If DHR were gone and you had your own HR department, would this problem exist or not? Yes or no? Ask our HR guy. >> [laughter] >> They're not going to go against that. Well, I think I already know my answer by then. Thank you. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay, any other questions on 1541? Okay, moving on. HB 2315 relating to state employee benefits. First up, we have Department of Health in support. They're just walking away. Somebody else. Okay. Uh hi chair, vice chair, uh committee members. My name is Bobby Robinson. I'm the DHRO of the Department of Health. Uh and I'm here to uh testify in strong support of this bill. Okay, and you're resting your written testimony. >> Yes. Thank you very much. Okay, next we have UPW in support. Tamakana Kaimuloa. Okay, UPW is not here. Kaunawai Sabas, HHA.
So the thought process is if we move you to the start of the school year you get an extra day to get ready and then the last day of school on graduation is also the last day you have to check out. Now I've been in many districts that that's the way it is. your last day is on this day and so the expectation is you check out by the end of the day. We haven't done it here which is fine. There's a very good chance based on the calendar next couple years we'll go back to the other one. But for this one in order for for Julie and Sophia and everybody with contracts and for when people are going to be expecting the big check um it's going to push it into June a year from now. And so we thought it would be much easier just to say let's start everybody back one day earlier.
Scott with your votes and they are $10 each, which could also be applied towards your Arizona tax credit for those of you who are still procrastinating about filing your taxes um because they are a qualifying charitable organization. That does not mean that you can you can still participate in the Arizona school tax credit because those are two different credits and you can take advantage of both of them. That is all I have and we'll move on to our spotlight Michelle Terry. Tonight, tonight the Maricopa Unified School District is excited to honor spotlight recipients across four categories: community members, MUSD employees, students, and student athletes. Before we begin, I'd like to thank our sponsors at Freddy's Steakburgers and Frozen Custard Custard, Baskin-Robbins, and Ultra Star Entertainment for making tonight special for our honorees. Our first honorees are community members whose time and support make a real difference for our students and families.
So, um so, I'll just go through it. Uh a lot of this uh is going to be stuff you already know, but uh this is what we've uh put together for uh some of the conversations. Uh the the it's this kind of sectioned uh each of these sections I try to put a slide before it that uh scopes what the slides are going to be and also uh one of the things we've been talking about a lot is trying to make it consumable and we use lots of words and there's no way to not use some of the words, general fund, all these different other things and so, uh it it also tries to um define some of those terms, right? So, uh the way we started is uh just trying to break down uh, what drives the budget, what are the biggest components of the budget.
I mean, we had this conversation. >> You know, I don't I don't see any reason. I don't, right? But I have heard reasoning from others who believe that we should mail, right? Um I believe in this day and age at specifically the high school middle school level where student or sorry parents can log in >> and see things in power school at >> you every level. There's a right there's a report card almost every day. Right. Kind of joke barring the quarters. You know the old quarters or halves, whatever we do >> at different levels. >> Yeah. I'd love to do that. Others believe that sometimes people don't get it, but I believe they do. >> Would I mean I I'm not saying that's going to cut millions of dollars, >> but it would save >> it would save something. >> No, I agree. >> Do we have the numbers on what that would save?
I'll give you a couple and then somebody else can talk. >> What would you like? >> Um I think that I would like to just get if there's a more general comment and then we can come back to more specific items. This is my general comment. >> Um, >> okay. So, from the budget and finance subcommittee, uh, we had a great meeting, tons of questions, a lot of them being about the revolving funds. So, the story that the, you know, putting it into a comprehensive narrative was that we've got these funds because during the COVID days of esser, we were wise with how we spent it. build up built up these reserves. We're currently spending these reserves down to the point where next year could run into trouble with the reserves. So, we are at a point where we will need to make dramatic changes in the very near future.
Now that's the entire amount that comes from the state of Connecticut in the ECS fund and that's in the revenue portion. Now you know how it goes. We have all our expenses. Then we have all our revenues and our that the non-t tax revenues. Then then the board of finance figures out what the tax needs to be to cover the expenses. They lower the expenses in order, you know, then then the whole the fund begins. That's so Jordan, it's on page 85, the board of select men's budget proposal and not >> select. Okay. >> Okay. So, it is on the board of selectman side. That's where we'll see it. It's just not a line item of 258. It's a it's a higher number or >> it's the full ECS number, >> right? >> It's in the full. >> Okay. >> And that 258 is in that total ECS number.
So, I think I think like Senator DeCoite was saying, the creating the the baseline as 25% gives us flexibility to raise the price according to food costs. The food cost is going to go up, that's why. >> Well, and labor costs are going to go up if that's what you're calculating in. Yep. So, do you have a better handle then on the food costs because last year when, you know, your predecessor, you know, predecessor before your position was created, they weren't really sure what the cost was. So, has that changed from last year to this year and and how did you get that under control? So, the current We do have the current costs for this current year and it's basically like I shared, it's the cost of food, cost of milk, cost of equipment, cost of labor divided by the total number of meals.
Yeah, uh HHA will pass. Thank you very much. Keith DeMello, Workforce Development Council in support. Anybody else wishing to testify on HB 2315? Members, any questions? Okay, none. Now to LBT. Okay, thank you, Madam Co-Chair. Our next item and our last item on our agenda is House Bill 1782, House Draft 3. This is relating to artificial intelligence for the protection of minors. First up on our list of registered testifiers is Rajee Tolentino, DCCA. Or representative. And followed by the Attorney General's office. Aloha, welcome. Hi. Good afternoon, chairs, vice chair, members of the committees. I'm Rajee Tolentino with the Office of Consumer Protection. Um I'd like to comment on the data minimization language in the bill. Um we agree that data minimization is an important issue, but we think it is it may be better addressed outside of this measure. >> [clears throat] >> Privacy laws and laws regulating chatbot behavior are related, but they're really trying to do two different things.
They'll end one day earlier. They'll have the same 180 days. um there won't be any other changes to the calendar whatsoever. The act the reality is they'll get five days before school starts at the beginning and they'll just have to check out uh on the last day of school. Um and so that's why we're making the recommendation just make sure that they get that that the lumpsum payout. Um uh they don't have to wait uh another week before they get it because many of them rely on it for vacation and some other things in the summer. Um, I was wondering is this have you how does um how do the principles is this going to be especially graduation is this going to be a crunch for >> them to do checkout and graduation all on the same day? Is that going to be a >> my my guess is my guess is for for the first time and for some it might be I can just tell you as an example in PAC we did graduation last day of school Friday before Memorial Day.
Congratulations, community members. As I call your name, please come forward to receive your certificate and give a quick fist bump to the governing board members and Dr. Lopeman and then head to room 123 for a group photo. Mr. Harmon is standing by the hallway to point you in the right direction. Give us a wave, Mr. Harmon. There he is. All right. Congratulations to Lori Smuda, volunteer from Butterfield Elementary School. Ana Iglesias, volunteer tutor Maricopa Elementary School. Barnett Jacobs, volunteer from Pima Butte Elementary School. And Sue Jump, volunteer from Saddleback Elementary School. >> [applause] >> Daniel Johnson, School Safety Officer Santa Cruz Elementary School. >> [applause] >> And Britney Marquez, PTO Board Member Santa Rosa Elementary School. Natasha Kleinman, PTO Volunteer Desert Wind Middle School. >> And Kathleen Almada, supportive parent at Maricopa Wells Middle School. >> [applause] >> Carrie Woodward, business sponsor and FFA volunteer, Desert Sunrise High School.
So, these are general fund expenditures out of for the entire town. And then you'll see that the education is 55% fixed cost, 16, and then public safety. So, those are the three big uh, big drivers. And at the bottom it describes what fixed fixed cost. So, this is all from state data. And fixed costs are a category of state data. So, this is from uh, a schedule A that is submitted to the state. And so, fixed costs are essentially all all benefits, um, you know, including health care, unemployment, workers compensation, and things like that. So, obviously the largest driver is education and those fixed costs. I'll just quickly what, what falls in the category of general government? That's everything except public works and public safety that's Yeah, I think Yeah, I think I think that's that is, yeah, the the the staff and stuff for general for the general government that doesn't fall into um, uh, public works and and public safety.
Are we required? Um, this is going to be a really silly question, but a lot of the times I drop redrop off a lot of my like IEP signed stuff and I don't mail it back. >> Mhm. >> Do we still pay that 79 cents fee even though it doesn't go through the mail? >> If we if we >> like are we required to provide it a return a stamped return for parents? >> If it's in there, yes, it's already been well, I'll use the word paid for, right? the answer to your question. I don't know. I'll get you an answer. >> Okay. >> If we have to give this, >> like I said, a lot of the times I'll just put a lot I think parents either put it in their kids' backpack or they um drop it back off at central office. I'm not saying parents don't utilize >> Yeah.
The budget as written and presented tonight is basically what we have now. Status quo, this is what it would cost. It adds a little like it adds one more ELLL teacher so that you know it's not a true complete just level service but I think everyone in this room knows that the schools are not getting a $1.7 million increase. Uh this budget as presented the way it's been explained to me is that this is our starting point for negotiations. We give this to the mayor. The mayor looks through all of the budgets and comes up with what is more realistic for what Greenfield can pay for and then the superintendent and the administration finds ways to make what we can pay for work for our kids. So that is my understanding of the process here that this budget if voted on tonight by everyone in town the moment it meets reality good luck.
>> Correct. >> It's part of that number. Okay. Okay. So, it is part of the board of select men's side of the budget. >> Yes. No. Their operating uh percent increase does not reflect on tax revenue. >> Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you for that clarification. >> Little complicated. I know. >> Sorry. Yeah. I don't I think what the reason that I started with that I think it's really important um that we were very uh communicative about that and and that that's where this 5.92 comes from and some of the things if you remember that we had to add in from the time that we did the forecast budget to where I finished was if you remember We had um someone retired. Part of the contract was at the EAC sickly buy out for 44,000. We did the retirement incentive and I want to make it very clear to the community and remind this board that we did do an incentive program for teachers and we generated an offset over $239,000 relative to that.
So, did we always have that because last year my recollection is we we were we weren't we weren't even sure. I can't speak for last year, but um that's the formula that we're using. Okay. So, I think we need to understand what what is what is the historical data and what is your projections cuz I think the projections is what's really important to us. Okay. Cuz we don't want to keep coming back and having to do it by statute. And the cost will go up because we're increasing our locally sourced too, so Well, but then you got to factor that into the the plan, right? And at least we we kind of understand because then we got to understand what is what is the cost to the state that we're going to subsidize as well. Right? And I think everyone wants to to make sure that all their kids are fed, but we just got to go in with a with a clear picture of what that looks like.
Privacy laws generally deal with what information um a business can collect, keep, or use. Um this bill, by contrast, focuses on how these systems interact with minors and how to reduce the risk of harm for from these interactions. Putting both these issues into one bill may create confusion for businesses, regulators, and enforcement agencies like our office. In our view, it'd be cleaner to keep this bill focused on protections of for minors. So, if this bill um passes um or moves forward, we respectfully ask that the data minimization provisions be removed. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Rajee. Um Ashlee Tanaka, Deputy Attorney General. Aloha, welcome. Good afternoon, chairs, vice chair, members of the committee. Ashlee Tanaka, Deputy Attorney General. We did submit written testimony providing comments just regarding two areas of the bill. One regarding the use of the phrase material risk as it appears in two sections with suggested amendments, as well as we suggested adding a severability provision towards the end of the bill.
So we did this every single time. I will tell you those teachers that want to be gone 3 days before the end of school will be done by 12:04. Those people that um will be late to their own funeral type thing will probably be done until the week after because that's just their nature and I don't think it's a big deal. It will be a little bit of a difference. I know Craig uh in in the room is talking to me about what do we do about handing back if someone's leaving us um uh their computers and stuff like that. So, it's not going to be like there's no hiccups. But I think it's something we can work through and in worst case scenario. So, you have to come back on Tuesday to finish something up because you got busy. Um I would say for again 90% 95% of the people if they had to do that it's not like everybody bolts and doesn't is gone for for uh spring or summer vacation by that time.
>> [applause] >> Ashley and Robert Barnett, volunteers from Maricopa High School. And Cheryl Sharp, store manager at Arby's, Maricopa Virtual Academy. Congratulations again to these outstanding spotlight community members. >> [applause] >> And next, we're proud to honor our spotlight employees of the month, dedicated staff who go above and beyond to meet the needs of our students and school communities. Congratulations, spotlight employees. As I call your name, please come forward to receive your certificate and give a quick fist bump to the governing board and Dr. Lopeman and then head to room 123 for a group photo. Congratulations to Sophia Ruiz, community preschool paraprofessional from Butterfield Elementary School. Diane Street Speck, speech and language pathologist from Maricopa Elementary School. Zo- whoa, hello. Wait, wait, wait, wait. We We're doing this again. Zo Redfern, GATE teacher from Pima Butte Elementary School. Rosie Palafox-Salazar, speech language pathologist assistant from Saddleback Elementary School.
So, like DPW is in public works and police and fire in public safety. And then obviously we have the the town hall staff. So, planning department >> Librarian. Yeah, I I I think all all that general government stuff. So, all of our planning department's building, you know, accountants and things like that are in that that bucket. And then obviously the debt the debt services to pay our our bonds and and other other debt servicing. And then this is just a All of these are about trying to It's not about trying to look at the data. It's more about objectively looking at it to show just visually what's driving the budget. And so, we're across the town where people organization, right? For the what drives the budget most time is salaries and and personnel and the services that they supply. And so So here this this is talking about what drives the budget and then the subsequent slides that are going to be data will address um address those things in order as well.