Georgia Legislative Watch

Here is the Senate debate on HB 614, the Prescription Drug Monitoring Act, a bill that myself and other privacy advocates took interest in:

HR 1, the constitutional amendment capping property assessments, will come back before the House in the form of SR 1:
House Resolution 1, which calls for a statewide referendum to add annual limits in property value reassessments to the Georgia Constitution, went down twice already this session in the House of Representatives.
It takes a two-thirds majority [...]

Looks like the Senate will get their wish, SB 200 is on the Rules calendar for tomorrow:
We understand that S.B. 200, the governor’s transportation reorganization bill, will be among the first bills tackled by the House. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has insisted on a vote in that chamber before joining negotiations over a sales tax [...]

The legislation may adopt a bill (SB 67) that would require part of the drivers license test to be administered in English:
The Georgia Legislature could soon require driver’s license applicants to take the written portion of the test in English only.
The plan, which the House began debating Monday, would likely make Georgia the only state [...]

Here are some details from passage of the budget out of the Senate Appropriations Committee:
With state lawmakers racing the clock until the session’s end, the Senate’s budget-writing panel signed off on an $18.6 billion spending plan that would boost the health insurance costs of some state employees.
The spending plan approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee [...]

Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers says that HB 83, legislation that would double the homestead exemption, will come before the House again.

Here are three stories dealing with the transportation debate under the Gold Dome, but they are all tied together.
The so-called “Get Georgia Moving” coalition held a press conference at the capitol today, urging the legislature to pass a new tax to fund transportation:
Representatives of the Get Georgia Moving coalition said they’re not particular on [...]

HB 481, the JOBS Act, is likely headed to conference. The House disagreed with the Senate version. However, just a moment ago, Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers moved that the Senate insist on its version of the bill, which includes a gradual elimination of the state’s corporate income tax (something stripped out before passage in [...]