Although there is rarely a shortage of rumors echoing through the halls of the State Capitol, there have never been as many as during the Crossover Day that continues as we publish. Most related to how the State and the General Assembly would respond to the growing COVID-19 crisis, and rumblings ranged from postulation of an early Sine Die to allow legislators to return home and begin fundraising to speculation that the Senate would quickly adopt the House version of the FY21 budget and return to adopt an amended version later. Neither proved true as Speaker Ralston and Lt. Governor Duncan announced late this afternoon that the 2020 Legislative Session would suspend “until further notice” after first reading of bills tomorrow for Legislative Day 29. When legislators will return for Legislative Day 30 is unknown, although Speaker Ralston, addressing his chamber, said somberly “[h]opefully it won’t be long.”

During the suspension of the legislative session, our regular Reports will also pause. But keep up with the latest developments (including the rest of the measures considered on Crossover Day) on Twitter by following the #GoldDomeReport.

In today’s Report:

• Notable Floor Action
• House, Senate Agree to Compromise on Amended FY20 Budget
• Committee Reports

Notable Floor Action

The House acted on the following legislation of note today prior to our deadline:

• HB 881, authored by Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta), amends Title 19 relating to safe places to leave abandoned newborns. The House passed the measure by a 168-0 vote, and it moves to the Senate for further consideration.
• HB 927, authored by Rep. Don Parsons (R-Marietta), amends Title 12 to provide for the reporting of any spill or release of ethylene oxide to the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources. The House passed the measure by a 162-0 vote, and it moves to the Senate for further consideration.
• HB 991, authored by Rep. Matt Hatchett (R-Dublin), is the Healthcare Transparency and Accountability Act. The bill creates the Healthcare Transparency and Accountability Oversight Committee to review and exercise oversight over state contractors regarding state healthcare plans. The House passed the measure by a 166-1 vote, and it moves to the Senate for further consideration.
• HB 993, authored by Rep. Katie Dempsey (R-Rome), amends Title 31 to provide for delivery of certain vital records reports and data relating to child abuse reports to the Division of Family and Children Services. The House passed the measure by a 166-0 vote, and it moves to the Senate for further consideration.
• HB 1026, authored by Rep. Robert Dickey (R-Musella), amends Title 20 to revise the number of REACH scholars to be designated by participating school systems. The House passed the measure by a 109-58 vote, and it moves to the Senate for further consideration.
• HB 1039, authored by Rep. Sam Watson (R-Moultrie), amends Title 13 to provide additional protections for consumers who enter into service contracts that contain lengthy automatic renewal provisions. The House passed the measure by a 163-1 vote, and it moves to the Senate for further consideration.

The Senate acted on the following legislation of note today prior to our deadline:

• SB 40, authored by Sen. Lester Jackson (D-Savannah), amends Title 16 to prohibit sexual contact between an employee or volunteer of any school and a student enrolled at such school. The Senate approved the measure by a 54-0 vote, and the measure moves to the House for further consideration.
• SB 272, authored by Sen. Randy Robertson (R-Cataula), amends Title 16 to prohibit the sale to and by minors of drug products containing dextromethorphan. The Senate approved the measure by a 44-7 vote, and the measure moves to the House for further consideration.
• SB 288, authored by Sen. Tonya Anderson (D-Lithonia), amends Title 35 to provide for restriction of certain misdemeanor offenses from criminal records. The Senate approved the measure by a 49-0 vote, and the measure moves to the House for further consideration.
• SB 349, authored by Sen. Donzella James (D-Atlanta), amends Title 20 to require local boards of education to provide feminine hygiene products at no charge to students. The Senate approved the measure by a 47-3 vote, and the measure moves to the House for further consideration.
• SB 375, authored by Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), amends multiple Titles to raise the age to purchase or possess tobacco products to 21. The bill received an amendment which requires the State Board of Education and local boards of education to make available information regarding the dangers of vaping available to student clubs and organizations. This bill, as amended, passed by a vote of 52-0. 
• SB 408, authored by Sen. Brian Strickland (R-McDonough), amends Title 34 to repeal the sunset provision relating to use of sick leave for care of immediate family members. The Senate approved the measure by a 50-6 vote, and the measure moves to the House for further consideration.
• SB 416, authored by Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), amends Title 20 to change the name of the Office of College and Career transitions and require collaboration between TCSG and other entities to expand recruitment for industries. This bill passed by a vote of 55-0.
• SB 423, authored by Sen. John Albers (R-Roswell), revises the definition of hazing and establishes higher criminal penalties for hazing. This bill passed 52-0.
• SB 426, authored by Sen. Brian Strickland (R-McDonough), requires that any facility that emits ethylene oxide to report a spill or release to EPD within 24 hours, as a condition for receiving a permit. The bill also requires EPD to publicly post information about any spill or emissions. This bill passed by a vote of 55-0.
• SB 432, authored by Sen. Marty Harbin (R-Tyrone), requires that life insurers issue annual disclosures of a policy’s existence, as well as review reports from NAIC’s policy locator service on a quarterly basis and report this review to DOI. This bill passed by a vote of 53-0.
• SB 464, authored by Rep. John Kennedy (R-Macon), creates the Georgia Uniform Mediation Act and outlines certain mediation practices and procedures. This bill passed by a vote of 53-0.
• SR 818, authored by Sen. Greg Dolezal (R-Cumming), proposes a constitutional amendment which would clarify that only citizens of the United States are permitted to vote in elections in Georgia. This resolution FAILED by a vote of 33-19.

House, Senate Agree to Compromise on Amended FY20 Budget

The House and Senate conferees on the Amended FY20 Budget unveiled their compromise spending bill late yesterday. Most notably, the proposition included $100 million to be taken from the Governor’s rainy day reserve fund to finance the State’s response to COVID-19. This withdrawal was purportedly cleared with the three bond rating agencies that have consistently rated Georgia as a AAA bond risk. The budget also fully funds QBE and includes grants for rural hospitals, adds back behavioral health funds, and restores funding for public libraries. It restores funds for criminal justice and grants to county health departments.

The House and Senate quickly approved the Conference Committee Report today, and it proceeds to the Governor for final approval. The CCR may be found online here.

Committee Reports

House Juvenile Justice Committee

Representative Matt Dubnik (R-Gainesville) chaired the House Juvenile Justice Committee for Chairman Ballinger on Wednesday. Two bills were taken up by the Committee – both were authored by Representative Chuck Efstration (R-Dacula). 

• HB 1068, as Representative Efstration explained, is a clean up to the legislation passed in 2019 for the Equitable Caregiver Act for children. It addresses situations where parents are unfit to parent their child and establishes a group of family members who may be allowed to step in to care for the child and allows for specific circumstances when no relative is available to provide for care. The “form” for the court to consider had a flaw and this bill addresses that flaw (the law outlines what circumstances must be for such consideration to be allowed by the court). Under current law, it permits an “unlimited look back” and this year’s legislation establishes a five year look back. There were also concerns of unintended consequences such as when a domestic violence action occurs; this bill addresses those situations as well. It also clarifies when a parent may be restored to the child, addressing the constitutional rights of parents. Presently, custody of the child is with the superior court judge – it allows that the court consider whether the parent will not cause harm to the child (not necessarily if placing the child with the parent is in the child’s best interest). Representative Efstration indicated he had worked with Professor Melissa Carter at the Barton Child Law and Policy Center on this legislation. The bill received a DO PASS recommendation.
• HB 1074 is a bill which Representative Efstration has worked closely with the Division of Family and Children’s Services and its Director, Tom Rawlings. It is a step towards collecting data on applications made by individuals to become foster parents. The goal is to get the ultimate disposition of those applications with private agencies as well as DFCS. Both Efstration and Rawlins serve on the Georgia Supreme Court’s Justice for Children Commission and have seen the need for this data. The legislation requires that private child placing agencies and DFCS provide quarterly reports on numbers of foster families currently approved, licensed, or certified as well as the county of residence; capacity of the foster home; and types of children that the home is approved as well as the number of foster parents who submitted applications to the agency/Division to serve as foster parents during the quarter and the outcome of each of the applications. Director Rawlings and Representative Efstration offered a clarifying amendment which was adopted. The bill received a DO PASS recommendation.

Note that these bills were added into a bill in the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee earlier this week; that was in HB 43 which was gutted with its original language and these bills inserted. Now, all three are in the House Rules Committee.

House Regulated Industries Committee

Chairman Alan Powell (R-Hartwell) and his Committee met on Wednesday to take up two proposals addressing the legalization of gambling in the State. Both measures, by substitutes, were moved forward with a DO PASS recommendation after a lengthy meeting (and following a series of hearings on the issue statewide which took place over the interim from last Session). The vote on the bills was 14-2. Representative Ron Stephens (R-Savannah) has been the author of the proposals. The Committee listened to a lengthy presentation, explaining the new substitute, on HR 378 which is the Constitutional Amendment proposal. The enabling legislation, HB 570, will provide more guidance on the gambling concept and is still a work in progress. The Constitutional Amendment will allow the voters to decide in November 2020 if they want to allow gambling in the state. HR 378 authorizes what is permitted and clarifies what is sports betting with those funds to go towards the HOPE scholarship and pre-k funding.The proposal establishes in part a Gaming Commission which would authorize a license (in the enabling bill). Chairman Powell and Chairman Brett Harrell (R-Snellville) explained the process, which actually takes two votes from voters. The first as previously mentioned will be in the statewide referendum; the second will be a local referendum much like how jurisdictions approve the sale of liquor. The five-member Gaming Commission’s proceeds will go towards funding healthcare services and health insurance coverage for Georgians. In the bill, it allows for horse racing; addresses satellite facilities; provides Attorney General oversight of the Commission and the Gaming Board; addresses taxation; requires an annual report to the legislature and allows for audits of the Commission; provides a separate budget category for the funding; addresses costs of annual licenses and renewal costs for casinos (for instance it can be a $250,000 annual renewal fee). Further it addresses smoking and alcohol which cannot disenfranchise a casino; essentially it will apply what is applied to other local businesses. There are casino property requirements – they must have at least a 100 acre site and they must provide other services/amenities such as arenas, golf, conference facilities, restaurants, and residential property. 50 percent of the casino revenue must come from “non-gaming sources.” Chairman Brett Harrell stressed that the legislation also addresses instances of “cheating” and that it would not be permitted. The legislation does not limit the number of casinos in the state; Chairman Powell stated it would allow for the free market to decide and the Commission, once it receives a petition for a casino, would make the decision on whether or not the petitioner/applicant had a sustainable business model. Representative Bruce Williamson (R-Monroe) indicated he would vote no as he had voted against the lotter legislation and he also asked whether there were tax abatements or credits or other incentives provided. Williamson was assured there were none. Mike Griffin, with the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, opposed the legislation and indicated that the state did not need this. Griffin also indicated that there would be no fair fight if this legislation moved forward and that legislators had the responsibility to be gatekeepers for constitutional amendment ideas. Dean of the House Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus) who had participated on the Committee which held hearings around the state indicated he had been around when the HOPE scholarship was created and that it was essential to give people the right to advocate and vote on this issue. Representative Al Williams (D-Midway), who went to all the hearings, began by saying he as a 45-year Baptist Deacon and he trusted people of Georgia to make the right choice but the bills provided an opportunity for “economic progress” and would create thousands of jobs and generate millions in revenue for the state.