Georgia lawmakers on Friday face their first serious deadline of the 2017 legislative session as the House and Senate convene for the daylong crush known as Crossover Day. Among high-profile proposals on the bubble: allowing guns on the state's college campuses, new limits on petroleum pipelines and a $30 million tax credit for Delta Air Lines. Also, there remains a chance, at least, that the House will make a late attempt to move a casino bill before the gavel falls.
The 28th day of the 40-day legislative session is the last day for bills to move from one chamber to the other — that is, to cross over — and still have a clear path to becoming law this year. It’s created by a Senate rule. While parliamentary maneuvering can keep a bill alive past Crossover Day, making it from one side of the Capitol to the other by the end of Friday makes final passage in 2017 much more likely.
Issues to watch
Guns: The House is set to vote on two firearm bills. The biggie is House Bill 280 by state Rep. Mandi Ballinger, R-Canton. It would allow anyone with a Georgia weapons permit to carry concealed firearms on most parts of public college and university campuses. The House and Senate passed a similar measure last year that Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed. The other is House Bill 292, by state Rep. Rick Jasperse, R-Jasper. It is mostly a cleanup bill that makes minor changes to existing laws, although Deal also vetoed a similar bill in 2016.
Environment:Senate Bill 191 would require any company wanting to use eminent domain — an involuntary seizure of private land — to build a new petroleum pipeline in Georgia to get both a permit from the state's Environmental Protection Division and a "certificate of need" from the state's Environmental Finance Authority. Environmental advocates, however, are unhappy that the bill would no longer ban pipelines within 50 miles of saltwater marshes along the coast. The House will take up House Bill 271, known as the Shoreline Protection Act, that would create a new system for determining how close to the ocean new homes or businesses can be built.
Taxes:House Bill 145, by state Rep. John Carson, R-Marietta, would give Delta a tax break on 45 percent of the fuel it purchases in Georgia for any flight that starts here and ends in another state. Fuel used for intrastate flights (such as Atlanta to Savannah) would be exempt from all state taxes. House Bill 340 would make changes to how motor vehicle tax proceeds are split between cities and counties, but now it would also make changes to how cars are taxed. Current law says taxes on a used car are based on the vehicle's book value. The bill would change that to base the tax on the book value or the retail price, whichever is greater. It's important to note that neither of these bills is yet on the House's floor debate calendar, but they are likely to be added to it Friday morning.
What to expect
The action starts in the House and Senate at 10 a.m. The Senate has at least 32 bills that could see floor debate. The House? Twenty-five for now, although the Rules Committee almost certainly will add more at its 9 a.m. meeting Friday. You can catch live broadcasts of the action on the Legislature's website at www.legis.ga.gov/en-US/default.aspx.
What are each bill's chances of passing? Visit the Legislative Navigator (http://legislativenavigator.myajc.com/) to look up bills and see our exclusive prediction of each measure's chances of reaching Gov. Nathan Deal's desk.
Legislative session coverage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the largest team covering the Georgia Legislature. To see more of its legislative coverage, go to http://www.myajc.com/georgia-legislature/. To track particular bills and resolutions, check out the Georgia Legislative Navigator at http://legislativenavigator.myajc.com/. You can also follow the proceedings on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GAPoliticsNews or on Facebook at http://facebook.com/gapoliticsnewsnow.
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