Crossover Day: Some bills still have a fighting chance

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - It was crossover day under the Gold Dome, and lawmakers pushed late into the night to achieve passage of their bills in at least one chamber of the Capitol. Any legislation that failed to gain passage in either the House or the Senate will likely fall flat.

Several important and even controversial measures did pass. Here are a few Atlanta News First is tracking:

EDUCATION

A bill passed by the House and headed to the Senate would bar partnerships between the American Library Association and city and county libraries, as well as any libraries part of the University System of Georgia.

The Chicago-based organization provides grants and funding as well as accreditation to libraries and librarians, but Georgia lawmakers expressed concern that they were influencing the placement of sexually explicit content in children’s sections of libraries.

“They’ve got a radical, extreme agenda,” argued the bill’s author, state Sen. Larry Walker III, R – Perry. “They’re using money to entice librarians to put certain materials in the library that most of us would not think was appropriate.”

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

By federal law, on military bases and even in federal penitentiaries, people are guaranteed religious freedom. Through SB180 Georgia lawmakers wanted to adopt something similar. The legislation would seek to tip the legal scales in favor of religious freedom, but roused fear among LGBTQ advocates and lawmakers concerned that people could be refused services at restaurants, hotels, businesses and other places on the grounds of religious freedom.

“If there is anyone who you love, when upon looking at them people think that they are different than the norm, passing this legislation puts them at risk,” said state Senator Kim Jackson, D – Stone Mountain.

Jackson shared the story of her and her wife, one a priest the other an Imam, who adopted their child, and how under the proposed bill, the agency could have refused them adoption services on the basis of religion.

Other lawmakers said it simply guarantees the same protections as freedom of speech and assembly.

“We all understand the constitutional protection of separation of church and state, but it doesn’t mean you can’t practice your own religion,” said state Senator Ben Watson, R – Savannah. “So it protects pro and con from that standpoint.”

“If you’re in prison, you have full protection, you have full strict scrutiny level protection, you have full constitutional protections for your free exercise of your faith,” said state Senator Ed Stezler, R – Acworth. “But law-abiding Georgians and the rest of the state do not. Now what kind of sense does that make?”

The bill has been floating around the legislature for years. Former Georgia Governor Nathan Deal vetoed a similar bill in 2016, but current Governor Brian Kemp has indicated he would sign something similar to current federal law, which bill sponsors say their legislation is in line with.

IMMIGRATION

In the wake of the murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley, a Georgia college student, a new conversation about immigration was sparked in the Peach State. Riley’s accused killer, 26-year-old Jose Ibarra, was in the U.S. illegally and had been twice arrested in the past – once crossing into the country in Texas and again the next year in New York.

HB1105 would mandate that all municipalities and relevant officials – city and county officials, jail operators, sheriffs – have communication with the state about undocumented migrants in their jails.

Opponents say the bill smacks of racism by targeting minorities in Georgia communities, but sponsors say it simply adds teeth to existing Georgia laws that already require mandatory reporting of migrants in jails.

“This bill is expressly and only about people who are illegally here and subsequently commit a crime, and are in a jail. This isn’t about anybody else,” said state Representative Jesse Petrea, R – Savannah, who wrote the bill. “This isn’t about immigrants, this bill is not about people who are here illegally who are following our laws, it isn’t even about that. This bill is expressly related to public safety.”

It’s not new – Rep. Petrea introduced the bill a year ago but it failed to pass then. With a new appetite for immigration reform, the bill sailed through the House this session and is now off to the state Senate.

FILM TAX CREDITS

On the chopping block for a long time before crossover day, lawmakers considered the impact of the state’s generous tax credits.

Georgia currently has more studio space than New York and California and offers up to 30% off a productions total cost if they film their product in the Peach State. The residual impacts are wide ranging: florists and tailors, food and janitorial services, anything needed on a film set got a boost when productions filmed in Georgia to the tune of about $4 billion in economic impact.

But lawmakers were skeptical that the impact was as large as the numbers say, and argue the state could be losing valuable tax dollars by giving lucrative deals to Hollywood companies.

HB1180 revised the structure of the state’s film tax credits to ensure that the 30% rebate would only be achievable if production companies spent a base of $500,000 in the state during production. The bill passed the state House and still puts no caps on the amount of tax credits a production company can achieve or sell if they aren’t used entirely.

BUDGET

It’s the only thing lawmakers have to, by law, get done before the end of session and on Thursday, Governor Brian Kemp signed the mid-year budget into law.

It will fund the state government through June 30 and is a year-over-year spending increase of $5.5 billion.

Still armed with a massive $16 billion surplus – a state record – the amended budget includes $100 million for K-12 schools, $28 million for technical colleges, $19 million for safety and technology upgrades to Georgia’s jails and prisons as well as millions more for facility upgrades, $1.5 billion for roads and infrastructure projects, $100 million for rural economic development projects and $50 million for the state’s housing workforce program.

OTHERS

Like Bubba said in Forest Gump: “Shrimp is the fruit of the sea.”

It’s also now the official state crustacean of Georgia. While that might seem unnecessary (and indeed, jokes abound during debate over HB1341) the bill is actually hugely important to the Georgia shrimping industry. It’s been falling in relevance as the popularity of pond-grown shrimp rises and lawmakers wanted to draw attention to the issue and stoke activity in the industry.

Another bill that’s been meandering its way through the state House for over a decade also finally passed the chamber. Under current Georgia law, you can have mobile pet groomers, mobile blood donation units, doctors and dentist offices, even some nightclubs are mobile. But that’s not an option for barber and cosmetology shops.

But it could be, if HB650 passes the Senate next. Rep. Al Williams, D – Midway, championed the bill and jokingly hoped that the “thinning and balding” lawmakers in the chamber wouldn’t hold up passage.