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Busy Week at the Legislature as Crossover Day Approaches The ever important Crossover Day is less than two weeks away. This week at the Capitol proved to be busy for members of the General Assembly as they diligently worked to ensure their legislation passes out of its original chamber by legislative day 30 on Monday, Feb. 29. The remaining days of the 2016 session are the most critical as they determine whether a bill will eventually pass to become a law. It is during this time that ACCG strongly encourages county officials to carefully read the weekly Legislative Updates, monitor for Action Alerts on significant issues, and advise the policy staff of any concerns they may have with proposed legislation. Legislation to Create
9-1-1 Authority Dropped This Week Legislation to create modernized and balanced funding of 9-1-1 systems was introduced by the legislature this week. S.B. 387, by Senator Jeff Mullis and the House version, H.B. 1059 by Representative Bill Hitchens, seek to streamline the collection and distribution of 9-1-1 fees in the state by establishing an official Local Government 9-1-1 Authority. The Authority Board is composed of representatives from local governing authorities, 9-1-1 directors, sheriffs, telecom providers, and the director of GEMA. The legislation establishes the Authority, through its Board of Directors, to serve as the coordinating body for all 9-1-1 activities in the state. The authority will have the responsibility of overseeing compliance of service providers for registering, reporting where they are providing services, and most importantly, auditing to ensure 9-1-1 centers are receiving the fees owed to their jurisdiction. The legislation also eliminates the requirement for local governing authorities to pay cost recovery charges to the service providers, which is generally 30 cents of each fee, and takes all 9-1-1 fees to $1.50 across the board, including prepaid wireless. Please share with your local delegations the importance of this bill. Several Important Bill Substitutes Discussed in Committee Meetings on Friday The substitute versions of several bills of interest to counties were discussed in committee meetings on Friday. Many of these bills are not currently available through the General Assembly's website, so please review the latest versions which are available below: Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle to Provide Keynote Address at Second 2016 District Day Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle will serve as the keynote speaker for next week’s District Day at the Capitol Wednesday, Feb. 24. This day is designated for counties in districts 4, 6, 8 and 10, but commissioners from all counties are more than welcome to attend. This is a great opportunity to hear firsthand from the lieutenant governor about items of importance to counties and for county officials to ask pertinent questions. Click here for more information, to register and to review the full event agenda.
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