Speaking to reporters shortly after banging the gavel to close out the 2016 legislative session Sine Die, House Speaker David Ralston said the the House was able to overcome partisanship and work on important measures, including the rape kit bill that was sponsored by Democratic Rep. Scott Holcomb of Atlanta. After House Bill 827 failed
Update 10:20 PM The future of the bill is in flux. The Senate has withdrawn their conferees, with the intention of creating a new conference report that doesn’t have the anti-discrimination language. However, we are within the two hour window that a bill must be on the table prior to a vote so the Senate
Today a lot of Reps and Senators are saying goodbye to the legislature. One of them is a man I have always had respect for, whether we agree or disagree on an issue. He just posted some wisdom on how a bill becomes a law to his facebook page, and I thought it appropriate to
Earlier this week, the House gave its final approval to HB 370, which grants amnesty to thousands of elected officials who were hit with fines for filing their campaign contribution and financial reports late – or not at all – between 2010 and 2014. Those years were a special time for the State Ethics Commission
State Rep. Joe Wilkinson of Sandy Springs announced he will withdraw from his race to be re-elected in House District 52, and will retire from the House at the end of his term. The Ethics Committee Chairman took office in 2001, and was instrumental in the formation of the city of Sandy Springs. Two years,
Senator Greg Kirk of Americus held a press conference on Tuesday calling on Governor Deal to sign House Bill 757, the Free Exercise Protection Act. The senator, who is the author of the Georgia version of the First Amendment Defense Act and is the sponsor of the Free Excersise bill in the Senate, cited printed
I asked Scott Holcomb about his stalled rape kit bill last week in between hearings. “It’s not over,” he said. Around here, until the gavel falls on Sine Die, he’s always going to be right. This afternoon, State Sen. Elena Parent’s gun background check bill was martyred in the name of testing rape kits. State
Last week I wrote an article about a state representative who happened to be in two places at once. Essentially, this state representative was at a high profile event in his district while simultaneously voting on the House floor. I wrote a rather terse article because I honestly believed that the reason to be away
The Georgia Legislature reconvenes this morning to hurtle down the highway to Sine Die, and when they do, HB 727 will likely be back on the House floor. It’s the latest fireworks bill, and it promises to return some control and authority on fireworks to county and municipal governments – and frankly, it’s about time,
In a Capitol press conference this morning, four members of the House Minority Caucus expressed their concerns with House Bill 757, now known as the “Free Exercise Protection Act.” Reps. Keisha Waites, Park Cannon, Karla Drenner, Dee Dawkins Haigler and Taylor Bennett said that while they were fine with the original Pastor Protection Act as
