Both the House and Senate are back in session for a three-week sprint before leaving again in October to campaign ahead of the November elections. At the top of the agenda is keeping the government funded, with its current...more
Legislative Day 40 is a roller coaster, full of ups, downs, and zero gravity turns (also known as conference committee reports). One goes from celebrating a bill achieving final passage to lamenting a measure being gutted...more
It was a hurry-up-and-wait on the penultimate day of the 2024 Georgia legislative session. Each chamber went through fits and starts throughout the day on Tuesday, with cycles of advancing a flurry of legislation and special...more
Legislative Day 38 provided more healthcare drama than an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Just hours before the Senate’s committee action deadline on Thursday, a bipartisan group of Senators made a last-minute run at advancing...more
Senate committee meetings continue under the Gold Dome as this report is published on Wednesday. With the Senate’s requirement that bills pass out of committee before the chamber convenes for Legislative Day 38, legislators...more
Christmas in March? Yes, if you are a lawmaker (particularly a Senator), you are likely to be getting all sorts of presents. Committees trimmed trees from morning till evening on Tuesday while the chambers were in...more
The General Assembly reconvened for Legislative Day 36 on Monday with lawmakers and lobbyists hoping to keep a little luck of the Irish going into the penultimate week of the legislative session. With only four legislative...more
Thursday may be the new Friday of the legislative work week, but lawmakers weren’t content to knock off early and ease into St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Instead, both chambers took up high-profile, controversial legislation...more
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas under the Gold Dome. December 25 may be nine months away, but Christmas trees are appearing everywhere. The most prominent bill so far passed out of the House Education Committee on...more
The Georgia General Assembly gaveled back in on Monday, and the rapping in the House had a different but eerily familiar tone. In honor of the 100th anniversary of the late Speaker Tom Murphy’s birth, Speaker Jon Burns dusted...more
The Georgia House of Representatives took up a veritable smorgasbord of legislation on Thursday. From the establishment of a license plate commemorating America’s semiquincentennial (SB 369), to allowing lifetime appointment...more
Show us the money! In an early morning meeting on Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee and its subcommittees unveiled the House version of the FY 2025 Budget. While there are many goodies in the $36.1 billion spending...more
While legislators and lobbyists continued to nurse the hangover of Crossover Day, the most unlikely of events unfolded in the Georgia State Senate on Monday. Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch (R-Dahlonega) awarded the...more
Look Ahead to the Week of March 4: The State of the Union and Government Spending - Both the Senate and House are in session. This week, Congress will attempt to pass the first tranche of government spending bills after...more
Legislators worked late into the night on Thursday to ensure legislation made the Crossover Day deadline. This #GoldDomeReport offers a recap of all the measures that passed out of the House and Senate and live on to seek...more
Thursday carried several distinctions under the Gold Dome. It was Leap Day, the quadrennial opportunity to celebrate those born on Feb. 29. It was Crossover Day, the day we all have to explain to our significant others each...more
There may be a calm before most storms, but there certainly isn’t one before Crossover Day in the Georgia General Assembly. Contrary to the popular idiom, House members spent late Tuesday and Wednesday pleading, cajoling,...more
No time for fun and games today — the Georgia House and Senate were all business on the final legislative day before Crossover. Each chamber took up numerous weighty issues with vigorous debate but, fortunately, no broken...more
The Georgia General Assembly kicked off Crossover Week on Monday, intensifying the mad dash for legislators and lobbyists working to ensure their bills pass their origin chamber and live to see Legislative Day 29. Expect...more
The Georgia State Capitol hallways and hoppers continued to overflow on Thursday. Law Enforcement Day at the Capitol converged with an onslaught of hundreds of charter school students to fill the People’s House with Georgians...more
Lawmakers worked long and hard today, moving many proposals out of various committees as the clock ticks closer to Crossover Day on February 29. The chambers’ floors were no different. It proved to be Veterans Day in the...more
It appears that cornbread and biscuit lovers can live in harmony after all. Perhaps in an early Valentine’s gift to each other, dissenting factions in the Georgia House of Representatives came together on Friday to pass two...more
It may not be shooting fish in a barrel, but nabbing catfish with a bow and arrow will soon be legal if one Georgia legislator has his way. Representative Jason Ridley (R-Chatsworth) introduced House Bill 1173 on Thursday,...more
It was dogs, docs, and dollars under the Georgia Gold Dome on Wednesday. At the Capitol, Legislative Day 16 marked the convergence of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) Awareness Day, Physicians...more
Although advocates in the halls hoped for a calm, low-key start to the legislative work week on Tuesday, legislators in the Georgia House and Senate had other plans. After pausing on Monday to memorialize the late House Rules...more