What do you do when no one understands a bill?
By David Montgomery
Published/Last Modified on Tuesday, Jan 19, 2010 - 09:49:47 am CST
That's a question the Senate Education Committee just dealt with when debating
SB25. A bill to repeal what Education Secretary Tom Oster said is a provision in the law that no one follows, it got a "Do Pass" motion right away — and then half an hour of questions as legislators realized they didn't know exactly what the bill did.
SB25 applies to the small number of schools — Lead-Deadwood and Hill City — who raise enough local money for schools that they don't take any state aid. The statutes in question, 13-28-49 and 13-13-75, dealt with how state aid would apply when a student transferred from one of those opt-out districts to a district that does receive state aid.
According to Oster, the old language was so complicated that none of the school districts followed its provisions. But legislators found the concept to be just as complicated and kept asking questions until they were satisfied.
The bill ultimately passed the committee unanimously.
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