Highlights from the House – Week 10

Monday, March 15, brought us to the 10th week of this year’s legislative session as we concluded the week with legislative day 35. With only five legislative days until the conclusion of the 2021 session, we have been working until late in the evening reviewing bills within our respective committees. In addition to passing many bills out of the House, we also heard Chief Justice Melton, of the Georgia Supreme Court, deliver his final “State of the Judiciary,” address.

State of the Judiciary

On Tuesday, March 16, Chief Justice Melton gave the annual State of the Judiciary address, updating the legislature on what our courts have accomplished over the past year as well as outlining what lies ahead for our judicial branch. Melton reported that throughout the pandemic, courts have remained open to address essential functions and critical cases where an immediate liberty or safety concern was present. Melton also highlighted that all state courts have transitioned to video conferencing among other rule changes, which have restored our courts to a fully functioning capacity. As a result of the pandemic, criminal and civil jury trials have been suspended, creating a substantial backlog within the judicial system. Although the trial suspension has been lifted, it could take our courts up to three years to catch up on suspended trials. Due to the backlog, the state’s statutory speedy trial deadline has been suspended under the Statewide Judiciary Emergency. Chief Justice Melton urged the General Assembly to champion legislation to address this issue long term. During his speech, Justice Melton reflected on his upcoming retirement from the Supreme Court and announced that the Supreme Court unanimously voted to name Presiding Justice David Nahmias as our state’s next Chief Justice.

Judiciary Reform

In line with Chief Justice Melton’s recommendations, our House body successfully passed Senate Bill 163. This bill provides a solution to the court’s handling of backlogged cases. When the Statewide Judiciary Emergency ends, SB 163 would allow chief judges of Georgia’s superior court judicial circuits or state courts to continue to suspend statutory speedy trial deadlines until the deadlines can be reasonably met. A sunset date of June 2023 has been set to specifically target the current backlog. However, the bill does give the Supreme Court chief justice the ability to reinstate the speedy trial requirements at their discretion before the sunset date. We are confident this legislation will greatly assist our courts in addressing backlogged cases.

Education

In keeping our commitment to education, we saw the overwhelming passage to Senate Bill 88, which offers several solutions to strengthen the teacher pipeline for Georgia schools. Stipulations of SB 88 are as follows:

•Allows the Georgia teacher of the year to serve as advisor ex officio to the State Board of Education,

•Requires local school systems to support a nontraditional teacher certification pathway for veterans to become certified teachers.

•Revises the state’s tiered evaluation system allowing schools to focus their observational resources towards teachers who need more support in the classroom.

•Requires the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (PSC) to create innovative programs to promote teacher education programs at Georgia’s historically black colleges and universities.

•Directs the PSC to provide aspiring teachers with increased coursework in differentiated instruction and reading fundamentals, which would better prepare new teachers before they enter the classroom.

We are confident this measure will ensure that Georgia is recruiting and retaining the brightest educators for our students.

End It.

Last week also brought our continued fight against the vile practice of Human Trafficking through the passage of Senate Bill 34. This bill works to support survivors of human trafficking as they rebuild their lives in Georgia. In addition to victims of family violence, SB 34 would also allow human trafficking victims to petition for a name change “under seal,” meaning these would be processed by the court confidentially, allowing victims to remain safe and protected from those who exploited them. This legislation furthers our recent efforts to restore justice and wellbeing to survivors of human trafficking ensuring that we do everything in our power to end this horrific practice.

The countdown to 40 continues as we head into the five legislative days of 2021. We will return this week to continue our review of Senate bills under consideration, as well as give final approval to House bills amended by the Senate. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to us with questions or concerns regarding legislation. Be on the lookout for future updates as we continue to work on your behalf. As always, thank you for allowing us the honor of serving our home under the gold dome as we continue our work to ensure simple, smart and effective state government.

HHJ News