It is true, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Once again, I have been borrowing the brilliant ideas from my

colleagues from across the aisle and offering them as my own in these amendments, but I give them full credit.

These are very good ideas. This amendment tie-bars a substitute to a Birkholz bill that would restrict administrative

costs to no more than 28 percent. This is part of the Republican package of reforms. I think it is a very legitimate

reform. We have to drive resources into the classroom, and this is a way to do that. I hope that all members will

support this. It is the type of thing that we should be doing when we are looking at reforms.

Senator Switalski's third statement is as follows:

This one is actually one of my own bills. I have to take credit for this one. It is a tie-bar to an election

consolidation bill that would restrict elections to August and November. Let me add that my two worthy colleagues-

-great minds think alike--Senators McManus and Brown have offered similar legislation to consolidate elections. I

commend them for these ideas. We all are thinking along the same lines, that schools are wasting resources and

government is wasting resources by holding duplicative, low-turnout elections. We should consolidate them to

August and November. This tie-bar would do that. I hope members will vote for more efficient government and

support my amendment.

printed in the Journal.

The motion prevailed.

Senator Switalski's first statement is as follows:

This amendment will tie-bar the budget bill to a substitute to a brilliant Senator Patterson bill that places a cap on

superintendent wages. We all know how shy and retiring Senator Patterson is, and he doesn't want to get up and

speak about his own bill, but I think it is so good and I like it so much that I want to tie-bar this budget bill to it. We

have to do a lot of reforms, and we've got to make some cuts. I think this is a very reasonable thing to do. The cuts

should be felt all the way through education. I hope members will support this tie-bar that will require a cap on

superintendent wages.