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Legislative Session Newsletter: March 2, 2022

 

 

What Happened Last Week

 

On Tuesday, February 22, the Georgia House of Representatives reconvened for a short albeit productive seventh week of the 2022 legislative session. This week, we hunkered down and made the most of two session days and one full committee work day. As usual, we debated and voted on an array of legislation in the House Chamber, and by the end of the week, my colleagues and I reached Legislative Day 20, which means we are at the halfway point of the session.

 

Tuesday morning, I once again spoke out against the Republican, gerrymandered local maps for Cobb County as the Senate prepared to vote on them. We were joined by Commissioner Jerica Richardson, who along with her constituents will be most affected by the new map. The Republicans targeted Commissioner Richardson, a black woman, by drawing her out of her district and effectively ending her term 2 years early unless she moves into the newly drawn district. The maps passed out of the Senate on Thursday and now await the Governor’s signature.

On Wednesday, I had the privilege to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony for KSU’s new Academic Learning Center. KSU is helping to lead the way to provide students in our state with the best education possible!

I was also honored on Wednesday to join Ahmaud Arbery’s mother in honoring her son. I was deeply humbled by this ceremony and will continue in the fight for justice for all Georgians. 

On Thursday evening, I had the opportunity to join GPB’s Lawmakers to discuss my bill HB 1003. This bill aims to discourage health insurance companies from prematurely ending contracts with hospital systems and leaving thousands of Georgians without coverage for their providers. You can watch the episode of Lawmakers here starting at minute 19.

Bipartisan Legislation Passed in the House This Week

  • House Bill 1092, the Georgia Women's Child Care Alternatives, Resources, and Education Act, would allow eligible pregnant women who are sentenced to a period of confinement in a penal institution to have their sentences deferred for the duration of their pregnancies until six weeks postpartum
  • House Bill 1192, which would allow the Georgia Department of Community Health to submit a waiver request to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of the U.S. Health Department of Health and Human Services to provide Medicaid coverage for HIV treatment services
  • House Bill 500, which would allow a second round of funding of $100 million to the  Georgia Agribusiness and Rural Jobs Act program for capital investments, increase the program’s application fee from $5,000 to $25,000, establish an annual maintenance fee of $7,500 for all rural funds and update the program’s reporting requirements;
  • House Bill 896, which would update a homestead exemption for counties that had populations between 23,500 and 23,675 on the 2010 U.S. Census with counties that had populations between 25,400 and 25,500 on the 2020 U.S. Census;
  • House Bill 1008, which would amend the operations and composition of the Georgia Higher Education Savings Plan (GHSP) board of directors, dissolve the Georgia Achieving a Better Life Experience program and transfer this program’s authority and trust to the GHSP, as well as remove the board of directors' authority to require and collect fees to cover administrative costs and impose withdrawal penalties;
  • House Bill 1059, which would provide exclusions to unfair trade practices and unlawful inducements by allowing insurance companies to provide loss-mitigation safety products to consumers;
  • House Bill 1086, which would lower the age at which hospitals would be required to offer an inpatient the influenza vaccine prior to discharge from 65 to 50 years of age;
  • House Bill 1088, which would authorize non-judicial foreclosures of time-share estates by an owners' association and would update notice of sale requirements for these foreclosures; 
  • House Bill 1148, which would prohibit individuals from bringing a cervid carcass, such as a deer carcass, from outside Georgia into the state if any part of the carcass contains a portion of the nervous system, and this bill would provide exceptions for antlers, skulls, skull plates, teeth or jawbones that have soft tissue attached;
  • House Bill 1186, which would expand the eligibility for individuals who can have a non-diagnostic electro-physiologic screening done by a non-licensed audiologist from ages three and under to birth through 22 years of age;
  • House Bill 1195, which would update the reporting options for interlocal risk management agencies within local governments to include statutory accounting principles;
  • House Bill 1233, which would revise the effective date of rules and regulations promulgated by the Georgia Board of Natural Resources to January 1, 2022, consolidate various species of black bass, update requirements for shotguns used for hunting migratory game birds and create the umbrella term “migratory game birds;”
  • House Bill 1276, which would require the Georgia Department of Community Health to post detailed statistical reports with data for administered state health plans on its website biannually;
  • House Bill 1307, which would require excavators to make an emergency 911 call to alert emergency services if they strike or damage a utility facility that carries gas or a hazardous liquid;
  • House Bill 1320, which would update the state’s definition of "Internal Revenue Code" to include the provisions of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, such as changing which bonds qualify as tax-exempt bond financing, extending interest-rate smoothing for defined benefit plans and expanding certain non-taxable contributions for government water or sewage disposal services;
  • House Bill 1361, which would require that if a General Assembly act is alleged to be unconstitutional or invalid in an action, the attorney general would be served with a notice and would be entitled to be heard in defense of the act.

Bills to watch this session:

 

HB 1084 - Attacking Our School Curriculum

 

SB435 - Banning Trans Youth from Sports

 

SB456 -  Banning Abortion Pill Access

 

SB449 & HB1178 - "Parents Bill of Rights" Legislation


SB319 - "Constitutional Carry Act"

 

 

Heading into the second half of session, the next couple of weeks will certainly be some of our most demanding as we prepare for the Crossover Day deadline, which is the last day a bill can pass out of one chamber and still be eligible to be signed into law this year. There are still many more important bills that will be taken up before Crossover Day, including the Fiscal Year 2023 budget. I hope to hear from you soon about legislation that is still up for consideration this session. You can reach my Capitol office at 404-656-0109, or you can email me at [email protected].

 

 

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Paid for by Allen for Georgia

 

Allen for Georgia
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Smyrna , GA 30080
United States

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