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House panel approves bill to add two bargaining‑unit voting members to PASI board
Summary
The House Education Committee advanced House Bill 9 38 to the next stage after a 14‑12 vote. The bill reduces trustee seats and adds two voting seats tied to state system bargaining units; members raised concerns about conflicts of interest and recusal rules during debate.
House Bill 9 38, which would change the composition of the PASI board of governors to reduce trustee seats and add two voting members drawn from state system bargaining units, passed out of the House Education Committee by a 14‑12 roll call vote.
The legislation “amends the public school code to reduce the number of members from trustees of PASI institutions on the PASI board of governors from 5 to 3 and adds 1 member of the state system bargaining unit of AFSCME and 1 member who must be a current or retired member of the state system bargaining unit of AFSCUF,” a committee staff member read to the panel.
Representative Briggs, the bill’s sponsor, told the committee he has served on the PASI board for seven years and argued the change would give faculty and staff “a real voting voice.” He said past decisions would have benefited from such input.
Opponents cited potential conflicts of interest. Representative Anderson asked whether bargaining‑unit members would vote on collective bargaining agreements that affect their own unit, noting that recusal language is not included in the bill. A committee member responded that, under existing ethics law, a member with a personal or financial interest would be required to recuse themselves, and therefore the sponsor did not include recusal language in the bill.
Representative McKenzie compared the proposal to rules that prevent a teacher from serving on a local school board, saying that similarity led her to oppose the measure. Representative Prokopiak told the committee, “You would have to recuse yourself under the ethics law,” and argued that the law addressed the concern.
The committee proceeded to a roll call. Members recorded as voting yes during the roll call included Chairman Schweier and Representatives Abney, Curry, Bridal, Isaacson and Kazim (by designation), Nelson (yes by designation), O’Meara, Bridal Otten, Probst, Prokopiak and Smith Waddell (yes by designation), among others. The clerk announced, “The ayes are 14. The nays are 12. The bill passes.”
The bill will be reported as committed and move forward in the legislative process.
