Crossover Day: Bills On The Floor

The legislature convenes today for Day 28, or “Crossover Day”. If you need to understand Crossover day, start here. In shorthand, the most straight line for a bill to become a law involves getting it passed by either the House or Senate by today.

For a bill to get on the floor, it has to first pass the Rules Committee of either chamber. The Senate Rules committee usually meets in the afternoon. Thus, the Senate has a long list of bills already released that may receive consideration today. That press release is at the bottom of this post. Note that they can and usually do have supplemental Rules committee meetings on busy days to add others for consideration.

The House Rules Committee is meeting now, prior to the chamber’s 10am time for convening. They, too, will likely have supplemental Rules committee meetings. Or not. It’s crossover day. Anything goes until midnight or after.

What’s likely on the table from the House today? A short summary:

A bill to make abortion illegal once a heartbeat is detected. This is a bill that social conservatives can expect to make it to the Governor’s desk this year, given that RFRA has stalled in the Senate.

A resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution to legalize casino gaming has passed a House committee and may make the House floor today. This bill avoids most details that were in the last “Destination Resort” plan, and simply puts forward the question if it’s time to expand the gaming monopoly in Georgia currently enjoyed by Georgia Lottery Corporation.

Certificate of Need reform is likely the biggest battle in the House, at least in terms of major lobbying interests fighting each other. The can of worms is open, and even if it should fail to move forward today, expect this to be an ongoing battle as major medical power players flex their muscle and defend their current turf/battle to open up the other guy’s turf.

Hate crime legislation sailed out of the Judiciary Committee, but didn’t receive a floor vote on Tuesday.

A bill that would rein in local governments mandating expensive design standards that raise the cost of housing and contribute to exclusionary zoning (HB 302) is one of the biggest low-profile battles in this year’s session. It has pit Realtors and homebuilders against the equally powerful county and municipal government associations. While the battle has been mostly among Republicans choosing their favorite talking points (local control vs government overreach), the debate has lacked the needed bi-partisan voices noting that every government mandate continues to push the cost of housing further into unaffordable territory.

AND IN THE SENATE:

RFRA has been tabled. For now.

The City of Atlanta has a nice airport. It would be a shame if something happened to it.

The Senate has a companion bill for Certificate of Need. That doubles the chances that this fight continues to if not through Sine Die.

A bill to provide Education Savings Accounts to students in public schools to attend private schools or pay for additional homeschooling expenses failed to pass Tuesday after multiple Republican Senators sided with the Democratic caucus position of “No”. The bill is eligible for reconsideration today, after those Senators have had 48 hours to think about what they’ve done.

While the House is trying to lower the cost of home ownership with HB 302, the Senate appears to be trying to raise it. SB 178 wants to raise the cost of a form letter from an Homeowners Association provided at closing from $10 to $350. There is no justification whatsoever that an HOA needs $350 to tell a closing attorney what the financial condition of the HOA is. Period.

Big ticket items that have already passed one chamber and thus remain alive for the rest of the session include upgrading voting machines, medicaid waiver request, legalization of medical cannabis, and of course, the budget.

The Senate’s full list of bills eligible for a vote today as of yesterday’s Rules Committee meeting is as follows:

The following bills will be on the Senate floor on Thursday, March 7 – Crossover Day:

• SB 2 —- Public Utilities and Public Transportation; electric membership corporations and their affiliates; authorize; broadband services; provide (Substitute) (RI&U- 51^st)
• SB 58 —- Attorney General; written approval that allows for a private person to bring a civil action regarding false taxpayer claims; eliminate requirement (Substitute)(JUDY- 48^th)
• SB 80 —- Georgia Music Hall of Fame Authority; expired provisions; issuance and review of requests for proposals for a new location, ownership; remove (ED&T- 26^th)
• SB 103 —- Air Facilities; airports owned by a county, municipality shall not assess any fee to a veteran for motor vehicle parking; provide (Substitute) (TRANS- 44^th)
• SB 108 —- Competencies and Core Curriculum; computer science in middle school and high school; require (Substitute) (ED&Y- 9^th)
• SB 110 —- Courts; State-wide Business Court; pursuant to the Constitution of this state; establish (Substitute) (JUDY- 23^rd)
• SB 121—– Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Data Base; length of time prescription information is retained from two years to five years; increase (Substitute) (H&HS- 20^th)
• SB 131 —- ‘Georgia Major Airport Authority Act’ (Substitute) (TRANS- 25^th)
• SB 132 —- Insurance; modernization and updates; provide; Commission on the Georgia Health Insurance Risk Pool; repeal Article 2 of Chapter 29A (Substitute) (I&L- 16^th)
• SB 138 —- Disabled First Responders; certain benefits; provide (Substitute) (FIN- 9^th)
• SB 162 —- Local Government; disaster mitigation improvements and broadband services infrastructure; downtown development authorities; provide (Substitute) (RI&U- 28^th)
• SB 163 —- “Tim Tebow Act” or “Equal Opportunity for Access in Education Act” (Substitute) (ED&Y- 14^th)
• SB 167 —- Relative Search by DFCS; foster placement for a child adjudicated as a dependent; determine such child’s permanency plan; provide (JUDY- 28^th)
• SB 171 —- Courts, Primaries and Elections, and Ad Valorem Taxation; compensation of various local government officials; modify (Substitute) (SLGO (G)- 50^th)
• SB 177 —- General Assembly; requirements for consideration of local legislation revising existing districts or creating new districts; provide (R&R- 28^th)
• SB 178 —- Specialized Land Transactions; statements of accounts under “Georgia Condominium Act” and “Georgia Property Owners’ Association Act”; provide(Substitute) (S JUDY- 9^th)
• SB 186 —- Trusts; qualified self-settled spendthrift trusts; establish (Substitute) (B&FI- 46^th)
• SB 190 —- Child Custody Intrastate Jurisdiction Act; party may bring a counterclaim for contempt in response to a complaint seeking a change of legal or physical custody; provide(JUDY- 18^th)
• SB 195 —- “Prescription Drug Benefits Freedom of Information and Consumer Protection Act” (Substitute) (H&HS- 52^nd)
• SB 200 —- “Georgia Department of Transportation; procedure for appealing the rejection of a contract bid; require (Substitute) (TRANS- 51^st)
• SB 209  —- Individual Schools and School Systems; star rating for financial efficiency; eliminate (ED&Y- 10^th)
• SB 210 —- “Quality Basic Education Act”; recess for students in kindergarten and grades one through five; provide (Substitute) (ED&Y- 53^rd)
• SB 211 —- Advertisement and Sale of Meat; representation of nonanimal products and non-slaughtered animal flesh as meat; render unlawful (AG&CA- 7^th)
• SB 212 —- Department of Driver Services; criteria; authorize certain licensed driver training schools to administer on-the-road driving skills testing; revise (Substitute) (ED&Y- 9^th)
• SB 213 —- Campaign Contributions; content of and certain reporting times for certain campaign disclosure reports; revise (Substitute) (ETHICS- 31^st)
• SB 214 —- Barbers and Cosmetologists; the number of apprenticeship hours required; change (RI&U- 9^th)
• SB 216 —- Ad Valorem Taxation; local governments to accept prepayments of ad valorem taxes; allow (FIN- 53^rd)
• SB 219 —- Education; general educational development (GED) diploma; correctly answer 60 percent questions on the US Citizenship Civics Test; require (Substitute) (ED&Y- 6^th)
• SB 222 —- Criminal Procedure; Georgia Council on Criminal Justice Reform; create (Substitute) (JUDY- 23^rd)
• SB 225 —- Juvenile Code; in conformity with the federal Social Security Act and the Family First Prevention Services Act; bring provisions (H&HS- 20^th)
• SB 227 —- Special License Plates; benefit the Georgia Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs, Inc.; establish (RULES- 9^th)
• SR 67 —- Senator Bill Jackson Interchange; Columbia County; dedicate (Substitute) (TRANS- 24^th)
• SR 237 —- United States Congress; call a convention; limit on the number of terms that a person may be elected; United States House of Representatives; request (RULES- 46^th)
• SR 264 —- Joint Emergency Medical Services Study Committee; create (RULES- 53^rd)
• SR 275 —- Joint Innovation and Emerging Technologies Study Committee; create (RULES – 45^th)
• HB 92 —- Georgia Municipal Courts Training Council; training hours completed by a municipal court judge in excess of those required may carry over to the following year; provide (SJUDY – 6^th) Rutledge – 109^th