S1448A

The Senate passed S1448A, a bill to amend the Education Law establishing a task force on school transportation safety, by a vote of 61-0 on the noncontroversial calendar. The bill's passage came after the chamber rejected an appeal of the presiding officer's ruling that an amendment was nongermane. Sen. Helming had proposed an amendment requiring minority leader appointments to all legislatively enacted task forces and workgroups, arguing such representation was essential to ensure proportional legislative input on bodies that collect data and make recommendations influencing legislative and budget priorities. Helming contended the amendment was directly germane to the bill's creation of a school transportation safety task force and would provide a necessary check on executive authority by ensuring legislative appointees matched gubernatorial appointees in number. Acting President Persaud ruled the amendment out of order, and when Helming appealed, only 21 senators voted to overturn the chair's ruling. The bill then proceeded to passage without amendment.