Featured Article  House Passes Regionalism Bills Article Audio
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The state house of representatives has passed a package of bills
that house Democrats say will promote regionalism and,
eventually, save money.  WNPR’s Jeff Cohen reports. When the
session began a few months ago, state Representative Brendan
Sharkey said the state and its municipalities needed to start
cooperating more in order to save money.  Because state money,
as everyone knows, is in short supply. So the house passed and
the senate is considering four bills Sharkey says are first
steps. One of the four bills would give grants to towns and
cities that work together to bus their children to school.  If
they work together, they save money. If they save money, the
state saves money by having to reimburse them less.  And, under
the new bill, if the state saves money, it will pass half of
those savings on to the towns and cities. Got that? “If you as a
town and board of education can