Rep. Tarr’s Newsletter: Child Abuse Prevention Efforts & Budget Update
April 2, 2016
I hope you wore blue yesterday. In the Capitol, and across the state, wearing blue meant that you support raising awareness and preventing child abuse in your community. We hosted a rally on the Capitol steps with Department of Health and Social Services Commissioner Val Davidson as our speaker. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and we are taking steps to raise awareness and enact policies that will prevent child abuse. Last year our focus was Erin’s Law and Bree’s Law, that passed last June, and is now being implemented.
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Rep. Josephson’s Newsletter: Too Little, Too Late
April 11, 2014
Working late into the night Monday, the House had its long awaited debate on the education bill, House Bill 278. In January, the Governor introduced an omnibus education bill and deemed this session the “education session.” At the time, I did not believe the bill did enough for our public education system. After Monday night, I continue to believe we have not done enough for our children, teachers, and schools.
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Rep. Tarr’s Newsletter: The Education Session
April 10, 2014
This week, my colleagues and I in the Alaska House worked late into the night to provide opportunities to our children by offering fixes to House Bill 278, the omnibus education bill, the major legislation of the year pertaining to our public education system.
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Rep. Tarr’s Newsletter: Go Blue Friday, Erin’s Visit, & More
April 4, 2014
The past couple of weeks have been very busy! We had hearings on five bills and a resolution while our special guest, Erin Merryn, was in town to testify on H.B. 233, Erin’s Law, in the House Education Committee.
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Rep. Sam Kito’s Newsletter: Bills on the Move
April 3, 2014
This week, the education debate has heated up with House Finance releasing a Committee Substitute and considering amendments to the omnibus Education bill (HB 278). The bill that finally came out of the committee included some troubling changes from the Education Committee version. I am especially concerned about the changes to the Teachers Retirement System (TRS), which could cause the insolvency or exhaustion of the trust fund in ten years. This would result in a pay-as-you-go plan that would make active teachers pay for retired teachers and significantly increase the required contribution by active teachers.
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