Editor's note: With the flurry of late night legislation on Sine Die it's impossible to include everything - keep an eye on Monday's news for a full post-mortem
As is often typical of Sine Die, the final day of each year's legislative session, things got off to a slow start. With major legislation still hanging up in the air, from elections law to data centers to the budget itself, lawmakers didn't seem to feel too much of a sense of urgency even as debates drew on in the late afternoon. But as is also typical, a slow start tends to lead to a furious finish - so furious in fact, that the House didn't adjourn sine die until just before 1am, and the Senate just after.
A look at some of the action:
The first piece of legislation to pass Thursday was House Bill 1112, which allows Georgia retailers to round purchases to the nearest five-cent mark when making change or calculating sales tax. The move comes in response to the White House getting rid of the penny, a cost-cutting measure that the U.S. Treasury has estimated will save $56 million per year. It's finally the nickel's time to shine!
One of the more hotly debated bills this session was Senate Bill 513, which would have increased punishments on chronically absent students, including the possibility of taking their driver's licenses away. Georgia's (like many other states') absentee rate spiked during the pandemic, and while it's fallen some is still worrying to educators and parents. Many Republicans supported the legislation, saying a push is needed, but Democrats argued that it went too far and that it would punish many students who weren't missing school by choice, but by circumstance. The bill passed the Senate but failed to garner enough support in the House, where it was shelved Thursday afternoon.
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