Georgia Legislative Watch

Tuesday marks the 30th day of the 2007 legislative session, which means any legislation that hasn’t clear one of the two bodies cannot be considered until next year, local legislation is excluded.

The Gwinnett Daily Post notes some of the more controversial issues that will be taken up before or on Tuesday:

[L]awmakers have shown even less sense of urgency than usual in 2007. As a result, most major pieces of legislation introduced since Jan. 8 face a do-or-die deadline Tuesday, Day 30 of the 40-day session, when the House and Senate return from a weeklong recess. It will be Crossover Day, the last chance for bills to pass in the chamber where they originated or be declared dead for the year.
The execution list includes virtually every controversial measure legislators have taken up during the last 21/2 months:
• Sunday alcohol sales
• Payday lending
• Private cities
• Transportation funding
• Overhauling the state’s Certificate of Need law
• A host of proposed constitutional amendments, including several introduced on behalf of Gov. Sonny Perdue
• Most of the rest of the governor’s agenda, including a tax break for senior retirees.

Sunday sales is not going anywhere. The AJC notes that Casey Cagle, who has been cool to the idea since the beginning, only wants legislation on the Rules calendar that has a chance to clear the Senate. I think there is too much opposition on the issue and for all intents and purposes…it’s dead, even next year, which is an election year when controversial issues are for the most part ignored.

Word has it that Rep. Earl Ehrhart was visibly angry after the payday lending legislation was defeated. About five different sources have told me that House Republican leadership whipped this bill to ensure they had the 91 votes needed for passage, and supposedly had them. Word has it that Ehrhart, who is House Rules chairman, is threatening to hold legislation in committee in retaliation against GOP members that voted against the payday lending bill.

Then there is the budget issues, which has the potential get very ugly. As I’ve previously noted, Cagle wants to strip the pork from the 2007 supplemental budget. However, he showed his cards too early and caused House leaders to use a rule to reconsider the budget.

If Cagle does get his way, it’s likely that everything that is stripped out of the supplemental budget will wind up in the FY 2008 budget, which is already over $20 billion.

[UPDATE - 6:27pm] The AJC’s Political Insider backs me up on the budget issue and the possibility that it could cause a lot of trouble under the Gold Dome.

They also have yet another poll that shows that Georgians favor the Sunday sales bill.