[Oasfaa] FW: Legislative Update – March 4, 2016

Fri Mar 4 15:37:18 CST 2016

Below is the legislative update for this week.  You will see that the list is much shorter now.  We have only one OKPromise bill still on the list at this point but there are a couple of other bills related to financial aid under the Scholarships and Financial Aid section.  The next deadline for bills is to be passed on the floor of their house of origin by Thursday, March 10.
Bryce

OKLAHOMA STATE REGENTS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

Memo

To:                  Legislative Network
From:             Chancellor Glen D. Johnson
Date:               Friday, March 04, 2016
Subject:          Legislative Update – March 4, 2016

The update below reflects the current status of major legislation concerning Higher Education during the week of February 29, 2016 – March 4, 2016.

If you have any questions, please contact Hollye Hunt at hhunt at osrhe.edu<mailto:hhunt at osrhe.edu> or 405.225.9424.

Legislative Report
March 4, 2016

Governance

No pending legislation.

Appropriations/funding/bonds

SB 1353// Senator Patrick Anderson// The legislation requires the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education to submit the master lease list to every member of the Legislature, not just the Governor, Pro Tem, and Speaker.

UPDATE:  The legislation passed out of the Senate on Tuesday, March 1, 2016 with a vote of 43-0.

HB 3058// Representative Tom Newell and Senator Greg Treat// The bill directs the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) to reconcile all state agency revolving funds following the reconciliation criteria created by the Director of OMES by the first Monday of August each year. Proceeds realized by the reconciliation are to be deposited in the Special Cash Fund for the certification by the State Board of Equalization for expenditure authority in the following fiscal year. The measure allows state agency directors to file reconciliation protests with the Legislative Oversight Committee by the second Friday in August each year. The measure authorizes the Oversight Committee to convene by the first Friday in December to consider the protest.

UPDATE:  The legislation passed out of the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, February 24, 2016.

Consolidation

SB 895// Senator Kyle Loveless// The legislation consolidates the Office of the State Bond Advisor into the Office of the State Treasurer.
UPDATE:  The bill has been referred to the Senate General Government Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee.  The bill passed out of the Senate General Government Committee on Monday, February 15, 2016.  The bill passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, February 24, 2016.

SB 1265// Senator Clark Jolley// The legislation deletes the language regarding the course offerings at Cameron University in Duncan, Connors State College in Muskogee, Eastern Oklahoma State College in McAlester, Southeastern Oklahoma State University in McCurtain County, Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Woodward, Northern Oklahoma College in Enid, and Carl Albert State College in Sallisaw.
UPDATE:  The bill has been referred to the Senate Education Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee.  The legislation passed out of the Senate Education Committee on Monday, February 8, 2016. The bill passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, February 24, 2016.

OKPromise

HB 2823// Representative Lee Denney and Senator Jim Halligan// The legislation authorizes the OKPromise scholarship to be used for a career technology program eligible for federal student financial aid offered by a technology center school supervised by the State Board of Career and Technology Education.

UPDATE:  The bill passed out of the House Higher Education and Career Technology Committee on Wednesday, February 17, 2016.

Scholarships and Financial Aid

HB 2515// Representative Ann Coody// The legislation adds an area of emphasis to the Financial Literacy Act related to the filling out of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
UPDATE:  The bill passed out of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.  The bill passed out of the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, February 24, 2016.

HB 2676 // Representative Corey Williams// The legislation allows certain military personnel and their dependents to receive in-state status.
UPDATE:  The bill passed out of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education on Monday, February 15, 2016.  The bill passed out of the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, February 24, 2016.

HB 2681// Representative Dennis Johnson// The legislation allows for an undergraduate tuition waiver for students who are 65 or older, a resident of the state, and pursuing studies in teacher education.
UPDATE:  The bill passed out of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education on Monday, February 15, 2016.  The bill passed out of the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, February 24, 2016.

SB 984// Senator Ron Sharp and Representative Justin Wood// The legislation creates the Oklahoma Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program. A teacher will be eligible for the loan repayment if the teacher graduated from an institution within The Oklahoma State System of Higher Education with a bachelor's degree in education and teaches at an Oklahoma public school for six (6) consecutive years. The teacher is not required to teach at the same public school for six (6) consecutive years.  The participating teacher will be eligible for an award of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00) at the end of each consecutive year in which a qualifying teacher meets the criteria.  The award shall be paid directly to the financial institution that holds the qualifying teacher's student loans in an amount not to exceed fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000.00).
UPDATE:  The bill has been referred to the Senate Education Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee.  The legislation passed out of the Senate Education committee on Monday, February 15, 2016.  The bill passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, February 24, 2016.

Shell Bills

HB 2248// Representative Jason Murphey// The legislation is a shell bill related to the Chief Information Officer.

UPDATE:  The legislation passed out of the House on Tuesday, March 1, 2016 with a vote of 64-27.

Repealer Bills

No pending legislation.

Energy Conservation

HB 3116// Representative Scott Martin// The legislation clarifies the exemption for the State Facilities Energy Conservation Program. Upon notification by a state agency, the Director shall consider any organizational behavior-based or performance-based energy conservation programs under contract with a state agency prior to August 24, 2012.

UPDATE:  The legislation passed out of the House on Wednesday, February 24, 2016 with a vote of 93-0.

Weapons on Campus/ Campus Safety

HB 2931// Representative Mark McCullough//  The legislation requires that each school district and institution of higher learning in the state have certain building safety plans and procedures in place and make specified annual reports. Further, the safety plans will follow a standard response protocol for emergency situations developed by a nationally recognized organization and be based on nationally recognized practices. Each plan will consist of four specific actions and include specific measures.
UPDATE:  The bill passed out of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education on Monday, February 15, 2016.  The bill passed out of the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, February 24, 2016.

Housing

No pending legislation.

Telecommunications/ IT

HB 2616// Representative Todd Thomsen//  The legislation is a shell bill related to the “Oklahoma Telecommunications Act of 1997.”
UPDATE:  The bill has been referred to the House Utilities Committee.  The legislation passed out of committee on Wednesday, February 24, 2016.

Data and Reporting

HB 3028// Representative John Paul Jordan//  The legislation requires the Oklahoma State Regents, in conjunction with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, to annually prepare an economic security employment report of employment and earning outcomes for degrees earned at colleges and universities.  Beginning January 31, 2018, each institution will need to provide the report to students electronically.
UPDATE:  The bill passed out of the House Higher Education and Career Technology Committee on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.

HB 3166// Representative Jeff Hickman// The legislation requires additional information to be included in the State Regents’ annual report to the legislature.  The legislation would now require the report to include:

1.     The budget prepared by the State Regents setting out in detail the necessary expenses of the State Regents for the next fiscal year;

2.     The budget requests or proposals submitted by each institution to the State Regents for the next fiscal year;

3.     The funding formula or allotment system used by the State Regents to allocate money to each institution, including a description of the functional goals of the formula or system for distributing funds to each institution;

4.     A calculation of any differences in the budget requests amounts for each institution and the actual amounts allocated to each institution, including an explanation for any differences; and

5.     Any other data considered relevant by the State Regents.
Additionally, by January 1 of each year, each institution of The Oklahoma State System of Higher Education shall submit a report to the Governor, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the minority floor leaders and education committee chairs of both houses of the Oklahoma Legislature, which includes:

1.     A copy of reports submitted to the State Regents, which itemizes the tuition and fees for each institution by campus or location; and

2.     The total budget of each institution for the previous fiscal year, including the amount of revenue received from tuition and fee and other sources and expenses for each campus or location.

UPDATE:  The bill passed out of the House Government Oversight and Accountability Committee on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.

SB 1342// Senator Greg Treat and Representative Tom Newell// The legislation changes the definition of the term “expenditure of state funds” to the term “expenditure of funds” in the Taxpayer Transparency Act.  The bill requires the Open Books website to include data which tracks the expenditures of federal funds by FY 2017.
UPDATE:  The bill passed out of the Senate General Government Committee on Monday, February 8, 2016.

State Authorization

SB 1157// Senator Stephanie Bice// The legislation requires all private and out-of-state public degree granting institutions to abide by policies and procedures that are established by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.
UPDATE:  The bill passed out of the Senate Education Committee on Monday, February 15, 2016.

Colleges of Education/ Academics

HB 2551// Representative Ann Coody// The legislation requires the State Regents to enter into a contract with a nonprofit education center for the purposes of establishing a comprehensive dyslexia teacher training program.  The legislation establishes an advisory committee and requires the program to be implemented within 90 days of the effective date of the act.
UPDATE:  The legislation passed out of the House on Monday, February 29, 2016 with a vote of 87-4.

HB 2951// Representative Michael Rogers//  The legislation requires the State Department of Education and the Oklahoma State Regents to identify and recruit students into the teaching profession.  The legislation directs the Department to develop materials to distribute and emphasize the importance of teaching.

UPDATE:  The bill passed out of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.  The bill passed out of the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, February 17, 2016.

SB 940// Senator Jason Smalley// The legislation directs the Oklahoma State Department of Education, in collaboration with the Oklahoma State Regents, to define “college readiness” as it relates to a student’s performance on statutory assessments, ACT, SAT or other college placement assessments.  The legislation also requires the State Regents to develop transition courses for 12th grade students who have not achieved college readiness by the end of the 11th grade year.
UPDATE:  The bill has been referred to the Senate Education Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee.  The legislation passed out of the Senate Education Committee on Monday, February 8, 2016.  The legislation passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, February 17, 2016.

SB 1380// Senator John Ford//  The legislation relates to requirements for graduation.  The bill would modify the description of laboratory science units, reduce the number of required art units or sets of competencies and add a computer education unit or set of competencies to the requirements.

UPDATE: The bill has been referred to the Senate Education Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee.  The legislation passed out of the Senate Education Committee on Monday, February 22, 2016.  The legislation passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, February 24, 2016.

Immigration

No pending legislation.

Athletics

HB 2615// Representative Todd Thomsen and Senator Jim Halligan// The legislation prohibits the giving of money or a thing of value to a student-athlete or family member for the purpose of recruitment, and it prohibits any transaction between a person and a student-athlete that would likely cause the student-athlete to permanently or temporarily lose athletic scholarship and participation eligibility.  A violation of the measure would result in a misdemeanor for the donor and the person would be subject to a fine or imprisonment or both.
UPDATE:  The legislation passed out of the House on February 18, 2016 with a vote of 59- 30.

Employment/Retirement

HB 3164// Representative Jeff Hickman and Senator Dan Newberry//  The legislation provides that when an employee begins work for an employer, and both know the end date of employment is within 9 months, for purposes of the Employment Security Act the worker is considered to have voluntarily quit at that end date.
UPDATE:  The legislation passed out of the House on Tuesday, March 1, 2016 with a vote of 70-12.

Thank you.

Glen D. Johnson
Chancellor
Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education
655 Research Parkway, Suite 200
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104
405.225.9122
gjohnson at osrhe.edu<mailto:gjohnson at osrhe.edu>

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