Senate Education and Health committee reports 20 House bills, adopts substitute on IEP emergency supports

The Senate Committee on Education and Health met to consider 20 House bills post-crossover and voted to report or re-refer each measure to the next step in the legislative process.

The committee, chaired by the presiding Madam Chair, opened with a roll call and then moved through two categories: four House bills recommended for direct re-referral to other committees, and a slate of House bills that are identical to Senate bills that the committee had previously considered. Most measures were reported with unanimous or near-unanimous votes.

Why it matters: reporting a bill from committee is the procedural step that enables further floor consideration or referral to fiscal committees. Several bills were re-referred to Finance, meaning the measures will next undergo fiscal review before potential final passage.

Key procedural and substantive actions

- Re-referrals: The committee re-referred four House bills to other committees by unanimous votes, including HB 1609 (patron: Delegate Helmer) to Commerce and Labor, HB 1617 (patron: Delegate McClure) to Rehabilitation and Social Services, HB 1629 (patron: Delegate Thomas) to Courts of Justice, and HB 2754 (patron: Delegate Singh) to Rehabilitation and Social Services. Each re-referral passed on roll calls recorded in the transcript as “Pass 14, no 0.”

- House bills identical to Senate bills: The committee reported a group of House bills that matched Senate measures the committee had already heard. Most of those reported unanimously (14–0). Examples reported include HB 1552 (Delegate Wiley; certificate of public need exception for critical access hospital swing beds), HB 1614 (Delegate DeCler; reported and re‑referred to Finance), HB 1637 (Delegate Hope), HB 1899 (Delegate Bullitt), HB 1905 (Delegate Willett), HB 1930 (Delegate Ward), HB 1947 (Delegate Seibold), HB 1983 (Delegate Skew), HB 2018 (Delegate Anthony), HB 2157 (Delegate Carr; reported and re‑referred to Finance), HB 2454 (Delegate Rizzo), HB 2507 (Delegate Runyon; reported and re‑referred to Finance), and HB 2543 (Delegate Laufer). Where the roll is recorded it is noted in the votes-at-a-glance below.

- Education special‑education substitute adopted (HB 1806): The committee adopted a substitute and reported HB 1806, patroned by Delegate Cohen, on individualized education programs (IEPs) and accommodations/supports during emergencies. Delegate Cohen introduced the substitute and described it this way: “This substitute fresh off the presses and thank you to Julia for making sure everybody has 1 in hand. We worked, with members of the committee, in particular Senator Van Valkenburgh to just make it more understandable that this is a conversation this may not be appropriate for every IEP.” Senator Van Valkenburgh said the substitute changed a mandatory “shall” to language intended to ensure the topic is discussed: “my fear was it said shall, right? So it said every plan had to… the things that are changed here are the May on line 16.” After discussion, Senator Boyceko moved passage: “This is important and I move passage of the bill.” The roll recorded the vote as “Pass 14, no 0.” The transcript shows the substitute was presented, debated briefly, and adopted by the committee.

- Technical amendment adopted (HB 2104): HB 2104, patroned by Delegate Bennett Parker and identical to SB 1036, was reported with a technical amendment. Senator Pekarski explained the change: “These amendments have no substantive changes. It just had to do with, code sections. I guess we're in the wrong place and, and numbered incorrectly and that was just fixed, by council and it's, it's all up to date now.” The committee adopted the amendment and then reported the bill as amended (roll recorded as 14–0).

Votes at a glance (selected roll-call tallies recorded in the transcript)

- HB 1609 (Helmer) — Re-referred to Commerce and Labor; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: re-referred. - HB 1617 (McClure) — Re-referred to Rehabilitation and Social Services; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: re-referred. - HB 1629 (Thomas) — Re-referred to Courts of Justice; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: re-referred. - HB 2754 (Singh) — Re-referred to Rehabilitation and Social Services; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: re-referred. - HB 1552 (Wiley; identical to SB 1177) — Reported; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: reported. - HB 1614 (DeCler; identical to SB 1418) — Reported and re-referred to Finance; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: reported/re‑referred to Finance. - HB 1637 (Hope; identical to SB 1035) — Reported; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: reported. - HB 1649 (Hayes; identical to SB 740) — Reported; committee tally recorded as 10 yes, 3 no. Outcome: reported. - HB 1678 (Cohen; scribe board policies/safe storage) — Reported; committee tally recorded as 9 yes, 5 no. Outcome: reported. - HB 1806 (Cohen; IEP emergency accommodations, substitute adopted) — Reported as substituted; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: reported as substituted. - HB 1899 (Bullitt) — Reported; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: reported. - HB 1905 (Willett) — Reported; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: reported. - HB 1930 (Ward) — Reported; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: reported. - HB 1947 (Seibold) — Reported; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: reported. - HB 1983 (Skew) — Reported; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: reported. - HB 2018 (Anthony) — Reported; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: reported. - HB 2104 (Bennett Parker) — Reported as amended (technical amendment); tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: reported as amended. - HB 2157 (Carr) — Reported and re‑referred to Finance; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: reported/re‑referred to Finance. - HB 2454 (Rizzo) — Reported; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: reported. - HB 2507 (Runyon) — Reported and re‑referred to Finance; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: reported/re‑referred to Finance. - HB 2543 (Laufer) — Reported; tally: 14 yes, 0 no. Outcome: reported.

What the committee said: In addition to the formal votes, the committee discussed the scope and wording of HB 1806’s substitute to ensure the provision prompts IEP teams to consider emergency accommodations without making them mandatory for every plan. On HB 2104, staff and Senator Pekarski described the adopted change as a technical update to code section numbering and not a substantive policy change.

Meeting context and next steps: The chair reminded members of upcoming subcommittee schedules: public education subcommittee will meet this afternoon and again Monday, health professions meets tomorrow morning, higher education Monday morning, and the committee will reconvene for a second full meeting on Thursday. Reported bills will proceed to the floor or to Finance for fiscal review as requested.

Ending: The committee adjourned after completing the docket; no final votes were withheld from publication in the transcript.