Thursday marked the final day of the General Assembly’s 40-day legislative session, which started slowly in January but came to a hectic close. Here’s how some of the most watched and debated bills in this year’s session fared:
K-12 EDUCATION/HIGHER EDUCATION
HB 372: Would lower eligibility requirements for the HOPE Grant from a 3.0 grade-point average to a 2.0.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? No.
SB 243: Would cap the state's private school tax credit program and require more transparency about how it operates.
Did it pass? No, but its language was added to HB 283, which did pass.
Significant changes? The tax credits are capped at $58 million, up from the $51 million in the original bill and down from the $80 million the House initially sought.
HB 140: Would expand the tax credit scholarship program from $51.5 million to $80 million.
Did it pass? No, but its language was added to HB 283, which did pass.
Significant changes? The cap on credits was only raised to $58 million.
HB 123: Would allow parents and teachers to force a school district to consider their petition to make their traditional public school a charter school.
Did it pass? No.
SB 12: Would limit the liability of Georgia's public school systems for injuries and damages suffered in after-school play to encourage more activities for kids.
Did it pass? No.
HB 487: Would give the Georgia Lottery power to regulate legal video poker machines and divert a portion of fees to the HOPE scholarship.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? Gives local governments more control to monitor and limit the games.
ETHICS
HB 142: Would ban lobbyist gifts to individual lawmakers, strengthen the ethics commission, put new restrictions on lobbyist-funded travel.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? Imposes a $75 gift cap, requires citizen-activists to register as lobbyists only if they spent or are reimbursed $250 in a year.
TAXES
HB 266: Would revise several provisions of a new state car tax law that took effect March 1.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? Lowers the upfront title tax paid by so-called "buy here, pay here" lots.
SR 412: Would prohibit additional increases in the state sales tax, unless it is used for income tax reductions or infrastructure improvements.
Did it pass? No.
SR 415: Would prohibit the General Assembly from increasing the state income tax above the current rate of 6 percent.
Did it pass? No.
TRANSPORTATION
HB 264: Would privatize many MARTA operations, such as payroll and human resources, technical support and para transit. Would also change the way governing board members are appointed.
Did it pass? No. Much of its language was added to SB 155, which also failed to pass.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
HB 346: Would make the Fulton County tax commissioner an appointed, instead of elected, position.
Did it pass? No.
HB 347: Would change the makeup of the Fulton County Board of Registrations and Elections by giving the local legislative delegation the authority to appoint the chairman, instead of the County Commission.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? No.
HB 541: Would double Fulton County homestead exemption to $60,000.
Did it pass? No.
HB 176: Would automatically approve applications for new cell towers if a city or county government doesn't review an application within 150 days.
Did it pass? No.
COURTS/PUBLIC SAFETY
HB 349: Would give judges limited ability to issue sentences lower than established mandatory minimums.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? No.
HB 468: Would prevent school boards from using public money for litigation regarding removal of a member.
Did it pass? No, but its language was added to HB 115, which did pass.
Significant changes? No.
HB 242: Would provide community-based alternatives to locking up juvenile offenders and require fewer to be incarcerated.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? No.
HB 55: Would allow wiretaps across county lines.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? No.
HB 57: Bans latest variation of synthetic marijuana.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? No.
SB 136: Would lower the state's legal intoxication limit for Georgia boaters.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? No.
GUNS
HB 35: Would allow school boards to appoint one or more school employees to carry a gun on school property and at school events.
Did it pass? No.
SB 101: Is now the primary gun bill. As amended by the House, it would allow guns on public college campuses, allow churches to permit weapons, let school districts arm school administrators, and add mental health restrictions on concealed weapons permits.
Did it pass? No.
HB 394: Would allow both current and former state lawmakers to carry firearms into otherwise restricted areas such as schools.
Did it pass? No.
SB 74: Would lower the state's prohibition on anyone under the age of 21 from carrying a gun to 18, but only for military service members who have completed basic training.
Did it pass? No.
SB 93: Would allow hunters to use gun silencers.
Did it pass? No
SB 146: Would ban assault weapons as well as high-capacity magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
Did it pass? No.
HB 512: Would comprehensively sweep away many restrictions on carrying firearms in Georgia, including on college campuses, on public school grounds and in churches.
Did it pass? No.
SB 161: Would require gun owners diagnosed with a mental disability as many as 10 years ago to get a sworn statement from a psychologist or psychiatrist before a judge could grant them a concealed-carry license.
Did it pass? No.
ALCOHOL
HB 314 & SB 174: Would allow brewpubs to sell beer for off-premises consumption.
Did it pass? No.
HB 517: Would allow local governments to decide distance of alcohol retail sales near college campuses, thereby accommodating grocery store chains.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes: Stores required to dedicate 85 percent of their floor space to nonalcoholic products.
ENVIRONMENT/RECREATION
HB 36: Would make redfish a gamefish only, meaning it can't be sold commercially.
Did it pass? Yes.
SB 81: Would delay legal harvesting of wild ginseng by two weeks.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? No.
HEALTH CARE
HB 178: Would limit who can run pain clinics, barring nonphysicians and felons from being majority owners.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? No.
SB 24: Would make way for renewal of a 2-year-old hospital provider fee that helps bolster Georgia's Medicaid program.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? No.
SB 141: Would overhaul Georgia's medical malpractice system to require arbitration instead of jury trials for complaints against health care professionals.
Did it pass? No.
SB 171: Would allow multispecialty surgery physician groups to buy single-specialty surgery centers without obtaining a certificate of need, or CON.
Did it pass? No.
SB 202: Would create standards for arbitration agreements used by nursing homes that ask residents to waive their constitutional right to have complaints heard by a jury of their peers.
Did it pass? No.
SB 65: Would allow licensed professional counselors to involuntarily commit for 72 hours mentally ill patients who appear to be a danger.
Did it pass? No.
SB 14: Would create a Georgia Alzheimer's and Related Dementias State Plan Task Force to address the rising number of Alzheimer's patients.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? No.
HB 198: Would require licensing of health care navigators, who would help guide consumers through the new federally run health insurance exchange that opens in January.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? Requires navigators to be knowledgeable about Medicaid and PeachCare for kids.
HB 284: Would create protocols for informing parents of the dangers of concussions and for identifying and treating players with head injuries.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? No.
IMMIGRATION
HB 125: Would tweak Georgia's immigration law to prevent an unintended consequence: massive backlogs in state license renewals for thousands of nurses, insurance salesmen and other professionals.
Did it pass? No.
SB 160: Would block illegal immigrants from getting state driver's licenses, grants, public housing and retirement benefits; prevent use of foreign passports to obtain public benefits, unless those passports include records indicating they are in the country legally; seek to prevent massive backlogs for professional license renewals.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? Legislators cut out a provision intended to block illegal immigrants from getting homestead tax exemptions.
OTHER
SB 83: Would allow counties to save on burying indigent corpses in paupers' graves by cremating them instead.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? No.
HB 350: Would require both operators and employees of Georgia's child care facilities to undergo a federal fingerprint check.
Did it pass? Yes.
Significant changes? No.
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