Under the Gold Dome 2020 – Part 2
Stop-and-start legislative sessions seem to be the new normal, and most of the work this session is centered around the abstruse budget and appropriations process. Legislators took the rare step of declaring a second ‘budget week’ in which there is no floor session, only committee meetings dedicated to hashing out where to allocate funding left from the Governor’s 5% across-the-board cuts. It’s an impressive move, given that the extra week cuts into sitting legislators ability to fundraise in an election year since ethics rules forbid them from collecting donations during the Legislative Session. The extra week seems to be designed to further massage the cuts to have minimal impact on services, and word is that even among the Governor’s party there is little appetite to reduce state programs now.
Legislative Roundup:
HB 994 is being called the “Street Gang Bill” and is one of Governor Kemp’s priority pieces of legislation. The devil, however, is in the details and quibbles with its implementation have arisen on both sides of the aisle. As of this writing it has escaped House Committee, but its future on the House floor and in the Senate are unusually murky given its powerful provenance.
In the last installment, I mentioned HR 910 to allow state gas tax revenue to be used on non-car infrastructure; there is a Senate companion in SR 654 introduced by Sally Harrell (D-Chamblee)– It got so far as to receive a hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee on February 4th, however the consensus seems to be ‘not now’. Conventional wisdom is that transportation bills don’t move in lean budget years, regardless of their fiscal impacts.
The Full Senate passed SB 303 (Watson, R-Savannah). This bill would provide for greater transparency of prices for non-emergency health services, and provide for the release of certain pricing information on insurer websites so customer can compare prices. So called “Surprise Billing” has been a perennial topic at the statehouse, with this year’s prospects for actually making it to enactment looking bright.
HB 936 (Corbett, R-Lake Park) would provide for the implementation of electronic drivers licenses and ID cards in the state. Currently, only Louisiana accepts electronic IDs, although several other states are currently in pilot stages for the technology. SB 389 (Gooch, R-Dahlonega) is the Senate complement.
Another recurring issue “Sports Betting”, commonly referred to as “Fantasy Sports”, today exists in a gray area with a patchwork of state regulations on whether or not the game is based on skill or luck. SB 403 (Jones, R-Jackson) would legalize sports betting in Georgia to provide funding for education.
HB 1066 by Rep. Don Parsons (R-Marietta) relates to providing tax credits for electronic vehicle chargers. It specifies eligible business enterprises and aggregate caps/sunsets.
