House unanimously approves changes to sentencing laws
The state House on Friday approved limited changes to Georgia’s mandatory minimum sentencing laws, widely considered to be among the toughest in the nation.
House Bill 349, sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Rich Golick, R-Smyrna, would allow for reduced sentences for some defendants charged with drug trafficking and other serious felonies. It provides “safety valves” for cases in which prosecutors and defense attorneys agree that a harsh mandatory minimum term is unwarranted; for example, a person who sat in the car while his friend committed an armed robbery of a store might be eligible for a break.
It passed the House 163-0.
The legislation also would allow for reduced sentences for defendants who plead guilty to armed robbery, which carries a minimum 10-year sentence, and to kidnapping, rape, aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy and aggravated sexual battery, all of which call for minimum 25-year terms.
This can only occur when the prosecutor and defense attorney agree to the reduced sentence and the judge signs off on it.
— Aaron Gould Sheinin
Child care fingerprint bill heads for House vote
The Georgia House is expected to take up a bill Monday to require employees of all of Georgia’s 6,000 child care facilities to submit to national fingerprint-based background check.
House Bill 350 is sponsored by state Rep. Alan Peake, R-Macon, and backed by Bright From the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning. It unanimously passed a House Committee on Wednesday.
“This is a critical measure to increase child safety in Georgia,” Peake said.
— Nancy Badertscher
Health insurance benefits panel to begin meeting
The newly formed Special Advisory Commission on Mandated Health Insurance Benefits will hold its first meeting downtown Tuesday.
The 21-member group will examine the social and financial impact of current and proposed mandated health insurance benefits on employers and insurers amid a rapidly fluctuating marketplace and implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The commission will advise the governor and General Assembly.
— Misty Williams
House OKs easing of rules for some landfills
House lawmakers approved a bill Tuesday that would loosen the rules on landfill regulation, clearing the way for more Georgians to maintain small inert landfills, which contain yard debris, tree clippings or asphalt.
House Bill 320, introduced by Rep. Buddy Harden, R-Cordele, would exempt landfills with a total capacity of 250 cubic yards or less from permit requirements.
Current law backed by the Environmental Protection Division is too stringent in its oversight of inert landfills, Harden said, and thus private property owners are subject to fines if not permitted for acts such as cutting down trees and storing cuttings in an inert landfill.
An earlier version would have reduced fines for landfill owners who violate environmental regulations. The fines, however, were kept in place in the final bill.
Harden said the bill also would exempt current inert landfill operations from new regulations, providing they are certified by a professional engineer to be in compliance with former rules as they existed in January 2012.
The bill passed 159-8 and now heads to the Senate. KATIE LESLIE
House gives due to Tift County namesake
Georgia lawmakers have at long last given Henry Harding Tift his due. House representatives passed Wednesday a resolution recognizing him as the proper namesake of Tift County.
Rep. Jay Roberts, R-Ocilla, said Tift County was originally named in honor of Tift’s uncle Nelson as Henry Tift was still living when the county was created in 1905.
But there was just one problem, Roberts said: “(Nelson Tift) was a good man, but he was from Dougherty County, not from Tift County.”
House Resolution 281 is intended to properly recognize Henry Tift, a former mayor of Tifton who helped shape the area, for his contributions.
The resolution passed unanimously, a move that Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, light-heartedly said “has rectified one of the great errors in Georgia history.” KATIE LESLIE
