Day 40: No Guns This Year11882 on 3/28/2013
The session is officially over, and now the sorting out process goes into full swing.  All bills left over this year will be "alive" next year and eligible for a vote. 
 
Here are some of the highlights of the day.
 
What Didn't Happen
No gun legislation passed.  Carrying weapons on college campuses had the two chambers divided from the beginning.  Rep. Alan Powell said the Senate did SB 101 in as they caved in to the Board of Regents.  He said the House made concessions to the Senate and finally came to agreement tonight.  While the conference committee reports were being printed, however, the Senate excused one of the conferees and that ended the effort, according to Rep. Powell.  The Senate probably has a different story.
 
HB 123, the parent trigger bill, made no appearance after the hearing in Senate Education & Youth.  There were numerous rumors of attempts to attach it to another bill, but it never showed up.
 
SB 68, Celebrate Freedom Week, will not be celebrated.  It was left in the House Rules Committee.
 
Drama of the Day
HB 283, the Title 20 bill, took a very long and winding road to passage.  It was voted on eight times.  As previously reported SB 243, the tax credit scholarship bill, was attached and that bill was the crux of the problem today.  The House raised the limit of the credits allowed to $65 million per year, but the Senate sent it back to the House with the cap at $58 million, a 10% increase from the current level.  The House was not amused and disagreed with the change. 
 
Senate Education & Youth Chair Lindsey Tippins did an outstanding job of defending the change to the cap.  When the Title 20 bill seemed to be in danger of failing because of the disagreement, Sen. Tippins "with great agony" made a motion to agree with the House.  In a real shocker, the motion failed 20-28 and the Senate stuck to the $58 million cap.  The House eventually backed off and accepted the change, so the bill passed.
 
Supporters of the tax credit program seem to ignore the fact that this is the only education funding that has not been cut extensively; instead the program keeps being increased.
 
Few Budget Changes
 The 2014 budget (education is on pages 83-97)  took longer to print than to discuss and pass.  Here are some of the highlights:
  • Charter planning grants were reduced $5,000 instead of eliminated as the House proposed.
  • Charter facility grants were cut $335,000 instead of being eliminated as the Senate proposed.  The conference committee said the grants are for start-up local charters.
  • Development of courses for Georgia Virtual School was moved to next year's budget to save $1.5 million.
  • There was an increase in the funding for students in residential treatment centers as they agreed to use the new House formula.
  • No cut was made to the sparsity grants, school nutrition, or the education technology centers.
  • The recommendations of the Education Finance Study Commission were implemented for equalization, school nurses, school counselors, professional development, and the classroom technology/central operations funding swap.
  • Earnings for the SHBP were left in QBE with an estimated increase and a noted potential employer increase mid-year.  The House had proposed moving the funding to the Department of Community Health in anticipation of an increase.
Please remember that "no cut" means only that the amount funded last year was not reduced.
 
Also Passing
The following bills passed both chambers and now go to the Governor:
HB 70, creating a waiver process for special needs students to skip the required year of attending a  public school before qualifying for the voucher program
 
HB 337, allowing schools to acquire and stock auto-injectable epinephrine
 
HB 211, eliminating the excise tax on motor fuel purchased for school buses for the next two years
 
HB 382, relating to joint-use agreements for school facilities
 
SB 168, relating to public contracts and bidding
 
SB 179, also relating to public contracts and bidding
 
HB 143, changing filing and reporting requirements for local candidates, passed by a conference committee report
 
SB 160, changing requirements for compliance reports on hiring, also passed by a conference committee report
 
Voted Down
SB 181 proposed to move Georgia History Month from February to September.  Why it should be moved was never clear.  The House postponed a vote on the bill several days ago but suddenly decided to bring it up for a vote.  It went down in flames at 47-117.  There must have been a message for somebody in there somewhere.
 
Thank you to all those who participated in this session by keeping up with the issues, communicating with legislators, coming to the Capitol, and sharing information with your communities.