HOUSE BILL: The HELIOS Act (At Final Vote)

[RFayette]

I cannot support this until alterations to make it deficit-neutral are made.

[RFayette]

I'd go for the 2.5 or higher GPA and 85% attendance rate for high school idea.

I definitely concur with this requirement. 

[RFayette]

Does the financial transactions tax apply to home sales?

[RFayette]

Seems good

[RFayette]

Nay

[RFayette]

I have a suggestion for an Amendment to the Bill once Pericles' is adapted into this one.

I would suggest adding a minimum GPA Requirement so that Students who actually work hard in school are given the ability to be eligible for Free College, rather than just giving it to everyone.  I'd suggest a minimum requirement of a 3.0 Weighted GPA, a B Average overall.

I agree with this.  Encouraging people to work hard is a must.

[RFayette]

I have a suggestion for an Amendment to the Bill once Pericles' is adapted into this one.

I would suggest adding a minimum GPA Requirement so that Students who actually work hard in school are given the ability to be eligible for Free College, rather than just giving it to everyone.  I'd suggest a minimum requirement of a 3.0 Weighted GPA, a B Average overall.

I don't have the time to amend at the moment, but I'd suggest a 3.0 or 3.5 unweighted, so that schools don't weight their GPAs at something ridiculous like 10 so that everyone can get free college. Also, 3.0 or 3.5 on a 4.0 scale so that students have the incentive to work harder. A B average is just that -- average. We need to set a higher goal so that students will have the incentive to succeed.

I agree with Sestak's critique of this approach, but I do agree with the idea that we should make it a challenge.  Nonetheless, the solution would be a standardized weighting system across school districts (1 point for Honors/AP/IB classes, perhaps). 

[RFayette]

Interesting re-write.  I am not a fan of any form of tax on financial transactions, so this will be a Nay vote from me in the end of the day.

[RFayette]

Interesting re-write.  I am not a fan of any form of tax on financial transactions, so this will be a Nay vote from me in the end of the day.

Is there anything that could change your mind on this bill? Also given that a lack of funding is used as an excuse to oppose the bill, if you have oppose a financial transactions tax that's fine but please people, introduce alternative funding measures. Let's be constructive and get this done.

I would much rather impose a 0.5% VAT tax instead.

[RFayette]

We can use these numbers and then re-scale them in proportion to the size of Atlasia's economy:
https://www.cbo.gov/budget-options/2016/52285
So it would be 18 billion per year at US population levels.

[RFayette]

Aye

[RFayette]

Nay