Partial-birth legislation
The Senate Rules Committee on Friday tabled a bill that would have effectively shut down the state’s abortion clinics. Sponsor Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, said the bill, which would have restricted abortions to hospitals that are licensed to perform them, would give women better access to emergency care in case something goes wrong. Abortion rights advocates were outraged that the bill entered the committee in one form – to ban abortions after 20 weeks — but morphed on Thursday into the hospitals-only bill. “To put it in a nutshell abortions would be legal in Georgia, you just couldn’t get one,” said Janelle Yamarick of Feminist Women’s Health Center of DeKalb County. The Rules Committee action Friday means the measure is probably dead for the session.
A life rope to HOPE
The House and Senate last week passed the HOPE scholarship rescue bill, which would cut benefits to all of the college students receiving the aid, and sent it to the governor. The bill, effective this fall, axes funds for books and fees and would pay 90 percent – rather than the current 100 percent — of tuition for everybody except students with the best grades. Protesting college students — some of whom chanted, “Kill the bill!” — were kicked out of the Capitol.
Pre-k, the sequel
After proposing to cut pre-k hours from 6.5 a day to four, Gov. Nathan Deal came up with an alternative that appeared to placate peeved pre-k partisans: The length of the day wouldn’t change, but the length of the year would: from 180 to 160 days. Also, class sizes would grow from 20 to 22 kids. “Our parents and teachers were heard by Gov. Deal, and we are grateful,” said Elaine P. Draeger, head of the Sheltering Arms Early Education & Family Centers. “This is definitely better for our children.”
Anodyne for Oxendine
Only in Georgia would legislators feel compelled to pass a law prohibiting the insurance commissioner from giving himself waivers on education and testing requirements and then granting himself licenses to sell insurance and adjust claims. (John Oxendine actually did this on his last day in office in January.) What’s next? A bill saying the outgoing transportation commissioner can’t drive off in a DOT dumptruck?
Clean, sober and on the dole
Rep. Michael Harden, R-Toccoa, proposes that adults who receive public assistance must report once a year for drug testing. Failing the test for controlled substances kicks you off the dole, and not taking the test is the same as failing it. And the recipient would pay for the cost of the test, either with cash or by taking a deduction from benefits.
Everybody’s a lobbyist
The state ethics commission (now known as the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission and So Forth) proposed a broad new definition of lobbyist last week: anybody who is compensated by another who meets with state legislators to influence legislation. Sounds kind of like, well, a lobbyist. But now anyone answering that description would have to pay a $300 registration fee. Rep. Ed Lindsey, R-Atlanta, fretted: “If implemented, the advisory opinion would provide a chilling effect on the ability of the public to interact with their elected officials. It is absolutely paramount we take steps to correct the crisis being created.”
License to kill
If you’re a convicted felon, you may soon find a special mark next to the smiling face on your driver’s license that warns people that you are bad news. The House-passed bill would apply to anyone convicted of murder, kidnapping, rape, armed robbery and these three aggravateds: agg sodomy, agg child molestation and agg sexual battery (but apparently not for aggravated assault). The mark would remain for the length of your sentence.
