Dec
14
Written by:
Peter Spadafore
Monday, December 14, 2009 9:41 AM
The Legislature will be in for its final week of scheduled session for the decade. Race to the Top will be the focus and no conversations about budget will happen. Read on for more details.
The Legislature will be in for its final week of scheduled session for the decade. I’m optimistic for what will be accomplished in the coming days and hopeful that Race to the Top legislation can be passed out of conference committee and through both chambers. The real question will be on content of these bills – I’m confident something will get passed, just worried about what.
The conference committee process can be very confusing and “mysterious” to outside observers. Essentially what happens is each chamber appoints representatives from each party to sit on a joint committee. This joint committee is tasked with reconciling points of difference between the House and Senate versions of bills. Once the committee reaches consensus, the bill becomes a conference report. The conference report then is reported to each chamber for consideration.
Once the conference report is reported out of committee, it cannot be altered by either chamber, so House and Senate members are offered the option of voting for, against or abstaining on the conference report. This ensures that no amendments are placed on the report and the process moves quickly. Many times there is no public discussion on changes to the bill in the conference committee. Generally, one meeting is called to report out the conference report.
In the meantime, MASB is waiting for each chamber to name its conferees to the conference committee so that we can meet with members to relay our concerns with the current legislation and to share our input on what we’d like to see in the final bill.
Again, stay tuned for updates.
Peter Spadafore, MASB
2 comment(s) so far...
Re: Come Together
Many thanks Peter for your updates.
By Jill Fennessy on
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 2:34 PM
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Re: Come Together
Thank you your continued support and easy-to-understand informative updates. As local school boards begin to sign MOU, it is essential that we understand the long term impacts.
By Joan Sutherland on
Thursday, December 17, 2009 11:56 AM
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