The 2011 General Assembly was born in ice and snow and now, halfway through the session, it's finally starting to heat up.
The winter storm that pancaked much of metro Atlanta in January gave the Legislature a slick start and it took weeks for lawmakers to regain their footing. The early work of a new General Assembly was put off. Bills weren't being written and introduced, committees weren't meeting and subcommittees weren't organized.
Add dozens of new members of the House and Senate, a new governor and a slew of difficult issues, and there is seemingly little to show for the first 20 days of the 40-day session. Only one bill -- HB 104, dealing with tax distributions in Carroll County -- has made it to Gov. Nathan Deal's desk.
Lawmakers, though, say a slow -- or deliberate, as they prefer -- pace is not a bad thing. In fact, legislation is moving at a similar speed as in years past. In 2009, which, like 2011, was the first year of a two-year legislative session, the first bill didn’t reach the governor until the seventh week of the session, as opposed to the eighth week this year.
But that pace is about to change.
Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, likened it to the upcoming NCAA basketball tournament.
"We watch the whole game and teams play to position themselves for the last couple three minutes," Ralston said. "We're doing good work on really important, big issues."
Thus far, the one major piece of legislation to clear both chambers is an amended state budget for the current fiscal year. That bill, HB 77, is headed for a conference committee of House and Senate negotiators to work out differences.
But beginning Tuesday, the heavy legislation comes calling. The House is expected today to take up HB 326, the massive overhaul to the popular lottery-funded HOPE scholarships and pre-k. Also likely to reach the House this week are bills dealing with human trafficking and illegal immigration. The Senate is also working on an illegal immigration bill, and that chamber saw significant drama, if little action, on a controversial bill that would allow local communities to decide whether to legalize Sunday alcohol sales in retail stores.
Make no mistake, Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, said: the work is getting done.
"There will be a lot of very difficult votes coming," he said, while noting that the number of bills to be debated on the floor is "down considerably."
From the comments of Ralston, Rogers and others, including Democrats, it appears more work is being done on the front end. Many legislators are using words like "collaboration," "deliberation" and "consensus."
"As a general matter, it's been slower than previous sessions, which I think has led to less controversy and more deliberation," House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta, said. "It's a collaboration. The governor has set the tenor to the session, which has moved controversy fast. Or it hasn't moved at all."
Abrams has continued to be pleased with Deal's approach.
"He has proven himself willing to be collaborative when possible," she said. "When it's not possible, it's his prerogative."
Abrams stood with Deal last week as the governor unveiled Deal's plan to revamp HOPE and pre-K. Other Democrats have also offered positive reviews of the governor's willingness to consider their point of view and his willingness to get involved in the Atlanta Public Schools crisis.
Just like the Legislature, Deal had a "deliberate" approach to his first session in office. Other than some general comments in his inaugural and State of the State address about the budget and a handful of other areas, the governor was not aggressive in announcing a legislative agenda. That has begun to change as Deal has gotten out front of efforts to change how the state prosecutes and punishes non-violent drug offenders and with his overhaul of HOPE.
But, again, lawmakers say Deal welcomes input on the front-end to minimize road blocks as legislation progresses.
"We've had intense, frank discussions," Ralston said. "We don't always agree but we stay in the room until there's consensus. It's just been healthy and positive."
The one remaining wild card at the Gold Dome is the Senate itself. The efforts by a handful of top Republicans to change the Senate rules to take power away from fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has caused some confusion about who is in charge.
Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, R-Sharpsburg, said the change at the top has not had an effect in how the chamber operates. But Ralston and others say the Senate remains something of an unknown.
"We've yet to see a test of the new arrangement they have in place," Ralston said.
Cagle, too, said that test is coming and could come on HOPE if the House, as expected, passes it Tuesday.
"There are a lot of issues coming down the pike to determine the real focus of the Senate and the leadership itself," Cagle said.
Staff writer John Perry contributed to this report.
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