Georgia Legislative Watch

Sunday sales legislation has been brought up this week:

The push to allow Sunday sales of alcohol in communities which give their OK in a referendum will be back for the 2008 legislative session, two key industry groups say. The Georgia Association of Convenience Stores and the Georgia Food Industry Association announced Monday that they will continue to press the effort they began last year.

“We consistently hear from our customers that they want their communities to decide whether alcohol should be sold by retailers on Sunday, and one credible poll after another is backing this up,” said Jim Tudor, President of GACS. “Sunday Sales legislation is as popular as ever and the intensity behind the movement is growing stronger every day the legislature doesn’t act on it.”

He said a recent AJC- Mason Dixon poll asked 625 registered voters, “Do you support a proposal to permit counties to hold referendums to decide whether or not they will allow the sale of beer and wine in grocery stores on Sundays?” 65% of respondents supported Sunday Sales with only 33% opposing. Most notably 41% said they strongly support the proposal, signaling tremendous intensity behind the proposal.

“Based on feedback we are receiving from our customers and our overwhelming support in public opinion polling, we are committed to moving this legislation through the General Assembly,” said Kathy Kuzava, President of GFIA.

The bill stalled last year due to members of the General Assembly essentially due to pressure from religious extremists. It’s is unlikely that the bill will be passed this year.

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 State of the State address will take place tomorrow at 2pm in the chamber of the State House of Representatives. I cannot find where it is going to be televised live, though GPB will broadcast it on their website. I’m sure some of the news stations will pick it up on their sites as well. It will be broadcast at 7pm in an expanded version of Lawmakers.

I’ll post the video when I get it. I’ll probably have the transcript before then. You can view last year’s State of the State address here.

I’ll have video from the hearing on HB 91 in the morning.