Latest news with #SenateBills1
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
It's time to pass FOIA reforms
Sens. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan) and Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) take questions from reporters following the passage of legislation to expand the state's Freedom of Information Act on Jan. 29, 2025. | Kyle Davidson It feels like our politics are more divided than ever. But if you listen closely to what residents on both the left and right are saying, there is a common theme: A demand for a more transparent and accountable government. Our legislation to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in Michigan achieves just that. Through FOIA, the public can request the behind-the-scenes documents – emails, memos, agendas, schedules, and more – from their city or township hall, their school district, county officials, and state departments to better understand how the government decisions that impact them are made. Who did your mayor meet with? What did your school board members send to each other? Did the county follow through on the issue you brought up? Residents can find all of that out through FOIA. But shockingly, Michigan's law does not subject our governor and state legislators to those same record requests, thereby blocking the public from seeing the inner workings of our State Capitol Building. All 50 states have FOIA, but Michigan is nearly alone in the country with those outrageous and glaring exemptions for the executive and lawmakers. This contributes to why our state ranks worst in the country in government ethics. When state government officials operate in the dark, scandals in Lansing continue to persist. Nearly a decade ago, as representatives in the Michigan House – a Democrat from metro-Detroit and a Republican from the Upper Peninsula – we joined together to introduce legislation that finally includes the governor's office and legislature in Michigan's FOIA to bring sunshine to state government. Our bills passed in the House, but the Senate refused to take it up. Then we were both elected to the Senate, where we passed our legislation last year, but the House wouldn't move on it. This year, we introduced our legislation as the very first bills of the new session: Senate Bills 1 and 2. They passed overwhelmingly in January and were swiftly sent over to the House, where they currently sit. It's past time for the full legislature – Republicans and Democrats – to come together to act on these bills. The public should not have to wait any longer.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Indiana bill to shift more dollars from traditional publics to charter schools earns Senate approval
Sen. Linda Rogers, R-LaGrange, answers questions about her charter school funding bill on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (Casey Smith/Indiana Capital Chronicle) A bill to expand property tax revenue for charter schools cleared a key legislative hurdle Thursday despite fierce pushback from both sides of the aisle and hours of debate on the Senate floor. Within Senate Bill 518 are provisions to require all Indiana public school districts to share property tax dollars with charter schools in their attendance boundaries if 100 or more students leave the traditional district for brick-and-mortar charters. Districts under that threshold would not have to fund-share. Virtual charters also would not qualify under the latest draft of the bill. Affected school districts would additionally have to share with charters a portion of property taxes used to pay off debt for long-term projects — known as debt service levy. The amounts shared would be based on the number of students attending the charter school. 'We talk about school choice, and we talk about kids. But we need to also think about the parents that are choosing to send their child to a different school — to a charter school,' said Sen. Linda Rogers, R-Granger, just before her bill advanced 28-21 to the House. 'Those tax dollars, for years, have not followed their children. Today, we need to make that change.' The legislation was scaled back Wednesday to slow down the timeline for revenue sharing. Rogers said the amendment 'concessions' were largely prompted by her Senate Republican caucus colleagues. Twelve GOP senators ultimately voted against the bill. 'It's a contentious issue. … There are some members of ours that had concerns about it. I wasn't surprised that it was going to be a close issue,' said Republican Senate Pro Tem Rodric Bray. He cited specific concerns about the combined impact of the charter school bill alongside Senate Bill 1, the state's pending property tax reform. 'The combination of Senate Bills 1 and 518 make it, maybe, a little bit more difficult to really see with 20/20 vision the impact that's going to have on our local government, but in particular on our schools,' he continued. 'We just have to make sure that what we do there is good policy. But that does bring some trepidation to some of the members, I think.' The bill prompted widespread pushback from Democrats and advocates for traditional public schools, who argued that it will drain critical funds from already cash-strapped districts. They worried, too, that such policy will force more school closures, especially within Indianapolis Public Schools. 'The clear losers here are the students and the parents who have chosen to send their students to traditional public schools. We hear people talk about school choice, but it robs tax dollars from the parents of 90% of our future students who choose public schools. Where is the respect for their choice?' asked Senate Minority Leader Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington. 'This bill takes away that local choice. It overrides the rule of voters, the will of voters.' Democrats offered 18 amendments to the bill on Wednesday, all of which failed. Those included proposals to reduce revenue sharing requirements, and to pause the bill altogether to allow for further study on impacts. 'The bottom line here today is that we've got a false argument to suggest that taxpayers benefit from money following individual children when we're talking about property taxes. Property taxes are meant to fund local systems, to strengthen entire communities,' said Sen. Andrea Hunley, D-Indianapolis. 'There's no harm in us taking a step back and evaluating the entire landscape of our schools and how we fund them before we start destabilizing them.' Data compiled by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools shows that 52,399 Hoosier students attended charter schools during the 2023-24 academic year — up from 46,796 in 2019-20. A state law adopted in 2023 already requires school districts in Marion, Lake, St. Joseph and Vanderburgh counties — which have high shares of charter attendance — to share a portion of property taxes used for operations with charters located in the same county. Rogers' bill seeks to extend that requirement statewide. Rogers said there are 36 Hoosier school districts that would meet the 100 or more student requirement. The phase-in period now included in the bill varies, depending on the number of students attending charter schools within each school district. Districts with fewer than 500 students attending charter schools would have three years to phase in revenue sharing. Districts with between 500 and 5,000 charter school students must complete the transition within four years, and those with 5,000 or more charter students would have five years. Rogers said the slower approach will give districts more time to assess budget impacts, including from possible property tax reforms in Senate Bill 1. The current version of that measure is projected to cost school districts more than $370 million in property tax revenue across three years. 'This provides school corporations plenty of time to make any needed budget adjustments,' Rogers said. 'We'll continue to see what the impact is of Senate Bill 1. Specifically, that's why I moved (bill provisions) to 2028, because we don't know, in essence, what we're doing with that.' The bill gradually increases the amount of school district operating and debt service revenues that are subject to sharing, from 33% in 2026, to 66% in 2027, and the full amount in 2028. As a distressed political unit, Gary Community School Corporation would be exempt from any tax sharing 2028. An updated legislative fiscal analysis estimates that Rogers' bill will redirect $18.6 million to charter schools over three years. That's a drop from the $150 million that was expected to be redistributed over the same period under an earlier version of the legislation. Charter schools would additionally have increased access to funds collected by school districts through voter referendums; any school district that adopts a property tax levy for a controlled project after May 10 — such as for new building construction or a school safety referendum — must allocate a portion of the revenue to nearby brick-and-mortar charters. The state currently gives charter schools an extra $1,400 per pupil to compensate for their lack of property taxes. But under the new funding plan, grant amounts would decrease — or be eliminated altogether — for charters netting property tax dollars. Grants would only kick in if charters receive less than $1,400 from property taxes. By further shifting the funding burden onto local property taxpayers, the state is estimated to save roughly $19 million. Rogers did not close the door on future legislative 'adjustments,' however, if the new funding model causes school districts to struggle. Unlike traditional public school districts, which receive local property tax revenue, charter schools have primarily relied on state funding. Even so, charters continue to take in more state tuition support dollars on a per-student basis than their traditional counterparts, according to legislative fiscal analysts. Charter school critics have long argued that such schools are not obligated to serve every student in a given community — unlike those in traditional public school districts. That's because capacity limits student enrollment. If a charter has more applicants than spots, a lottery is used. The public charters also have private boards and are therefore not accountable to voters, opponents say. That could change slightly; Rogers' bill includes a provision to allow traditional public school districts to appoint a member to a charter school's board. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Behavioral health package shifts responsibility to the courts
The New Mexico Senate Finance Committee questioned Administrative Office of the Courts Director Karl Reifsteck and Health Care Authority Cabinet Secretary Kari Armijo about their roles in a proposed overhaul of the state's behavioral health system on Feb. 11, 2025. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM) Ahead of an expected vote on Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday adjusted the package of legislation meant to rebuild New Mexico's behavioral health system. Senate Finance Committee analyst Adrian Avila on Tuesday morning summarized changes to Senate Bills 1, 2 and 3, which taken together would shift much of the oversight of the state's behavioral health system to the state court system, but provide key roles for local government and the state's Health Care Authority. The legislation requires the state Health Care Authority to provide an initial set of proper treatment standards and local gaps in services to the courts, Avila said. But it makes the Administrative Office of the Courts responsible for making plans for what the specific behavioral health needs are in each region of the state, and for providing case management, Avila said. He said this part of the bill 'speaks with' the crime package being debated in the House of Representatives by making clear which services are available to someone if they're committed into a locked psychiatric facility. The committee's substitute for Senate Bill 3 would require the state court system, with HCA's help, to host regional meetings with experts to set priorities in their local areas to determine which services to deploy. Experts for those 'behavioral health regions' would include public defenders, prosecutors, the Children Youth and Families Department, school districts, police, jails and local behavioral health providers, among others, Avila said. 'When the courts know what services are available, then they have an incentive to ensure those services are functional, because it can prevent people from ever going into the criminal justice system,' Avila said. AOC Director Karl Reifsteck said his agency will take the Legislature's direction and try to do everything it asks, and it has some momentum from doing this kind of planning work in Santa Fe and Rio Arriba counties with the money lawmakers set aside during the special session in the summer. 'This is a huge expansion of what we do in terms of effort but we'll take it on because this is a big, important project for our state,' he said. Senate Finance Committee Chair George Muñoz (D-Gallup) said the committee will vote on the bills on Wednesday morning. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Senate Bill 1 would create a $1 billion Behavioral Health Trust Fund that would pay out 5%, or $50 million, each year, in the form of grants to providers in each region, Avila said. If a particular organization receives grant money from the regions and doesn't prove it's functioning well, the bill would allow the regions to take the money back and move it into another fund or priority in that local area, Avila said. The legislation makes the state Health Care Authority responsible for tracking contracts and grants, and ensuring the plans at the local level do not jeopardize the state Medicaid system, Avila said. The committee's substitute for Senate Bill 2 sets aside money for building out the infrastructure needed to use the state Medicaid program to pay for the behavioral health services to patients, Avila said. Senate Majority Whip Michael Padilla (D-Albuquerque) and Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D-Las Cruces) repeatedly asked for the legislation to include identifying some kind of project manager to be responsible for the behavioral health system's overall success. Avila said ideally that responsibility would lie with the Behavioral Health Services Division at HCA. He said the draft legislation would be changed on Tuesday 'with some mechanism' to address the senators' concerns. HCA Cabinet Secretary Kari Armijo said she isn't opposed to creating some kind of executive office to oversee these local behavioral health regions, and noted that the Behavioral Health Collaborative created by the Legislature more than 20 years ago 'hasn't really worked.' Avila said the legislation repeals the state law which created the collaborative, because it 'hasn't met for a long time, has been very inefficient, there's very little, if any trust in it functioning.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Fast-tracked behavioral health bills generate support, questions at Roundhouse
Jan. 29—SANTA FE — A bipartisan package of bills expanding New Mexico's mental health and drug abuse treatment system received broad support Wednesday, but also prompted a slew of questions. The proposals would, as a whole, establish a behavioral health trust fund with up to $1 billion in startup money, while also setting up a new state government framework based on regional implementation plans. Specific programs that would get a funding increase include housing assistance, mental health clinics and law enforcement-run crisis intervention programs. Behavioral health has emerged as a key issue during this year's 60-day legislative session as lawmakers look for ways to reduce homelessness, drug use and violent crime. "It's a huge issue in the state and we're finally paying attention to it," said Sen. Martin Hickey, D-Albuquerque, during Wednesday's meeting of the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee. The bills, Senate Bills 1, 2 and 3, are sponsored by a bipartisan group of senators, including the chamber's Democratic and Republican floor leaders — Peter Wirth of Santa Fe and William Sharer of Farmington. Wirth and other top Democrats have indicated the Senate could move quickly on the bills with the goal of getting them to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's desk by the midway point of the 60-day legislative session that began last week. During Wednesday's committee hearing, the package was applauded by senators but also scrutinized. Senate Bill 1, the proposed trust fund legislation, was approved on a 10-0 vote. But action on the other two bills in the package was put off until next week after more than three hours of debate. Wirth indicated he was on board with the decision to delay a vote, saying all senators on the committee should have time to vet the bills. Meanwhile, Sen. Liz Stefanics, D-Cerrillos, said up to 50% of New Mexicans could eventually come in contact with the state's behavioral health system. "I think that we're talking about a very large number," she said, citing increased rates of depression, alcoholism and other conditions. Sen. Jay Block, R-Rio Rancho, talked about his own experiences with post-traumatic stress disorder following his deployment to Afghanistan and growing up with a parent who struggled with drug use. "I don't want another kid to go through what I went through, or another veteran to go through what I went through," Block said. But he also asked about data-tracking mechanisms in the behavioral health package, saying, "If we're not making progress, we just can't keep throwing more and more money at it." New Mexico has one of the nation's highest suicide rates, and more than one-third of state residents reported anxiety or a depressive disorder in 2023, according to Kaiser Family Foundation data. While the state is projected to spend roughly $1.1 billion on behavioral health programs in the current budget year, the state's behavioral health collaborative had not met in over one year and did not have an appointed director as of last fall, according to legislative data.
