'Tis always the final days of any legislative session that brings to mind the old saw: "You really don't want to watch either laws or sausage being made." That certainly holds true this year, as it appears that the final days of the 2012 session of the Georgia General Assembly may be the ultimate in "sausage-making."
The big news of the day, of course, was the passage by the House of HB386, the much-ballyhooed "tax reform" bill. Veteran Capitol-watchers noted this morning that there was "not a rail anywhere near this building that isn't greased," and the tax reform proposal was among the first on those greased rails. It passed a morning committee meeting and appeared on the House floor for an afternoon vote after having been placed on a "Supplemental House Rules Calendar." By late afternoon, the entire bill had passed the House by a 155-9 vote and had been immediately transmitted to the Senate. Senate action will undoubtedly be fast and furious, and citizens will be left to wonder what hit them within the next couple of weeks. See GSSA's Day Thirty-four Report from the Capitol for a short list of the items included in this key legislation. [Editor's note: Local governments and school boards are caught up in this maelstrom, as the bill removes the ad valorem and sales taxes on cars; a "guarantee" that these local governmental entities will be "made whole" by the state is rightfully viewed by most of them with a healthy dose of skepticism. For now, though, those local governments are left to trust what is being said.]
On the Senate side, what should have been "big news" was relegated to "not so big news" as the Senate Appropriations Committee approved their version of the FY2013 Budget. There were actually two reasons that this was not big news: (1) the hoopla surrounding the aforementioned tax reform vote in the House; and, (2) the reality that the differences between the House version of the FY2013 Budget and the Senate version just weren't that great. For example:
- In the area of School Nutrition, the Senate agreed to reduce the funds by an amount less than that recommended by the Governor, but more than that recommended by the House. More importantly, the Senate agreed with the House that these funds SHOULD NOT be transferred into the QBE programs.
- The Senate also thought that pupil transportation funds SHOULD NOT be transferred (and, buried?) into the QBE programs, but that idea conflicts with the Governor and House and will have to be negotiated.
- Exhibiting a model of consistency, the Senate thought that the school nurse funds should be maintained as a separate and distinct category of funding (i.e., NOT rolled into QBE), and this is consistent with the House position.
- The Senate agreed with the House that RESA's should NOT suffer a $110K cut in their core services line.
- Both the House and the Senate agreed that the cut to the Technology/Career Education line should be significantly less than the cut recommended by the Governor (1% rather than 3%).
- And, both the House and the Senate recommended increasing the funds to pay for AP exams for students who qualify for free and/or reduced-price lunch ($177k).
As can be seen, the differences in the education portion of the budget between the House and Senate are few. It remains to be seen if these minor differences can be worked out behind closed doors (as has been the practice over the last two sessions) or whether a formal conference committee to iron out differences will be appointed. Stay tuned for further action on this critical document.
Late on this afternoon, the final meeting of the session of the Senate Education and Youth Committee was convened to hear and vote on HB 797, the enabling legislation for HR 1162, the infamous charter schools constitutional amendment. Rep. Jan Jones (R-Milton) presented the bill, and after considerable debate, it passed (no surprise there!) with four dissenting votes. This bill now moves to the Senate Rules Committee for certain placement on a Senate calendar. After it passes the Senate (a certainty), though, it will have to return to the House for the "agree/disagree" process since the bill has been altered since leaving the House.
The General Assembly will be in session on Wednesday, March 21, for Day 36. |