The $2.8 million spent on lobbying activities in 2021 marked the first time since 2005 that spending dipped below $3 million, and represented roughly 72 percent of lobbying expenditures reported during the 2019 session.

SB450 allows the school districts to use excess revenues from existing tax rates to fund Pay As You Go capital improvement projects including remodeling and other needed facility improvements. Supporters say the bill will not affect existing debt payments or reserve funds.

“These families may still have lingering effects in finding work this summer because of the COVID-19 pandemic and have in many cases drained that savings and investments, as a result of the economic downturn last summer,” said Jeffrey Frischmann, acting administrator of the Employment Security Division.

Months after the bills were first introduced and heard, members of the Senate Finance Committee held hearings Monday on SB153 and SB111 — two bills sponsored by Democratic Sen. David Parks that aim to reverse many provisions of a wide-ranging collective bargaining bill passed in 2015 that modified the collective bargaining process for local employees and prohibited principals from participating in collective bargaining agreements.