On this thirty-eighth day of the 2008 session of the Georgia General Assembly, the House started and ended early while the Senate started and ended late.  The end of the session is near, and tempers are short.  Those tempers ran high on this afternoon, as once again, the two chambers strongly disagreed on just how to go about providing tax cuts to Georgia citizens.  The House rejected the Senate's changes to both HR1246 and HB1244, amending the first to look like it did when it left the House and amending the second so as to (1) delay by three years the Senate's plan for reducing state income tax rates, and (2) make the Senate plan contingent upon the voters' approval of the House plan to eliminate the ad valorem tax on automobiles.  The Senate wasted little time in responding, first amending HR1246 right back to the Senate's version, and then, in an ultimate insult, ruling the House amendments to the Senate version of HB1244 not germane.  This battle, which more and more resembles an elementary school playground brawl, continues.....

Just as interesting was the House action (inaction?) on the controversial voucher bill, SB 458.  This bill was known by many to be on the debate calendar for the House on this day, but the Speaker of the House called up bill after bill after bill, delaying action on the voucher bill until the very end of the legislative day.  At that time, there was a motion to "recommit" the bill to the House Rules Committee, meaning that, at least for this day, no vote was taken on this legislation (usually a sign that the votes just weren't there to pass it).

The Senate did pass a number of bills of interest to educators on this day, including (note items in italics):

• HB 1133 -- Rep. David Casas' (R-Lawrenceville) bill seeking to create "student scholarship organizations" to provide private school tuition for students and to which Georgia citizens could donate in return for a tax credit  [Editor's note:  Debate on this bill was lengthy and heated, but in the end, the bill passed on a 32-20 vote, largely along party lines.]
• HB 250 -- changes certain requirements as to how local boards of education must report certain criminal offenses
• HB 831 -- the Public Charter School Financing Act
• HB 1065 -- permits local school boards, at their discretion, to include capital projects for charter schools in any SPLOST referenda
• HB 1277 -- a reprise of last session's HB 559, this permits the inclusion of charter school employees under the State Health Benefit Plan

The House of Representatives released its initial debate calendar for Wednesday, April 2, the thirty-ninth day of the 2008 session.  It is a lengthy one, but, at this time, contains no education bills.  Of course, the House Rules Committee frequently adopts "supplemental" calendars, so the final story is not yet written for this key day.  The Senate will develop its own lengthy calendar for April 2, as the thirty-ninth day is the last day on which they act upon a debate calendar (The Senate spends all of the fortieth day "agreeing" and "disagreeing" with actions of the House.).

At this point, there is still no action to report on the FY09 Budget stalemate, and veteran watchers of this annual stand-off note a particularly acrimonious atmosphere surrounding those key negotiations.  Other bills are literally being "held hostage" by the leadership of both the House and the Senate as "bargaining chips" in the budget process.  Thus, the "playground brawl" continues on another front.....

On Wednesday, April 2, the members of the State Board of Education will be in Atlanta for their monthly meeting.  One wonders just how much law-making and rule-making the city can stand!