And Then There Were Fifty
Last week, the last train to the governor’s desk left the station on last Tuesday evening when Senate Appropriations wrapped up its marathon 12-hour hearing. With both House and Senate Approps hearings complete, any bill that hadn’t cleared any of its primary committees is officially dead. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, but with that deadline passing, ASBA has whittled its list of active bills down to 50. You can view them all on BillTrack 50. (If you were having trouble with this link earlier, apologies…this is the correct public link)
A couple of notes from last week’s final appropriation committees:
SB1412 was subject to a S/E amendment that is substantially similar to HB2112, dealing with “prohibited courses and subjects,” so if you were concerned about HB2112, now you’re concerned about SB1412.
SB1269 S/E: school finance; revisions—has received a lot of attention over the past week or so. It is a significant proposal with several moving parts that has far-reaching impacts for rural schools in particular. It is worth understanding. ASBA will be holding a webinar on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. to explain the provisions and considerations to make while evaluating this proposal.
First Bills Cross the Finish Line
Several education-related bills have been signed by the governor as of this week:
HB2178 school psychologists; exemption (Udall) (ASBA supports)
HB2632 civics test; passing score (Nguyen)
SB1165 interscholastic; intramural athletics (Barto) (ASBA opposes) — a quick note here: ASBA opposed this bill because as a practical matter the proponents of the bill did not demonstrate an Arizona problem that requires legislation. The Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) had already instituted a process on transgender student participation, and it appeared to be functioning well. As always, we err on the side of less Legislative involvement in locally governed affairs.
Next Week
This week the Legislature was very light on substantive business. Next week, however, they are set to take up a couple of controversial measures:
SB1211 schools; activities; posting; review is on the House Rules Committee agenda for Monday, meaning it can be considered on the floor any time.
SB1412 S/E: race; ethnicity; sex; classroom insruction is also on the House Rules agenda