Session is one-fourth completed and for the WEA that brings with it good and bad news. Unfortunately, our bill on due process died on introduction yesterday and the bill on compulsory attendance both died earlier in the week. The good news is that several of our other bills continue to move through the process.

If you have not E-mailed the representatives who supported our due process bill, please do so. Details are below. Look forward to a more detailed list of bills that WEA is supporting in Monday night’s update and have a good weekend.

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Please send thank you emails!

Our bill to extend due process rights to educational support professionals, HB 112, failed introduction Thursday morning. The vote was 38-22 and we needed 40 votes. We thank the WEA members who worked so hard on this issue. It will be back next year.

Please send thank you emails to the representatives who voted in favor of this bill today: Alden, Bagby, Berger, Blake, Craft, Davison, Diercks, Dockstader, Edmonds, Edwards, Esquibel, F., Esquibel, K., Gilmore, Gingery, Goggles, Hales, Hallinan, Hammons, Harshman, Illoway, Jaggi, Jorgensen, Martin, McOmie, Meyer, Miller, Millin, Petersen, Philp, Samuelson, Shepperson, Slater, Steward, Thompson, Throne, Warren, White and Dan Zwonitzer. Get there email addresses by clicking here.

Bills WEA will be working this year

Daily Bill Status Report

Bill	Title	Subject	WEA position	Status
SF0017	School facilities-infrastructure costs.	Would require the SFC to choose cheapest option available in every situation.	Oppose	Passed Committee of the Whole
SF0045	School districts-payment of employee association dues.	Does not allow school districts to pay employees’ dues to professional organizations including WEA	Oppose	Passed Minerals Committee Placed on General File
SF0050	Government royalty revenue-distribution.	Takes future School Foundation Account funding away from education and moves it to the Wildlife Trust Fund	Oppose	Failed Introduction We WIN!
HB0112	Educational support personnel.	Provides support staff with due process rights - See additional one pager and detailed talking points. We will get members a bill number when it is published!	Support!	Failed Introduction by 2 votes 38-22
HB0009	Campaign finance reporting.	Limits Political Action Committee contributions to $3,500 per individual for legislative races and $7000 for statewide candidates per election. A very blatant abuse of the current law lead to this change	2^nd tier support	Passed Committee of the Whole
HB0028	Workforce training appropriation.	This bill resulted from the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Workforce Development.	2^nd Tier support	DEAD Failed Introduction
HB0040	Schools-compulsory attendance.	Raises minimum age a student must stay in school from 16 to 17 and requires a parent signature in order for a student to drop out	2nd Tier Support	Failed in the House Education Committee DEAD
HB0077	Tuition-dependents of disabled firefighters and EMTs-2.	Allows children of disabled firefighters to go to college tuition free	2^nd Tier support	Passed Introduction Referred to House Education Committee
SF0009	State retirement-board immunity.	Protects the members of the state retirement board from legal action.	2^nd Tier support	Passed 2^nd Reading
SF0021	Hathaway scholarship program.	Provides students who lose their Hathaway Scholarship due to low GPA with an opportunity to earn it back if they bring up their GPA while they pay their own tuition.	2^nd Tier Support	Passed Senate Education Committee Placed on General File
SF0029	Public library endowment challenge program.	Provides public libraries an opportunity to raise funds through a matching endowment program	2^nd Tier Support	Passed Introduction Referred to Senate Education Committee
HB0003	Campaign finance reporting-electronic filing.	Changes campaign finance reports to an electronic form that would be posted online and would be searchable	2^nd Tier support	Passed Introduction Referred to House Appropriations Committee

WEA Higher Ed Agenda

Most of WEA’s higher education issues (the COLA and changes to the funding model) are issues that will be addressed as a part of the budget bill. We are currently looking to partner with the colleges on these issues and have initiated these conversations. We will update you when our exact plans are more firm,

The WEA will be taking positions on several more bills as the week progresses. Please keep an eye on the Legislative Update for new bills each night.

In addition to the bills in the chart above, WEA is opposed to a multitude of bills that put education funding in danger including those that put caps on, or reduce property taxes.