Legislative regular session through May 29, 2010

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 200 was substituted for by HB 1490; HB 556 was passed by Senate committee; HB 996 was substituted for by HB 1492; HB 1171 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 1247 with major amendments passed Senate committee; HB 1407 had rules suspended to report it favorably to Senate; HB 1408 had rules suspended to report it favorably with amendments to Senate; HB 1490 was passed by House committee; HB 1492 was passed by House committee; SB 9 with minor amendments passed House committee; SB 13 with minor amendments was passed by Senate, passed House committee; SB 348 was involuntarily deferred by House committee; SB 471 with major amendments passed Senate committee.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 251 passed Senate committee; HB 1284 was involuntarily deferred by House committee; SB 432 was reported without action; SB 490 passed House committee; SB 492 with minor amendments passed House committee.

SCORECARD:

Total number of bills, House: 1492; total number of bills, Senate: 806.

Total number of good bills, House: 65; total number of good bills, Senate: 33.

Total number of bad bills, House: 31; total number of bad bills, Senate: 27.

Total House good bills heard in House committee: 56; total Senate good bills heard in Senate committee: 20.

Total House bad bills heard in House committee: 22; total Senate bad bills heard in Senate committee: 15.

Total House good bills passed by House committee: 26; total Senate good bills passed by Senate committee: 12.

Total House bad bills passed by House committee: 7; total Senate bad bills passed by Senate committee: 8.

Total House good bills approved by House: 15; total Senate good bills approved by Senate: 5.

Total House bad bills approved by House: 3; total Senate bad bills approved by Senate: 5.

Total House good bills heard in Senate committee: 3; total Senate good bills heard in House committee: 3.

Total House bad bills heard in Senate committee: 2; total Senate bad bills heard in House committee: 2.

Total House good bills approved by Senate committee: 0; total Senate good bills approved by House committee: 2.

Total House bad bills approved by Senate committee: 2; total Senate bad bills approved by House committee: 2.

Total House good bills approved by Senate: 0; total Senate good bills approved by House: 0.

Total House bad bills approved by Senate: 1; total Senate bad bills approved by House: 0.

Total House good bills going to governor: 0; total Senate good bills going to governor: 0.

Total House bad bills going to governor: 0; total Senate bad bills going to governor: 0.

Total House good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0; total Senate good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0.

Total House bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0; total Senate bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0.

Committee action, May 24: SB 762, HB 1284

DID YOU KNOW?

SB 762 by Sen. Sharon Weston Broome would make as a violation discrimination in land use and permitting decisions against people who want affordable housing built (defined as affordable to people between 60 and 80 percent of median family income for the area). She said not enough affordable housing was being built for people, so therefore some kind of effort had to be made to encourage the building of these kinds of units.

Rep. John LaBruzzo wanted to know how the bill would allow those who wanted to buy housing do that. He wanted to know whether that would mandate such housing and who would block such housing. Apparently the bill would not mandate and local governments would permit. LaBruzzo then asked why developers would not do this on their own. He was concerned whether this would create a mandate.

Rep. John Schroder wondered whether this was enforceable. He didn’t understand that if it was directed at local government, what would happen if violated. Broome said with developers going to local governments for permitting, it would provide an opportunity for additional reminding, and other statutes addressed penalties. She also had an amendment to clarify targets, which actually had the effect of rewriting the bill.

Rep. Nancy Landry thought the bill was protecting an additional class – working people – and she didn’t think there was a compelling interest or past history of discrimination against them to justify the bill. She also noted that the bill as amended no longer would not declare as an automatic violation the desire not to concentrate a lot of such housing, and could not support the bill.

House Civil Law and Procedure Committee Chairman Rep. Tim Burns said because of the newness of the amendments and given the press of time, it might be best to voluntarily defer the bill. Broome said she could live with that and get with some committee members in the meantime. Burns motioned for this and it was approved by acclamation.

DID YOU KNOW?

HB 1284 by Rep. Girod Jackson would set targets for disadvantaged business enterprises for public entities in the state who bid for any contracts with federal funds. He told the House Appropriations Committee. He said the state did not have to follow any guidelines of the federal government in this regard, and thought it would be a negative in the eyes of the federal government if an audit was done.

Rep. Simone Champagne said in her local government experience federal regulations are being abided by. He said local governments with numerical goals were blaming it on the state for not having to follow them. She said then the Legislative Auditor, not legislation, was the answer.

Rep. James Armes wondered how this would work with matching funds from the state. Jackson said it wouldn’t make a difference since it was goals, not mandates, being worked with. Chairman Rep. Jim Fannin observed he thought a lot of this was being done in following federal law. Jackson insisted the pass-through aspect masked this, which didn’t seem to convince Fannin. Rep. Charmaine Stiaes said that sometimes the procedures aren’t followed, so the state telling it had to be done increased chances of compliance instead of having to go back and clean up. But Fannin saw no enforcement difference with the bill that what currently existed, and suggested adding enforcement would make it different.

Stiaes moved to pass but Champagne offered a substitute to defer. On the motion to defer, it passed 11-3 with only Reps. Patricia Smith, Stiaes, and Patrick Williams voting nay.

Legislative regular session through May 22, 2010

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 401 failed to pass the House; HB 490 was involuntarily deferred by House committee; HB 532 was substituted for by HB 1488; HB 962 with minor amendments passed the House; HB 1143 passed the House; HB 1488 passed House committee; SB 13 had rules suspended to report it favorably; minor amendments were adopted; SB 345 passed Senate committee; SB 391 with minor amendments passed Senate committee; SB 392 passed Senate committee; SB 534 with minor amendments passed committee; SB 606 had rules suspended to report it favorably.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 292 with minor amendments passed the Senate; HB 529 with minor amendment failed to pass the House; SB 1 with minor amendments passed committee; SB 2 with minor amendments passed Senate committee; SB 505 passed the Senate; SB 796 with minor amendments passed the Senate.

SCORECARD:

Total number of bills, House: 1489; total number of bills, Senate: 803.

Total number of good bills, House: 65; total number of good bills, Senate: 33.

Total number of bad bills, House: 31; total number of bad bills, Senate: 27.

Total House good bills heard in House committee: 54; total Senate good bills heard in Senate committee: 17.

Total House bad bills heard in House committee: 21; total Senate bad bills heard in Senate committee: 14.

Total House good bills passed by House committee: 24; total Senate good bills passed by Senate committee: 8.

Total House bad bills passed by House committee: 7; total Senate bad bills passed by Senate committee: 6.

Total House good bills approved by House: 15; total Senate good bills approved by Senate: 2.

Total House bad bills approved by House: 3; total Senate bad bills approved by Senate: 4.

Total House good bills heard in Senate committee: 1; total Senate good bills heard in House committee: 0.

Total House bad bills heard in Senate committee: 2; total Senate bad bills heard in House committee: 0.

Total House good bills approved by Senate committee: 0; total Senate good bills approved by House committee: 0.

Total House bad bills approved by Senate committee: 1; total Senate bad bills approved by House committee: 0.

Total House good bills approved by Senate: 0; total Senate good bills approved by House: 0.

Total House bad bills approved by Senate: 1; total Senate bad bills approved by House: 0.

Total House good bills going to governor: 0; total Senate good bills going to governor: 0.

Total House bad bills going to governor: 0; total Senate bad bills going to governor: 0.

Total House good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0; total Senate good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0.

Total House bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0; total Senate bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0.

Committee action, May 17: HB 490, HB 905

DID YOU KNOW?

HB 490 by Rep. Joe Harrison would cap a TOPS award at $1,600 a term. He said costs were escalating and wanted to sunset it for three years to see how it would work in these times of budgetary stress. Otherwise, he feared it might be dismantled as has happened elsewhere.

Rep. Pat Smith asked where he got the figure. Harrison said it wasn’t related to tuition but an actuarial figure. She noted it would remove the different categories of awards. Also, if schools got the ability to raise tuition, the cap would remain.

Rep. Billy Chandler asked would this not mean that some students wouldn’t be able to attend college? Harrison that in a comprehensive restructuring of higher education it would improve higher education to make it more attractive to students, so maybe in a sense tuition might go up for some but extra cost would be more than made up for in improved quality and adequacy of that education.

Rep. Elton Aubert wanted to know what TOPS covered now. Eventually, it was determined that in many cases most tuition still would be covered at its current levels. Rep. Hollis Downs asked whether Harrison would instead put a moving cap on TOPS; Harrison was noncommittal. Downs said if not now it should be later in the process.

Speaking for the university systems, Jim Callier said they opposed the bill that it would affect a program that has above-average students and completers. He said not to tamper something that worked. He said not a program anywhere had yet been eliminated. Harrison noted programs had been reduced. Callier also said that recent growth in the program had been small and handled by the trust fund set up for funding it.

Rep. John Bel Edwards said he worried that this would have a disproportionate impact on minorities and others from attending especially four-year institutions. Harrison said accountability was important and this would help it, and that there would be other mechanisms to help the truly needy.

After Rep. John Schroder, who noted Georgia required a 3.0 GPA for its program, offered a motion to pass, Chandler asked for a motion to defer. All present but Schroder and Rep. Jane Smith voted for that.

DID YOU KNOW?

HB 905 by Harrison would raise the grade point average required to get the four-year TOPS award. Harrison said raising the bar from 2.5 to 3.0 GPA would send better-prepared students to college and not waste TOPS funds, and would provide incentive for children to do better in school.

Rep. Herbert Dixon said he didn’t see any savings from this bill, because the TOPS Tech award would not be affected by the bill and get increased demand. Harrison challenged that fiscal note and said he saw something not measured by cost, a better educational experience. Rep. Frank Hoffman wondered whether some additional accommodation would be made for those that would no longer would qualify to attend a community college; Harrison expressed willingness.

Downs said Hoffman’s suggestion would be complicated, and also brought up the issue of core curriculum and thought that needed to be addressed. He recognized this too was outside the purview of the bill, and said these things needed to be pursued in addition to Harrison’s bill.

Pat Smith said the bill would cut out a lot of students and some with a 2.5 GPA were doing well in college. She said a better way to go would be to support legislation to expand the GO Grants, gifts made regardless of merit.

Hoffman offered an amendment to exclude anything to do with home-schooled students since they had no GPAs and still had other (higher) requirements to meet. It passed without objection. Rep. Bubba Chaney wondered whether the cutoff should be 2.75 than 3.0, but offered no amendment at that time.

Callier reappeared, saying the change would lop off a quarter of recipients, of whom over half graduate, disproportionately minority. He said making the core curriculum more challenging, as was being done. Harrison said he’d be glad to have Callier rewrite the bill and would defer it voluntarily to improve it. Thus it was done.

Legislative regular session through May 15, 2010

THIS WEEK FOR THER GOOD: HB 68 passed the House; HB 962 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 1292 with minor amendments passed the House; HB 1337 with minor amendments passed House committee; HB 1370 passed the House; SB 348 passed the Senate.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 800 passed the House; HB 1322 passed the House; SB 762 with minor amendments passed Senate committee.

And … in a sneaky use of the substitute power (in essence introducing a bill after the deadline), SB 690 was converted into the virulent form of SB 796, mirroring HB 292, and passed by Senate committee.

SCORECARD:

Total number of bills, House: 1483; total number of bills, Senate: 796.

Total number of good bills, House: 65; total number of good bills, Senate: 33.

Total number of bad bills, House: 31; total number of bad bills, Senate: 27.

Total House good bills heard in House committee: 53; total Senate good bills heard in Senate committee: 12.

Total House bad bills heard in House committee: 20; total Senate bad bills heard in Senate committee: 12.

Total House good bills passed by House committee: 24; total Senate good bills passed by Senate committee: 3

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Total House bad bills passed by House committee: 6; total Senate bad bills passed by Senate committee: 3.

Total House good bills approved by House: 9; total Senate good bills approved by Senate: 1.

Total House bad bills approved by House: 3; total Senate bad bills approved by Senate: 2.

Total House good bills heard in Senate committee: 1; total Senate good bills heard in House committee: 0.

Total House bad bills heard in Senate committee: 1; total Senate bad bills heard in House committee: 0.

Total House good bills approved by Senate committee: 0; total Senate good bills approved by House committee: 0.

Total House bad bills approved by Senate committee: 1; total Senate bad bills approved by House committee: 0.

Total House good bills approved by Senate: 0; total Senate good bills approved by House: 0.

Total House bad bills approved by Senate: 0; total Senate bad bills approved by House: 0.

Total House good bills going to governor: 0; total Senate good bills going to governor: 0.

Total House bad bills going to governor: 0; total Senate bad bills going to governor: 0.

Total House good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0; total Senate good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0.

Total House bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0; total Senate bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0.