After a lengthy debate the State Senate approved a bill setting up a super committee to address a Supreme Court ruling about the duties of State Schools Superintendent Cindy Hill. The legislature passed a law last year that removed Hill’s authority to manage the State Department of Education among other things. The court ruled that law unconstitutional. Some lawmakers want to see if either the Supreme Court or a District Court will help them fix their law. But Senator Phil Nicholas says that lawmakers should be prepared to move forward without any additional guidance.
“Within the decision there’s a variety of posts if you will, to guide our pathway to arriving at a constitutional bill. And that needs to be done mechanically just to go in and take a look at our statutes. It may be that we come back and return before there are additional decisions and it may be that we don’t,” says Nicholas.
The legislature will need a special session to fix the law. Senator Curt Meier tried to set a date in April, but that was defeated. The bill now goes to the House of Representatives for further debate.