Lawmakers Revive Omnibus Task Force Bill

Mar 27, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) Wednesday, lawmakers on the Legislative Management Committee salvaged the contents of an omnibus task force bill that failed to pass through the Legislature on the last day of the general session. Senate President John Valentine says the unusual move is necessary because the issues require a significant amount of time to study.

"I know this was somewhat quick," Valentine says. "But we felt like we needed to move quickly to get this work started. And I appreciate the indulgence of both sides of the aisle and both bodies."

Valentine's proposal creates two task forces and adds additional meeting times for two interim committees to study four separate issues - property taxes, the state's network of applied technology colleges, performance pay for teachers and immigration. New Legislation passed during the 2008 general session addresses the last two issues, performance pay and immigration. Now additional taxpayer money will go toward studying them. However, reviving the immigration task force pleased Senator Pat Jones. She voted in favor of the controversial immigration bill AFTER its implementation date was pushed back a year to allow time for an interim study of the issue.

"I very much appreciate the fact that the immigration will be studied on its own. That was a concern that I had," Jones says, "because as I thought about that, I knew there was a thought that that may be sent to an interim committee. But which committee would you send that to? Because it impacts virtually every committee."

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