On this long, long twenty-ninth day of the 2013 session of the Georgia General Assembly (Isn't Day 30 supposed to be the long one?), both the House and the Senate worked into the evening hours tackling some controversial issues (Don't they always wait until late into the session to come up?) and some that were not-so-controversial.  One that turned out to be not-so-controversial was the approval of the conference committee report on the Amended FY2013 Budget conference committee report, which both chambers approved in short order and with few or no questions.

 

The FY2013 Amended Budget (education portion) included few changes of significance from the original document, the most significant of which were some additional funds for state special charter schools to account for some errors in the calculation of the LFMS portion along with some dollars added for charter systems.  For those who like to peruse the actual tracking sheet (which shows the changes to the Governor's original recommendations, then the House changes, then the Senate changes, then the final conference committee report), click here and go to page 36 for the Department of Education section of the budget.  Work now can begin in earnest on the FY2014 Budget.

 

In the Senate, a single education bill was on their calendar, and SB 212, the CPR bill sponsored by Senate Rules Committee chairman Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), sailed through.  This bill, which mandates that an American Heart Association-sponsored video on how to administer CPR be shown in required high school health classes, now moves to the House for its consideration.

 

The most vigorous debate on an education issue occurred in the House on this date, and that debate centered around HB 123, the infamous "parent trigger bill" giving both parents and teachers the right to demand that local boards of education consider their proposals to reorganize local schools.  As noted, the debate was furious, and the final vote (after well over an hour of "debate") was only 97-74 in favor.  Considering that the Republicans have almost 120 members in the House of Representatives, and considering that some Democrats voted in favor of the bill, it is clear that legislation of this type is not universally popular among the majority party.  One wonders what signals are sent for future bills of this type.

 

The General Assembly is in recess until Thursday, March 7, when "crossover day" commences.  On this day, bills that fails to pass their chamber of origin are thought to be "dead" for the remainder of the 2013 session.  Veteran Capitol-watchers, though, know all too well that experienced lawmakers know all the tricks and how to use the sometimes-complicated, sometimes-arcane parliamentary procedures to get their pet projects "attached" to other bills that are moving.  Now is when it gets interesting.  As always, stay tuned.