The Georgia House of Representatives breezed its way through a dozen mostly noncontroversial bills Friday morning, leaving much of the Crossover Day fireworks until after lunch.
House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, leaned on narrowly defined bills with broad support to begin what is one of the longest legislative days of the year. House Bill 514, which would allow a referendum to create the city of South Fulton, drew the most debate, but even it passed 148-21.
Crossover Day, the 30th day of the 40-day legislative session, is when most bills must pass their chamber of origin to be considered in the other chamber. There are other ways a bill can make it to Gov. Nathan Deal’s desk after Friday, but the road only gets rougher, and for many pieces of legislation this is it.
Despite the high stakes, the morning session in the House was relatively quiet. The greatest excitement came from guest appearances by U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Roswell, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
“That was awesome!” said Rep. Micah Gravely, R-Douglasville, pumping his fist after posing for a picture Huckabee.
Gravely was a county chairman for Huckabee’s 2008 presidential bid. “I hope he runs again,” he said.
Both Huckabee and Price offered brief comments that played to the room. Price, a former state legislator, noted that nine of the 14 members of Georgia’s congressional delegation once served in the state capitol.
“Be careful,” he said. “You never know where you might end up.”
In the short term, lawmakers likely will pass every minute of Friday the 13th trying to push bills through an ever-closing gate.
“God save the state today,” Ralston said in his opening remarks.
The House Rules Committee planned to meet after lunch to draw up a new slate of bills for the after. Leftover from the morning session is House Bill 393, which would allow Tesla to sell its electric cars directly to consumers instead of through an independent dealership.
Keep up with the action throughout the day at AJC.com and myajc.com and through The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Georgia Legislative Navigator, which includes information on the bills and their chances of final passage, based on the AJC's statistical modeling.
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