After a 60-day regular legislative session and nearly 30-days into the first special session of 2010, the much awaited Senate action on Representative Dunshee’s Jobs Bill occurred late this afternoon.

The Senate Ways & Means Committee held a public hearing and then moved HB 2561 out of committee to the Senate floor.

The version of House Bill 2561 passed out of the Senate Ways & Means Committee this afternoon looks different than the bill that was considered by the House at the beginning of special session.

The Committee, with support of the sponsor of the bill Rep. Dunshee, amended the bill to include a funding source. This change will require the temporary sales tax on bottled water included in the Legislature’s proposed revenue package (SB 6143) to be made permanent. After three years, tax proceeds would go toward retiring the bond debt.

In addition, prior to the bill’s enactment, a ballot measure will be sent to voters to authorize the issuance of $505 million in bonds to finance an array of energy efficiency improvements to public schools and buildings on public college and university campuses.

The newly amended House Bill 2561 authorizes nearly $350 million less than was originally discussed ($861 million). The bill also appears to focus only on K-12 and higher education buildings, setting aside for the moment eligibility for other public facilities to compete for the funds. Finally, the most recent version of the bill provides a permanent funding source for the bonds.

It is believed HB 2561 will ultimately save school districts $126 million annually in reduced operational costs and the environmental benefit would reduce harmful emissions by an amount equivalent to removing 130,000 vehicles from the road each year.

The bill, enacted, could potentially provide Evergreen with financial resources to implement energy-related projects and perhaps funding to construct Evergreen’s Biomass Gasification Project.

HB 2561 now goes to the Senate floor for further consideration.