Under The Gold Dome: Tallying the Winners, the Losers and the Road to Sine Die

Crossover day is so last week. The Georgia legislature has moved on to massaging bills that successfully crossed from one chamber to the other into something they can agree on and send to the governor for signature, or veto. Now comes the 10-working day sprint to March 29 and Sine Die.

A couple of caveats:

• Some bills had already crossed over. For instance, HB422 will allow the party in power in Ware County to appoint 4 members of the election board and those four members will select the chairperson. This will potentially result in the removal of the three Black members of the Ware County Board of Elections.
• Bills that did not cross over can be resurrected by being grafted onto a related bill. For instance, the draconian SB221 with a raft of new restrictions on voting failed but could come back as part of SB222 which restricts outside donations to election boards.

BILLS THAT CROSSED OVER

• • The $32.5 billion mid-year budget. 
  • SB222 prohibits nonprofit funding to local elections, aka Zuckerbucks.  
  • HB231 allows the removal of locally elected district attorneys from office if the state determines that they are not aggressively enforcing the law. 
  • HB520 provides an array of much-needed support for mental healthcare. 
  • SB140 will ban hormone replacement therapy or surgical care to trans youth. The bill does not ban puberty blockers.  
  • SB233 grants $6,000 in private school vouchers but in its current form includes no means testing and no budget cap, though it now applies to students in schools in the bottom 25% of the state’s ranking system. 
  • HB30 ranks anti-Semitism as a hate crime and so subject to harsher criminal penalties. 
  •  HB462 allows 17-year-olds accused of a crime to be tried in juvenile court. 
  • HB196 means that already legal medical marijuana will be available for purchase. 
  • HB170 will add a 4% tax to the purchase of digital downloads such as games and e-books. 
  • HB249 provides financial aid to college students who are close to graduation.

• BILLS THAT DID NOT CROSS OVER
• • The 2024 budget. The legislature must pass this before adjourning. It is unusual for it not to crossover although not unprecedented. The measure, HB19, passed later in the week. It is now in the Senate. 
  • SB221 would have, among other things, outlawed dropboxes  
  • SB124 would have placed constitutional amendments on counties over-ruling the state when it seeks to redraw local election maps.  
  • HB380 would have made sports betting part of the state lottery. There are rumblings that this could come back this session in some form. 
  • SB88, aka the don’t say gay bill, would have prohibited the discussion or any mention of gender-related topics in classrooms.  
  • HB538 would have provided literacy training for teachers, curriculum related to improving literacy, and reviews to prevent students from falling behind. 
  • HB419 would have given a local trial run to ranked-choice voting. 
  • SB154 would have prosecuted school librarians for allowing youth to check out “harmful materials.”  
  • HB226 to expand Medicaid coverage to HIV patients 
  • SB162 to abolish a Certificate of Need in order to build a new healthcare facility 
  • SB180, the religious liberty bill 
  • HB71 would have banned mining near the Okefenokee Swamp

SHOUT OUT FOR TWO COMMITTEES

• • The all-volunteer staff of Under the Gold Dome would like to give a shout-out to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and the House Public Health Committee. In the weeks leading up to crossover day, they successfully moved legislation along affecting everything from workforce development for mental health care to professional licensing. In the week of Feb. 27 alone, our volunteer reported on 14 pieces of legislation, all of which will have a direct effect on the health and well-being of people living in Georgia. This is what good governance looks like.

THUMBS DOWN FOR HOUSE COMMITTEE

• • We also regret to give a thumbs down to the House Natural Resources Committee. Despite bipartisan support — 90 sponsors — for HB71 which would have banned mining near the Okefenokee Swamp, it failed in committee just as a similar equally well-supported bill last year. Of the committee’s 24 pieces of assigned legislation, almost all died in committee. The Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club calls the committee charged with protecting our natural environment “the funeral parlor.” 

____________________________________________

Important Links

Georgia General Assembly Schedule: www.legis.ga.gov/schedule/all 

Find your Senator/Representative: mvp.sos.ga.gov/s/

____________________________________________

Under the Gold Dome will be distributed to League members and partners each week that the Georgia General Assembly is in session. It is a product of our Education Fund, allowing us to report legislative facts and activities at the State Capitol. The UTGD Team is comprised of LWVGA staff and volunteers, who will be tracking and reporting on legislation and committee hearings throughout the legislative session. 

Subscribe to Under the Gold Dome: bit.ly/40aX7ie

The post Under The Gold Dome: Tallying the Winners, the Losers and the Road to Sine Die first appeared on The Savannah Tribune.