SEE Notes

Hectic Week Begins. With the first committee deadline a mere eleven days away (March 10), this promises to be a very busy week, with policy committees likely meeting into the night to accommodate the numerous hearing requests submitted by bill authors. The Legislature set very early deadlines this year and with so many new legislators (and new party control in the Senate), a lot of bills didn't get introduced until relatively recently. That means there is a bottleneck and the only thing that can take care of that is a set of long committee meetings (or a lot of officially dead bills).

The Senate E-12 Finance Committee was the only education-related committee that met today and it covered six bills. Senator Gary Dahms had two bills before the committee: SF 1033, a bill that modifies the regional library support system, and SF 618, a bill that creates an agricultural educator grant program to help facilitate summer programs for students interested in agriculture by reimbursing agriculture teachers for providing summer programming. Senator Bill Weber's SF 1038, a bill that would increase the state reimbursement for every school lunch provided was also heard. SF 859, Senator Senjem's bill to create a grant program to the Girl Scout Valleys for the ConnectZ program, provided some compelling testimony from a number of young women who have been helped by the program. Senator Wiklund's SF 1356, which would provide a grant for the Works Museum--a museum that concentrates on providing support for STEM programs--was heard as well. Lastly, Chair Carla Nelson's SF 945 was heard and referred to the floor. That bill clarifies the calculation of general education revenue.

BILL INTRODUCTIONS

House

HF 1708-Knoblach-Funds Promise Neighborhood of Central Minnesota

HF 1716-Loon-Increases Basic Formula 2% per Year

HF 1727-Zerwas-Requires School Districts to Report Monthly Energy Consumption

HF 1744-A. Carlson-Grant for Works Museum

HF 1759-Kunesh-Podein-Responsible Family Life and Sexuality Curriculum

HF 1768-Fenton-Modifies Alternative Teacher Licensure Requirements

HF 1787-B. Johnson-Allows School Districts to Maintain a Supply of Oxygen

HF 1798-Urdahl-Grants for Minnesota Youth Council

HF 1801-Loon-Appropriation for Parent-Child Visitation Program

HF 1820-Erickson-Allows Charter Schools to Change Authorizers