BILL YEARTA: As session ends, legislature’s work begins

Over the last three months, we in the General Assembly worked diligently to pass meaningful legislation on behalf of our Georgia citizens for the betterment of our state. Below is an overview of the a few bills we passed in the final days of the session.

Foster Care Reform: To avoid placing children in foster care unnecessarily, we passed Senate Bill 133. This bill will clarify several code sections to improve juvenile court proceedings for children who need services for child delinquency or dependency. Through this bill, we are working to ensure that all avenues have been explored prior to placing a child in the system. Stipulations of the bill include:

· Courts required to consider what state services have been provided to the child or the parent/guardian or what services may be available to allow the child to remain in their home.

· Courts required to attempt the secure placement of a child other than in custody of DFCS.

· Mandates a preliminary protective hearing take place within 72 hours of DFCS placement.

· Requires all parties to provide copies of medical, psychological, and educational assessments and reports of the child or the child’s parent/guardian to DFCS.

Public Safety: Senate Bill 107, or Izzy’s Law, also was passed to lessen accidental drownings for children. This law requires the development of a model safety plan for private swim instructors to utilize by Jan. 1, 2024. Requirements of the plan include:

· Minimum standards for student-to-instructor ratios;

· Secondary supervision recommendations;

· Parent or legal guardian attendance;

· Cardiopulmonary resuscitation certification.

To help ensure that the state’s criminal case information is accurate, up-to-date, and easily accessible to appropriate parties, we passed Senate Bill 272. This bill would re-establish the state’s Criminal Case Data Exchange Board. This board will be charged in the regular review of best tracking practices and procedures to ensure accuracy of case data.

Regulatory Reform: As Georgia driving trends have shown an increased use of Electric Vehicles, we passed Senate Bill 146. This bill will provide a regulatory framework for elective vehicle charging stations and allow our state to regulate these charging stations to the same extent as gas pumps.

· Georgia Department of Revenue will be tasked to ensure that our state collects revenue like revenue that is typically collected from gasoline sales;

· Department of Agriculture will have regulatory authority over EV charging stations, including inspecting these stations;

· Electric utilities could not provide, own, operate or maintain any publicly available charging station unless it is done through a separate legal entity.

To help ensure that the state’s criminal case information is accurate, up-to-date, and easily accessible to the appropriate parties, we passed Senate Bill 272. This bill would re-establish the state’s Criminal Case Data Exchange Board. This board will be charged in the regular review of best tracking practices and procedures to ensure accuracy of criminal case data is made available to interested parties. In addition, this board will work with criminal justice experts to develop a human trafficking tracking system to better stay informed of where courts are on each individual case.

Budget News: The General Assembly came to agreement on the Conference Committee Report for House Bill 19, or the Fiscal Year 2024 budget. Effective July 1, this final version of the FY 2024 Budget is set at a revenue estimate of $32.4 billion, which is $2.2 billion, or 7.4%, more than the Fiscal Year 2023 budget.

In total, our House body sent 87 general bills, 183 local bills and three resolutions to the governor for his consideration. This total does not include Senate legislation that received final passage. It is important to remember that bills introduced this year are still up for consideration during the 2024 legislative session.

Although we have officially finished the session, the real work now begins. Be on the lookout for monthly updates for the remainder of the year as there is much to cover where our government is concerned. In the meantime, if you need anything at all, let me know.