education. BCEC registered in support of three of them - HB 3800 by Representative King, HB 3833 by Representative Lopez and HB 4777 by Representative Plesa.

• The House Committee of Public Education will meet on Tuesday to hear six bills related to vouchers/education savings accounts. BCEC will be testifying against HB 4340 by Representative Frank and registering against HB 619 by Representative Shaheen, HB 3781 by Representative Jetton, HB 4807 by Representative Harrison, and Representative HJR 182 by Representative Harris. We will also be submitting written testimony, similar to the letter we submitted on the Senate side. I will send that letter out via email later today for your review.

• As of 4:49pm on April 10th, The Senate Education Hearing has not posted the bills they are hearing this week, I will send out summaries as soon as possible.

• You can watch all House Hearings here and all Senate Hearings here.

A couple of quick updates:

• The Senate passed Senate Bill 8 - the "parent rights" bill last Thursday after accepting 21 total amendments. You can review that full list of amendments here. A brief summary of two captured below as well.

• The House passed the budget last Thursday, during which a fairly tense exchange about the amendment that would prohibit the use of public funds on vouchers/ESAs occurred. Chairman Buckley made a motion to table the amendment (thereby taking it out of consideration by the members), that motion failed, and then spoke in opposition of the amendment. More on this here.

• The House may pass out a committee substitute for House Bill 100 this week. I will send out a copy of the committee substitute via email.