| Day 40 — SINE DIE The session
has come to an end with only forty-five education related bills having passed
the forty day trial. Thank you for all
of your hard work and efforts to communicate with your local legislative
delegation and other legislative members during the 139th
legislative session. Please take time to
continue communication with your delegation and thank them for their hard
work. Your efforts for the 140th
session start today with open communication and continued sharing of great
student successes all year long. To see the
complete list of bills that have passed the House and Senate, click on the PASSED tab on the GSSA website. You can click on any bill and see the most current version of the bill
and staff analysis of each of the bills. Please remember that bills do not become law until signed by the
Governor. There may be changes to report
as the dust settles and final committee reports are officially filed. We are preparing a final report of the
activities of this session for a presentation at the Bootstrap Conference in
Macon later this month. SINE DIE ACTION: During a
long day that went well into the evening with bill votes, insists, recesses,
and conference committees, a few education related bills passed the House and
Senate on the final day. Bills that passed on the 40th
day include: HB268, change provisions for mandatory reporters of child abuse. — PASSED WITH
SUB HB401, Early Care and Learning
clean-up bill. SB89, “Digital Classroom Act"; all school districts are strongly encouraged,
by July 1, 2020, to provide instructional materials and content to be in digital or electronic format. — SB89 HAS BEEN AMENDED WITH HB414. HB110, the fireworks bill
was amended to exclude fireworks from school zones, and school buses. HB372, the Utopia Academy Act that
passed on Tuesday, was amended with a few higher education amendments including
HB474, enrollment priorities for
educationally disadvantaged students enrolling in Charter Schools. The amended SB166 /HB243, Educational Savings Account bill, never came out of the Rules Committee today. This voucher idea will continue to appear during next year’s legislative session. Thank you for your efforts to ensure that this bill did not leave the Rules Committee. From early morning on, legislators mentioned that they received a lot of communication on this topic. UPCOMING ACTION: GSSA Bootstrap Conference will be in Macon on April 15 – April 16, 2015. Thank you for all that you
do. Your efforts really do make a
difference. If you have
any questions regarding this legislative session, please give me a call at
404-909-1639 or send me an e-mail. Michael
Surma mwsurma@bellsouth.net Legislative
Liaison Georgia
School Superintendents Association Please remember that bills do not become law until signed by the
Governor. SINE DIE |