LEGISLATION

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

NATIONAL LEGISLATION

For a complete update concerning ASHA’s national legislative efforts, go to ASHA’s SLP website at http://www.asha.org/about/legislation:advocacy/slp-advocate/.  This site provides a synopsis of the most recent activities of ASHA’s Government Relations and Public Policy Divisions.  Some of the most significant issues this year are listed below:

1.      Review of IDEA Part B final regulations

2.      Salary supplement legislation for public school SLPs

3.      Extension of the Medicaid therapy cap exception process

4.      Announcement of incoming Congressional leaders fiscal year 2007 appropriations

5.      Renewal of state associations

6.      Legislation for newborn hearing screening

7.      Actions and discussion of ASHA state Legislative Counselors (LCs), State Education Advocacy Leaders (SEALs) and the Counsel of State Association Presidents (CSAP)

STATE LEGISLATION

SCSHA Legislative Contact Information

For more information, you may contact:

            Jane Senn, MSP, CCC-SLP
            SCSHA VP for Governmental Affairs 
            Wk. (803) 739-4036
            Hm. (803) 356-6958 
            senn@lex2.org
            janesenn@sc.rr.com

            Alyson Price, MSP, CCC-SLP
            SCSHA State Legislation Chair
             Wk. (803) 739-4175
             Hm. (803) 794-5621
            alyp@lex2.org

SCSHA LEGISLATIVE UPDATES

March 2007

Bill S. 323 passed the Senate Education Subcommittee March 7!  Celeste Blackmon and Rebecca McKenzie Appling did an excellent job speaking on behalf of the association.  We offer a tremendous “Thank You” to the approximately 15 SCSHA members that attended the hearing!  It demonstrated to the senators how important this bill is to the public school membership.   Also, Thanks to those who contacted their senators asking them to vote “yes”on the bill.  The senators were aware of the contacts and commented about the number of them.

Senator Fair of Greenville District 6 spoke favorably of the bill to the other committee members.   We were very pleased with his comments!  Please take the time to send him a hand written note thanking him for speaking to the committee in such an encouraging and favorable way for bill S. 323.

Next, the bill goes to the Full Senate Education Committee.  We expect this to be in about 2 to 3 weeks.  Please plan to attend the committee meeting once the date and time are announced.  It will be announced on the SCSHA list serv and through the legislative grassroots contact system.  Please begin contacting the senators of the committee asking them to vote “yes” for bill S. 323.  The senators on the committee are listed below.  To find YOUR senator and contact information, go to www.sc.statehouse.net  and click on “Find Your Legislator.”

Jane Senn

SCSHA VP Governmental Affairs

November 2006

The most significant news to report at this time is the hire of a new lobbying group, Capital Consultants!  We are excited to be working under the direction and guidance of Richard Davis and his colleagues during the 2007 legislative session.  This lobbying group has an excellent reputation at the Statehouse and has a long, successful history. Please read the article in this issue of “In-Touch” about Capital Consultants to learn more about the group.

It is very important to keep in mind that a good lobbyist or lobbying group cannot do all the work alone.  A strong grassroots system made of the association’s membership must be in place and actively working with the lobbyists.  Alyson Price, SCSHA legislative committee chair has been at work forming a legislative committee.  Under the guidance of Jane Senn, SCSHA VP for Governmental Affairs, Alyson and the committee are developing a grassroots contact system.  This system will help get important information out to the membership in a timely and efficient manner and allow for immediate action on the part of the membership to take place if needed.

If you would like to serve on the legislative committee or as a lead contact person for your county, please contact Alyson at Jeffaly@earthlink.net  (803) 794-5621 or Jane at Janesenn@sc.rr.com  (803) 356-6958.

Plans are being made for the 2007 SCSHA Legislative Day!   Look for the date to be announced soon.  Mark your calendars and plan to attend!

Jane Senn
VP Governmental Affairs

2006 Legislative Update

The South Carolina legislative session has ended for the year.  Bill S. 413, a bill to recognize SC speech-language pathologists who have earned the ASHA CCC as the highest qualified provider in SC, was reported to the Senate Finance Committee where it remained when the legislative session ended.  Our lobbyist encouraged us to keep the focus on Bill S. 100 rather than S. 413.  This bill would have provided a study of the salary schedule on which teachers and other school professional are paid. The study would have been conducted by the State Department of Education.  It passed the Senate during the 2005 legislative session and was sent to the House Education Committee for consideration by that body.

Unforeseen legislative objections resulted in our bill, S100, not passing the House of Representatives during the last days of the 2006 session. After a strong vote by the House Education Committee to send the bill to the full body with a favorable report, some House members, for reasons not obvious to us, objected to the bill. Their objections resulted in the bill being returned to the full committee.

Background of Bill S.100

During the interim of the 2005 and 2006 sessions of the General Assembly, the South Carolina Association of School Administrators took it upon itself to organize a task force to conduct the aspects of the study related to classroom teachers. We felt that this study did not go far enough as it did not include us.

After some extensive work with House Education Committee Chairman Townsend, he agreed to report our bill out with committee amendments that would eliminate the portions of the study that had already been done and strengthen the remaining components by creating a new task force to conduct the study and giving our organization a representative by name.

When this committee amendment was presented to the House for adoption, it was objected to by Greenville Representative Dan Tripp. The committee decided to recommit the bill to committee as they were unprepared for the objection. It was also not prepared to have the bill pass as it came over from the Senate.

Fast action on the part of SCSHA members got Mr. Tripp to remove his objection to the bill. The committee chairman agreed to recall the bill from committee if given the opportunity to do so through the ‘motion period’ of the House calendar. 

During the polling of Education Committee members, it was discovered that other House members had objections to the bill. The most vocal of the members was Representative Shirley Hinson of Berkley County.   Ms. Hinson did not want the State Department of Education to do the study. In discussions with her, our lobbyist  agreed to have the study conducting by the South Carolina Schools Boards Association. Ms. Hinson is a former school board member and felt that it was competent to do the study and that it had sufficient creditability with the General Assembly for its findings to be taken seriously.

The amendments Ms. Hinson wanted to offer at the last minute would have to be done on the House floor. If successful, the Senate would have to concur with the amendment. There was no time for error and everything had to line up perfectly.

As it turned out, Mr. Townsend could not get the ‘motion period’ opportunity to recall the bill from committee. Hence, Ms. Hinson could not offer the amendment she required in order for her to support the bill.