Well, now that the hectic thirtieth day is behind them, the members of the General Assembly can see the end in sight (They are not the only ones really, really happy about that!). At this point in the process (for the most part), the Senate will begin to consider bills that have passed the House, and the House will begin to deal with bills that have passed the Senate. Again, for the most part (and, in a perfect legislative world), bills that have failed to gain the approval of the chamber of their origin are usually dead; but, there is always the dreaded "amendment" process whereby legislators can "tack on" a bill favored by them to a bill that is already moving ahead. That's where bad stuff can happen.
A great example of this occurred in the House of Representatives on this day. The House only tackled a three-bill calendar, and one of those bills was SB 250, intended simply to define the act of "knowingly, willingly, or recklessly" disrupting a school or school bus as a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature. Amended to that noncontroversial bill, though, were the contents of HB 927, a bill originally crafted to make substantive changes to the state's bullying statutes and one that had not been able to gain a positive vote in the full House. On this day, the amended SB 250 gained House approval by a vote of 119-45 and now goes back to the Senate for that body to agree or disagree with the changes. A pretty good example of how the legislative process can be used by veteran lawmakers to achieve their goals.
Over in the Senate, unanimous approval was given to HB 905, the bill that extends the sunset dates on the school capital outlay programs. Since no changes were made to the House version of this straightforward bill, it now goes to the Governor for his signature. This is good news for systems involved in and planning capital projects.
After the 30th day, it is usually helpful to step back and take a look at a list of bills that have actually cleared one chamber and are to be considered by the other. So, GAEL and GSSA have prepared a list of those bills and will share them today and tomorrow with readers of this site. Today, since the Senate Education and Youth Committee met and gave "do pass" recommendations to a series of House bills, the list provided will be "House bills ready for Senate action." They are as follows:
HB 122 -- requires local systems, along with county and city governments, to publish budget and audit information on a site provided by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government
HB 400 -- the infamous "BRIDGE bill" that has been around for two years now
HB 651 -- provides that the information in the sex offender registry be provided to local school systems electronically (given a "do pass" by Senate Ed and Youth this day)
HB 905 -- extends sunset dates on capital outlay programs (passed Senate on this day)
HB 906 -- provides that, for next three years, contract issuance date for certificated personnel be extended from April 15 to May 15 (passed Senate on 3/10/10 and signed by Governor on 3/16/10)
HB 907 -- changes definition of "middle school program" to accommodate different grade configurations
HB 908 -- deals with expenditure controls, class size, length of school year [Editor's note: This bill has been controversial from the start, but it now appears that resolution to some of the "hot button" issues have been agreed to. Stay tuned for potential action in the next few legislative days.]
HB 910 -- eliminates certain requirements relating to annual gender equity report (given a "do pass" by Senate Ed and Youth this day)
HB 923 -- extends deadline dates by which educators may complete leadership degrees and still qualify to be paid for those degrees regardless of employment status [Editor's note: This bill was amended to give a longer completion time for those seeking sixth-year or doctoral degrees, but the requirement that individuals must have begun those programs prior to April 9, 2009, remains. This bill was given a "do pass" recommendation by the Senate Ed and Youth committee on this day.]
HB 925 -- systems can use first class mail to notify parents of their child's attendance problems (given a "do pass" by Senate Ed and Youth this day)
HB 935 -- permits the use of bus replacement funds to refurbish older buses
HB 977 -- requires that systems wishing to give raises to administrators in years when teachers are furloughed have public hearings to announce their intentions
HB 980 -- permits school board members to be in the bail bond business
HB 1013 -- requires that school systems report ESPLOST expenditures in the same manner as cities and counties
HB 1079 -- requires the PSC to accept debit and credit cards as methods of payment for certification fees (given a "do pass" by Senate Ed and Youth this day)
HB 1086 -- a PSC-requested "housekeeping" bill clarifying that certain information on teachers in non-public schools be exempted from disclosure (given a "do pass" by Senate Ed and Youth this day)
HB 1103 -- would provide for "clearance certificates" for educators after they have completed the required background check
HB 1200 -- permits local boards of education to accept donations for field trips and similar activities (given a "do pass" by Senate Ed and Youth on this day)
HB 1307 -- suspends recertification requirements for educators for a five-year period
HR 1203/HB1020 -- seeks a constitutional amendment to permit local systems to use a portion of their ESPLOST proceeds for maintenance and operations
The General Assembly is set for a very short day on Wednesday, March 31. The Senate will meet briefly and adjourn so that its members can attend the funeral of former senator Nancy Schaeffer in Toccoa. The House will likely address only a short calendar themselves.
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