On Thursday, the General Assembly was able to come to agreement on something – the calendar for the rest of session. Monday will mark Day 11 of the 40 day legislative session and the bill establishing the calendar marks down Sine Die for Thursday, March 29.
It’s certainly still early but besides the calendar, not much has been agreed upon by the two chambers. Ever at odds but it’s been a while since the House and Senate were at loggerheads like they are now over the current adoption legislation. After some expectation that the adoption update, something not done in Georgia since 1991, would be passed in the first couple weeks of session, we’re now in week 3 with the House and Senate in negotiation phase. The Senate included language that the House and Governor Deal both consider outside the bounds of a “clean bill” and now will require reconciliation between the two chambers.
The Senate has passed a few other bills that the House will now consider. Senator John Albers (R- 56 Alpharetta) saw his Homestead Exemption bills for Fulton County and several cities in north Fulton pass. The bills would put a 3% cap on property tax assessment increases but requires a referendum in November for passage. As is often the case with referendums, the language of the ballot question is not what one would call simple – “Do you approve the Act which provides a new homestead exemption from Fulton County school district property taxes for educational purposes in the amount of the difference between the current year assessed value of a home and its 2016 base year assessed value, provided the base year assessed value shall be adjusted each year by the lesser of 3 percent or any percentage increase in the inflation rate?”
Voters may stop reading after “Do you approve the Act which provides a new homestead exemption?”.
Property taxes were also a big concern in Atlanta and other parts of Fulton County, this may not be the only bill to deal with the Homestead Exemption issue as it may be taken up specifically in regards to other cities.
The Senate also passed SB 327, related to medical examiners. Albers also sponsored this bill, on behalf of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The purpose of the bill is to streamline the process for coroners and medical examiner inquiries. “This legislation would remove the requirement for the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office or other Metro – Atlanta medical examiners to perform a formal inquiry when a person dies who has not been under the care of a physician. This only applies if there is no foul play or anything suspicious in regards to cause of death. This removes the requirement but does not prohibit the GBI or other Metro-Atlanta medical examiners to perform a formal inquiry if it is requested.”
Heading into Day 11, look for the House to push for an adoption agreement and both chambers will likely take up changes to Georgia’s voting system – something that may spark some debate, both in the chambers and on the campaign trail.
We’re a quarter of a way there…
