When the clock struck midnight, Georgia lawmakers kept on going.

The Georgia House of Representatives took up several controversial bills, including gun control and private school subsidies, early Thursday morning.

They were rushing to pass bills before a deadline for them to pass either the House or the Senate and still have a clear chance at becoming law this year.

Representatives approved a measure, House Bill 999, that would make it harder for people involuntarily committed for mental illness to own guns years later.

Legislators defeated a proposalHouse Bill 482, that would have allowed students to use public school funding to attend private schools.

One other bill went down in flames: a proposal for law enforcement agencies to indefinitely store fingerprints collected when someone is hired to work for the state government. Opponents said the measure, House Bill 623, could expose personal information of innocent people without adequate safeguards.

Representatives defeated the bill on a vote of 84-82, and again on a revote minutes later, 85-84.

For full coverage, visit and subscribe to PoliticallyGeorgia.com.

About the Author

Keep Reading

Former President Donald Trump (center) was indicted on Aug. 14, 2023, by a Fulton County grand jury on multiple felony charges. Also indicted were (top row, from left) Mike Roman, Rudy Giuliani, David Shafer, Missy Hampton, Kenneth Chesebro; (second row, from left) John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Trevian Kutti, Mark Meadows; (third row, from left) Harrison Floyd, Sidney Powell, Jeffrey Clark, Cathy Latham; (fourth row, from left) Ray Smith III, Bob Cheeley, Shawn Still, Scott Hall and Stephen Cliffgard Lee.

Credit: George Mathis

Featured

Passengers wait at a Delta check-in counter at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport domestic terminal on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, the first day of the Federal Aviation Administration cutting flight capacity at airports during the government shutdown. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com