Ready 4 K @ The Capitol - April 30, 2010

This week at the Capitol was marked by a flurry of activity, as committees reviewed and moved several of the omnibus bills we are watching. Having faced two shortened weeks sandwiched between the DFL and GOP endorsing conventions, and with a little more than two weeks remaining in the 2010 Session, Legislators and those following their work certainly feel the crunch of time.

The plan for early childhood is to move an Omnibus Early Childhood Policy bill in the House, as well as to place all of the provisions in each corresponding omnibus budget and policy bill. Please note the links may not include the most up-to-date version of the bill.

• The House Omnibus Early Childhood Policy bill passed out of House Finance with little fanfare this week and will be heard again in Ways and Means on Monday.
• The House Health and Human Services Omnibus bill, which includes the Basic Sliding Fee child care under spending cut, the realignment of quality improvement dollars with QRIS and the CCAP teen parent provision, passed Finance and will also be in Ways and Means on Monday.
• The House K-12 bill will likely be amended in Finance this week to include the provisions which expand the duties of the Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council and the Dept. of Education-recommended changes to the School Readiness and early screening statutes.
• Over in the Senate, the Education Budget Committee released their Omnibus Budget bill, which includes no cuts to early childhood. The policy bill will be out on Tuesday.
• This cannot be said for the Senate HHS Budget bill however, as it includes not only the use if the BSF under spending, but also a 5% cut to the base of BSF, or about $5 million. The policy portions will be released on Monday.

The House and Senate omnibus budget bills should be up for a vote by both bodies next week, with conference committees getting underway shortly after, setting the stage for a busy final week of the session. It’s a lot to follow, so track the bills on our Omnibus Bill Tracker, and follow the action by following Ready 4 K on Twitter.

Ready 4 K @ the Capitol - April 23, 2010

This week at the Capitol, you could almost just read last weeks’ update, as not much has changed. With the DFL State Convention this weekend in Duluth, and the Republicans heading to Minneapolis to endorse their state-wide candidates next weekend, the pause button was still pressed at the Capitol this week.

We did learn this week that the House is moving forward with an Omnibus Early Childhood Policy Bill, which will include all the non-budget items in the previously-passed Omnibus Early Childhood Finance and Policy bill. (The only budget item is use of the $7.5 million Basic Sliding Fee “under-spending.”)

How will this happen? The language will be amended onto the Senate companion for the “getting-ready-for-QRIS” bill, which passed the Senate last week and landed in House Finance, which will take it up on Tuesday. It will then go to House Ways and Means, then the floor of the House for a vote sometime in the next couple weeks, eventually back to the Senate for comparison, and, should the Senate not accept the amendments, onto conference committee. It’s exciting to have an Omnibus Early Childhood Policy bill this year! View the proposed House bill here.

The capture of the BSF under spending will move forward in the House Omnibus Health and Human Services bill, and line up with the Senate HHS bill in conference committee. This also means that, depending on what the Senate recommends, early care and education may not be a part of the Education Conference Committee.

The Conference Committee Tracker has been updated with notations about which pieces specifically are included in the House Omnibus Early Childhood Bill.