Day 36 - 3/23/2006

>> Back to Week Ten, Mar. 20 - Mar. 24

Senate Approves 2007 Budget; House Passes Immigration Bill

The Senate adopted its version of the FY 2007 budget, and both the House and Senate insisted on their positions. Senate Version - 2007 Budget  A House-Senate conference committee will begin work on a final version of the FY 2007 budget shortly and is expected to work most of the weekend.

The House passed SB 529 on undocumented immigrants. An amendment to delay implementation until 2009 failed. The House also passed SB 618, which requires local school systems to provide an education for children in the custody of DHR or DJJ and SB 515, which expands remedial education to the middle school grades. The Senate passed HB 1092 , which creates a suicide prevention program within the Public Health Division of the Department of Human Resources.

Coming Events:

Friday, March 24

The House-Senate Conference Committee on the 2007 Budget will meet at 8:00 a.m. in Room 403 CAP.

Two education bills are on the House calendar for a vote: SB 288, which states that a teacher cannot be forced to change a grade, and SB 413, the compulsory attendance act which requires parental permission before a student ages 16-17 can drop out of school; SB 413 was amended to include the opt-out version of the school clubs bill, which allows parents information and oversight over their children’s extracurricular activities. It is also likely that SB 382, the child support bill, will be on the House floor for a vote.

The Senate will take up HB 1358 (class size), HB 1059 (sexual predators), and HB 1145 (juvenile proceedings).