Legislative briefs

The bill, sponsored by four Democrats, faces a difficult path in a Republican-dominated General Assembly. But lawmakers and voters in many other states have recently agreed to increase the minimum wage.

Voters in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota approved minimum-wage increases at the polls in 2014, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Lawmakers in Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and Washington, D.C., enacted increases in 2014.

— Aaron Gould Sheinin

Immigrant students seek in-state tuition

Despite advance notice that no vote would be taken Tuesday, a full contingent of immigrant students and supporters turned out at a Senate committee, urging lawmakers to pass legislation granting in-state tuition for certain immigrants without legal status.

Senate Bill 44, sponsored by Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta, would apply to immigrants accepted into the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. That program grants temporary deportation deferrals and work permits to immigrants who were illegally brought to the U.S. as children.

Currently, DACA recipients must pay more expensive out-of-state tuition rates to attend schools in the University System of Georgia. The high costs have prevented many of them from attending colleges to which they were accepted, the students said.

In June, a Fulton County Superior Court judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to reverse the University System’s policy. The case is being appealed to the Georgia Court of Appeals.

Last week, Sen. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee, cited the pending lawsuit as a reason for not taking a committee vote. As proposed, the bill would not pass out of committee without some revisions, including requirements for those students to become eligible for the lower-cost tuition rate, Millar said.

— Janel Davis

House panel passes bipartisan child welfare reporting bill

Bipartisan legislation aimed at strengthening reporting requirements for child abuse complaints passed the House Juvenile Justice Committee.

House Bill 177, which cleared the committee Monday, would require child welfare officials to confirm in writing within 24 hours whenever they receive reports from educators of suspected child abuse. And within five days of completing their investigations, they would have to disclose in writing to school counselors or principals whether they confirmed the complaints.

Georgia school officials have complained that their attempts to involve the state Division of Family and Children Services seemed to go nowhere. They said they reported their suspicions and heard nothing back.

Democratic state Rep. David Wilkerson of Austell is sponsoring the legislation. Several Republican state lawmakers have signed onto his measure. Similar legislation won approval in the House last year but failed to clear the Senate.

— Jeremy Redmon

Bill: Get busted for a little pot, keep your driver’s license

Get busted with a joint or a small bag of pot? You could keep your driver’s license under legislation introduced Tuesday in the state House.

House Bill 283, sponsored by Rep. Stephen Allison, R-Blairsville, would change the state Controlled Substances Act that suspends driver’s licenses of anyone convicted of a wide variety of crimes related to marijuana. Instead, Allison’s bill would add a line that says “provided however, that this Code section shall not apply to convictions for simple possession of marijuana occurring on or after July 1, 2015.”

It would still be a crime, of course, to possess any amount of marijuana, but HB 283 would take some of the bite out of the penalty.

— Aaron Gould Sheinin

Early Sunday flight? Bill would let you imbibe before you fly

Travelers with early Sunday flights could enjoy a cocktail while they wait to take off under legislation introduced Tuesday in the state House.

House Bill 261, by Rep. Brett Harrell, R-Snellville, would change state law to allow restaurants in city-owned commercial airports to sell alcohol on Sundays from 5 a.m. to midnight.

Currently, taps and bottles must stay closed on Sundays until 12:30 p.m.

— Aaron Gould Sheinin

Georgia Senate passes measure to help Savannah Port

The Georgia Senate agreed Tuesday to tidy up legal language related to the Georgia Ports Authority’s ability to accept federal money — an effort related to the state’s deepening of the Port of Savannah.

The Army Corps of Engineers requested the changes as work is readied on Georgia’s biggest economic development effort in years. Earlier this month, the Obama administration pledged $42 million over two years to the project.

The money is a starting point for the $440 million the state expects as the federal government’s share of the $706 million project. Deepening the Savannah River from 42 feet to 47 feet will make way for larger container ships coming through a soon-to-be-expanded Panama Canal, stimulating the economy of the state and the region from what is already the fourth-busiest container port in the country.

Senate Bill 5 passed unanimously. It now goes to the House for consideration.

— Kristina Torres

Ethics commission seeks new leader

The state ethics commission is accepting applications for its third executive director in four years.

The agency, formally known as the Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission, has been without an executive director since Holly LaBerge was fired in September as the commission was roiled by lawsuits and controversy.

According to the job posting on the commission’s website, the preferred candidate will be a lawyer licensed in Georgia with at least 10 years’ experience in government, management or “a complex legal field.”

A statement on the website says “due to the volume of applications received,” staffers are unable to provide information on individual applications.

The job posting does not specify a salary.

— Aaron Gould Sheinin