As the clock wound down, signifying the end of the 2011 legislative session, here's a look at what did and did not pass since lawmakers convened in January:
Passed
Sunday sales: After years of failure, Senate Bill 10 is going to the governor's desk. It would allow local governments to call for a vote on whether to permit the sale of alcohol in stores on Sunday.
HOPE: Lawmakers preserved the popular lottery-funded scholarship and pre-k programs, but at a cost: Scholarships will not cover the full cost of tuition anymore, and pre-k will also see reductions.
2012 state budget: The $18 billion spending plan that takes effect July 1 delivers big cuts to higher education but does little harm to k-12 education without raising taxes.
Tax breaks: House Bill 322 would give Delta Air Lines a $20 million exemption on taxes for jet fuel in the fiscal year that begins July 1 and $10 million the year after that. It would expire in 2013. House Bill 234 would extend a sales tax exemption on airplane parts, which specifically would benefit Gulfstream Aerospace in Savannah and Pratt & Whitney in Columbus. But the bill, thanks to an amendment, would also provide sales tax breaks to developers who spend more than $1 million on a project.
Landfills: House Bill 274 would renew a $1 tire cleanup fee for three more years without requiring the fee be spent on cleanup. But it also, for the first time, would allow yard trimmings to be dumped into landfills.
Water: Senate Bill 122 would allow public-private partnerships to be formed to help spur construction of new reservoirs.
Ethics: Two bills passed. One, House Bill 232, would limit who has to register as a lobbyist, preventing many residents, such as teachers, from having to declare themselves lobbyists if they talk to lawmakers about legislation. Another, Senate Bill 160, would close a loophole that exempts lobbyists from disclosing their spending on public employees and also allow utilities to contribute to political campaigns.
Health compacts: Georgia may join with other states in a health care compact -- an attempt to avoid implementation of the federal health care overhaul and assert state control over health policy. Georgia became the second state in the nation to send a compact bill to its governor.
Did not pass
Tax overhaul: House Bill 388, the massive overhaul of the state's tax code, was pulled in the final days of the session when House Republicans announced they could not honestly say what the impact of the package of cuts and increases would be.
Health exchanges: Legislation was required to help Georgia begin the process of creating the insurance exchanges mandated by federal health care law. The bill, House Bill 476, was pulled from the House. Tea party activists had opposed it.
School vouchers: Efforts to expand private school vouchers to children of military families and foster children failed again as Senate Bill 87 was tabled by its sponsor.
Milton County: House Resolution 30 could have paved the way for the re-creation of Milton County, but it never reached the House floor for a vote.
Abortion: Various efforts to restrict abortion failed.
Gun rights: Several attempts to expand the ability to legally carry firearms failed.
About the Author
