New laws take effect on New Year’s Day

New Year’s Day brings new laws to Georgia. The state legislature passed a number of measures in 2008. Most went into effect in July, but a handful take effect the first of the year. Among them:

The law allows foreigners who are temporarily in the United States to keep their home country drivers license after they obtain a Georgia license. Previously, a visitor had to surrender the foreign license. This cuts down on bureaucracy for business travelers and other legal visitors who want to drive in Georgia, but who will need their original license when they go home, said bill sponsor, Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock.) The law also allows refugees and other legal immigrants who are in the country indefinitely to renew their license once every three years, instead of every year. This cuts down on unnecessary paperwork for legal immigrants, Rogers said.

Requires registered sex offenders to hand over Internet passwords and screen names. While federal law requires authorities to track Internet addresses, Georgia goes further and wants passwords too.

HB 977: Health Care

This law relates to health plans with high deductibles and associated health savings accounts. The idea is to give health coverage to more uninsured Georgians. Under such plans, consumers pay high deductibles, but get tax breaks for putting money into savings accounts used for health care. The new law exempts insurers from paying taxes on premiums in the sale of the high-deductible savings account plans. That would save health insurers $146 million in tax breaks over the next five years, according to consumer groups. Proponents of the law say it will spark competition among insurers to sell the plans, making it cheaper for consumers to buy. Critics said the new law is essentially a tax giveaway to insurance companies that sell the plans.

Local school districts shall provide the Department of Transportation with information regarding rail crossings without active warning devices that are crossed by school buses. Further, local school districts shall use their best efforts to reroute buses to minimize the use of such rail crossings.

—Staff writer James Salzer contributed to this report.