SENATE BILL: National University and General Education Reform bill (Law'd)

[Senator Sbane]

I knew something was wrong here and have for two weeks. Now I know why, I completely missed this post by Sbane. It was the last post on that page and discussion carried over onto the next one so I missed it. Sbane, why didn't you call me out on this when at the beginning of the month, when I asked about remaining business?

I object to Ben's amendment and it is unfriendly now. We need to appropriate more money to construct and run the university. Here is my own amendment:

National University and General Education Reform bill
Section One: National University System
1.   $35 $1 Billion shall be appropriated per each region for the construction of a federally-operated university.
2.   $15 $470 Million shall be appropriated per each region per year for the hiring of faculty, accommodating the local community and to pay for costs associated with running the university. Payment in subsequent years will be tied to the rate of growth or decrease in personal income. 
3.   Each regional government shall submit a location of economic distress or decline that would benefit from the presence of a strong university campus to the Secretary of Internal Affairs, who can approve or deny the location.
4.  If the Secretary of Internal Affairs denies the location, the region can either nominate a new location or petition the Senate to overrule the Secretary, which can be done by a majority vote of the Senate.
5.   If a regional government does not offer a location, these funds will be offered to another region to choose a location.
6.   The addition of future campuses shall be made possible at the request of the Secretary of Internal Affairs and approved by majority vote of the Senate.

Section Two: Repeal of Tuition Tax
1.   The tuition tax established in Section 6 of the ‘Education Reform Act of 2007’ is hereby repealed.

Section Three: Additional Regulations and Reforms
1.   A 50% tax shall be placed on all revenue a college or university receives from tuition or fees.
2.   This tax shall be waived should a college or university’s student population have 5% or greater receiving federal student loan assistance.
3.   $2 4.5 billion shall be distributed among the regions by the Secretary of Internal Affairs for the purpose of adding more vocational and career training courses to local community colleges.

Section Four: Secondary School Reform and Assistance
1.   $1 billion shall be distributed among the regions by the Secretary of Internal Affairs for the purpose of adding more arts and culture courses to secondary schools.
2.   $1 billion shall be distributed among the regions by the Secretary of Internal Affairs for the purpose of adding more vocational and career training courses to secondary schools.

Did someone actually object to my amendment? I guess we do need to vote on Ben's amendment even though I just appropriated more money than he did.

[Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The Final Vote has been halted on the grounds that two amendments posted were improperly handled or missed.

Is it possible that you and Ben could work out some kind of an agreement here? Ben never responded to your alternative numbers, that I recall. That would save a lot of time. Both amendment could be withdrawn then, a new one passed and a new final vote opened by Friday.


It is worth a few hours or until I get back online. That will allow time for it to sink in that we are changing gears here. Jumping from one vote to the next will cause confusion.
 

[Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Ben's amendment: http://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=157619.msg3400477#msg3400477

[Senator Sbane]

It would be great if Ben could just withdraw his amendment, and mine can pass without objection. Then the bill could be voted on it's merits.

[Senator Ben]

It would be great if Ben could just withdraw his amendment, and mine can pass without objection. Then the bill could be voted on it's merits.

Sbane, your amendment has significantly more money.  Therefore, I withdraw my amendment.

[Senator North Carolina Yankee]

National University and General Education Reform bill
Section One: National University System
1.   $35 $1 Billion shall be appropriated per each region for the construction of a federally-operated university.
2.   $15 $470 Million shall be appropriated per each region per year for the hiring of faculty, accommodating the local community and to pay for costs associated with running the university. Payment in subsequent years will be tied to the rate of growth or decrease in personal income. 
3.   Each regional government shall submit a location of economic distress or decline that would benefit from the presence of a strong university campus to the Secretary of Internal Affairs, who can approve or deny the location.
4.  If the Secretary of Internal Affairs denies the location, the region can either nominate a new location or petition the Senate to overrule the Secretary, which can be done by a majority vote of the Senate.
5.   If a regional government does not offer a location, these funds will be offered to another region to choose a location.
6.   The addition of future campuses shall be made possible at the request of the Secretary of Internal Affairs and approved by majority vote of the Senate.

Section Two: Repeal of Tuition Tax
1.   The tuition tax established in Section 6 of the ‘Education Reform Act of 2007’ is hereby repealed.

Section Three: Additional Regulations and Reforms
1.   A 50% tax shall be placed on all revenue a college or university receives from tuition or fees.
2.   This tax shall be waived should a college or university’s student population have 5% or greater receiving federal student loan assistance.
3.   $2 4.5 billion shall be distributed among the regions by the Secretary of Internal Affairs for the purpose of adding more vocational and career training courses to local community colleges.

Section Four: Secondary School Reform and Assistance
1.   $1 billion shall be distributed among the regions by the Secretary of Internal Affairs for the purpose of adding more arts and culture courses to secondary schools.
2.   $1 billion shall be distributed among the regions by the Secretary of Internal Affairs for the purpose of adding more vocational and career training courses to secondary schools.

Sponsor Feedback: Origination
Status: Senators have 24 hours to object.

[Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The amendment has passed.


Now, this time are we completely finished here?

[Senator Ben]

Final vote?

[Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Gladly

Senators, this bill is now at final vote (hopefully for the last time at that ), so please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

[President Marokai]

Aye.

[Governor Scott]

Aye.

[Svensson]

Aye.

[Senator Sbane]

Aye

[Senator Ben]

Aye

[Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Aye

[Redalgo]

Aye

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Nay

I don't see why the federal government should be in the business of operating universities.

I'm also not a fan of the fact that this bill would seem to punish regions that do not put forward a location for one of these schools. By giving the funding to another region, out-of-region competition grows, which puts a lot of pressure on the region that simply wanted to control its own educational affairs. As such, educational challenges for that region could mount, until such point as the region is cornered into accepting the federal scheme. Normally I'm a fan of competition, but when the federal government picks sides, things get a little stacked.

The 50% tax on universities not accepting federal loan money is also problematic. There are often legitimate reasons why these institutions are against loan assisstance. The semantics of operating a college shouldn't be up to us: Ultimately, students choose which universities are successful and which universities are not. A 50% tax is a ridiculous amount of money that would effectively kill the universities that have to pay it... how do you give students the resources they need if 50% of their tuition goes right to the government so that it can fund other universities? You'll see tuition prices soar at the taxed institutions until they become so high that no one wants to be a student there. The institution will close, and you'll have a situation where the government was directly responsible for shutting down a whole industry. I can't support that.

[Senator North Carolina Yankee]

This bill has enough votes to pass, Senators have 24 hours to change their votes.

[Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Final Vote on the National University and General Education Reform Bill:

Aye (7): Ben, Marokai Blue, NC Yankee, NVTownsend, Redalgo, sbane and Scott
Nay (1): HagridoftheDeep
Abstain (0):

Didn't Vote (1): Bacon King

With seven votes in the affirmative and one in the negative, the bill has passed and is presented to the President for executive action.

[Senator North Carolina Yankee]

National University and General Education Reform bill
Section One: National University System
1.  $1 Billion shall be appropriated per each region for the construction of a federally-operated university.
2.  $470 Million shall be appropriated per each region per year for the hiring of faculty, accommodating the local community and to pay for costs associated with running the university. Payment in subsequent years will be tied to the rate of growth or decrease in personal income.
3.   Each regional government shall submit a location of economic distress or decline that would benefit from the presence of a strong university campus to the Secretary of Internal Affairs, who can approve or deny the location.
4.  If the Secretary of Internal Affairs denies the location, the region can either nominate a new location or petition the Senate to overrule the Secretary, which can be done by a majority vote of the Senate.
5.   If a regional government does not offer a location, these funds will be offered to another region to choose a location.
6.   The addition of future campuses shall be made possible at the request of the Secretary of Internal Affairs and approved by majority vote of the Senate.

Section Two: Repeal of Tuition Tax
1.   The tuition tax established in Section 6 of the ‘Education Reform Act of 2007’ is hereby repealed.

Section Three: Additional Regulations and Reforms
1.   A 50% tax shall be placed on all revenue a college or university receives from tuition or fees.
2.   This tax shall be waived should a college or university’s student population have 5% or greater receiving federal student loan assistance.
3.   $4.5 billion shall be distributed among the regions by the Secretary of Internal Affairs for the purpose of adding more vocational and career training courses to local community colleges.

Section Four: Secondary School Reform and Assistance
1.   $1 billion shall be distributed among the regions by the Secretary of Internal Affairs for the purpose of adding more arts and culture courses to secondary schools.
2.   $1 billion shall be distributed among the regions by the Secretary of Internal Affairs for the purpose of adding more vocational and career training courses to secondary schools.