Legislators have set Friday as the last day of their 40-day session.
Both chambers will hold session Monday through Wednesday, take off Thursday, and hope to be finished with business sometime Friday.
Since this is the second year of the Georgia General Assembly’s two-year sessions, any legislation not passed by this last day is dead until another session.
SCHOOL VOUCHERS READY FOR HOUSE
House members expect to vote on a school voucher measure that passed out of committee last week.
The legislation sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson would allow students who attend public schools that lose accreditation or don’t meet certain federal standards to seek vouchers so they can attend other public or private schools.
Rep. Tom Dickson, R-Cohutta, said he, like many other supporters of public education, doesn’t want state money to go to private schools that way. The retired educator said he agreed with a voucher plan that passed last year to help special needs students attend private schools that provide services the public system cannot.
A House bill that would give tax credits to businesses that donate money to private schools passed a Senate committee Wednesday.
SUNDAY ALCOHOL SALES VOTE IN HOUSE
It’s uncertain when or whether the House will take up a bill this session that would allow cities and counties to vote whether to allow the sale of alcohol on Sunday, said Rep. Roger Williams, R-Dalton.
The House Regulated Industries Committee, of which Rep. Williams is chairman, this month tacked his measure to allow local referendums on whether to allow stores to sell beer, wine or liquor on Sunday onto a Senate bill. That bill was to allow beer sales on Sunday at a Gwinnett County baseball park being built to be home for a Braves farm team.
“It was a fairness issue with me,” Rep. Williams said. “It was Sunday sales.”
He said it’s now “wait and see” whether House leaders think there is enough support to bring the amended bill to a full House vote by Friday. Senators who wanted only the stadium portion of the bill reportedly are looking to tack their measure onto another piece of legislation that might help and not hurt its chances.
Gov. Sonny Perdue very publicly came out against allowing Sunday sale of alcohol in grocery and package stores.
Rep. Williams said it was hypocritical for Gov. Perdue to support Sunday beer sales at the stadium, a place from which people must drive home, and not want to allow people to choose to buy alcohol to take home on Sunday.
TSPLOST NEGOTIATIONS BEGIN
A six-member conference committee started negotiating Friday to reconcile the House and Senate versions of a transportation special purpose local option sales tax, just a day after the House passed its version.
Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, said he believes the sides are “close.”
The principal differences are the House version calls for referendum projects be determined and voted on by regions, while the Senate calls for individual counties, and the House proposal also includes dedicating an additional 1 percent of the motor fuel sales tax, worth almost $200 million each year, to the Department of Transportation.
Both versions are constitutional amendments. If the House and Senate pass one bill, then voters in November — not Gov. Sonny Perdue — will decide whether to allow the TSPLOST as a local transportation funding tool. If a measure passes with the majority of state voters on Nov. 4, that local governments could not ask local voters to approve an added sales tax up to 1 percent for transportation projects until 2009.
