Interesting (and Troubling) Bill Squeaks Out of Senate Transportation Committee.  Senator Scott Newman's SF 3837--a bill that would dedicate the revenue generated from the sales tax on auto repairs and auto replacement parts to the highway fund--passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee tonight on a vote of 8-7.  One Republican voted against the bill, which means if no minds change between now and the Senate floor, the bill will have rough sledding seeing it will need all the Republican votes (unless some DFLers cross over to support the bill) to pass given the one-vote partisan margin in the Senate.

The problem with the bill is straightforward.  As I have been wont to say, you can only spend a dollar once and any dollar diverted from the general fund for transportation purposes cannot be spent on budget categories that are more heavily reliant on general fund spending for support, particularly education and health and human services.  The other problem with the bill is that it is a proposed constitutional amendment.  This means that if the Legislature passes it, it will go on the ballot this fall with the Governor having no chance to veto it.  So stay tuned on this one.

Interesting Article from The Economist on Gifted and Talented Education.  Thought I'd toss this in today's blog.  It's an article from last week's issue of The Economist that talks about the identification and education of gifted students.  It's a very interesting article.

How and why to search for young Einsteins

Bill Introductions

House (Senate not in session)

HF 4260--Davnie--Requires that certain forecasted positive general fund balances be allocated to restore the special education aid payment percentage.

HF 4271--Pugh--Allows certain online core curricular courses to be delivered at sites other than public school buildings.

HF 4272--Knoblach--Provides special education equity aid.

HF 4274--Hertaus--Increases building lease levy.