Get ready, today is Crossover Day at the Capitol for the 2025 Legislative session. It’s the day when lawmakers scramble to get their bills across the line in the Senate or House and keep them alive this session.
While several key bills have already passed out of their originating chamber, there are several measures that are still awaiting their fate. Among those already passed out of the Senate are SB 68 and SB 69, by Pro Tem John Kennedy, R-Macon, which will overhaul the state’s legal system. The two bills went straight to the House Rules Committee and were assigned to a newly created Subcommittee of Rules on Lawsuit Reform.
That House subcommittee has already begun hearings on the Governor’s Tort Reform legislation.
Many are wondering if this will finally be the year for sports betting in Georgia. Members of the House Committee on Higher Education passed House Bill 686 and House Resolution 450 Wednesday and these two bills could come up for votes in the full House on Crossover Day.
“This measure is to put guardrails on something that is happening right now,” said Rep. Marcus Wiedower, R-Watkinsville, the bills’ sponsor. “Each one of us can pick up our phone and place bets with zero to no regulations whatsoever.”
Other bills to watch for on Crossover Day:
Senate Bill 120, sponsored by Sen. Marty Harbin, R-Tyrone, would prohibit schools and colleges from creating policies on “diversity, equity and inclusion.”
House Bill 649, sponsored by Rep. Karen Bennett, D-Stone Mountain, would broaden treatments for postpartum depression and curb the state’s high maternal mortality rate.
Senate Bill 220, sponsored by Sen. Matt Brass, R-Newnan, would increase the concentration of the psychoactive chemical tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, allowed in medical marijuana.
House Bill 467, sponsored by Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, would allow private groups to assume ownership of Confederate statues that local cities and counties have removed from public property. Some of these cities & counties just simply dump them in remote fields or store in warehouses.
