House activity
The House passed Senate Bill (SB) 89 by a vote of 88-7. The bill revises the Educational Choice Scholarship Program, dissolves the three academic distress commissions and repeals the school district territory transfer law from the state budget bill. The bill returns to the Senate for a concurrence vote, where the Senate is expected to refuse to concur with the House’s changes. A conference committee will need to be convened to reconcile the differences between each chamber’s version of the bill. Click here for a discussion of the bill.
Senate activity
The Senate passed SB 134 by a vote of 32-0. The bill increases the penalties for the offense of improperly passing a stopped school bus, allows images captured by school bus cameras to be used as corroborating evidence for such an offense and appropriates $500,000 for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 for purchasing and installing cameras on school buses. The bill now goes to the House.
Senate Education Committee
The committee amended House Bill (HB) 123 during its fourth hearing. The bill requires public schools to implement certain programs on and provide instruction in suicide awareness and prevention and violence prevention. The amendment permits ESCs to qualify for school safety training grants.
The committee also passed SB 34, which revises school employment policies and revises procedures regarding educator licensure and conduct.
Senate Ways and Means Committee
The committee accepted a substitute version of SB 212 during its fourth hearing. The bill provides a full or partial tax exemption to developers and owners of newly constructed homes within specified areas during the construction period and for 10 years after the home is occupied. Click here to read the substitute version.
House Health Committee
The committee held a second hearing on HB 436, sponsored by Rep. Brian Baldridge (R-Winchester), which requires professional development for screening and intervention for children with dyslexia; requires school districts to establish structured literacy certification procedures; and requires districts to employ specified ratios of structured literacy certified teachers.
The committee also held a second hearing on HB 243, sponsored by Reps. Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson) and C. Alison Russo (D-Upper Arlington), which requires that all health benefit plans, including those provided by school districts, provide coverage for the full cost of up to $2,500 per hearing aid for each hearing-impaired ear every 48 months for a covered person under 22 years of age and all related services.
Senate Local Government, Public Safety and Veterans Affairs Committee
The committee held sponsor testimony on SB 253, sponsored by Sen. Stephanie Kunze (R-Hilliard), which revises the law regarding the expulsion of a student for communicating a threat of violence to occur on school grounds.
House Civil Justice Committee
The committee held a second hearing on HB 369, sponsored by Reps. Brett Hudson Hillyer (R-Uhrichsville) and Michael J. Skindell (D-Lakewood), which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.
Posted by Will Schwartz on 2/7/2020.