GA Legislative Watch | March 11, 2022
Presented by OHIO RIVER SOUTH
GA Legislative Watch
By Molly Mcloughlin • Mar 12, 2022
Smart Brevity™ count: 3 mins…841 words
Red rover, red rover, send your bills on over! With Monday being a Committee work day, Tuesday is Crossover Day — the last day for a bill to pass out of either legislative chamber. Bills that don’t must be re-filed for next year’s session.
There are 13 legislative days remaining.
1 Big Thing: Gas Prices
Gov. Kemp said he wants to suspend motor fuel taxes amid rising gas prices on the same day President Biden announced a ban on U.S. imports of Russian oil, a move likely to continue raising prices.
- House Ways and Means unanimously supported HB 304 to suspend the 29.1 cents-a-gallon tax through May 31, estimated to save drivers about $400 million.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock has been advocating for the federal government to suspend collection of its gas tax as well.
2. Notable Bills Passed or Introduced
SB 535, the “Reducing Street Homelessness Act” was first tabled in the Senate Government Oversight Committee by Sen. Nicki Merritt (D – Grayson). But at the end of the meeting, once dozens who came to testify against it left, Senate Republicans passed it out of committee. The bill would:
- ban local governments from using federal funds to build housing for the homeless;
- penalize cities that have higher homeless populations; and
- make it a misdemeanor crime to take shelter on state property.
- Go deeper.
The “Mental Health Parity Act” overwhelmingly passed out of the House requiring insurance companies to cover mental health services the same way that they cover physical illnesses.
- Also, managed care companies that cover more than a million Medicaid patients must spend at least 85 percent of the dollars they receive from the program on medical care and quality improvements. (Currently not the case in Georgia.)
Georgia’s version of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law was introduced by Sen. Carden Summers (R-Cordele) prohibiting discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation in private school classrooms in elementary school.
- SB 613 stands little chance of passing this late, though provisions could turn up in other bills already moving.
3. Big Political News
Not a peep about Perdue — In his qualifying remarks, Gov. Kemp didn’t mention Republican primary contender David Perdue — only Stacey Abrams, who will be facing the winning Republican candidate in the general election.
“I’m going to debate Raphael Warnock,” exhorted Herschel Walker after saying he won’t debate fellow Republican candidates, “because I’m going to win this primary and I’m going to the general.”
Bee Nguyen, the front-runner in the Democratic primary for secretary of state, announced a list of 100 endorsers, including Sens. Elena Parent and Nan Orrock, Reps. Matthew Wilson and Park Cannon, and Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat.
- Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. announced he is backing former state Rep. Dee Dawkins-Haigler, another Democrat in the race for SOS.
The Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, Sen. Jeff Mullis (R- Chickamauga) will not seek reelection after serving for 22 years.
People living at extended-stay hotels won protection from informal, on-the-spot eviction, when the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled they should legally be recognized as residents, not guests, and covered by landlord-tenant law.
The 2020 Census left out more than 18 million people, miscounting Hispanics, Blacks and other minority groups and overcounting Whites and Asians, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Go deeper.
4. Budget and Appropriation News
The Senate passed the amended 2022 budget, sending it to the governor’s desk for signature. It includes an immediate $2,000 pay raise for teachers.
The House passed HB 1437 to lower the state’s income tax to a 5.25% flat rate, raise the exemptions, and eliminate many deductions.
- Pushed by House Ways and Means Chairman Shaw Blackmon (R-Bonaire), it’s estimated to save taxpayers about $1 billion a year.
- Some say it will benefit wealthy taxpayers the most.
Folks at least 60 years old who have been residents of Georgia for ten years may not have to pay state income tax with SB 390 that was introduced.
How county tax commissioners assess and collect municipal taxes and fees could be revised with HB 1280 which passed out of the House.
The U.S. House approved a $1.5 trillion spending package that funds agencies through October. It includes tens of millions of dollars in earmarks for Georgia. Most Georgia Republicans didn’t request funding, citing past abuses and concerns about government spending and the rising national debt, and Rep. Jody Hice forced a vote to adjourn the House in protest.
5. What’s Next
HB 911, the 2023 state budget, will go to the Senate after passing the House 155-3 late Friday. It’s $30.2 billion in state tax money and $57.9 billion overall — a huge boost from 2022, thanks to increased tax revenues and federal assistance.
If approved, the budget will continue $2,000 raises for teachers and $5,000 raises for state employees that will begin with the separate amended 2022 budget passed earlier Friday.
Want to know more about Ohio River South? Look out for the ORS Quarterly, another publication of Friendly Amendment, coming out next month. Thank you!