‘Controlled chaos.’ Highlights of final day of Ga. legislative session

The frenzied finale of the 40-day Georgia legislative session is upon us, and so is the last-minute rush by procrastinating politicians Tuesday to pass legislation.

Although Georgia legislators already approved the controversial "heartbeat" anti-abortion measure, the proposal remained front-and-center as actress Alyssa Milano came to the Capitol to threaten a boycott of the film industry if Gov. Brian Kemp signed the bill.

There was also behind-the-scenes maneuvering on several pieces of legislation still pending, such as the airport takeover bid, a proposal to expand medical marijuana and a tax break to help Delta Air Lines.

Other proposals are already in the rear view mirror, including  an overhaul to elections rules, sidelined hate-crimes legislation and, of course, the only thing they're legally required to do: Passing a $27.5 billion budget. 

As the AJC's James Salzer notes, anything can happen in the "controlled chaos" of the exhausting final day.

Here are some highlights of the 2019 sine die:

• The AJC's legislative team, Mark Niesse and Maya T. Prabhu, lay out the highest-profile bills yet to be decided.
• The Morning Jolt crew of Jim Galloway and Greg Bluestein outline how today is a big test for Kemp and the new Republican regime in Georgia.
• The House and Senate struck a tentative deal to allow medical marijuana patients to buy the drug that they're already allowed to use, Bluestein and Niesse wrote.
• With Kemp certain to sign the new abortion restrictions into law, opponents are already focusing on 2020, as Prabhu and Bluestein report. A group of opponents of the measure, some clad in black as if at a funeral, gathered outside Kemp's office shortly after noon to deliver a petition. 
• The Georgia House is taking a last-ditch shot at winning approval for the jet fuel incentives and a rural transit bill, by disentangling it from an effort to provide more state oversight over the airport, Salzer and transportation writer David Wickert report.
• The governor will also soon decide whether to ban couples from marrying until they're at least 17 years old, according to Niesse's report.
• A group of House Republican lawmakers filed legislation to create a state Journalism Ethics Board to develop "canons of ethics" for journalists in Georgia. The sponsor of the measure also announced he would be resigning, Salzer writes.