Themes of the Week:

Happy New Year, this week the House returns to action for the first week of 2020. The House and Senate spring session schedules have been released.

State Happenings

Contact your Elected Officials – Overtime Exemption Changes Back On

The uncertainty continues on the proposed compromise legislation, SB 79 which would discard the proposed PA Overtime Rule in favor of minimum wage increases up to $9.50 an hour (within two years). That compromise (SB 79) awaits action in the House and at this point has not been put on the schedule and remains in the Labor and Industry Committee. The Department of Labor and Industry pulled the reg when the compromise was proposed, but the regulations have been rescheduled for a vote at IRRC on January 31st. If the bill moves in the House, it is expected that the regulation will again be pulled
from the IRRC Agenda.

House Education Committee Meeting

The House Education Committee is meeting Monday, January 13th at 11 a.m. there is one bill scheduled to run that will affect teacher education programs:
HB 2046 (Murt) will allow students who began their special education certification program prior to the changes of Act 82 to obtain certification by delaying the new certification by one year – to 2022. It is our understanding that an amendment will be offered to further clarify this point that as long as a student remains continuously enrolled, he or she will be able to obtain certification, regardless of the date.

For the full PA House schedule click here.

Federal Happenings

Foreign Gift Reporting

Federal Register published the notice on Section 117 Reporting of Foreign Gifts and comments are due December 27, 2019. ED is asking OMB for January 2, 2020 approval for the new reporting. As of this email, there has been no notice that they were granted emergency approval which most likely means that the expedited process was not approved, stay tuned…..

Save the Date

AICUP will be on the Hill April 7, 2020 –

Hope you can join us to advocate for independent nonprofit colleges across Pennsylvania! This year we expect over 45 schools and 300 students to attend!

We have extended the deadline for the speech contest to February 28, 2020. Check out more details on our Speech Contest in partnership with PHEAA here.