Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 227, which would amend the Public School Code to reduce the number of days a school board has to decide whether or not to renew a contract with a superintendent or assistant superintendent.
The bill would trim the number of days a school board has to hold a public meeting on the renewal of a superintendent’s contract from 150 to 90 days before the contract’s expiration. Currently, if a school board fails to complete the notice requirements for contract renewal, the same contract is reinstated for another term. This bill would only extend the contract for one additional year.
The bill now goes to the House Education Committee.
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The Senate voted 41-8 in favor of Senate Bill 250, which amends the Unemployment Compensation Law to allow for money transfers and requires the Department of Labor and Industry to submit several reports to the General Assembly.
This bill allows for the transfer of up to $15 million between the Unemployment Compensation Fund to the Service and Infrastructure Improvement Fund. The bill was amended in the House to specify how the $15 million may be used.
The measure was prompted after the Department of Labor & Industry shut down call centers in November of 2016 and furloughed staff after the Republican majority in the Senate refused to vote on a bill that would have allowed for $57.5 million in funding to administer unemployment benefits to out-of-work residents.
The legislation requires the department to submit annual reports detailing funds used from 2019 to 2020 and a report detailing the closing of an unemployment compensation call center. The bill also requires the department to do a report detailing a plan to eliminate reliance on money transfers.
The bill adds requirements for requests from the department for technological upgrades. A few of these requirements include descriptions of the technology, the estimated costs and the estimated amount of time it will take to complete the upgrades.
In addition, this bill was amended to require the department to maintain a separate accounting firm to manage the Service and Infrastructure Fund. Monthly reports detailing the fund are required to be submitted by the Secretary of the Department to the Senate and House Labor and Industry Committees.
The bill was enacted as Act 1 of 2017.
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The Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 365, which amends the Second Class Township Code to set the maximum amount that property could be sold for without further actions from the board of supervisors.
Under this legislation, personal property valued at over $2,000 could not be sold or disposed of without the approval from the board of supervisors. The property could only be sold to the highest bidder after notice is published for bids or public auction in a local newspaper.
If no bids are received, the supervisors may adopt a procedure to allow the property to be sold without further actions from the board of supervisors. For a property with a fair market value less than $2,000, the same procedures would apply.
The board of supervisors may reject any bid received if the bid is believed to be less than the fair market price of the property.
This bill was enacted as Act 21 of 2017.
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