[Oasfaa] FW: First Legislative Update – January 12, 2018

Tue Jan 16 14:32:12 CST 2018

Below is the first legislative update for the 2018 session.  Only a small portion of the introduced bills have been reviewed yet.  You will see that three of the bills listed below propose changes to Oklahoma’s Promise (in the “Oklahoma’s Promise” section of the list).
Bryce Fair

OKLAHOMA STATE REGENTS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

Memo

To:                  Legislative Network
From:             Chancellor Glen D. Johnson
Date:               Friday, January 12, 2018
Subject:          Legislative Update – January 12, 2018

As of January 12, 2018, the Senate has filed 999 bills (125 new bills for this session) and 50 Senate Joint Resolutions (3 new resolutions for this session. The House has filed 1,564 bills (53 new bills for this session) and 32 House Joint Resolutions (2 new resolutions for this session). We are currently in the process of reviewing legislation as it is filed. Below is the list of legislation related to higher education that has been reviewed to date.

If you have any questions, please contact Todd Pauley at tpauley at osrhe.edu<mailto:tpauley at osrhe.edu> or (405) 824-5896.

Legislative Report
January 12, 2018

Agency Administration

Senate Bill 876 (Senator Rob Standridge) This is an attempt to get rid of legislative liaison positions in favor of auditors positions housed in the Legislative Services Bureau [LSB]. It removes 70 percent of the cost of liaisons and 100 percent of the cost of contract lobbying positions and uses the funding to pay for the newly created LSB positions.

Senate Bill 909 (Senator Josh Brecheen) Adds to the definition of “incentive” in the Incentive Evaluation Act any transfer of funds by a state agency to a political subdivision other than a direct apportionment of state revenues as provided by law or funding of a project pursuant to a program administered by the agency which includes specific objective criteria for the awarding of such funding.

Senate Bill 917 (Senator Josh Brecheen) Adds to the lobbying rules that a lobbyist principal shall not provide anything of value which exceeds $100 in a calendar year to the Governor, an individual legislator or any individual employee of the Governor or the Legislature, regardless of the number of lobbyists representing the lobbyist principal. This legislation also lowers the allowed meals and other gifts expenditure from $500 to $100 and requires that a legislative lobbyist representing more than one principal cannot exceed $200.

Senate Bill 918 (Senator Josh Brecheen) Adds to what has to be reported on income tax for legislators any income $5,000 or more that is related to politics, public relations, communications, etc.

Senate Bill 925 (Senator Roger Thompson) Raises the requirement for an agency cost analysis report when privatizing a function from $100,000 to $1 million and changes the privatization process.

Senate Bill 945 (Senator Tom Dugger) Changes the current penalty for agencies found to be noncompliant in providing reports as required by the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES). Rather than the State Treasurer not honoring vouchers disbursing and transferring monies from agency clearing accounts, agencies will have 15 business days to resolve the delinquency, after which the Director of OMES may assess and collect a monetary penalty of up to $300 per day until the agency is found to be compliant.

Senate Bill 951 (Senator Nathan Dahm) Bars agencies from entering into contingency-free contracts with private attorneys unless approved by the Attorney General.

House Bill 2523 (Representative Randy McDaniel) Changes state unemployment benefits. Specifically mentions educational service contract employees and modifies when they can enroll in unemployment benefits.

House Bill 2528 (Representative Bobby Cleveland) Allows state employees to pursue civil action in whistleblower cases.

House Bill 2557 (Representative Dennis Casey) Sets the maximum salary of Agency CEO’s to be no greater than the salary of the Governor. All increases in salary shall be approved by the legislature.

Budget

Senate Joint Resolution 48 (Senator Josh Brecheen) This resolution puts to a vote of the people a constitutional amendment requiring the Legislature to make line-item appropriations to each institution within the State System of Higher Education.

Senate Bill 924 (Senator Mark Allen) Requires an audit for every agency that requests an increase in funding relative to its current fiscal year request.

House Joint Resolution 1032 (Representative Harold Wright) This resolution puts to a vote of the people to change the three-fourths requirement vote of the House for revenue bills to a three-fifths vote.

House Bill 2533 (Representative Collin Walke) Increases the minimum wage to $11 an hour, effective January 1, 2019.

Campus Safety/Guns

Senate Bill 910 (Senator Nathan Dahm) Removes the word “bow” from hunting requirements to open carry for persons with a handgun and military identification card.

Senate Bill 957 (Senator Michael Bergstrom) Adds “places of worship” to places where citizens have a right to use defensive force.

Senate Bill 964 (Senator Michael Bergstrom) Changes the words “anywhere in the state of Oklahoma” to “throughout the state of Oklahoma” in CLEET certified firearm carrying allowances.

Senate Bill 991 (Senator John Sparks) Removes language allowing persons designated by the school board or licensed as a security guard to carry handguns on public school property.

House Bill 2527 (Representative Bobby Cleveland) Allows county employees in a courthouse to conceal carry.

Common Education

Senate Bill 903 (Senator AJ Griffin) If an employee is fired from a school district due to consolidation, the Board of Education cannot pay severance until the employee has filed for unemployment and then the severance is reduced by the total amount of unemployment benefits paid.

Senate Bill 920 (Senator Stephanie Bice) Forces administrative school consolidation of districts with an average daily membership of less than 200 with the next contiguous school district.

Senate Bill 935 (Senator Ron Sharp) If the State Board of Education suspends a teacher certificate, that teacher remains employed while proceedings are pending.

Senate Bill 929 (Senator Gary Stanislawski) Updates disability definitions in the State Aid Formula.

Senate Bill 950 (Senator Gary Stanislawski) Allows public schools to permit a student to possess and self-apply sunscreen without written authorizations.

Senate Bill 958 (Senator David Rader) Allows homeschooled and alternatively educated students to participate in extracurricular activities in their resident district. Adds them partially to the funding/accountability formula.

Senate Bill 960 (Senator Julie Daniels) Changes rules for initiating and terminating school employee payroll deductions to require written requests.

Senate Bill 967 (Senator John Sparks) Requires public school districts with out-of-school suspension rates 10% higher than the state average to engage in quarterly continuing education on alternatives to out-of-school suspension. Requires superintendents of public school districts to review their districts out-of-school suspension data and report it to the State Department of Education on July 1 of each year.

Senate Bill 985 (Senator Ron Sharp) Creates a mandate that virtual charter schools provide reports according to a set plan with the State Virtual Charter School Board if their graduation rates is below the state graduation rate, with the possibility for closure should no improvement occur.

Senate Bill 981 (Senator AJ Griffin) Adds substance abuse diagnosis and homelessness to qualifications for the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship for Students with Disabilities Program.

Senate Bill 986 (Senator Ron Sharp) Adds “a member who represents a statewide association of school board members” to the School Finance Review Commission.

Senate Bill 987 (Senator John Sparks) Adds definition of “career” into the private school code.

Senate Bill 999 (Senator Greg McCortney) Allows students who transfer due to legal custody changes to participate in extracurricular activities with no waiting period.
House Bill 2556 (Representative Dennis Casey) Amends the statute prohibiting teachers from entering new contracts before their previous contract ends to add Charter Schools.

Oklahoma’s Promise

Senate Bill 877 (Senator Josh Brecheen) Requires the State Board of Equalization to cap the amount of funding available for Oklahoma’s Promise at $75 million, subtracted from the amount the Board certifies as available for appropriation from the General Revenue fund, effective December 2021.

Senate Bill 889 (Senator Josh Brecheen) This lowers the second income check amount on Oklahoma’s Promise from $100,000 to $75,000, beginning with the 2023-2024 academic year.

House Bill 2513 (Representative Monroe Nichols) Adds to the Oklahoma’s Promise qualifications the children of anyone who is employed as a teacher or support employee.

Teacher Shortage

Senate Bill 952 (Senator Roger Thompson) Provides a $500 tax credit to teachers for unreimbursed classroom expenses.

Senate Bill 980 (Senator AJ Griffin) Creates criteria to issue “Career,” “Mentor,” and “Lead” teacher certificates.

Teachers Retirement System

House Bill 2555 (Representative Justin Humphrey) Requires that the organization of retired teachers which makes an appointment to the TRS board have at least 10,000 members.

House Bill 2553 (Representative Randy McDaniel) Allows TRS to terminate the Tax Sheltered Annuity Program.

University Policy

Senate Bill 884 (Senator Josh Brecheen) This puts a moratorium on allocating funds for the Art in Public Places Act if the State Board of Equalization revenue certification in February is less than the certified revenue amount from February of the previous year.

Senate Bill 899 (Senator Ron Sharp) This requires training on “appropriate behavior between students and school employees” to be a part of accredited teacher education programs at all Oklahoma institutions of higher education.

Shell Bills

House Bill 2525 (Representative Bobby Cleveland) Child Care Act shell bill.

House Bill 2529 (Representative Monroe Nichols) Scholarship tax credit shell bill.

House Bill 2560 (Representative Michael Rogers) Creates School Sunscreen Act.

House Bill 2561 (Representative Michael Rogers) Creates Oklahoma Common Education Act.

House Bill 2562 (Representative Michael Rogers) Creates Oklahoma Common Education Act.

House Bill 2563 (Representative Michael Rogers) Creates Oklahoma Common Education Act.

House Bill 2564 (Representative Michael Rogers) Creates Oklahoma Common Education Act.

Thank you.

Glen

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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