Subcontracting Legislation Moves Onto Full House

A top IEA legislative priority, HB1347 (Rep. Hannig, D-Litchfield) designed to establish level the playing field for organized school employees in districts considering subcontracting has cleared its first legislative hurdle.

 

The bill to establish requirements for subcontractors and school districts considering outsourcing was voted out of the House Labor Committee, despite opposition from the Illinois Statewide School Business Management Alliance, SCOPE, LEND, and ED-RED. The measure, also supported by IFT, SEIU and AFSCME, will now be taken up by the full House. Contact your representative today and urge them to support HB1347.

 

Please mark your calendars for the May 2 Capitol Action Rally for Excellence.

 

The House Elementary and Secondary Education Appropriations Committee is hearing testimony on the State Board of Education’s fiscal year 2008 proposed budget.

 

The Employee Free Choice Act (HR 800) recognizes that our nation’s workers deserve better. By protecting the right of workers to choose a union, the Employee Free Choice Act would help level the playing field for employees and would help ensure every worker the ability to succeed in today's economy.

 

We urge the members of the Illinois delegation to continue the fight for important legislation and demonstrate their support of America's working families.

 

Illinois congressional co-sponsors include: Melissa Bean, Jerry Costello, Danny Davis, Rahm Emanuel, Luis Gutierrez, Phil Hare, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Dan Lipinski, Bobby Rush and Jan Schakowsky.

 

SB1560 (Sen. Demuzio, D-Carlinville) which establishes a 30-day notice of a pending reduction-in-hours for an ESP and expands recall rights for ESPs when a reduction-in-force occurs, passed the Senate Education Committee by a vote of 7 yeas, 2 nays, and 1 present. Although IEA initiated this effort, we have been joined by our coalition partners in IFT and SEIU in this endeavor as well. The bill moves to the full Senate for consideration. Please contact your Senator and ask for his or her support of SB1560.

 

SB 446, (Sen. Martinez, D-Chicago), a follow-up bill to the Grow Your Own Teacher initiative supported by IEA, passed unanimously out of committee. This bill clarifies some components of the original, such as making sure the program targets low income school districts and that the grant money can be used for indirect costs to the participant such as tutoring, transportation, and child care.

 

SB 746, (Sen. Demuzio, D-Carlinville), extends a pilot program that established a technology immersion program to provide wireless laptops to students and teachers. These laptops are awarded to schools that applied and received a grant for the program. The initial pilot program was for 3 years and this bill extends it to 6 years. The program has only been funded for one year and this bill would allow the program to be further used and evaluated. IEA supports this effort.

 

The Senate Pensions and Investments Committee passed SB 153 , IEA-initiated legislation, unanimously. Sen. Todd Sieben (R-Geneseo) introduced this legislation to allow Illinois teachers that taught out of state to purchase retirement service credit for out of state leaves of absences due to pregnancy. The legislation keeps the number of years that can be purchased to 3 so that it remains on par with the benefits offered to teachers under the Teachers’ Retirement System that have always taught in Illinois. The teacher must provide evidence satisfactory to the TRS Board to show that the leave of absence was due to pregnancy and that the teacher returned to work following their pregnancy. Those that qualify to purchase this service credit must pay the employee and employer contributions, plus interest. The bill is expected to be voted on by the full Senate next week.

 

A very controversial proposal, HJRCA 16, (Lang, D-Skokie), would remove property tax as a source of funding for schools in Illinois. If passed by the legislature this session, the constitutional amendment would be on the statewide ballot in the spring of 2008 and, if passed, would eliminate the use of property taxes to fund schools. A local community could choose to augment state funding with property taxes via a referendum.

 

The debate on this bill was long and contentious. Many committee members voted “yes” specifying they were doing so to move the funding debate along and that a “yes” vote in committee did not guarantee a “yes” vote on the House floor. The vote was 13 “yes” to 7 “no.”

 

HB 464, (Colvin, D-Chicago), removes certain residency requirements for teachers in the city of Chicago. It passed out of committee unanimously.

 

HB 336, (Lindner, R-Aurora), did not pass out of committee but may be discussed in the future after an amendment is drafted. The bill requires a pilot program in certain school districts to instruct women on self-preservation and self-defense.

 

HB 258, (Smith, D-Canton), provides for matching monies from the state when a local school wishes to hold a training to use autodefibrilators.

 

HB 465, (Davis, D-Chicago), dealt with seniority issues for teachers in the city of Chicago. It passed out of committee unanimously.

 

HR 25, (Rep. John Fritchey, D-Chicago), urges the support of a referendum to appear on the November 2008 general election ballot on the question of whether a Constitutional Convention should be called on the issue of significant problems facing the State of Illinois. The resolution furthers addresses the issue of school funding disparities. While the idea behind this is noble, we fear that opening the Constitution invites the opportunity to go after the section that protects pension benefits. The IEA opposes this resolution.

 

A number of terms are being thrown around the Capitol these days. We thought it would be instructive to offer up definitions to some of these terms and phrases.

 

GERMANE is the technical term for "relevant” or “pertinent.” Topics in a piece of legislation and in amendments are said to be germane or non-germane to a bill. In most circumstances, the legislature requires germaneness, but there are some exceptions made.