Updates From the State Capitol

The Georgia House of Representatives convened for Legislative Day 28 on Tuesday, March 15, 2022, also known as Crossover Day. Crossover Day is the final day for a bill to pass out of its respective chamber with enough time to remain eligible for final passage prior to Day 40. As expected, Crossover Day was the busiest day yet for the Georgia General Assembly this legislative session. There was no lack of legislation to cover as we worked through many issues of concern.

Education

As the largest expenditure of our state budget, education remains priority. Crossover week brought forth several educational incentives further solidifying our commitment to students, school systems and administrators.

To assist low-income Georgians, we passed House Bill 1435. This bill will help those in need access financial aid to complete their college education. Students who qualify would be eligible to apply for up to $2,500.00 in grant funding to fill any remaining gap between tuition and additional fees. Students would have to complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), complete 80 percent of credit hours towards a degree program and meet other requirements. This program would be available for students attending both University System of Georgia and Technical College System of Georgia institutions, as well as certain institutions eligible for Tuition Equalization Grants.

We also successfully passed House Bill 1482, which will revise eligibility criteria for grant funding to build and improve school buildings giving greater consideration to low-wealth school systems. To be eligible, a school system would be ranked in the bottom 25 percent in sales tax revenue per full time equivalent (FTE) student and value of property per FTE student. Due to rising construction costs, there are 44 school systems in Georgia that need access to additional funding to ensure students are learning in safe and updated environments.

House Bill 1184 would allow school systems to administer nationally recognized college entrance examinations to 11th grade students who elect to participate. Schools would be permitted to offer these exams up to three times per year during normal hours of operation. This will make it easier for all Georgia students to sit for these examinations, which can be costly and difficult to attend outside of regular school hours.

House Bill 1283 which was also passed on Crossover Day would require schools to offer recess to students in kindergarten through fifth grade and recess could not be withheld for disciplinary or academic reasons.

Healthcare

Unfortunately, the pandemic has further highlighted Georgia’s long-standing health care worker shortage. To address this ongoing issue, we passed House Bill 1520 which creates the Georgia Council on Addressing Health Care Workforce Challenges. This Council would examine education programs, funding sources, and state rules with an eye toward making recommendations to grow Georgia’s health care workforce. Similarly, we also passed House Bill 1533, which would provide protections for health care workers seeking mental health care to remove potential job threatening consequences when seeking such assistance.

House Bill 1425 seeks to address the slow progress of implementation of Georgia’s narrowly defined Medical Cannabis program. This bill, if it becomes law, would rescind the competitive application request initiated in 2020 and simply direct the Medical Cannabis Commission to take the necessary steps to obtain low-THC oil required to administer the program. The Commission would by the end of 2022 issue a new competitive application request to award licenses for the commercial production of low-THC oil. This bill would also engage the expertise of the Georgia Department of Administrative Services to ensure the process is fair and follows all relevant Georgia law on purchasing.

House Bill 918 was passed which would create the Georgia Rare Disease Advisory Council. This Council, consisting of medical experts and patients suffering from rare diseases, would publish a report annually to make recommendations on how to better address rare diseases that would be distributed to Georgia public policy leaders.

Criminal Justice Reform

For many years, Georgia has used an ad hoc method of compensating wrongfully convicted individuals. This, however, only occurs in cases prominent enough to gain the attention of legislators, who then may pass a bill specifically to compensate the wrongfully convicted individual. Questions have been raised as to whether all cases which merit similar attention are reviewed. To avoid this scenario in the future, we passed House Bill 1354, the Wrongful Conviction Compensation Act. This bill would streamline the process for compensating those who are wrongfully convicted by creating a panel of experts to make recommendations regarding compensation of wrongfully convicted individuals. These recommendations would then be reviewed by the Georgia General Assembly for adoption into future budgets.

Following our lengthy Crossover Day, we met for two additional legislative days last week, which means we are coming closer to the conclusion of our current legislative term. As we make our way through the final two weeks of session, please be on the lookout for further updates. If you need anything at all, you may contact us directly in our legislative office. Thank you for allowing us the honor of serving you under the Gold Dome as we continue to work towards simple, smart and effective government.

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