Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Neosho Daily: Snow days bill screwed up by legislature, joint committee to work out problems

In an article in today's Neosho Daily News, new Managing Editor John Ford writes about the latest development in the ever-winding road being traveled by Rep. B. J. Marsh's bill to forgive school days missed during the January ice storm.
Apparently, eagle-eyed Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, found an error in the wording of the bill, which would have prevented the Joplin R-8 School District from taking any of the missed day off its calendar. Rep. Kevin Wilson, one of the bill's co-sponsors, explained the problem in a telephone interview with Ford:

According to Wilson, it was there that a drafting error was discovered by state Sen. Gary Nodler. Wilson said the initial language of the bill contained an exclusion for the Nixa school district.

"On bills, you can't just exclude a school district, you have to give a description of the district," Wilson said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon with the Daily News. "The description also fit Joplin, and Joplin wanted to use it."

Wilson said when the error was discovered, the measure was added as an amendment to a Senate tourism bill, Senate Bill 376.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the bill was headed into conference, with members expected to meet today. After that, the bill will again be presented to the House and Senate.

"The way it's written could end all of the unintentional confusion," Wilson said. "I haven't heard any opposition. I expect it to be done Thursday."


I hope someone lets the legislators know that May begins next week.

1 comment:

Busplunge said...

This is so typical, all this clamoring and commotion over a bill that no one seems to want except for BJ and a few others. Teachers don't want it, well maybe they won't care now that MAP testing is behind them, Maybe BJ figures if the legislature excuses the schools the absences, the legislature will excuse his absences too.
Just like some guy from district 53 wrote a letter to the NL saying what a friend of education Bob Dixon is.....how come no one in his district wrote the letter.
The SW MO legislators are, with VERY few exceptions, lightweights.
It is a mess.
Oh yeah, anon you know who you are, I don't have a spell checker and I don't liek you either.
Don't p*** on my leg and tell me it's raining.