The Georgia House rushed to pass and defeat bills after midnight

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 proposal, House 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.

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