Emotions ran high in the House of Representatives on this thirty-third day of the 2009 session of the Georgia General Assembly, and the focus of much of those emotions was the FY2010 Budget, which was before the House for action.  [Editor's note:  Emotions ran high over another issue, too, but readers can catch the details of that through regular news sources.]  House Appropriations Committee Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Evans) trudged through the budget document and explained all the recommended cuts (lots) and adds (few).  Members of the House marched to the well (including a lengthy speech by Speaker Richardson) to speak passionately in favor of some facets of the budget and against others.  In the end, the budget document was approved by the House (no amendments permitted) by a vote of 123-49 and now moves across the hall to the Senate for their consideration and action.  [Editor's note:  During his comments, Speaker Richardson expressed his deep concern over continued low revenue numbers and told the members of the General Assembly that they "might not be visiting this chamber for the last time this calendar year."  Is a special session on the horizon, even before we adjourn this one?]

The Senate addressed a four-calendar bill on this date, and one of those bills was of interest to educators:  HB 229.  Entitled the "Student Health and Physical Education Act," the bill requires annual physical fitness testing of students (with required reporting to parents) according to guidelines to be developed by the Department of Education.  The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 34-14 and now goes to the Governor for his consideration.

Committee meetings continued on this afternoon, as the Academic Support Subcommittee of the House Education Committee conducted a lengthy and thorough hearing on SB 84, the Governor's bill dealing with school board governance.  No vote was taken at this meeting.  This subcommittee will likely propose several amendments to this legislation as it moves quickly through the end-of-session process, and it appeared that the Governor's representatives were more open to suggestions for change than had previously been the case.  This subcommittee will hear additional testimony on the bill next Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m., and the way it emerges from that subcommittee is likely how it will proceed to the floor of the House.

The subcommittee gave a "do pass" recommendation to one additional bill:  SB 178 (extends the sunset date for school capital outlay programs).  Soon thereafter, Rep. Brooks Coleman convened a brief meeting of the full House Education Committee, and they gave their "do pass" blessings to the aforementioned SB 178 as well as to SB 210 (home school students eligible to participate in Governor's Honors) and HR 642 (study committee on RESA's).  All of these bills now move to the House Rules Committee for consideration to be placed on a future House calendar.

Both the House and the Senate will convene early on Friday, March 20, for Day Thirty-four of the session.