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Legislative briefs Friday, Jan 19, 2007 Compiled by Arkansas News Bureau Governor discusses merit pay Merit pay proposals for classroom teachers should track individual children's performance over a period of years, Gov. Mike Beebe said Thursday. A teacher who improves the performance of individual children in a class has a better claim to make for a merit pay increase than one who happens to get a good class, he said. "We should not reward or punish teachers for what raw material they get," the governor told delegates to the Arkansas Society of Association Executives meeting. Beebe has said he supports creating a pilot program to assess merit pay. ------- Health Department ready to leave Human Services, governor says The state Health Department is "on sound footing" and appears ready to leave the state Department of Health and Human Services, Gov. Mike Beebe said Thursday. Beebe made his remarks to the Arkansas Society of Association Executives. The Legislature merged the two agencies in 2005, while Beebe was attorney general. The governor said Thursday he would discuss the merger with both sides on the issue. "We're not in a hurry," Beebe said. "If we do divide them, we'll do it in a way that is the most cost effective. It is on the table. I can tell you that." ------- Anti-germ bill advances A bill intended to protect shoppers from germs received the endorsement Thursday of the House Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor. House Bill 1040 by Rep. Fred Allen, D-Little Rock, would create the Arkansas Health-Conscious Shopper Program, which would encourage businesses that use shopping carts to voluntarily provide sanitation wipes to customers. The bill originally called for the state Board of Health to give guidance to businesses in the use of sanitary wipes. The committee Thursday accepted an amendment by Allen to have the Department of Health and Human Services, not the Board of Health, set the guidelines. Allen, a first-term legislator, said he drafted the bill after elderly constituents told him of their concerns about dirty shopping cart handles. Some grocery stores already offer sanitary wipes, he noted. ------- Committee gives substitute teacher bill an A The House Education Committee advanced a bill Thursday that would clarify a state law regarding substitute teachers. House Bill 1071 by Rep. Shirley Walters, R-Greenwood, would amend a state law that prohibits a class of students from being taught for more than 30 days by a substitute teacher, unless the substitute has a bachelor's degree or an Arkansas teacher's license. Walters said some schools have maneuvered around the restriction by having one substitute teacher teach a class for about 28 days, then bringing in a different substitute teacher. To prevent this, Walters' bill specifies that a class cannot be taught by a substitute teacher "or teachers" for more than 30 days. The existing law allows school districts to apply to the state Board of Education for a waiver if the restriction would impose an undue hardship. The bill goes to the House. ------- Beebe gives more details on biofuel A group of businesses, including one foreign-based company, is working on a long-term project to turn Arkansas timber industry byproducts into gasoline, Gov. Mike Beebe told the Arkansas Green Building Council on Thursday. The technology being developed would enable gasoline to be made from the tops of trees and from stumps, along with other wood by-products, Beebe said. A large refinery would be necessary to make the byproducts into oil but, once the oil is produced, it could be pumped through pipelines, sent to regular oil refineries, be made into gasoline and pumped into unmodified vehicles just like regular gasoline, he said. Ethanol, a gasoline substitute made from corn, requires its own distribution system, he said. The governor declined to release further details about the project, which he has referred to several times in public speeches. ------- Senate panel endorses utility investment bill The Senate Insurance and Commerce Committee on Thursday endorsed a bill to clarify Jonesboro City, Water and Light's authority to invest in an out-of-state power plant. The bill by Rep. Chris Thyer, D-Jonesboro, passed the House the day before, 95-0, and goes to the Senate. The committee also endorsed HB 1009, also sponsored by Thyer, which would make the law regulating limited liability partnerships in business more consistent with law regulating general partnerships. The law allowing limited liability partnerships also would lapse if no action were taken this session, Thyer said. |
