House makes final push for adoption bill

The Georgia House late Tuesday, frustrated by Senate inaction, made a final effort to pass the first update to the state’s adoption laws in a generation.

Shortly before midnight, the House used a Senate bill to add Rep. Bert Reeves' House Bill 159. That bipartisan bill passed the House unanimously in February.

In the Senate, however, HB 159 was amended in committee to add protections for private adoption agencies that receive state funding. The amendment would allow those agencies to refuse to place children with LGBT families, among others.

The ensuing uproar, from the business community, LGBT activists, House leaders and Gov. Nathan Deal, stalled the bill in the Senate. House members and the governor have since called on the Senate to act to pass the bill in its original form but the Senate has yet to move.

Hence, the House's effort Tuesday night to add Reeves' bill to SB 130, dealing with the right to attorneys in juvenile court. The House voted 159-0 to approve SB 130 as amended.

Prior to the vote, Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, said the Senate's inaction on HB 159 was unacceptable.

“I refuse to keep Georgia’s children in foster care in foster care for another year and deny them the opportunity get adopted,” Ralston said.