Tip sheet: Speed traps and plastic grocery bags

Number of working days left until the end of the 2015 session: Three.

The House will step up its floor work tomorrow and tackle a handful of key bills, including SB 63, the beer and (and now liquor) bill. The House will also take up SB 134, which would tighten rules for law enforcement use of speed traps; and SB 139, which would prevent local governments from banning plastic bags.

The Senate has 26 bills on its calendar, including HB 57, which would make it easier for homeowners and small businesses to use solar panels and HB 310, which would overhaul the state's misdemeanor probation system, create a state Department of Community Supervision and adopt other recommendations of the Council on Criminal Justice.

Committee meetings have begun to dwindle, even though Friday is a deadline of sorts for the Senate. It is the last day a bill can pass committee to make it to the Senate floor this session.  The House has no such rule.

It’s time to keep an especially sharp eye on bills, particularly those thought to be dead for the year. The volume and pace of these last days create the potential for all sorts of tricky maneuvers. We’ve already seen a few attempts. More are sure to come.

Full House calendar

• HR 612 study committee on fibroids;
• HR 743 study committee on annexation, incorporation;
• HR 744 study committee on drones;
• SB 69 State Defense Force; remove restrictions; rights of public officers and employees to be absent for service; reemployment rights;
• SB 175 Animal Protection; require inspection of certain animals entering into the state;
• SB 4 Urban Redevelopment; provide for use of surface transportation projects; definitions; public contracts with private enterprises for completion;
• SB 64 Juvenile Code, Domestic Relations, and Vital Records; repeal voluntary acknowledgments of legitimation;
• SB 79 Victim Compensation; expand the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council's powers and duties relative to claims;
• SB 131 Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities; provide for certification; policies and procedures;
• SB 134 Speed Detection Devices; provide for a rebuttable presumption for law enforcement agencies' use of speed detection devices;
• SB 135 Clerks of Superior Courts; provide for protection and disclosure of records held; procedure for disclosure;
• SB 139 Selling and Other Trade Practices; provide regulation; auxiliary containers shall be done by general law -- i.e., plastic bags;
• SB 148 Commerce and Trade; transfer powers and responsibilities of Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs to Attorney General's office;
• SB 190 Bona Fide Coin Operated Machines; provide certain definitions; license fees and requirements for manufacturers and distributors;
• SB 63 Alcoholic Beverages; provide for manufacturers of malt beverages to make limited retail sales of malt beverages under certain circumstances.

Full Senate Calendar:

• HB 57 - Electricity; financing of solar technology by retail customers for generation of electric energy to be used on and by property owned or occupied by such customers or to be fed back to the electric service provider;
• HB 131 The End to Cyberbullying Act;
• HB 153 - Courts; civil action for damages;
• HB 202 - Revenue and taxation; provisions regarding ad valorem taxation, assessment, and appeal; provide comprehensive revision;
• HB 237 - State income tax; angel investor tax credit;
• HB 253 - Real estate appraisers; requirements for establishment and maintenance of a real estate appraisal management company; change certain provisions;
• HB 255 - State purchasing; equal credits be given to certain forestry certification systems when using green building standards in state construction operation, repair, and renovation projects;
• HB 259 - Georgia Business Act;
• HB 277 - Sales and use tax; value all flooring samples at the same rate for purposes of fair market value;
• HB 278 - Public Employee Hazardous Chemical Protection and Rights to Know Act of 1988; transfer responsibility to Safety Fire Commissioner;
• HB 310 - Penal institutions; create Board of Community Supervision, Department of Community Supervision, and Governor's Office of Transition, Support, and Reentry;
• HR 313  - Public employees; limited paid leave for purpose of promoting education;
• HB 314 - Professions and businesses; State Board of Barbers and State Board of Cosmetology;
• HB 328 - Adult offenders; enact reforms recommended by Georgia Council on Criminal Justice Reform;
• HB 342 - Nursing homes; violation of certain regulations shall not constitute negligence per se;
• HB 362 - Student health; licensed health practitioners to prescribe albuterol sulfate for schools;
• HB 394 - Georgia Board of Nursing; revise provisions relating to powers and duties;
• HB 432 - Annexation of territory; local Acts providing for de-annexation of property from a municipality and annexation of same property to another municipality which are effective on the same day do not create a prohibited unincorporated island;
• HB 439 - Georgia New Markets Jobs Act;
• HB 443 -Voluntary Veterans' Preference Employment Policy Act;
• HB 452 - Protective Order Registry Act;
• HB 457 - Ad valorem tax; watercraft held in inventory;
• HB 492 - Crimes and offenses; carrying in unauthorized locations;
• HB 504 - Health; vaccination against meningococcal disease of college students;
• HB 505 - Physical therapists; licensure and regulations of therapists and therapy assistants;
• HB 551 - Public officers and employees; authorize political subdivisions to provide for voluntary contributions by employees through payroll deductions to certain not for profit organizations;

House committees

9:00 AM Jacobs Subcommittee of Judiciary Civil 132 CAP

9:00 AM RULES 341 CAP