Action postponed on ethics measure
The Senate Ethics Committee delayed action Monday on a bill that would have given Georgia mayors, council members and hundreds of other local politicians a foolproof way to get out of fines owed to the state ethics commission.
Senate Bill 127 would require the commission to show local officials “knowingly and willfully” refused to submit reports on their personal finances and campaign donations before they could be fined. Sen. William Ligon, R-Brunswick, said the language amounts to a “get out of jail free” card that would protect scofflaws as well as candidates victimized by the commission’s frequent computer malfunctions.
Ligon, a lawyer, suggested a lower standard of evidence used in most civil trials. Chairman Dean Burke, R-Bainbridge, tabled the bill to work on the language.
The bill was prompted, in part, by a state audit released last year critical of the long-troubled commission. The audit found inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the commission’s filing system.
— Chris Joyner
All-digital effort for Georgia schools on hold
The Georgia Senate will re-examine a mandate forcing the state’s school districts to go all digital by 2020, after deciding Monday to recommit the bill to committee.
Critics of Senate Bill 89 called it well-intentioned but misguided because they worry it would create an unfunded mandate.
As it’s written now, SB 89 says all districts must begin buying only digital textbooks and instructional materials by July 1, 2020. If it had come to the floor, a bipartisan coalition had been expected to vote against it.
The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, has dubbed the bill the “Digital Classroom Act.” He made the motion sending it back to the Senate Science and Technology Committee, saying he wanted it to help him correct a “reproduction error.”
— Kristina Torres
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