SB 54 grants a 5% weight limit variance for poultry waste. It expands the current 100-mile limit for exceeding the variance in place for other industries to 250-miles for poultry waste. The bill also allows GDOT to issue multi-trip permits for overweight vehicles.

SB 76 was amended to include language that requires criminal background checks for the initial certification of EMS personnel.  This requirement will not apply to EMS personnel currently certified.  This legislation changes the way that the Georgia Trauma Commission distributes funds during the first two fiscal years that funds are appropriated. It also allows EMS to receive payment for uncompensated care for transporting trauma patients to any medical facility, currently patients must be transported to a trauma center for EMS to receive payment.

Among numerous other revisions to the state's concealed weapon/legal carry law, SB 102 authorizes probate courts to send out notice to a resident when their legal carry permit is about to expire. It redefines rifle and shotgun, extends the current deadline for creating the new version of the license by one year, specifies when a gun can be carried into or near a school safety zone, and specifies under what circumstances local governments cannot seize or prohibit legally-carried guns.

This bill creates a new class of low-speed vehicles between 1,300 and 2,500 pounds. It prohibits their operation during most night hours unless the local governing authority approves and they meet certain minimum equipment standards. It allows them to be driven on residential streets with a speed limit less than 35 miles per hour and allows them to tow a trailer and be used for delivering packages of a certain size and weight between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31.

This bill allows the state to temporarily protect confidential records from release during on-going negotiations with economic development prospects - potential future employers of Georgians. It removes a current obstacle to job-creation by putting Georgia on equal footing with most other states that already protect their prospect information. All information that is currently open to the public will become open following the completion of negotiations. Counties and cities were deleted from the exemption during the committee process.

This bill creates a new Fire Safety Commissioner and Department of Fire Safety for Georgia through consolidation of other departments and agencies. The Safety Fire Division of the Department of Insurance, the Georgia Firefighter Standards Council and the Georgia Fire Academy would be abolished. One member of the new Fire Safety Advisory Board will be a member of ACCG.

** Please contact Debra Nesbit at dnesbit@accg.org to provide feedback**

This bill creates a new class of personal transportation vehicles that go no faster than 20 mph and weigh less than 1,375 pounds. The vehicles are required to meet minimum equipment standards as defined in the bill.

This bill requires counties and cities to post notices of their meetings on the county website, if they have one, at least 24 hours before the meeting. This requirement is in addition to the requirement that the newspaper be notified of a meeting and the other posting requirements for open meetings.

Current state law prohibits the interbasin transfer (IBT) of water from a basin outside the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District to within. SB 374 overrides this, allowing surface water withdrawal from the Tennessee River Basin (in Chickamauga Valley & Lookout Mtn.) to be exempt from that restriction.  It also does away with other IBT regulations in Georgia as far as withdrawal from the Tennessee River Basin is concerned.    

This resolution urges GDOT to view itself as a planning, management, contracting enterprise that can more easily adjust to variations in funding and workload by contracting out to the private sector to the maximum degree practicable. GDOT is urged to conduct a careful assessment of its current staff and long-term needs; revise its employment and training practices to emphasize skills that are strategically important such as project management, innovation in design and delivery, and planning and programming; and set a goal of a 25-percent reduction in employees by June 30, 2015.

This resolution by the full General Assembly follows the recent snow storms that paralyzed significant parts of Georgia for a week. GDOT is urged to develop a list of qualified and responsible contractors willing to assist in weather or other emergencies and to develop and implement a procedure to preauthorize local governments to clear snow and ice from state routes during an emergency. SR 31 is an identical resolution except it is only by the Senate.

This resolution by the Georgia Senate follows the 2011 snow storms that paralyzed significant parts of Georgia for a week.  GDOT is urged to develop a list of qualified and responsible contractors willing to assist in weather or other emergencies and to develop and implement a procedure to pre-authorize local governments, at local discretion,  to clear snow and ice from state routes during an emergency.