Legislative update [Jan. 23, 2006]

DTAE - Legislative Updates

2006 LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education

The Week Ahead:
The Legislature will reconvene on Tuesday, January 31 for day 10.
January 31 House Higher Education Committee (2:00 p.m. room 606 Coverdell Building)
January 31 Senate Higher Education Committee (3:30 p.m. Senate Mezz)
January 31 House Higher Education Subcommittee of Appropriations (time and location TBA)
Useful Links:
For more information on House and Senate members or to track legislation, log on to www. legis.state.ga.us
Previous Updates:
January 9, 2006
MS Word version of this update
For questions regarding information contained in this bulletin, please

Week of January 23, 2006
Thursday, January 26 marked the 9th day of the 2006 legislative session. Highlights for the week include:
q Commissioner Vollmer presented the agency's fiscal year 2006 amended and the 2007 budget to the Senate Higher Education Subcommittee of Appropriations on Friday. Vollmer stressed the significance of "level funding" as well as the importance of an annual allocation for minor repair and renovation and obsolete equipment funds.
q Several technical college and university system presidents testified before Representative Bob Smith's Higher Education Subcommittee of Appropriations last week on campus successes and accomplishments as well as the need for additional space.
q Dr. Freida Hill and Dr. Dan Papp, representing the Department of Technical Education and the University System of Georgia respectively, gave a joint presentation on college transfer of credits to the House Higher Education Committee. Accreditation requirements were discussed along with agreements currently in place between DTAE and the USG. Also discussed was the issue of tuition for illegal aliens as well as the substantial decline in dual enrollment.
q All 34 technical colleges were represented at the Georgia Freight Depot on Thursday night at the first annual "Taste of the Technical Colleges". The event was tremendously successful in allowing the colleges to showcase the culinary arts programs while exhibiting many other exciting programs around the state to legislators and many other key decision makers.
q Senator Johnny Grant introduced legislation for the Department which will allow for the suspension of up to two State Board meetings per year. Senate Bill 436 has been assigned to the Higher Education committee.
q Senate Bill 440 and Senate Resolution 655, companion legislation which ensures that lottery funds can only be used to pay for HOPE scholarships and grants, the pre-k program and the required reserves for those programs, passed unanimously out of the Senate Higher Education Committee.
q Representative Bob Smith and others introduced House Resolutions 1081 and 1082 which create a Higher Education Finance and Formula Study Commission to review current financing, make

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DTAE - Legislative Updates
contact:
Laura Gammage
lgammage@dtae.org (404) 374-6557

recommendations to the current funding formulas, and evaluate alternatives for a performance-based funding component for both the Board of Regents and the Department of Technical and Adult Education.
q Senator John Douglas and others introduced Senate Bill 415, which will expand the HERO (Helping Educate Reservists and their Offspring) Scholarship to include surviving spouses.
q Representative Bob Smith and others introduced House Resolution 1085, a proposed constitutional amendment which provides that no tuition increase for any institution in the University System of Georgia shall take effect in any fiscal year unless adopted by the Board of Regents prior to the submission of the budget.
q Representatives Millar and others introduced House Resolution 1048, which would create a House Study Committee on Market-Demand Skills Education in High School. The legislation would address youth unemployment by encouraging the implementation of programs to teach market-demand skills in high schools for students opting not to go to college.
q Senate Bill 449, introduced by Senator Kemp, prohibits any registered sex offender from residing in housing owned or operated by an institution of higher education.
q Senators Rogers and Hill introduced Senate Bill 446, legislation that would allow students to regain HOPE eligibility for a HOPE scholarship at the end of any quarter or semester.
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