HB 142: "An Act relating to the base student allocation used in state funding for public education; relating to student transportation; requiring an annual inflation adjustment of the base student allocation; relating to a separate appropriation bill for state funding of public education, establishing a date by which the bill must be transmitted to the governor each year, and providing for the withholding of per diem payments to legislators for failure to pass the bill by a certain date; and providing for an effective date."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 142 01 "An Act relating to the base student allocation used in state funding for public 02 education; relating to student transportation; requiring an annual inflation adjustment 03 of the base student allocation; relating to a separate appropriation bill for state funding 04 of public education, establishing a date by which the bill must be transmitted to the 05 governor each year, and providing for the withholding of per diem payments to 06 legislators for failure to pass the bill by a certain date; and providing for an effective 07 date." 08 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 09 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 10 to read: 11 PUBLIC EDUCATION FUNDING; LEGISLATIVE INTENT. It is the intent of the 12 legislature to fund public education under AS 14.17 separately from the costs of prior year 13 liabilities for the teachers' and public employees' retirement systems under AS 14.25 and
01 AS 39.35. 02 * Sec. 2. AS 14.09.010 is repealed and reenacted to read: 03 Sec. 14.09.010. Transportation of pupils. (a) The department may provide 04 for the transportation of pupils who reside a distance from established schools, and to 05 accomplish that purpose may 06 (1) require school districts to enter into contracts with the department 07 for the administration, supervision, operation, or subcontracting of the operation of 08 transportation systems for students to and from the schools within their service area; 09 (2) require all school districts, transportation contractors, and other 10 recipients of state transportation funds to submit to the department an annual report, 11 which must include a financial statement and other operational data required by the 12 department; 13 (3) permit school districts to 14 (A) establish supplementary systems of student transportation 15 for students ineligible to use transportation facilities paid for by the state; 16 (B) charge fares or fees for the supplementary transportation 17 systems; and 18 (C) use local tax funds to pay, in whole or in part, the cost of 19 the supplementary system. 20 (b) A school district that enters into a contract described under (a)(1) of this 21 section shall be reimbursed for 22 (1) at least 90 percent of the cost of operating the student 23 transportation system if the transportation is provided by the school district; and 24 (2) 100 percent of the cost of operating the student transportation 25 system when the transportation is provided under a contract with the school district. 26 (c) The school board of a district, or the department for areas not within 27 school districts, shall designate as hazardous those routes that cannot be safely 28 traveled by children not served by school bus. The designation may recognize hazards 29 that exist only part of the time and in these instances the designation shall be 30 applicable only during the time the hazards are found to exist. The board or the 31 department shall provide for the transportation of pupils on routes designated as
01 hazardous. The additional cost of the transportation in a district shall be shared equally 02 by the district and the department. Eligibility to receive school bus service on routes 03 designated as hazardous may not be subject to restrictions based on the minimum 04 distance between established schools and the residences of pupils. 05 (d) The department shall apply the same criteria in determining eligibility for 06 reimbursement under (b)(1) or (2) of this section. 07 * Sec. 3. AS 14.17 is amended by adding a new section to read: 08 Sec. 14.17.302. Appropriations for funding public education. (a) The 09 governor shall, before the fourth legislative day of each regular session, submit to the 10 legislature a separate appropriation bill limited to appropriations to carry out 11 AS 14.17.400 - 14.17.490 for the succeeding fiscal year. The legislature shall, by 12 March 1 of each year, pass and transmit to the governor a bill making appropriations 13 to carry out AS 14.17.400 - 14.17.490 for the succeeding fiscal year. 14 (b) Beginning March 2 of each year, if the legislature fails to pass and transmit 15 an appropriation bill required under (a) of this section, per diem payments under 16 AS 24.10.130(b) or under the per diem allowance policy adopted by the Alaska 17 Legislative Council shall be withheld from members of the legislature. Per diem 18 payments may be resumed following the passage and transmittal of an appropriations 19 bill sufficient to carry out AS 14.17.400 - 14.17.490. 20 * Sec. 4. AS 14.17.470 is amended to read: 21 Sec. 14.17.470. Base student allocation. The base student allocation is $5,810 22 [$5,380]. However, the department shall annually increase the base student 23 allocation to the extent of increases during the second preceding calendar year in 24 the consumer price index for all urban consumers for the Anchorage 25 Metropolitan Area compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States 26 Department of Labor. The index for January 2007 is the reference base index. 27 * Sec. 5. AS 37.07.020(a) is amended to read: 28 (a) The governor shall prepare a budget for the succeeding fiscal year that 29 must cover all estimated receipts, including all grants, loans, and money received from 30 the federal government and all proposed expenditures of the state government. The 31 budget shall be organized so that the proposed expenditures for each agency are
01 presented separately. The budget must be accompanied by the information required 02 under AS 37.07.050 and by the following separate bills: (1) an appropriation bill 03 authorizing the operating and capital expenditures of the state's integrated 04 comprehensive mental health program under AS 37.14.003(a) and an appropriation 05 bill funding public education under AS 14.17.400 - 14.17.490; (2) an appropriation 06 bill authorizing state operating expenditures other than those included in the state's 07 integrated comprehensive mental health program or in the bill funding public 08 education under AS 14.17.400 - 14.17.490; (3) an appropriation bill authorizing 09 capital expenditures other than those included in the state's integrated comprehensive 10 mental health program; and (4) a bill or bills covering recommendations, if any, in the 11 budget for new or additional revenue. The budget for the succeeding fiscal year and 12 each of the bills shall become public information on December 15, at which time the 13 governor shall submit copies to the legislature and make copies available to the public. 14 The bills, identical in content to the copies released on December 15, shall be 15 delivered to the rules committee of each house before the fourth legislative day of the 16 next regular session for introduction. 17 * Sec. 6. This Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).