Day 31 There are now only 10 days remaining in this legislative
session. The number of bills being
considered has been greatly reduced. Of
all the bills introduced this session, we will continue to follow a total of
forty-nine bills that crossed over. They
include thirty-one
House bills, one
House resolution,
fifteen Senate bills, and two
Senate resolutions. To see the list
of bills and the GSSA staff analysis, please click on the highlighted groups
above. You can print a listing or an Excel
spreadsheet of each group to assist you in following the progress this
session. Please make sure that you open
the latest version of a bill at the site. During this time, bills may be amended, which may change the intent of
the entire bill. After a two day adjournment, the legislators returned for a
full day of work today. However, on
Tuesday, the Senate Transportation Committee met and amended HB170,
the Transportation Funding Act of 2015. The amended bill would allow school systems to operate their eSPLOST and
LOST in the same manner as they have operated in the past. The one exception is a cap on the tax
collected when the state average gas sales rate is at $3.39/gallon. This amount
is different than what is collected at the pump. The bill will need to go to a conference
committee to resolve the differences between the House and Senate versions of
the bill. The full Senate and House had very short sessions today and
did not consider any education related bills on their calendars. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed out of committee,
without any questions, HB76, the FY16 state budget. The House and the Senate budgets had some
differences, but no major ones. The
House and Senate agreed to continue insurance for non-certified part time
staff. However, the cost will be passed
on to the local district. Once the
Senate passes the FY16 budget, the budget will go to a conference committee to
work out the differences. The Senate Education and Youth Committee met today to hear
and vote on the following: HB62,
Special needs students; waive certain qualifications, for students whose parent is an active duty military service member, stationed in Georgia within the previous year. — Passed same version as passed by the House. HB65,
Requires local boards of education and certain charter schools to hold at least two public meetings on the proposed annual operating budget. Two minor amendments and an amendment to require the meetings to be at least one week apart. — Passed as amended. HB164,
Professional Standards Commission; Suspend the professional learning requirements for certification renewal. — Passed same version as passed by
the House. HB362,
Student health; Authorizes a licensed health practitioners to prescribe albuterol sulfate for schools. — Passed same version as passed by the House. SR447, Create a Joint Study Committee on School Construction. — Passed. HR
394, — this constitutional amendment would affect county and city school districts in the same county regarding eSPLOST funds distribution. The funds would be distributed based on student population of the district if the districts could not agree. — This resolution is being held until Friday for possible amendments. The House Education Committee met today to hear SB133,
Opportunity School District and SR287,
Opportunity School District constitutional amendment. After presentation of the bill and many
questions by committee members, forty individuals signed up to speak to the
bill. After the long meeting, Chairman
Coleman stated that if anyone had any additional comments, they should send
them to him and the House
Education Committee by Monday. The
committee will meet on Monday to consider changes to the bill and resolution
and to vote on them. If you have any
concerns regarding the bill and resolution, this would be the time for you and
others in your community to make your concerns known. |