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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2007 > February > 22
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Bill expands power against Internet predators
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bill that would help the GBI keep up with technological changes necessary to hunt down Internet child sex predators got approval today by a Senate committee.
Senate Bill 98, sponsored by Sen. Bill Hamrick (R-Carrollton), expands Georgia law to include newer technological devices illegally used to entice children.
When the “Computer Pornography and Child Exploitation Act of 1999” was passed, it did not contemplate technology that allows, for example, the transmission of child porn and solicitations via cellphones, video games, thumb drives and other devices.
The bill also gives the GBI limited power to subpoena Internet service providers to turn over records necessary to catch child sex predators.
GBI Director Vernon Keenan says changes in the law will help the agency’s Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Permalink | | Categories: politics
Non-embryonic stem cell bill clears committee
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A proposal that would promote non-embryonic stem cell research and collection in Georgia cleared a Senate committee today.
Senate Bill 148 would establish a Newborn Umbilical Cord Blood Bank or network of such banks in Georgia. All hospitals in the state would be required as of June 30, 2009, to inform pregnant women about the opportunity to donate postnatal tissue and fluid to the bank.
Senate Bill 148, if approved, also would create a 15-member commission to oversee the blood bank. The proposal also offers a tax break to Georgians who contribute to non-embryonic stem cell research.
“My intent is to move forward with every type of stem cell research over which there is no ethical controversy,” said Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth), the bill’s sponsor.
The bill does not include a ban on embryonic stem cell research, which has triggered emotional debate across the nation about whether it destroys human life.
But SB148 contains language that expresses reservations about the use of embryos for stem cell research. The bill states that embryonic stem cell research has been “hampered by difficulties” and that embryonic stem cells have a tendency to mutate into cancers.
It also states that the public policy of Georgia will be to encourage the donation, collection and storage of non-embryonic stem cells for scientific treatment and medical research.
Kevin Harris, a lobbyist with Georgia Right to Life, expressed support of SB148 at the Science and Technology Committee meeting today, saying it, “promotes a culture of ethical stem cell research in Georgia.”
But Charles Craig, president of the Georgia Biomedical Partnership, a coalition of 280 organizations, said the group opposes SB 148 as written. He said the partnership supports the bill’s intention to establish a newborn cord blood bank but opposes references to embryonic stem cell research as “unnecessary” and “unscientific.” He said the group could not support legislation that “openly disparages promising research.”
SB 148 now heads to the Senate Rules committee.
Permalink | | Categories: politics
Attorney: Taylor’s son will plead guilty
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor’s son is preparing to plead guilty to a felony drunken driving charge in connection with a car wreck that killed his best friend in 2005, his attorney confirmed today.
Fletcher Taylor, 23, faces at least one year in prison for the crime, which carries a maximum of 25 years and a minimum $10,100 fine in Charleston, S.C., where the crash occurred.
Taylor, whose father ran unsuccessfully for governor last year, will enter his guilty plea some time in the coming weeks, said his attorney, Bart Daniel. A plea hearing is scheduled for next week, but that will likely be delayed, Daniel said.
“What we were trying to work out was doing a guilty plea on [next] Thursday. That now is not going to work out for logistical reasons,” said Daniel, a former U.S. Attorney. “It doesn’t look like it would be Thursday but it would be some time in the next week or two.”
Taylor’s family referred questions about the case to Daniel. Daniel declined to discuss the basis for the plea or to disclose where Taylor is and whether he has completed his court-ordered alcohol treatment program.
A South Carolina grand jury indicted Taylor in June for felony driving under the influence where a death results. He was arrested in 2005 after his 2000 Lincoln Navigator hit a retaining wall on I-26 and flipped upside down. His passenger and friend, Joseph Victor Gennert, 22, of Charleston, was killed in the wreck. Gennert was not wearing a seatbelt.
Officers who went to the scene said Taylor had “glassy and bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and … a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath.” They said he was distraught and told them: “I killed my best friend.”
Taylor’s father confirmed in June that he considered dropping out of the race for governor against the incumbent Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue after his son was charged. He decided to stay in, saying he could meet his family’s needs and still continue to campaign. Perdue defeated him in a landslide victory in November.
“We just have to travel this awful road with Fletcher. It’s going to be a long one,” Taylor said in a June interview about his son’s indictment. “My greatest concern continues to be for Joe’s family. I just cannot imagine what they are having to go through.”
The prosecutor assigned to the case confirmed he would not reduce the charge from felony drunken driving. He also confirmed that he has kept Gennert’s family informed of the process.
“I have contacted them,” said Nathan Williams, the Charleston County prosecutor assigned to the case. “They are aware of what is going on and what the situation is.”
Permalink | | Categories: politics
Committee backs HIV tests for pregnant women
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia doctors would be required to offer HIV tests to pregnant women under a bill that won approval from a legislative committee this morning.
House Bill 429 would also require doctors to refer infected women to counseling and medical services. Women would have the option to refuse the HIV tests. But their refusals would be recorded in their patient records.
“This bill is about protecting babies from HIV infection,” Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta) told the House Children Health Issues Subcommittee this morning about her bill before the panel unanimously endorsed it.
Nearly a quarter of all women who are pregnant in Georgia are not tested for the HIV virus because their doctors don’t consider them to be at high risk, Cooper said.
“In most cases, it is middle-class women,” Cooper said of those who are not tested. “And their physician or their healthcare provider doesn’t consider them to be in the high-risk pool. And unfortunately, if you know anything about the HIV virus, everyone is at risk.”
Somewhere between 20 and 30 babies are born with HIV each year in Georgia, Cooper said, citing estimates from the state Department of Human Resources Division of Public Health. Treatment costs an estimated $600,000 per baby, according to the public health agency.
Treating HIV-infected pregnant women in their first trimesters can reduce the possibility that their babies become infected with the virus to as low as 1 percent, Cooper said. Infected mothers who don’t get the treatment have a 25 percent chance of delivering babies with HIV, she said.
Several doctor groups spoke in favor of the legislation this morning, despite concerns committee members raised about liability for doctors and patient confidentiality. The bill is drawing support from the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Georgia Obstetrical and Gynecological Society.
“There is no question that this does save lives,” said Dr. William Sexson, a pediatrician and representative from the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “The impact on human life is dramatic. And if we know about this HIV disease we can do something to help the kids and help the mothers prevent problems in future pregnancies.”
Permalink | | Categories: politics
Funeral home bill attracts comics
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The jokes started early this morning about the funeral home bill pending in Georgia’s Legislature.
To be sure, it’s serious legislation. But some lawmakers just couldn’t resist some dark humor.
A little background first about House Bill 90: Georgia funeral homes would no longer be required to display at least eight coffins in their showrooms under the legislation. The bill would instead allow funeral directors to display models, mock-ups or sections of coffins for sale. The actual coffins could be kept in a back storage room under the legislation.
State law now requires funeral directors to keep at least eight caskets on display. The reason for that law is unclear. Funeral directors and lawmakers, however, speculate it was passed to ensure that grieving families could buy what they see and not face delays burying their loved ones.
The bill, sponsored by Chuck Sims (R-Ambrose) had been pending in the Rules Committee for several days before the House approved it this morning and sent it on to the Senate.
“Back from the dead,” Rules Committee Chairman Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs) quipped before his panel moved the bill to the House floor this morning.
When it came up for a vote on the House floor, Rep. Carl Rogers (R-Gainesville) asked Sims a serious question about the bill that nevertheless drew titters from fellow lawmakers.
“Does this include rental caskets as well?” said Rogers, who previously co-owned a funeral home and cemetery.
Sims responded: “Yes it does, and it comes one per customer.”
Rental caskets? Indeed, they do exist. Some families rent them to view their loved ones before they are cremated, Sims and Rogers confirmed. Those caskets are then cleaned and reused, they said.
“You know, there are just some things I don’t want to know,” House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) declared, drawing more nervous laughter from the audience.
Sims says it can be traumatic for families to walk into funeral showrooms and see full-size coffins just after their loved ones have died. So some funeral homes prefer to display models as would be allowed under his bill.
Sims, by the way, is a funeral director with his family-owned Sims Funeral Home in Douglas. He said he keeps all his caskets in his showroom.
“This is not something that would be a conflict of interest for me because normally I don’t do this,” he said in an interview last month about keeping only model caskets on display in his business. Sims, however, added: “I might want to decide later on that I might want to do it.”
Several grinning lawmakers sought out Sims in the moments after the House passed his bill. “I want to use one,” one lawmaker inquired about the rental coffins.
Another lawmaker walked up to Sims and joked: “I heard that you rent them out for deer hunters because they can take them out in the woods and they are water proof and warm and comfortable.”
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Miscellaneous
Isakson, Johnson visit Legislature
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two members of the U.S. Congress paid a brief visit to the Georgia Senate Thursday morning.
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Cobb County Republican who served in both the state House and Senate, gave an upbeat chat about some recent developments in Georgia.
He praised recent developments such as the recent victory of Delta Air Lines over a hostile take-over bid by US Airways, the announcement of a KIA plant in West Georgia, and the January groundbreaking of a $175 million ethanol plant in Camilla.
Isakson also had high marks for Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who in November became the first Republican elected to the office of lieutenant governor in Georgia.
“I’m particularly proud of Casey Cagle,” Isakson said. “His election was a great thing for the state of Georgia.”
Isakson promised the Senate that a solution for the state’s current funding for PeachCare, the state’s health insurance plan for the children of working families, would be worked out.
The Georgia Department of Community Health is expected to run out of money to pay the bills for the 273,000 children enrolled in the program in March. The insurance plan operates with both state and federal funds; the pool of federal dollars is quickly drying up.
A few minutes later, U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, a Democrat who represents the 4th Congressional District, also vowed that the PeachCare funding gap would be filled. Johnson, a former DeKalb County commissioner, soundly defeated former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney in the August primary. He too had high praise for Cagle. “I also would like to thank the Lt. Gov who has made me so proud with his bipartisan approach to the affairs of this hall,” Johnson said.
Permalink | | Categories: politics
Lawmakers target boat owners who abandon vessels
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia Senate voted 54-0 on Thursday in favor of a bill that would allow the state to possibly revoke the boat registration, fishing license or vehicle registration of boat owners who abandon their vessels.
Senate President Pro Tempore Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), the bill’s sponsor, said that abandoned vessels are an environmental hazard because they contain fuel, and that removing the boats is an extremely expensive process for the state.
It can cost between $60,000 to $80,000 to remove a sunken boat - but sometimes the price tag of removal soars beyond that. The state recently paid $173,000 to raise and properly dispose of a sunken shrimp trawler in the Wilmington River and an abandoned barge in the Ogeechee River.
Johnson said that Senate Bill 27 is an attempt to address the problem of abandoned vessels and put the burden of paying for removal on the owners - not Georgia taxpayers. Johnson said that there currently are 66 abandoned vehicles on a list compiled by the Department of Natural Resources, and that 25 more boats recently have been reported. Most of the vessels, which include shrimp trawlers, barges and sailboats, are in the waters off Chatham, McIntosh and Glynn counties.
“Realistically, [the state] is not going to be able to go after every boat owner, but it gives them a tool to try to force them to do the right thing,” Johnson said.
SB 27 now heads to the House for approval.
Permalink | | Categories: Environment
Payday lending repeal and fake ID bills
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House Banking Committee votes on a measure to repeal the state’s payday lending ban and replace it with a system to regulate the high-interest, short-term loans.
The Senate Judiciary Committee discusses SB 100, which would increase penalties for people who manufacture or distribute fake documents.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Today's Agenda
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