FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Legislative Session 2004

Wrap up

April 28, 2004 -- Here's a wrap-up of legislation passed in the recent 2004 legislative session.  The Georgia General Assembly passed 138 general House bills and 71 general Senate bills that apply statewide.  About the same number of local bills passed pertaining to specific cities, counties or school boards.  The Governor has 40 days after the last day of session, April 7, to veto bills, sign them into law or allow them to become law without signing.

A special legislative session begins May 3 because a bill wasn't brought to the House floor for a vote to authorize increased court fees to fund $57 million appropriated in the budget.  The fees would pay for a new statewide indigent defense program that was approved last year.     When a special session is called, only the reasons specified in the resolution can be addressed.  The issue reflects a shift of power struggle within the legislature beginning last year when the two political parties shared control of the legislature/governorship for the first time in 130 years.

The following is a limited listing of legislation that passed both the House and the Senate:

1.  Referendum to Protect Marriage-  SR 595 calls for a constitutional amendment referendum on this November's ballot that would give voters the choice to define marriage only as a union between a man and a woman.

2.  State Budget Compromise - HB 1181 is the state's $16.4 billion spending plan for fiscal year 05, which begins July 1 and runs through June 30, 2005.  HB 1180 is the state's $16.1 billion revised spending plan for the current fiscal year that ends June 30, 2004.  Negotiating and passing the budget is the most significant action the legislature takes and involves the greatest portion of its time.  When you think about it, the budget reflects all of Georgia's stakeholders and their intentions for state government.

3.  Saving the HOPE Scholarship-  The HOPE scholarship program was tweaked to assure it remains solvent well into the future.  Projections indicated the program, which is funded by the lottery, would begin dipping into reserves in a few years.  The number of HOPE scholars and the cost of tuition, fees and books are expected to rise faster than lottery revenues.  HB 1325 caps the amount of school fees covered by HOPE at current amounts this year.  After that, HOPE's $300-per-year book allowance would drop to $150 after the first time HOPE'S reserves decline.  The second drop in reserves will cut all book allowances, except for income-based Pell Gant recipients.  The third drop removes all student activity fees coverage from HOPE.  HB 1325 also checks HOPE students' grades every spring, instead of after taking a years' worth of classes.  The state currently pays an extra semester for a student who dropped classes to avoid the checkpoint.  However, part-time students would get three terms before being checked.  Starting in 2007, high school seniors would need a 3.0 grade point average to qualify for HOPE, not the current 80 numerical average.  Finally, the bill requires HOPE scholarship's finances to be monitored by a legislative committee, which would suggest more changes if needed.

4.  K-12 Education-  This update may be longer than you want to read, but it’s important.  HB 1190 provides for more flexibility and accountability in K-12 education.  The measure gives local school boards more control over state funding and the ability to delay class-size reductions in grades four through 12 for one-year only because of tax increases that the reductions would have caused (due to reduced tax collections in a strained economy). Also, this year's third-grade students still will have to pass the state' CRCT reading test (as determined by the legislature a few years ago, but not scheduled for implementation until this year) to move to fourth grade, but the bill allows students that failed to enter "transition classes" at the beginning of the next year should a school system choose to implement them.  The students would get extra tutoring and, if they are able to pass the test at any time the next year, they would be immediately promoted to fourth grade.  An outside firm will be hired to monitor the progress of students that fail the exam.  The state and school systems will be required to track the failed students, show their progress and the specific extra tutoring given.

Another provision allows groups wanting to form charter schools to only detail the exemptions they seek from state education law about direct instruction and school governance, rather than detailing every exemption they seek.  The bill also allows school boards to apply for the first time for waivers from state regulations.  Middle schools that have an acceptable rating the previous year will have more freedom in scheduling academic subjects.

The bill allows more freedom for Local School Councils, which each school in Georgia is required under legislation passed a few years ago.  Councils will be able to be larger than the current 7-member size as longer as the number of teachers and parents are equal, elect any chairperson from its members instead of requiring the principal to be chair, meet a minimum of four times a year, but more frequently if the Council desires, continue to have to members from the business community.

HB 1190 revokes the license of a teenager younger than 18 not enrolled in school or an alternative academic program unless a hardship can be proved.  Additionally, more than 10 unexcused absences during a school semester or school suspension for a serious offense results in a drivers license suspension.

5.  Child Endangerment-  SB 467 will make parents criminally accountable for intentional negligent behavior that endangers their children.  If convicted, they would face a felony crime of child endangerment with a prison sentence of one to 20 years.  An example of negligent behavior would be if a child died from a meth lab explosion.  Another provision makes it a felony for someone to manufacture or possess methamphetamine in the presence of children, subject to up to a 15-year sentence for each act.  Georgia already has a felony charge of child cruelty, but many cases get dropped because that crime requires prosecutors to prove malice.  Georgia was the only state in the nation without some type of a felony child endangerment law.

6.  Foster Care Bill of Rights-  HB 1580 provides potential foster parents with the right to background information and additional reports on a child's mental health and physical health.  Also, foster parents will have the right to be notified of children's emotional problems before placement.  The bill provides foster parents with the right to give testimony in certain hearings regarding a child's best interests.

7.  Finding Missing Children-  SB 400 shields television and radio stations participating in Levi's Call from lawsuits.  This is a program where information on missing children is quickly handed from law enforcement agencies to the media to get the word out to the public.  The media reads a Levi's Call as soon as they receive the information.  Levi's Call is named after Levi Frady who was abducted and killed in 1997.

8.  Tracking Child Molesters-  SB 469 allows a judge to sentence those convicted of child molestation to wear a tracking device with global satellite positioning.  The device could be programmed to determine if a child molester enters a park, school yard, or other areas where children gather.

11.  Banning MIRT Devices-  HB 1113 would make it a misdemeanor for any person other than law enforcement, fire departments or emergency personnel to possess with the ability to use, sell or purchase a MIRT device, a mobile infrared transmitter.  A MIRT device can change signals from green to red in two seconds by sending infrared beams to traffic light receivers. 

12.  Reducing Traffic-  SB 525 would allow motorists that get into accidents where no injury occurs to move their vehicles to the side of the road before police arrive on the scene.  Current law provides for this option only on expressways and multi-lane highways.  The bills expands this to include all roads.

13.  Drug Trafficking- HB 1441, imposes three-year, five-year and ten-year minimum mandatory sentences (depending on the quantity) for convicted Ecstasy drug dealers.  The bill distinguishes between possession and trafficking for the first time in Georgia.

14.  Fleeing Police-  SB 297 makes it a felony to flee a police officer.  Currently, it is only a misdemeanor to refuse to stop a vehicle for a police officer

15.  Protecting Guide Dogs-  HB 211 makes it illegal to harm or bother a guide dog or otherwise interfere with a working animal and establishes a fine of up to $500 or a 90-day jail sentence.

16.  Eminent Domain-  HB 373 requires power companies to hold public meetings before they begin legal proceedings to condemn private property for the construction of electric transmission lines.

17.  Pay Day Lending-  SB 157 will rein in payday loan companies who provide fast cash to a customer by securing their next paycheck as collateral.  Georgia law already prohibited loans with interest above 60 percent a year, but this constituted only a misdemeanor making enforcement almost non-existent.  The new law says those who violate the state's criminal usury cap of 60 percent annual interest could be charge with racketeering and face as much as 20 years in prison and substantial fines. 

18.  Water Planning-  HB 237 is a hold-over from the 2003 session and gives the General Assembly a say in the state's water plan.  Under the bill, the EPD, with oversight from a water council of state agency heads and legislative appointees, must come up with a statewide water plan by mid-2007.  HB 237 does not allow farmers to sell water withdrawal permits, which was a controversial provision of the original proposal.

17.  Stream Buffers-  SB 460 requires the EPD to develop rules on how it issues permits that allow streamside land to be disturbed.

18.  Obesity Lawsuits-  HB 1519, the Common Sense Consumption Act, shields restaurants, food producers and beverage companies from obesity-related lawsuits.  Food that was mislabeled or sold illegally is not covered by the bill.

19.  Electronic Prescriptions-  SB 179 allows pharmacists to receive prescription orders through email.

20.  Registering to Vote-  SB 541 allows people to register to vote when getting a hunting and fishing license.

21.  State Sales Tax Holiday July 29 - August 1-  HB 1184 creates a 2004 holiday from the state sales tax for school supplies, clothing, shoes and computers.  

I believe we all need to be informed about how our elected officials are representing us.  I am getting an inside view that I want to share with everyone.  I can be reached by phone in the Ringgold office: 706-937-4304; or through my website: http://www.gasrd3.org.

For More Information Contact:

State Representative District 3
18 Capitol Ave., LOB Rm 614-C, Atlanta GA 30736
Tel: 404-656-3957
FAX: 404-656-0250
Internet: RForster@legis.state.ga.us

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Last modified: April 02, 2005