2015 Legislative Report 9

The 2015 session of the Georgia General Assembly is moving toward Day 40 on Thursday, April 2, 2015. The General Assembly will be in adjournment on Monday, March 30; will reconvene on Tuesday, March 31, Day 39; adjourn Wednesday, April 1; and reconvene for Day 40 on Thursday.

The House has introduced 690 bills and the Senate has introduced 244 bills so far during the 2015 session. Please see the attached 2015 GEDA Legislative Monitor Report 9 Update for the latest status of bills that GEDA is tracking.

An update on three bills of interest to GEDA members is outlined below.

HB 76

HB 76 is the FY-2016 budget bill. The bill has passed the House and Senate and is currently being negotiated by a conference committee sometimes called the Green Door Committee. Three members of the House and three members of the Senate appointed by the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate respectively are negotiating a final version of the budget.

HB 170

HB 170 is the ‘transportation bill’. The bill passed the House and Senate with different recommendations for generating $1B in revenue annually for maintenance and upgrades to the transportation network. The bill is currently in conference committee. House members are Representative Roberts of the 155th and Chairman of the House Transportation Committee, Representative Hamilton of the 24th and Representative Smyre of the 135th. The Senate members are Senator Williams of the 19th and Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, Senator Gooch of the 51st, and Senator Shafer of the 48th.

Governor Deal has indicated that he will consider calling for a special session of the General Assembly to devise a plan for transportation funding if the House and Senate cannot agree on a plan that the Governor considers sufficient to generate the necessary revenue to address the State’s transportation needs.

SB 85

SB 85 proposed to amend the definition of ‘project’ in the development authority law. The bill was amended in the House to incorporate language in SB 210 related to downtown development authority liens. Due to concerns about unfriendly floor amendments in the House, the bill’s sponsor, Senator Beach of the 21st, will decide whether to continue with the process or remove the bill from consideration. The bill received a favorable report in House Committee on Governmental Affairs and is currently in the House Committee on Rules.

HB 63, HB 213, HB 261, HB 308, HB 339, HB 408, and HB 510 have received a favorable report by Senate committees, and are on the Senate Rules Consideration Calendar. Each bill has to pass the Rules Committee before they can receive a Senate floor vote.

SB 59, SB 85, and SB 122 have received a favorable report by House committees, and are on the House Rules Consideration Calendar. Each bill has to pass the Rules Committee before they can receive a House floor vote.