2013 a busy year for local legislators

The 2013 General Assembly has been a busy one for DeKalb and Fulton County legislators.

Each year, hundreds of bills are introduced, but only a few become law at the end of the 40 day legislative session.

Some have a good chance of making it to the governor’s desk, while others won’t make it out of committee.

Many of these bills met their end on Crossover Day March 7. For a bill to have a chance of becoming law, it must be approved in the chamber where it was introduced by the 30th legislative day, known as Crossover Day, in order for it to cross into the other chamber in enough time to be considered before the session ends.

As this year’s session draws to a close, we take a look at how some of the bills introduced by lawmakers from the Reporter Newspapers communities fared.

HB 41: This bill would prohibit water and sewer providers from arbitrarily charging higher rates to customers outside of their geographic boundaries.

Status: The House Governmental Affairs Committee favorably reported by substitute March 1.

Sponsors: The bill was introduced by Rep. Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs. Other local sponsors include Joe Wilkinson, R-Sandy Springs and Mike Jacobs, R- Brookhaven.

HB 123: This bill, known as the “Parent and Teacher Empowerment Act” would give parents the right to petition to convert existing schools into charter schools or to impose turnaround models.
Status: Senate read and referred March 7.

Sponsors: This bill was introduced by Rep. Edward Lindsey, R-Buckhead.

HB 264: The purpose of this bill is to extensively revise the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority Act of 1965.

Status: Senate read and referred on Feb. 22

Sponsors: This bill was introduced by Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Brookhaven, chairman of the MARTA Oversight Committee. Other local sponsors include Rep. Edward Lindsey, R-Buckhead, Rep. Tom Taylor, R-Dunwoody, and Rep. Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs.

HB 265: This bill repeals provisions relating to the suspension of restrictions on the use of proceeds from sales and use taxes by public transit authorities.

Status: Senate read and referred on Feb. 22

HR 486: This resolution proposes an amendment to the Georgia Constitution that would authorize municipalities created on or after Jan. 1, 2005 to establish independent school systems. This resolution came in response to Dunwoody residents who want to break away from the DeKalb County School District in light of the system’s accreditation probation and other issues.

Status: House Second Readers Feb. 27

Sponsors: This bill was introduced by Rep. Tom Taylor, R-Dunwoody. Other local sponsors include Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Brookhaven and Rep. Joe Wilkinson, R-Sandy Springs.

HB 541: This bill increases the homestead exemption in Fulton County to $60,000.

Status: Adopted in the House March 13

Sponsors: Local sponsors of this bill include Rep. Edward Lindsey, R- Buckhead, Joe Wilkinson, R-Sandy Springs, and Mike Jacobs, R-Brookhaven.

HB 171: This bill changes the districts of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.

Status: Senate read and referred March 4

Sponsors: Local sponsors of this bill include Joe Wilkinson, R-Sandy Springs and Wendall Willard, R-Sandy Springs.

HB 346: This bill would make the Fulton County tax commissioner an appointed position, rather than an elected office. It would also limit compensation for the tax commissioner.

Status: Senate read and referred March 4.

Sponsors: Local sponsors include Rep. Edward Lindsey, R-Buckhead, Rep. Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs and Rep. Joe Wilkinson, R-Sandy Springs.

HB 310: One of several ethics bills considered this year, HB 310 would revise the rules for filing certain campaign disclosure reports, the permissible methods of notifying candidates of late fees, and would eliminate the grace period on certain reports, among other things.

Sponsor: Rep. Joe Wilkinson, R- Sandy Springs

Status: Senate read and referred March 14

SB 95: For counties with a chief executive officer/county commission form of government, The CEO would be elected in a non-partisan race. Currently, DeKalb is the only county in the state with this form of government.

Status: Senate read second time Feb. 28

Sponsors: This bill was introduced by Sen. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody

SB 189: This bill would permit proprietary institutions of higher education to participate in establishing college and career academies in high schools.

Status: House second readers, March 12

Sponsors: This bill was sponsored by Sen. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody.

SR 273: A resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to allow the re-creation of a previously existing county which was merged into another county, subject to the approval of voters. This resolution is an attempt to recreate Milton County out of what is now north Fulton County.

Status: Senate read and referred Feb. 21

Sponsors: This bill was introduced by Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell. Other local sponsors include Sen. Judson Hill, R-Marietta.

Source: www.legis.ga.gov