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Dear Friend,
On Thursday, over 100 youth from all across Arkansas - Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, Little Rock, Pine Bluff, Strong, Monticello, Gould, Prescott and Camden - came to the Capitol to participate in the Youth Lobby Day.
60 of the Lobby Day participants came into Little Rock the night before for a lobby training at First Presbyterian Church.
A lot of the CFC's Priorities came up this week at the Capitol, and we have had both successes and setbacks:
We support: SB750, the Governor's prison reform bill, is now Act 570!
We support: HB1903, to clarify policy governing the state water plan, is now Act 749!
We support: HB1056, to correct a mistake from 4 years ago that excluded single parents with two or more kids living in poverty from the income tax exemption created for low-income families, is now Act 736!
Our package of seven bills on responsible natural gas drilling did not pass out of the House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday. However, all of our bills were referred to interim study, which will involve hearings where all interested parties come, present testimony and try to work out details of a package of legislation that has more consensus behind it. It's a great opportunity for us to continue building the case for improved oversight of natural gas development and interact with industry directly on our concerns. Although these important bills were not passed, we had many supporters at the capitol who were not outdone by the huge crowd of workers brought in by the industry. Many supporters stayed after the hearing to discuss the best ways to follow up on the progress we did make.
We support: SB740, to require school districts to implement parental involvement plans and require the Dept. of Education to monitor and evaluate its effectiveness, passed the Senate unanimously on Wednesday, and is now in the House Education Committee.
We support: SB958, to create an interim study on cultural competency in schools, passed the Senate and is now in the House Public Health Committee.
We support: SB821, which will give money to the 150 schools that have to spend more money for transportation than they are receiving from the state, passed the Senate Education Committee Thursday! It will now go to the full Senate for a vote.
We oppose: HB1901 offers an alternative school funding plan to SB821 which would limit transportation funding for rural districts with high transportation costs, also passed the Senate Education Committee Thursday, and will go to the full Senate.
We support: SB721, to increase the amount of our electricity which comes from renewable energy, failed to pass out of the Senate Insurance and Commerce Committee on Thursday.
We support: HB1881, to make sure that employees are paid for the work they do, failed in the House today. You can see the vote here.
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