The Senate Education Committee on Tuesday advanced a bill that would remove the statutory provisions establishing in law the minimum amount of paid sick days, bereavement leave, and sabbatical leave to be granted to public school teachers and would instead subject such benefits to collective bargaining between each individual school district and teachers.

While the bill—Senate Bill 229—did advance to the full Senate for consideration, it did so with bipartisan opposition.

Two Senate bills that sponsors say would bring more transparency to collective bargaining negotiations made their way out of the House State Government Committee Tuesday morning and now head to the House Floor for consideration.

Senate Bill 644 by Sen. Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon) would require the Independent Fiscal Office to conduct a fiscal impact study of any collective bargaining agreement before it is officially enacted.

“Senate Bill 644 represents an ongoing effort to bring openness and transparency to state government,” Sen. Folmer said of his bill. “[It] does this by focusing on the cost, not on the details associated with the Commonwealth’s collective bargaining agreements.”