A few days out from Sine Die. The digital vote list has had some time to catch up and there’s still plenty to break down from the legislature. Simply taking a look at the list can be illustrative of the ways of the legislature. Some thoughts on all those votes and a brief look at some of the bills – beyond the broadband and tax cuts – that passed this past session:
The House took 461 votes this past session. Forty of those were attendance roll calls so now we’re down to 421. Three of those were snuck in on not-after-midnight-but-actually-after-midnight. Including those, there were 92 votes on Sine Die. There were 30 votes taken in the last two hours. If you’re following the math, that amounts to approximately 4 minutes of debate on the final versions of all those bills. Some of these were undoubtedly very familiar to lawmakers but others likely saw changes from conference committee that were new.
The story in the Senate is similar. There were 438 total votes – 398 not counting the morning roll calls. The Senate only had one of those not-after midnight votes on March 30 and all told on Sine Die there were 83 votes – 22 in the last two hours.
As of yet, no unforeseen shenanigans have been discovered hidden in any of these bills but it’s easy to see how that kind of thing can happen. Procedural rules that require bills to be on desks for two hours definitely help but the hectic nature of Sine Die makes good government watchers nervous.
Now about some of that legislation:
· Sales taxes on online retails sales – HB 61 – was certainly a pretty big one that got overshadowed by all the talk around transit and broadband;
· Intractable pain and PTSD were both added to the approved list of diseases covered by medical marijuana, or more precisely low THC oil, as laid out in HB 65;
· The long overdue renaming of “Runaway Negro Creek” to “Freedom Creek” in SR 685 was passed unanimously in both chambers;
· Following a number of incidents, including the murder one such winner, SB 331 allows winners of lottery prizes of $250,000 or greater to remain anonymous if they so wish;
· Currently, most Georgia schools are accredited through a private organization. HR 898 establishes a Joint Study Committee to investigate the possibility of a state agency that would perform accreditation services.
· On a tighter vote than much of the session’s legislation – with 63 nay votes – SB 315 created a new crime of unauthorized computer access, including accessing a system remotely;
· Another “tight” one – with 59 nays – SB 336 allows the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to issue a subpoena for electronic communications but prevents the disclosure of said subpoena to the subscriber. The bill is aimed at those involved in human trafficking and crimes against minors; and,
· Charter schools will get a boost from HB 217, which raised the cap on tax credits for private school scholarships. The previous cap was $58 million and it will grow to $100 million for the next ten years before dropping back to $58 million.
Tomorrow, the biggest regrets this session from legislators.
