Last week was the first funnel week in the legislative session. This means that most bills that have not yet been approved by a committee are dead for the session. This is our way of narrowing down the bills that we will still deal with. However, because a bill passes a committee does not guarantee it will come up for a vote on the floor. Also, the funnel does not apply to the Appropriations Committee or the Ways and Means (tax writing) Committee.
Among the bills that were passed out of committees were bills dealing with disruptive students. You have probably heard about schools where classrooms are cleared of all but the disruptive student because school employees are not sure of heir legal liabilities in those situations. I have been told of the stress that teachers feel leading some to quit or consider quitting. One of the bills is my bill that extends immunity from criminal and civil liability that now exists for teachers to school boards, volunteers and the schools themselves, so long as they act reasonably, in pursuant of listed education policies. The other bill goes into detail describing how school personal should handle disruptions to avoid legal liability. It provides facilities for handling the worst behaving students. I think most people agree that a few disruptive students should not be allowed to interfere with the educations of the vast majority of students who behave as they should. At least some of the misbehavior is due to mental problems that we must do our best to treat.
My bill to set up a pilot program to use Direct Primary Care principles to reduce the cost of Medicaid and provide better care to participants also received committee approval. There would be at least two benefits from this bill. Since the doctor’s paperwork is greatly reduced, the doctor’s costs are reduced and he or she has more time to treat patients. Because doctors in the Direct Primary Care system typically have fewer patients, the patient can get a prompt appointment, making it much less likely that he or she will unnecessarily go to the emergency room. Medicaid patients would need other coverage for major medical issues.
I and several other Senators met with several members of the Governor’s staff to go over her proposal to raise the sales tax by 1 cent, and reduce other taxes, to result in a net tax reduction. As you know, if we raise the sales tax, the first 3/8 cent must go for conservation and water quality purposes. The Governor has proposals on how to best use the 3/8 cent and what to do with the other 5/8 cent. She envisions funding for programs that now are funded by income taxes or property taxes. She has made it very clear that she will not support a net tax increase. Most, if not all, Republican legislators agree with her on that point.
