Bill would require follow-up to charges of child abuse
Teachers who report concerns of child abuse must be told within 24 hours that the report was received and must follow up when an investigation is complete under bipartisan legislation filed in the state House.
House Bill 914, by Rep. David Wilkerson, D-Austell, says child protective services agencies must also later confirm to any school official who files a report whether allegations of abuse were confirmed.
The bill is co-sponsored by three other Democrats and one Republican.
The issue of child endangerment has been an active one this legislative session. Gov. Nathan Deal wants to create public-private partnerships for foster care.
Deal also has proposed spending $27 million over the next three years to hire more than 500 caseworkers and supervisors at the Department of Family and Child Services — an increase of 26 percent.
That proposal came shortly after the highly publicized deaths of two metro Atlanta children and reports in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that DFCS workers’ mistakes contributed to at least 25 deaths in 2012.
— Aaron Gould Sheinin
Bill to allow separate school systems in new cities advances
The House Education Committee passed legislation Wednesday that would call for a constitutional amendment to allow newly formed cities to set up their own school systems.
The legislation, which was passed by a vote of 7-3 with one abstention, now goes to the full House of Representatives.
As a constitutional amendment, the legislation, House Resolution 486, must be passed by two-thirds of the state House and Senate. That’s 120 House members and 38 senators, a tall order for supporters of the legislation.
The bill’s author, Rep. Tom Taylor, R-Dunwoody, said he will be touting the bill among his colleagues for at least the next couple weeks before asking that it be brought to the floor for a vote.
— Wayne Washington
Rally supports bringing refugees to Georgia
State lawmakers and nonprofit agencies gathered Wednesday morning at the state Capitol to highlight the benefits refugees bring to Georgia.
More than 2,000 refugees are resettled in Georgia annually. Most come from Bhutan, Iraq, Myanmar and Somalia.
In 2012 and 2013, Gov. Nathan Deal’s administration asked the federal government to substantially cut the numbers coming to Georgia. State officials cited state and local taxpayer costs associated with taking in the refugees, school budget shortfalls and other concerns.
At the “New Americans Celebration” at the Capitol, speakers underscored how refugees work, pay taxes and create businesses in Georgia. Eighty percent of refugee households in Georgia begin working and paying their own expenses within six months of arrival, the highest self-sufficiency rate in the nation, according to the Coalition of Refugee Service Agencies.
— Jeremy Redmon
Panel backs creation of maternal death study
The Georgia Senate voted 51-1 Tuesday in favor of creating a health panel to study maternal deaths in Georgia — and keep much of the work shielded from the public.
Senate Bill 273 seeks to establish a Maternal Mortality Review Committee through the Department of Public Health.
Although Georgia currently has the highest rate of all states in the deaths of women during pregnancy or childbirth, the number is believed to be underreported. According to the bill, which is sponsored by state Sen. Dean Burke, R-Bainbridge, who is also a doctor, the state doesn’t have a comprehensive way to investigate or collect information on the issue.
While federal law protects patient privacy, the bill mandates that all proceedings and activities of the committee as a whole be exempted from Georgia’s open records and open meetings laws. Burke said some doctors would be afraid to participate for fear of lawsuits if privacy wasn’t assured in the process.
Only general reports would be made public.
It now goes to the House for consideration.
— Kristina Torres
Christmas greetings legislation clears Senate
A push to protect Christmas trees and “happy holidays” greetings in public schools passed on a 43-8 vote Tuesday in the Georgia Senate.
Questions remained, however, about whether Senate Bill 283 could withstand a legal challenge if it ever became law.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Mike Dugan, R-Carrollton, would allow local school systems to educate students about the history of “traditional winter celebrations” and let students and staff offer “traditional greetings” such as “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Hanukkah.”
Displays involving such symbols as a menorah, Christmas tree or Nativity scenes would be protected as long as they included more than one religion or one religion and at least one secular scene or symbol.
SB 283 doesn’t define what it means by secular symbol. And its line about allowing a display with a secular symbol and one religion has left some, including the Georgia School Boards Association, wondering whether that allows the promotion of a particular religious belief over others.
It now goes to the House for consideration.
— Kristina Torres
Legislation to create Lakeside advances
Residents of north-central DeKalb County took a step closer to becoming Georgia’s newest city under a bill approved Wednesday by a Senate committee.
State Sen. Fran Millar, R-Atlanta, sponsored Senate Bill 270 to create the city of Lakeside. The proposal has been controversial because of overlapping boundaries with two other would-be cities, Briarcliff and Tucker.
Members of the Senate State and Local Government Operations Committee voted 4-3 to approve the Lakeside bill under a new map that again adds neighborhoods outside of I-285 to the city, including the precincts at Livsey and Midvale elementary schools that are in Millar’s district. The new map also takes in part of Toco Hills and Merry Estates along LaVista Road that had been included in the Briarcliff proposal.
The bill now heads to the Senate Rules Committee, which will decide whether to allow SB 270 to reach the Senate floor. Approval in the Senate would send the issue to the state House, which has held off on cityhood this year because of the boundary disputes.
— April Hunt
Bills would settle dispute over DeKalb office complex
A battle over a prime piece of real estate in north-central DeKalb County would end by legislative action, not a court fight, under two bills pending in the state House.
State Rep. Scott Holcomb, D-Atlanta, is sponsoring House Bill 905 and House Bill 906 in a bid to use state law to validate Chamblee’s annexation last year. Co-sponsors include one other DeKalb Democrat and two Republican lawmakers.
That annexation included the Century Center office complex, whose owners are now suing Chamblee to instead become part of Brookhaven. Brookhaven had annexed the property just before the Chamblee referendum last fall.
If Holcomb’s bills pass, the borders listed in the Chamblee vote will prevail, making Century Center part of Chamblee. The property has remained part of unincorporated DeKalb during the court battle, which is slated to be reviewed at a later date by the state Court of Appeals.
— April Hunt
House votes to let home brewers imbibe off site
Beer connoisseurs who brew their own can legally transport up to a gallon of their wares to be consumed somewhere other than where it was made under legislation approved Wednesday in the state House.
House Bill 737, by Rep. Brett Harrell, R-Snellville, passed 160-3 and now goes to the Senate.
Legislation signed into law last year allows home brewers to transport their beer only to specific contests or fairs. Harrell’s bill would allow smaller amounts to be consumed anywhere it’s otherwise legal.
— Aaron Gould Sheinin
Bill would allow St. Pat’s alcohol sales in more spots
Legislation that would allow alcohol sales in bars if St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Sunday overwhelmingly passed the state House on Wednesday.
House Bill 784, sponsored by Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, lets local governments decide whether they want to allow alcohol sales in establishments other than restaurants in those particular years. Current law only allows sales of alcohol for on-site consumption in restaurants — that is, places that derive a majority of their income from food sales.
Last year’s St. Patrick’s Day was on a Sunday. The holiday this year is on Monday, March 17.
Savannah hosts one of the country’s largest St. Patrick’s Day parades and festivals.
Stephens found little opposition, as the bill passed 148-8 and now goes to the Senate.
— Aaron Gould Sheinin
Senate calls for U.S. constitutional convention
The Georgia Senate voted 37-16 Tuesday to ask for a constitutional convention of the states.
The push is a pet project of conservatives, who note that the U.S. Constitution under Article V allows states to meet and propose amendments to it.
Sen. Cecil Staton, a sponsor of the legislation, Senate Resolution 736, said that in this case, the proposed amendment would cap the federal government’s spending and impose term limits on Congress.
“I think the problem in Washington is not a Democratic problem. It’s not a Republican problem,” said Staton, a Republican from Macon. “Frankly, it’s both.”
This is at least the 12th application the state has submitted in recent history requesting a convention, Staton said. The Constitution requires at least two-thirds of the states — or 34 — to petition on the same subject before a convention is called.
— Kristina Torres
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