I mentioned on Friday, January 18th, that State Rep. Mark Hatfield put the Speaker on notice that he would move that the House reconsider the statewide water plan. He made the motion, and it failed:
Tomorrow the the Georgia House of Representatives will take up HB 908, which supposedly will clear up constitutional issues with Georgia’s sex offender law. If you’ll remember, the sex offender law was thrown out by the Georgia Supreme Court because the law amounted to a regulatory taking without compensation, a violation of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Some legislators have questioned whether this new legislation would be able to withstand a court challenge.
HB 130 will also be brought to the floor. This bill would allow individuals to freeze their credit in the event of identify theft. My good friend, Wilson Smith (host of What Is Goin’ On), asked me about this bill several times last session. He’ll be happy to know that it will likely get a full vote tomorrow.
I haven’t been able to find out what is going on the State Senate yet.
Tomorrow’s session will begin at 10am.
The State House passed HB 301, which increases penalties on dogfighting, in the wake of the Michael Vick scandal:
Legislation that would stiffen penalties for participating in, being a spectator at or facilitating a dogfight in Georgia is another step closer to Gov. Sonny Perdue’s desk.
State representatives on Monday passed an amended HB 301 that for the first time would make it a high and aggravated misdemeanor to be a spectator at dogfighting events and would increase the severity of the crime and punishment for each subsequent offense. It also would at least double the penalties for subsequent convictions of participating in or facilitating dogfighting, already a felony in Georgia.
An amendment closed the guard dog loophole, making it illegal to train dogs for that purpose.
Only two members voted against the legislation, both due to the guard dog amendment.
State Rep. Ron Forester (R-Ringgold) went to the floor of the House again today encouraging members to sign on to his impeachment resolution aimed at Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.
If possible I’ll try to get some video later.
I am waiting to see if Forester actually drops the resolution in the hopper this time. After almost two weeks of talking about impeachment, he has yet to formally introduce his resolution.
[UPDATE] Here is the video. Notice the tone of the Speaker’s voice.
The Senate Rules Committee will take up the House’s veto overrides in about five minutes:
The Senate Rules Committee will take up the veto overrides at 12:30 p.m. today. Johnson wouldn’t drop any hints at what bills will move. But we’re hearing that it’s close to certain that a bill to formally install the Senate Budget Office in the Georgia code will be among those gubernatorial vetoes sent to the Senate floor.
The Senate has definitely fulfilled its role as a “cooling saucer.”
UPDATE - 4:09pm] The Senate voted to override HB 529 by a vote of 47 to 7.
This is the first time in 34 years that the legislature has overridden a veto.
According to Insider Advantage, other overrides aren’t out of the question:
Rules Chairman Don Balfour didn’t rule out the possibility that others might be sent to the floor. “We wanted to act on this one now. We thought this was a priority. This is something of importance to the House and Senate … The other 11 bills are still there for consideration another day.”