'Twas a long day, this twenty-ninth day of the 2010 session of the Georgia General Assembly, as both the House and the Senate started their sessions in the morning and ran into the early evening hours. The Senate tackled a 31-bill calendar, and the House tackled two calendars totalling 41 bills. That's a bunch of bills to be discussed, argued, and addressed in a short period of time, and the tempers and attention spans of our elected officials grew noticeably shorter as the day progressed.
Of the House's 41-bill calendar, only one was related to education. With only one dissenting vote, the lower chamber OK'd HB 1200, which permits local boards of education to solicit and accept donations for field trips, etc. Perhaps one of the reasons that this bill generated no controversy is that the aforementioned activities are already ones that are not prohibited! Lawmaking sure is an interesting process.
On the Senate side, SB 457 was enacted by an overwhelming margin. That bill, sponsored by Senator Dan Weber (R-Dunwoody) makes provisions for a public referendum to approve conversion charter school status for a "cluster" of schools (obviously, only applicable to larger school systems that organize their schools into high school "clusters" and refer to them as such). The bill now moves to the House for its consideration.
An additional Senate bill that had generated a good bit of discussion, SB 320 (a "Teacher's Bill of Rights"), appeared on the Senate calendar for this day. When it came up for its turn to be debated, it was moved to the bottom of the calendar and, in the end, was not addressed by the senators. It remains to be seen whether it will resurface on Day 30 (not likely, it appears).
Of interest to the education community was the late afternoon passage in the Senate of SB308. While this bill has not been followed closely by K-12 education groups, it deals with the expansion of locations where licensed gun owners can carry their concealed weapons. Early on in the debate, K-12 school campuses were exempted from the discussion (thus, their diminished level of interest), but the final passage of the bill (at least on the Senate side) dramatically expands the number and definition of locations in Georgia where concealed weapons can be carried (How about airports?). Interested observers will want to follow the progress of this bill as it moves over to the House and undergoes debate in that chamber.
Finally, as reported yesterday, the revised version of HB 281 was defeated in the House. However, nothing is ever completely "dead" in the General Assembly until sine die, and to prove that point, a vote was taken to "reconsider" the House's action on that bill, and the reconsideration vote passed. All that means is that, at any time on Day 30 (this Friday), HB 281 could be brought to the House floor once again for a vote. Stay tuned.
As mentioned, Day Thirty (the infamous "crossover day") will be held this Friday, March 26. A long, long day is in store for that day. |