A bill proposing a state-wide driver education program failed to make it out of the House of Representatives Monday. The original bill called for an appropriation for the program, which requires a two-thirds vote from the House. But, an amendment was offered to remove the appropriations section of the legislation because the Department of Highway Safety has a grant that would apply to the program. Representative Jim Stalzer says the appropriation section should stay because of the country’s financial uncertainty.
“During the committee hearing on this, testimony was there are only 13 schools currently involved with driver’s education, and that in this bill there is a position of driver education coordinator which will be a full-time, ongoing position. During the questioning, they did indicate that there is a federal grant, but they also testified that they had no idea whether that was going to be available after sequestration,’ Stalzer says.
Members of the House failed to approve the amendment, and the unamended bill didn’t pass because it failed to get the two-thirds vote. The bill was reconsidered before the end of the day, but neither the amendment nor legislation were approved on the second attempt.