SB 104-09: COMET Act of 2021 (Passed)

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

AN ACT
To make sure that schools have educational devices for their students and high speed internet in schools


Be it enacted by the Senate of the Republic of Atlasia assembled

Section 1. Title

This legislation may be cited as the School Technology Grants Act of 2021.

Section 2. Content

1. $75 billion shall be appropriated to school districts across Atlasia for purchasing devices that may include buying laptops/tablets/desktop computers/iPads/iMacs/Macbooks/ for educational use towards students.
2. $5 billion shall be appropriated towards making sure that every school in Atlasia has access to high speed WiFi.
3. The Government of the Republic of Atlasia shall have full responsibility for funding everything in this Act.

Section 3. Taking Effect
1. This Act shall take effect immediately following the passage of this bill.

Sponsor: Ishan Joseph Cao

The gentleman from the Virgin Islands is recognized.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Yes, MB's amendment has been adopted. Sponsor feedback is needed for Cao's amendment.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Senators have 24 hours to object to Senator Cao's amendment.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Cao's amendment is adopted.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

We need to get back on this now, and we need a new sponsor, otherwise the bill will be automatically tabled.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I realize this fell by the wayside but this still needs a sponsor.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

We need answers, and a sponsor, now. We're already past the deadline, so if nobody assumes sponsorship within 24 hours I am tabling this.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Senators have 24 hours to object to the sponsorship of Joseph Cao.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Hearing no objection, Senator Cao is recognized as sponsor.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

An objection having been raised, a vote on the amendment is now open. Senators, please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

AN ACT
To make sure that schools have educational devices for their students and high speed internet in schools.


Be it enacted by the Senate of the Republic of Atlasia assembled,

Section 1. Title

This legislation may be cited as the School Educational Technology Grants Act of 2021.


Section 2. Content

1. $75 billion shall be appropriated to school districts and homeschooling students across Atlasia for purchasing devices and educational software. That may include buying laptops/tablets/desktop computers/iPads/iMacs/Macbooks/ for educational use.
2. Funding will be subject to means testing.
3. Funding will be available for two years and then subject to a full review to analyse the educational effectiveness. The Senate then decide if to continue funding for an additional three years.
4. The Government of the Republic of Atlasia shall have full responsibility for funding everything in this Act.
5. No federal government funds may be used for purchase of new or additional school security equipment, including but not limited to surveillance cameras, facial recognition devices, or metal detectors.


Section 3. Support Services

1. Tech Support will include using the existing school technical support staff, who will be eligible to receive training in the relevant devices and technologies.
2. An Atlasian Education Tech Support networking website created to enable better support of those making use of this program.
3. Devices are the property of the Republic of Atlasia and maybe bought at the end of their period of life for $1. There will be no further support provided in relation to this act after this point.
4. Devices not purchased at end of life are to be returned for refurbishment. These will then be used as backup and replacement devices for broken, stolen damaged devices.


Section 4. Taking Effect
1. This Act shall take effect immediately following the passage of this bill.

Additions
minor readjustment of letters/numbers
Removals

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

How is "means testing" intended to be defined under this amendment?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

For now, I'll vote Aye. I'm generally not a fan of means testing, and when applied I prefer a generous threshold, but for the same reason I don't want to pay for Donald Trump's kids' college, I don't think wealthy, (presumably) high-performing school districts need the aid. I will support repealing parts of the amendment if we don't come to an agreement.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

The amendment vote closes tomorrow.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Sorry, folks.

With ten votes in favor, four opposed, and four members not voting, the amendment is adopted. Debate resumes.

So now we need to expand on the amendment for clarification and implementation.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

So now we need to expand on the amendment for clarification and implementation.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

An objection having been raised, a vote on the amendment is now open. Senators, please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

AN ACT
To make sure that schools have educational devices for their students and high speed internet in schools.


Be it enacted by the Senate of the Republic of Atlasia assembled,

Section 1. Title

This legislation may be cited as the School Educational Technology Grants Act of 2021.


Section 2. Content

1. $75 billion shall be appropriated to school districts and homeschooling students across Atlasia for purchasing devices and educational software. That may include buying laptops/tablets/desktop computers/iPads/iMacs/Macbooks/ for educational use.
2. Funding will be subject to means testing.
3. Funding will be available for two years and then subject to a full review to analyse the educational effectiveness. The Senate then decide if to continue funding for an additional three years.
4. The Government of the Republic of Atlasia shall have full responsibility for funding everything in this Act.
5. No federal government funds may be used for purchase of new or additional school security equipment, including but not limited to surveillance cameras, facial recognition devices, or metal detectors.


Section 3. Support Services

1. Tech Support will include using the existing school technical support staff, who will be eligible to receive training in the relevant devices and technologies.
2. An Atlasian Education Tech Support networking website created to enable better support of those making use of this program.
3. Devices are the property of the Republic of Atlasia and maybe bought at the end of their period of life for $1. There will be no further support provided in relation to this act after this point.
4. Devices not purchased at end of life are to be returned for refurbishment. These will then be used as backup and replacement devices for broken, stolen damaged devices.


Section 4. Taking Effect
1. This Act shall take effect immediately following the passage of this bill.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Nay

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

With ten nays, the amendment does not have sufficient votes to pass and is therefore rejected. I am suspending this vote even though it would automatically end at 11:37 EST.

Debate resumes.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

If we can't reach a threshold, just remove the means testing requirement.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

If we can't reach a threshold, just remove the means testing requirement.

For the record there isn’t a “we” here, I am simply trying to pick up my line of working where I left off a couple of weeks back, and the impasse is over exactly what threshold is fairest for the kids we need to help with this bill while not doubling up goodies for the more privileged kids who already have access to them, not whether such a threshold is necessary.

Fair enough. I am not very good at scoring bills, so a lot of the work is estimating numbers and letting other senators comment.

I'm thinking that the formula we use could be a sliding scale, based on the average income of school districts. I don't know if that information is available though, so we'll probably need to base it on counties or zipcodes. (Counties could make it harder to target needier areas, of course, and if this money is going to the counties, then they must be required to identify poorer regions and reserve it to them.)

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Hold on a minute...

3. Devices are the property of the Republic of Atlasia and may be bought at the end of their period of life for $1. There will be no further support provided in relation to this act after this point.

So if I'm reading this correctly, we're selling these devices for $1?