House Committee on Education (02/11/2010)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Date:	02/11/2010	ATTENDANCE

Time:	01:58 PM to 04:05 PM	Benefield	X
		Massey	X
Place:	HCR 0112	McNulty	X
		Middleton	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Murray	X
	Representative Merrifield	Peniston	X
		Scanlan	E
This Report was prepared by		Schafer S.	X
	Katey McGettrick	Summers	X
		Tipton	X
		Todd	X
		Solano	X
		Merrifield	X
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
HB10-1066 HB10-1015 HB10-1136 HB10-1208		Postponed Indefinitely Postponed Indefinitely Postponed Indefinitely Referred to the Committee of the Whole

01:59 PM -- House Bill 10-1066

Representative Massey, sponsor of House Bill 10-1066, requested that the committee postpone the bill indefinitely and explained the reasoning for his request.


BILL:	HB10-1066
TIME:	01:59:52 PM
MOVED:	Massey
MOTION:	Moved to postpone House Bill 10-1066 indefinitely, at the sponsor's request. The motion passed on a 13-0 vote.
SECONDED:	Tipton
		VOTE
	Benefield	Yes
	Massey	Yes
	McNulty	Yes
	Middleton	Yes
	Murray	Yes
	Peniston	Yes
	Scanlan	Yes
	Schafer S.	Yes
	Summers	Yes
	Tipton	Yes
	Todd	Yes
	Solano	Yes
	Merrifield	Yes

Final YES: 13 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:00 PM -- House Bill 10-1015

Representative Middleton, sponsor of House Bill 10-1015, concerning stable funding for small districts, requested that the committee postpone the bill indefinitely, and shared a memorandum with committee members that explained her decision for the request (Attachment A).


BILL:	HB10-1015
TIME:	02:00:58 PM
MOVED:	Middleton
MOTION:	Moved to postpone House Bill 10-1015 indefinitely, at the sponsor's request. The motion passed on a 12-0-1 vote.
SECONDED:	Massey
		VOTE
	Benefield	Yes
	Massey	Yes
	McNulty	Yes
	Middleton	Yes
	Murray	Yes
	Peniston	Yes
	Scanlan	Excused
	Schafer S.	Yes
	Summers	Yes
	Tipton	Yes
	Todd	Yes
	Solano	Yes
	Merrifield	Yes

Final YES: 12 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:05 PM -- House Bill 10-1136

Representative S. King, sponsor of House Bill 10-1136, concerning emergency safety procedures in K-12 schools, presented the bill to the committee. He reviewed previous his legislative efforts on school safety drills.

02:11 PM

Representative Benefield asked which stakeholders he worked with on the bill. Representative King responded that he worked with school resource officers in Mesa School District 51 and with representatives from the Jefferson County School District. He stated that he recognized the effect of the bill on large and small districts, but that the health and safety of the children in Colorado should be of primary concern to the legislature.

02:14 PM

Representative Benefield asked Representative King to address more specifically who he spoke with when developing the legislation. Representative Schafer asked him to explain what a hazard drill means.

02:22 PM

Representative King responded to questions from the committee about different practices in school districts surrounding safety drills. Representative Solano asked about existing law that requires local school boards to do such activities, specifically citing Section 22-32-109.1, C.R.S. She asked why the bill is necessary given the current statutory requirements. Committee discussion on this issue ensued.

02:29 PM

Representative Murray stated that she believes that the committee must consider if drills are valuable for the people for who will need to respond in a real emergency situation.

02:30 PM

The following people testified on the bill:

02:30 PM -- Kevin Klein, representing the Colorado Department of Public Safety, testified on the bill. He discussed proposed amendment L.001, noting that it removes the fiscal note, but he stated that the department continues to have concerns with the legislation. He offered to answer any questions from the committee regarding drills.

02:34 PM

Representative Benefield asked Mr. Klein if he knows what kind of drills other than fire drills are happening in school districts. He responded that there are school districts that perform hazard drills. She asked if he could explain the history of the safety plans and the hazard drills. Mr. Klein responded to her question, discussing the collaboration of the department with school districts. Representative Murray asked if, to his knowledge, there is no requirement to do hazard drills under state law. Mr. Klein responded that the law states that hazard drills should be performed to the extent practicable.

02:38 PM -- Rob Geislinger, representing the Fire Marshalls Association of Colorado and the Colorado State Fire Chiefs, testified in support of the bill and noted that the proposed changes in L.001 (Attachment B) address his concerns with the bill as originally written.

02:40 PM

Representative Benefield asked Mr. Geislinger about his interaction with local school boards as a fire marshal. He responded that he is very active with schools. He also responded to questions from Representative Todd, Representative Tipton and Representative Murray about fire drill practices.

02:46 PM -- Rick Hammans, representing the Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB) and St. Vrain Valley Schools, testified against the bill because he believes that it is an unnecessary law. He reviewed the safety drill practices of his district. He also stated that he believes that the bill infringes on local control.

02:48 PM

Representative Solano asked Mr. Hammans if he is familiar with the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Mr. Hammans responded yes. Representative Solano referred to statutory language that requires school districts to be in compliance with NIMS. He responded that the school district received a $500,000 grant to implement the NIMS, which he noted is a large undertaking.

02:50 PM -- John Michael Keyes, representing himself, testified on the bill and presented concerns with legislating the specified requirements detailed in the bill.

02:52 PM

He responded to questions from Representative Murray about why he believes it is not necessary for the state to mandate hazard drills.

02:53 PM -- John Simmons, representing School Safety Partners, testified in support of the bill. He addressed previous comments made by committee members and witnesses. He discussed the process for implementing NIMS in Colorado. He responded to questions from Representative Murray and Representative Todd.

03:09 PM -- Jane Urschel, representing CASB, came to the witness table upon the request of Representative Benefield and explained that Mr. Hammans gave the CASB testimony in opposition. She also referred to the testimony of Mr. Keyes.

03:10 PM

Representative Benefield asked Ms. Urschel to share her previous experience as a board member. Ms. Urschel stated the importance of studying what school districts are currently doing and that the committee must consider if it is appropriate to enact code and policy into state law. She responded to questions from Representative Murray. Representative Merrifield asked how Ms. Urschel felt about the bill with the proposed amendment. She stated that she believes it is still too restrictive. Representative Tipton asked why she believes the law is writing code. She explained that when requirements are placed into law such as they would be if the bill passed, it becomes too prescriptive.

03:16 PM

Representative Schafer explained that there is information held at the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) regarding school safety practices as a part of school accreditation reviews conducted by the department.


BILL:	HB10-1136
TIME:	03:17:17 PM
MOVED:	Massey
MOTION:	Moved amendment L.001 (Attachment B). The motion passed on a 10-1-2 vote.
SECONDED:	McNulty
		VOTE
	Benefield	Yes
	Massey	Yes
	McNulty	Yes
	Middleton	Yes
	Murray	Yes
	Peniston	Yes
	Scanlan	Excused
	Schafer S.	Yes
	Summers	Excused
	Tipton	Yes
	Todd	Yes
	Solano	No
	Merrifield	Yes

Not Final YES: 10 NO: 1 EXC: 2 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS


BILL:	HB10-1136
TIME:	03:27:02 PM
MOVED:	McNulty
MOTION:	Moved to refer House Bill 10-1136, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion failed on a 4-7-2 vote.
SECONDED:	Murray
		VOTE
	Benefield	No
	Massey	Yes
	McNulty	Yes
	Middleton	No
	Murray	Yes
	Peniston	No
	Scanlan	Excused
	Schafer S.	No
	Summers	Excused
	Tipton	Yes
	Todd	No
	Solano	No
	Merrifield	No

Not Final YES: 4 NO: 7 EXC: 2 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:	HB10-1136
TIME:	03:35:44 PM
MOVED:	Solano
MOTION:	Moved to postpone House Bill 10-1136 indefinitely. The motion passed on a 6-5-2 vote.
SECONDED:	Benefield
		VOTE
	Benefield	Yes
	Massey	No
	McNulty	No
	Middleton	Yes
	Murray	No
	Peniston	Yes
	Scanlan	Excused
	Schafer S.	No
	Summers	Excused
	Tipton	No
	Todd	Yes
	Solano	Yes
	Merrifield	Yes

Final YES: 6 NO: 5 EXC: 2 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

03:37 PM -- House Bill 10-1208

Representative Todd, co-prime sponsor of House Bill 10-1208, concerning higher education statewide transfer agreements, presented the bill to the committee. She explained the purpose of the bill. Representative Murray discussed how the bill connects to the concurrent enrollment program and individualized career and academic plans (ICAPs) in Colorado.

03:42 PM

The following people testified on the bill:

03:43 PM -- Nancy McCallin, representing the Colorado Community College System, testified in support of the bill and thanked the committee members for their support.

03:46 PM -- Tony Kinkel, representing Pikes Peak Community College, testified in support of the bill.

03:48 PM -- Linda Bowman, representing Community College of Aurora, testified in support of the bill. She shared a handout with committee members (Attachment C).

03:50 PM -- Robert Kardokus, representing the State Student Advisory Council of the Community College of Denver, testified in support of the bill.

03:52 PM -- Antonio Braveheart, representing the State Student Advisory Council for the Community College of Denver, testified in support of the bill. He shared his experience trying to transfer credits between schools.

03:54 PM -- Jeff Reynolds, representing Aims Community College, testified in support of the bill.

03:56 PM -- Frank Waterous, representing the Bell Policy Center, testified in support of the bill and shared a handout with committee members (Attachment D).

03:58 PM -- John Karakoulakis, representing the Department of Higher Education (DHE), testified in support of the bill, but noted the potential funding needs to implement the bill.


BILL:	HB10-1208
TIME:	04:01:37 PM
MOVED:	Murray
MOTION:	Moved to refer House Bill 10-1028 to the Committee of the Whole. The motion failed on a vote of 3-8-2.
SECONDED:	Todd
		VOTE
	Benefield	No
	Massey	No
	McNulty	No
	Middleton	No
	Murray	Yes
	Peniston	No
	Scanlan	Excused
	Schafer S.	Yes
	Summers	Excused
	Tipton	No
	Todd	Yes
	Solano	No
	Merrifield	No

Not Final YES: 3 NO: 8 EXC: 2 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:	HB10-1208
TIME:	04:03:21 PM
MOVED:	Solano
MOTION:	Moved to reconsider the previous vote. The motion passed on a 11-0-2 vote.
SECONDED:	Peniston
		VOTE
	Benefield	Yes
	Massey	Yes
	McNulty	Yes
	Middleton	Yes
	Murray	Yes
	Peniston	Yes
	Scanlan	Excused
	Schafer S.	Yes
	Summers	Excused
	Tipton	Yes
	Todd	Yes
	Solano	Yes
	Merrifield	Yes

Not Final YES: 11 NO: 0 EXC: 2 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS


BILL:	HB10-1208
TIME:	04:04:22 PM
MOVED:	Todd
MOTION:	Moved to refer House Bill 10-1208 to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a 11-0-2 vote.
SECONDED:	Murray
		VOTE
	Benefield	Yes
	Massey	Yes
	McNulty	Yes
	Middleton	Yes
	Murray	Yes
	Peniston	Yes
	Scanlan	Excused
	Schafer S.	Yes
	Summers	Excused
	Tipton	Yes
	Todd	Yes
	Solano	Yes
	Merrifield	Yes

Final YES: 11 NO: 0 EXC: 2 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

04:05 PM

The committee adjourned.