Statehouse Update April 8-10

Neil Wolin

Written by
April 07, 2025

Statehouse Update April 8-10

Update 4/09/25: Adjustments were made to this summary to reflect developments that occurred during the week.

This week at the Statehouse is relatively quiet in terms of full legislative activity. The House will convene on Tuesday. On the other hand, the full Senate is out this week, with the Senate finance committee poised to resume work on the House's state budget proposal. 

Meanwhile, the House K-12 Education subcommittee has a packed agenda for Tuesday afternoon, with many consequential reforms up for consideration. Among them is a school board streaming bill that would require meetings to be livestreamed, a key item on SCPC’s 2025–26 legislative agenda.

Check out the full breakdown of bills on the move below:

Education
  • Therapists for students during school hours H.3974 – Authorizes private therapists (evaluators/private providers) to counsel students on school premises during school days upon parental permission. The House education and public works committee hears this bill on Tuesday, April 8 at 3:30pm.
  • Religious expression in school H.3758 – Expands religious expression protections in public schools and implements the rollout of limited public forums in which students are selected to speak before events in which their religious expression is protected. The House education and public works committee hears this bill on Tuesday, April 8 at 3:30pm.
  • Schoolboard livestreaming S.77 – Requires school boards to adopt policies for electronic transmission of meetings. The House education and public works committee hears this bill on Tuesday, April 8 at 3:30pm. Stay tuned for a complete SCPC analysis on schoolboard livestreaming.
  • Noncertified teachers S.79 – Allows public schools to hire non-certified teachers for up to 10% of their teaching staff. A House k-12 education subcommittee hears this bill on Tuesday, April 8 at 3:30pm.
  • Workforce program H.3225 – Creates a state funded work training opportunities for college student program recipients, allowing for a new bureaucratic structure that requires state general funding. Will replace college courses with program credits and issues payments to program participants upwards of $40,000 each. A House higher education subcommittee hears this bill on Tuesday, April 8 at 3:30pm.
Legal Reform
  • FOIA reform S.6 – Speeds up requirement of governmental departments to deliver requested records. Fails to enact penalties for ignored deadlines and caps on FOIA request costs (if there is to be a fee at all, which there should not be). Records should be posted by public bodies to their websites for all to see. A Senate judiciary subcommittee hears this bill on Tuesday, April 8 at 1pm.
Regulation
  • Anesthesiologist assistant reform H.3996 - This bill would increase the number of anesthesiologists' assistants (AA) than an anesthesiologist can supervise from two to four. It would also streamline the licensing process by removing the requirement that an applicant appear before a member of the board of medical examiners. The House 3M committee hears this bill on Tuesday, April 8 1.5 hours after House adjournment. Update: This bill has advanced to the House floor. 
  • Interstate social work compact H. 3752 – This bill would facilitate interstate practice for regulated social workers, with the goal of improving public access to services and allowing for the use of telehealth. It would also promote the exchange of licensure and disciplinary information among states and help address workforce shortages by eliminating the need for multiple state licenses. The full LCI Committee considers the bill at 9AM on Wednesday.
Second Amendment
  • Firearm transaction privacy H.3930 – Prevents government entities from keeping records of firearm purchases except in cases of criminal investigations. Prevents an independent merchant code from being used by state government to identify firearms purchases. This bill is on the House floor for debate.
Budget
  • On Tuesday, April 8 at 12:30pm the Senate Finance Committee will consider the House’s version of the state budget, including General Appropriations H.4045 and Capital Reserve Fund H.4026. For an SCPC analysis on the proposed House budget, click here. Update: These bills have advanced to the Senate floor, reportedly with zero earmarks. 
Government Structure
  • The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee will begin the nomination hearing for Ms. Myra Reece, interim director of the Department of Environmental Services, on Tuesday, April 8 at 10 a.m.