Legislative notebook: Food safety measure heads to Senate

By Special

For the AJC

The Georgia House passed a bill Tuesday aimed at strengthening food safety after a nationwide salmonella outbreak traced to a South Georgia peanut processing plant.

The outbreak in late 2008 was blamed for at least nine deaths and for hundreds of people getting sick. It prompted some legislation last year, as well.

The new bill, which now heads to the Senate, requires food processing plants to have a written food safety plan, and it subjects those that don’t comply to a $5,000 fine and possible criminal sanctions for subsequent violations.

Other provisions make it a misdemeanor not to report positive test results for problems and a felony to knowingly introduce into a finished food or food ingredients at a plant a tainted substance. Violators could face up to 20 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

The outbreak was traced to the Peanut Corporation of America’s peanut plant in Blakely in southwest Georgia, where Food and Drug Administration inspectors found roaches and mold while trying to figure out the source of the salmonella.

-- Nancy Badertscher

House panel votes to reduce DOT board terms

The House Transportation Committee passed a bill Tuesday that would reduce Transportation Board members’ terms from five years to two.

The bill (HB 1234), sponsored by Rep. Mark Hamilton (R-Cumming), and a companion constitutional amendment (HR 1446), would impose no limit on how many terms a member could serve, and it would bring all 13 board members up for a new vote.

Board members, who set policy for the state Department of Transportation, each represent a congressional district. Each board member is elected by the state representatives and senators whose districts fall within that congressional district.

Hamilton said, “We want to make sure they’re responsible and accountable to us,” and that the bill would help do that.

Some committee members voiced concern that the shorter terms could tie board members closer to politics. The two measures passed with 15 votes in favor, and nine or 10 against.

A vote on the Senate version of the bill was delayed when some legislators voiced opposition in that chamber's Transportation Committee.

-- Ariel Hart

Water bills favor, oppose interbasin transfers

Dueling legislation has been introduced in the General Assembly to allow or restrict the transfer of water from one part of the state.

So-called interbasin transfers, highly controversial in Georgia, would send water from one river basin to another. The state’s lengthy drought prompted Gov. Sonny Perdue and legislators to cast about for water sources to supplement metro Atlanta’s supply.

A federal district judge’s ruling last summer that Atlanta illegally taps much of Lake Lanier for drinking water heightened the officials’ search.

SB 442, introduced by Sen. Dan Weber (R-Dunwoody), would require water systems in North Georgia to “take proactive measures to reduce the risk of catastrophic interruptions of water service during emergencies.” Nearby rivers could be tapped in an emergency to supplement metro Atlanta’s water usage.

Bill backers want the emergency engineering plan kept secret so as not to “compromise security against sabotage or criminal or terrorist acts.”

Rep. Tom McCall (R-Elberton) introduced HB 1301, the River Basin Protection Act, which would require the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to consider roughly two dozen criteria before allowing the transfer of water. The legislation would also require applicants — metro Atlanta, in particular — to weigh water conservation alternatives before any transfer could be authorized.

-- Dan Chapman

House moves to block local-level income taxes

Georgia’s cities and counties would be barred from imposing local income taxes under legislation that sailed through the state House on Tuesday.

HB 984 was introduced by House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Larry O’Neal (R-Bonaire).

“I can’t imagine what would cause more chaos,” O’Neal told House colleagues.

-- Nancy Badertscher

Bill would outlaw synthetic marijuana

Legislation has been introduced in the Georgia House that would outlaw the sale and possession of K2 synthetic marijuana, a new substance being sold in some of the state’s smoke shops. It’s designed to mimic the effects of marijuana, said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jay Neal (R-LaFayette).

“K2 is a new, more dangerous form of marijuana which has long been known as a gateway drug,” Neal said. “We need to get ahead of this issue before it becomes a major problem.”

The Georgia Poison Center has said K2 is often sold as incense, Neal said.

It is made from a mixture of herbs and spice plants that are sprayed with a potent psychotropic drug and likely contaminated with an unknown and potentially dangerous toxic substance, he said.

The Georgia Poison Center has fielded nearly 20 calls since January from patients with symptoms caused by K2 who need emergency care, Neal said. Side effects of K2 include high blood pressure, irregular heartbeats and respiratory illness, he said.

Kansas and Missouri are working on similar legislation.

-- Nancy Badertscher

House backs bill to ease voting by GIs overseas

The Georgia House passed legislation Tuesday designed to make it easier for military personnel overseas to vote — including allowing them electronic access to a blank absentee ballot.

Secretary of State Brian Kemp said the bill should increase ballot access for about 200,000 Georgians who are living or stationed overseas.

HB 1073, sponsored by Rep. John Meadows (R-Calhoun), also would require that military and overseas voters be sent an absentee ballot 45 days before a primary or general election.

It passed 161-1 and now goes to the state Senate for consideration.

-- Nancy Badertscher

Court security legislation clears House

The Georgia House signed off Tuesday on legislation that creates tougher penalties for crimes committed against a judge or other court personnel.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs), increases the maximum sentence for intimidation of an officer of the court from five years to 20 years. A person who is convicted of terroristic acts against an officer of the court could get one to 10 years, a $100,000 fine or both.

The House approved the measure by a 152-9 vote. It now goes to the state Senate for consideration.

-- Nancy Badertscher

Measure targeting gangs wins approval in House

The House passed and sent to the Senate a bill Tuesday aimed at fighting gang terrorism.

Rep. Rich Golick (R-Smyrna), the bill’s sponsor, said one provision of the bill will make it a crime to recruit gang members.

“This is to let them know this is not their territory. This is our territory, our state,” Golick told the House.

Another provision calls for the GBI to develop and maintain a statewide street gang database.

-- Nancy Badertscher