Panel advances bill to remove unrelated exam requirement for school social workers

The PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday voted to report favorably on CS for SB 1150, a bill that would remove what the sponsor described as an unnecessary exam barrier for school social workers.

Senator Kalati, sponsor of SB 1150, told the committee the change is intended to “enable our school districts to retain highly skilled and qualified school social workers by eliminating the unnecessary barrier of an exam unrelated to their profession.”

The bill drew no questions or public testimony during committee consideration, and Senator Kalati closed by saying, “That is the bill, Mr. Chair.” After a brief procedural exchange the committee clerk called the roll and the committee reported the committee substitute favorably.

Chair Burgess opened the meeting and presided over the roll call. There was no recorded debate or amendment on the floor during the panel discussion. The roll call on the committee substitute recorded affirmative votes from Senators Bridal, Kalati, Gates, Osgood, Simon, Yarbrough, Vice Chair Pizzo and Chair Burgess; Senator Jones was excused from the meeting.

The committee’s action is procedural: reporting the committee substitute favorably to the next committee or to the floor as required under the chamber’s process. No implementation language beyond the sponsor’s description was discussed at the hearing.

The committee moved on to other bills after the vote; there were no public comments on SB 1150 recorded in the hearing.

Votes at a glance: CS for SB 1150 — reported favorably (affirmative recorded by roll: Bridal; Kalati; Gates; Osgood; Simon; Yarbrough; Pizzo; Burgess).