February 12, 2001

For more information contact:

Stanley S. Jones, Jr.

404-817-6133

          Today marked the Nineteenth Day of the 2001 Session at the Capitol.  Bills are now being dropped and pursued with vigor. 

Floor Activity 

          Among the bills discussed in the House were the following: 

          Rep. Lester Jackson moved to reconsider Rep. Stuckey’s malt liquor bill, HB 224, and there was a vote of 89 against and 73 for the reconsideration.  This would have allowed Georgians to purchase a stronger malt liquor beverage than is currently available in the State.  Neighboring states already sell such beverages.  The rationale behind the holding of this bill was that the General Assembly has been trying to strengthen teen driving laws and to address the problems associated with drinking and driving. 

          HB 32 caused some debate.  Majority Leader Walker introduced this bill dealing with vacancies for the offices of sheriff – surprisingly, this did not center on the recent death of Sheriff Derwin Brown in DeKalb County.  In current law, if a Sheriff of a county passes away or is otherwise unable to take office, then the Probate Judge for the county names the successor.  If the Probate Judge declines to name a successor, the Coroner becomes the Sheriff.  There are some exceptions based on local legislation, and in those instances those laws would take precedence.  The Republicans were heavily against this legislation – Rep. Kaye also pointed out that if the Governor is being given authority to name individuals to these offices, then it should not be done on a piece-meal basis.  The bill proposes to give the power to the Governor and would allow the Governor ten days to make the appointment.  If the Governor does not name someone within that time frame, then the responsibility goes back to the Probate Judge.  An amendment by Rep. Forster was given some consideration and failed to pass with a vote of 94 to 76.  The bill passed by a vote of 102 to 70. 

          HB 285, concerning the prohibition of eye banks being operated by a for-profit entity, passed by a vote of 167 to zero.  Rep. Childers authored this bill and there was no discussion on the bill. 

          HB 155, concerning the operation of bingo games by non-profit entities, passed with no discussion by a vote of 151 to 1.  In current law, companies must be in existence at least 24 months prior to being licensed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations – this newly amended code section changes the time frame from 24 months to 12 months. 

          HB 412, including new evacuation routes due to the problems experienced in the last hurricane.  It passed with some amendments, adding some additional roads – these were added by Rep. Royal and Rep. Smith.  This bill passed by a vote of 166 to 1 and was immediately transferred to the Senate. 

          HB 228 would require all text books to be in electronic format so that blind students can access them.  It passed by a vote of 164 to 1. 

Newly Introduced Legislation 

HB 525 – Rep. Harrell and others offered this amendment to O.C.G.A. § 33-24-58.2 pertaining to health benefit policy coverage for certain maternity benefits.  This would require a notice to be sent to the policyholder within 30 days following the time that the insurer learns that the policyholder or person covered by the policy is pregnant.  The notice would explain the benefits on inpatient care following delivery. 

HB 537 – Rep. Jenkins and others introduced this bill amending O.C.G.A. § 16-6-5.1 concerning offenses of sexual assault against persons in custody, sexual assault against persons detained or a patient in a hospital or other institution, and sexual assault by practitioner of psychotherapy against a patient – the definition of sexual assault is expanded to include any contact between the sex organ of the actor and the mouth or the hands of a person not married to the actor for the purpose of sexual gratification of the actor. 

HB 525 – Reps. Wiles and others have introduced this “Right To Choose Your Attorney Act” in relation to class action lawsuits.  It would add a new code section at O.C.G.A. § 15-19-4.1. 

Committee Activity 

An Insurance Subcommittee took up HB 395.  After hearing the bill, it was decided to report the bill back to the full Insurance Committee with a do not pass recommendation.  Several industry representatives opposed the legislation as it is a mandate “no insurance company shall base an adverse underwriting decision upon the fact that the insured finances or intends to finance the insurance premiums for a policy or coverage through an insurance premium finance company.”  Chairman Lucas, author of the bill, believes that entities such as Progressive, Allstate, and others are using credit reports as underwriting decisions. 

In a Judiciary Subcommittee meeting, Reps. Crawford and Wiles are very concerned about HB 191; there were numerous amendments, many were technical amendments (of the substantive amendments, these included: governmental debt issuers amendment; limitation of liability amendment of the search companies; termination in place amendment; non-assignable claims amendment; and small loan maturity date amendment), but the amendment relating to mechanics liens failed to pass.  At press time, we had no complete version of the bill to determine the impact of the amendments.  The Subcommittee will send the bill back to full House Judiciary Committee for its review.  There was one amendment proposed pertaining to the adoption and implementation date of July 1, 2002, but it also failed to pass with Rep. Reichert breaking the tie vote.  There was also an attempt to table the bill to the 34^th day of the Session at 2:00 p.m. – this too did not pass. 

Open records legislation, HB 338, offered by Rep. Richardson, failed to pass out of the Committee by a vote of 8 to 7 with Chairman Martin casting the deciding vote.  Rep. DuBose Porter spoke to the Committee.  Chairman Martin referred the bill to the General Law Subcommittee for its review.  Under current law, tapings of 911 calls may be released while an investigation is ongoing.  This bill proposes to limit the access of such tapings. 

HB 261 and HB 355, concerning the Registered Nurse First Assistant’s direct reimbursement, will be on the House Rules Calendar tomorrow.  The Senate will take up SB 97, SB 108, and SB 126.