Days to Sine Die - 33

Hello All,

We are moving into the part of session where items are moving fast and furious. You will start to see Senate Bills moving through House Committees and House Bills moving through Senate Committees.

Here is this week's run down:

• Select Committee on Youth Health & Safety met yesterday and heard ten bills. BCEC registered in support of HB 316 by Representative Bernal which defines the school social worker and HB 5118 by Representative Goodwin which ensures all counties within operation lone star have interoperable radios and mass shooting training.

• Yesterday, the House heard HB 3 and HB 13 on the floor. Both bills were passed out of the House and are on their way to Senate Education. HB 3, by Chairman Burrows, had 12 amendments put on the bill, including one to move the per student allotment from $10 to $100, the addition of an allowance to spend school safety allotment on "evidence-based strategies to create a positive and safe school environment." HB 13, by Chairman King, had 10 amendments put on the bill, including two to add Fentanyl abuse prevention programs.

• The House Committee of Public Education is meeting today to hear ten bills, two of which are Senate Bills (SB 11 and 798). We are registered in support of HB 3829 which creates a Fine Arts Allotment, HB 4944 which offers additional assistance for cybersecurity, and HB 3127 which gives more time for school to protest property values and removes a requirement for district to follow the comptroller's review.

• On Wednesday, the floor will hear HB 100. This is the only school finance bill that is currently moving this session. BCEC will be sharing a letter with the Bexar County delegation to ensure they know we support.

• The Senate just posted a hearing for this Thursday, they will hear five bills. All Senate Bills, which could indicate they may be holding up House Bills on the Senate side. Summaries will come out as soon as possible.

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

A couple of quick updates:

• The House and the Senate have name conferees for the budget, HB 1. On the House Side the conferees will be Chairman Bonnen (Chair) | González, Mary | Jetton | VanDeaver | Walle. On the Senate side the conferees will be  Huffman (Chair) | Creighton | Kolkhorst | Nichols | Schwertner

• Over the next few weeks the budget conferees will meet to finalize the budget for the next biennium, mainly behind closed doors. The MoakCasey team will be circulating to get a better idea of what we will see in the final document. As a reminder, the budget conferees will not be beholden to the contents of the current budget and will more than likely have the ability to "go outside the bounds," a motion that is typically approved by the House and the Senate to give the conferees freedom to adjust the budget (they still must follow spending caps and will keep most of the agency budgets the same).

• Our Countdown to Sine Die Breakfast is in two weeks! Please invite your Board Presidents to join us. We will have Continuing Education Trained Trainers there and so the breakfast can count towards their continuing education requirements.