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Legislature
wrapup: What passed, what didn't Staff report Published on: 04/02/06 KEY LEGISLATION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
BUDGET House Bill 1027: The $18.6 billion budget, which kicks in July 1, contains a 4 percent raise for teachers, $1 billion for school and road construction and $10 million to give every teacher a $100 gift card to buy supplies. Lawmakers also inserted $6.5 million for 300 local projects. BUSINESS Senate Bill 120: Prevents the Georgia Public Service Commission from being able to regulate high-speed Internet, wireless service and Voice over Internet Protocol calls. CHILD SUPPORT Senate Bill 382: Changes the way child support payments are calculated, requiring judges to consider the incomes of both parents. Also provides a table to determine the cost of raising a child. CONSUMER Senate Bill 572: An amendment softened a state program that would cause Georgians who receive nursing-home care under Medicaid to forfeit part or all of their assets after they die. The program exempts homes valued at less than $100,000. CRIME Senate Bill 77: Establishes penalties for causing the injury or death of an unborn child at any stage of development in a pregnancy. House Bill 1059: Mandates minimum 25-year prison sentences and lifetime electronic monitoring upon release for many sex offenders whose victims were age 14 or younger. It also tightens restrictions on where sex offenders can live and work. EDUCATION Senate Bill 79: Requires that the State Board of Education adopt curricula for two high school electives, "History and Literature of the Old Testament Era" and "History and Literature of the New Testament Era," no later than February. Senate Bill 413: Allows parents to notify schools when they don't want their child participating in a high school club or organization, but does not require written permission for every activity. Senate Bill 390 Requires school systems to spend 65 percent of funding in classrooms. House Bill 1358: Requires reductions of from two to four students in elementary and middle grades and requires every class to be at or below the cap; systemwide averages will no longer be sufficient to comply. EMINENT DOMAIN House Bill 1313: Gov. Sonny Perdue's proposal limits government ability to take people's land by forced sale. ENVIRONMENT House Bill 1107: Perdue's proposal encourages land conservation by allowing a landowner to claim a tax credit of up to 25 percent of the land's value. The landowner could donate property to a state or local government or land trust, or donate a conservation easement and keep the land. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION Senate Bill 529: The legislation seeks to crack down on illegal immigrants and those who hire them, mostly by verifying the legal status of adults applying for taxpayer-provided services in Georgia and by removing tax breaks for anyone who employs undocumented workers. HEALTH Senate Bill 480: An amendment to this bill allows nurse practitioners to write prescriptions and order diagnostic tests. House Bill 1178: Allows the recycling of drugs from nursing homes, hospices and other health-care facilities to go to Georgia's uninsured; also protects pharmacists who refuse to dispense medication that terminates a pregnancy, but not contraceptives, from disciplinary action. JUVENILE JUSTICE Senate Bill 135: Requires juvenile's cases in Superior Court to go before a grand jury within 180 days. Otherwise, the child's case will be transferred to Juvenile Court. Senate Bill 136: Specifies that a child's bail may be posted by anyone with legal custody of the child, or by an adult blood relative or stepparent. House Bill 1145: Insists Juvenile Courts order mental evaluations if there is any question of a juvenile suspect's competency to stand trial. Also includes "Amy's Law," which would give Juvenile Court judges the authority to lock up until age 21 a child who commits a murder. PUBLIC SAFETY Senate Bill 396: Allows Georgians to shoot muggers, carjackers and other attackers without fear of being prosecuted or sued. NEW CITIES House Bill 1321: Allows residents in north Fulton County to decide in a July referendum if they want to create the city of Johns Creek. House Bill 1470: Allows residents in north Fulton County to decide in a July referendum if they want to create the city of Milton. Senate Bill 552: Allows residents in south Fulton County to decide in a 2007 referendum if they want to create the city of South Fulton. Senate Bill 553: Allows residents in south Fulton County to decide in a 2007 referendum if they want to create the city of Chattahoochee Hill Country. House Bill 101: Allows active police officers who worked before 1976 and make a sworn statement that they were discriminated against because of their race or ethnicity buy time in the Peace Officers' Annuity and Benefits fund. TAXES House Bill 970: Suspends half the tax collected on consumer purchases of liquid propane from Jan. 1 through March 31. The tax cut on natural gas runs through April 30. House Bill 595: Freezes the value of a DeKalb County home for county tax purposes by increasing the homestead exemption until the house sells. If the county commission keeps the property tax rate the same, the county portion of the homeowner's tax bill would not rise. TEN COMMANDMENTS House Bill 941: Would permit public display of the Ten Commandments along with other historical documents. TORT REFORM House Bill 239: Requires a plaintiff to pay a defendant's attorney's fees only if the final judgment is less than 75 percent of the proposed settlement. TRANSPORTATION House Bill 1097: Allows video billboards with static images, but without a section that would have made it easier to cut trees in front of billboards. Unclear language that may exempt the video billboards from 5,000-foot spacing restrictions remained in the bill. House Bill 1177: Reduces the amount of insurance bond coverage contractors have to get on big projects from the whole project to $300 million. The contractor could use its own guaranty for 35 percent of the project, and letters of credit or other mechanisms for the rest, if the Department of Transportation approves. VOTING Senate Bill 84: Refines a law requiring Georgia voters to show a government-issued photo identification at the polls. County voting registrars will be required to provide photo IDs.
KEY LEGISLATION THAT FAILED
ABORTION Senate Bill 429: Would have required women be offered an opportunity to see their ultrasound before an abortion. BUSINESS House Bill 1325: Would have made it easier for Atlanta Gas Light to build a $300 million natural gas pipeline from the coast to Atlanta at their customers' expense. Senate Bill 535: Would have required that businesses that make high-interest loans in exchange for car titles to return money left over if they repossess and sell a borrower's car. Also would have required lenders to register with the state and report the number of cars they repossess when borrowers default. CONSUMER Senate Bill 395: Would have prohibited cellphone providers from requiring that customers extend their contracts in order to upgrade their service plans and codified other consumer protections. CRIME Senate Resolution 1030: Would have established the Georgia Capital Punishment Study Commission to review the death penalty in Georgia. DEVELOPMENT House Bill 1323: Would have allowed developers to tax homebuyers and issue tax-free bonds to pay for neighborhood infrastructure. DIVORCE Senate Bill 25: Would have extended the waiting period for parents of minor children to get a no-fault divorce to 120 days and would have required them to get take three hours of training on helping their kids cope. EDUCATION House Resolution 1045: Gov. Sonny Perdue's "HOPE Chest" constitutional amendment would have asked voters to decide whether lottery funds should be used only for the HOPE scholarship and free pre-kindergarten. ENVIRONMENT Senate Bill 510: Would have allowed cities and counties to permit two-acre home sites with septic tanks within 25 to 50 feet of a lake or stream used to supply drinking water. HEALTH Senate Bill 596: Would have created a newborn umbilical cord blood bank at one or more of Georgia's public universities so non-embryonic stem cells can be used for disease research; also allows for a check-off on state income tax returns so Georgians can contribute to nonembryonic stem cell research. NEW CITIES Senate Bill 568: Would have created the city of Dunwoody in north DeKalb County. Lawmakers said they will take up the measure next year to give voters more time to consider the pros and cons. SOCIAL SERVICES House Resolution 1345: Gov. Sonny Perdue's measure would have placed a constitutional amendment on the ballot asking voters if religious organizations that provide social services can compete for state contracts. House Bill 950: Would have prevented state and local governments from banning their employees and students from verbal expressions celebrating any public or legal holiday. TAXES Senate Resolution 817: Would have changed procedure for approving the midyear adjustment of the state budget. Lawmakers could have spent midyear revenue on schools to pay for increased enrollment, but other spending could have been approved only if two-thirds of lawmakers agreed. Senate Resolution 1085: Would have asked voters to approve a constitutional amendment that would give the state's senior citizens a tax break. The measure excluded retirement income up to $75,000 from income tax for Georgians 62 and older. Also would have given those older than 70 a tax exemption for the first $100,000 of all income beginning in 2009. House Resolution 162: An amendment to the Constitution would have limited the rate of increase of the value of homestead property. Asks voters whether increases in property assessments should be limited to 3 percent per year or the rate of inflation, whichever was less. TRANSPORTATION House Bill 1090: Would have prevented contractors that are 25 percent late on road projects from bidding on new projects. A last-minute amendment was inserted to move control of motor fuel tax, about $800 million and the core of DOT's budget, to the General Assembly. Staff writers Sonji Jacobs and Nancy Badertscher and researcher Joni Zeccola compiled this report. |
