Last week, the legislature held many committee meetings but not too many floor votes. It appears many of the issues were getting set up to run long session days with votes this week or next.  You can catch up on all that happened last week in Friday’s News From the Capitol.  

With about five session days left in lame duck, there are plenty of issues to watch. The biggest right now is House Bill 6058 which makes changes to the 80/20 and hard cap law regarding health care costs. It will raise the hard cap by about seven percent starting January 1, 2025, and set 80/20 as a floor, rather than a ceiling. We continue to work to find a way to address the rising healthcare costs for our staff but not overwhelm budgets mid-year.  

There are plenty of other issues moving, including FAFSA, mandating kindergarten, addressing the dark store property tax issue and expanding financial transparency to education management organizations for charter schools. We have a complete list of bills we are watching on our website. Things in lame duck can move at an accelerated pace thereby making it difficult to share timely information. We will do our best to keep you as informed as possible throughout the month. Please watch for those opportunities to respond and share them with your fellow board members, staff, family and friends. The more voices the Legislature hears from, the more effective we are.  

Also, if you missed Views From the Capitol on Nov. 18, it is now available through our website.  In the webcast, we covered the lame duck rumors and some of the legislation we are watching.  

As always, if you have questions or need assistance contacting your legislator, please contact us, we are here to help.