LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER

January 28, 2011

It was a busy week for bills that impact school district policy and budgets.

On Monday, Senate Education heard SB2226--a truancy reporting bill. It provides a common definition of truancy for reporting purposes. NDSBA supported the bill and the committee gave it a DO PASS recommendation. SB2281 requires school districts to have concussion management policies. NDSBA raised concerns about some of the technical language and additional liability for staff and boards. Amendments were adopted to address our concerns, and the committee gave the bill a DO PASS.

House Education spent Monday hearing three bullying bills--HB1147, HB1250, and HB1465. NDBSA Director of Policy Services Alyssa Martin did an excellent job explaining strengths and weakness of each bill for the committee. While HB1250 was strong in its simplicity and contained a qualified immunity clause for districts, SB1465 is a product of a work group organized by the Attorney General that included Alyssa and is comprehensive but not overly burdensome. A subcommittee will be appointed to develop one bill.

Tuesday, Senate Education spent the morning hearing SB2150, which contains recommendations of the Commission on Education Improvement. Governor Dalrymple introduced the bill and returned later to answer committee members’ questions. It is very unusual for a Governor to provide testimony at a committee hearing. However, Dalrymple chaired the Commission while serving as Lt. Governor and is very committed to the bill. SB2150 has dozens of sections so the committee will tackle a few at a time over the next couple of weeks.

HB1202 had a long hearing in House Education on Tuesday. The bill provides a Healthy Schools Grant to an REA to coordinate and share health and fitness programs and funds throughout the statewide REA system. NDSBA testified in support of the bill.

Wednesday, Senate Education heard SB2278 that requires districts to provide public and private institutions of higher education with names, addresses, and home phone numbers of students. NDSBA opposed this bill because FERPA already requires districts to share this information. Parents may request their child’s information not be shared. No action was taken.

Thursday, NDSBA testified in opposition to HB1449 that is a troubling bill requiring political subdivisions to submit their budget information to the state director of budgets. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget testified that the state is currently not in a position to receive this data and interface it with the state system. The fiscal note prepared by OMB is over $500,000 just for state expenses. If the bill requires transactional data in addition to budget data, school districts statewide would have to obtain reporting software and spend time inputting budget and transactional data that is already available as a matter of public record. It would be a prohibitive process financially and very time consuming.

Friday, Senate Government and Veterans Affairs held a hearing on a lengthy and comprehensive “veterans’ preference” bill--SB2279. NDSBA is reviewing the legislation to ascertain the full impact on school district hiring practices.

There was very little committee work this week and bills are piling up. Legislators will be busy next week because all bills with funding attached must be out of committee and sent to Appropriations by February 7.

Hearings of particular interest next week:

House Education

9:30 Tuesday--HB1211 Relaxing of home school requirements

2:45 Tuesday--HB1229 Mandates abstinence curriculum

10:00 Wednesday--HB1248 Interstate compact for education of military children

Senate Education will begin committee work on SB2150 next week.

House Government and Veterans Affairs will begin committee work on TFFR and PERS contribution and benefits bills as well as defined contribution bills beginning Thursday morning at 8:30.

Hope to see you at the Negotiations Seminar on Friday and Saturday, February 4-5. We will be providing a legislative update at lunch on Friday.

Everyone has access to bill topics and texts, hearing schedules, and bill status reports at the Legislature’s Web site. NDSBA’s Web site includes this weekly Legislative Newsletter, hearing schedules for the upcoming week, and the list of bills NDSBA is tracking. Updated information will be posted Thursday or Friday each week depending on when information becomes available.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

ND State Web site: www.nd.gov

ND Legislative Information Web site: www.legis.nd.gov

Legislature Toll Free # 1-888-635-3447

Bismarck Legislative # 328-3373