February 27 is the deadline for all bills from fiscal committees to have passed out of committee. Attention then focuses on floor action. All bills will have until March 10 to clear their chamber of origin.
Two important legislative cut-off dates are February 20 and February 27. The first date is when all policy bills have to have been heard by a committee(s) and the latter date is the similar deadline for all bills from fiscal committees.
The beauty of the democratic system is that citizens have access to their political leaders. And often, those leaders listen and respond. This has certainly been the case in addressing the lack of substitute teachers for school districts. But, this only occurs if and when legislators hear from those in their communities. (See remarks below on SB 5148 for an important opportunity to be heard.)
The availability of substitute teachers is a real problem for school districts across the state. The good news is that legislators have clearly heard from their school leaders in their legislative districts about the need to expand the pool of those eligible to substitute. There is also data from a recent survey that further expresses the need.
In 2012, ESSB 5940 regarding school employee benefits passed. It directed the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) to collect data on the health plans and costs from all school districts. This phase has been done with 100% of districts and carriers submitting the data. The legislation also mandated that school districts must offer a high deductible health plan option with a health savings account similar to that required for state employees.
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