The final day of the 2021 legislative session, or Sine Die, is Wednesday, March 31 and legislators are busy trying to get their bills through before the gavel falls one final time.
Governor Brian Kemp has already signed into law most of the major bills on the table such as the controversial GOP-backed voting reform law.
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Opponents of the law say that it restricts voting access and impacts minorities unfairly because it requires voters to present identification to obtain absentee ballots, reduces the amount of ballot drop-off boxes and allows state officials to take over local elections boards if fraud is suspected.
Governor Kemp disagreed and maintained the law is fair to everyone and will drastically reduce voter fraud. In the 2020 Presidential election, incumbent candidate Donald Trump specifically called out Georgia for election fraud, however the courts did not side with his claims.
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While Kemp, who is up for reelection next year, never joined Trump in claiming massive voter
fraud in the 2020 election, upon signing the bill he noted there were some “alarming” irregularities that occurred during the election.
“Georgia will take another step toward ensuring our elections are secure, accessible, and fair,”
Kemp said at the bill’s signing ceremony.
During the session, legislators also gave the okay for Columbia County to split from the tri-county judicial circuit and create their own office of District Attorney and Superior Court.
Also locally, Richmond County School Board members applied for a raise in their annual salary,
but it appears that request will not make it past the Sine Die finish line.
As the race to the end continues, here are some of the bills still waiting to be passed or tossed:
HB 0109, labeled the Child Protection Act of 2021, extends the statute of limitations from two years to four years for someone to report child sexual abuse using medical or psychological evidence. This bill should not be confused with the Judicial Reform Act of 2010 which eliminated the statute of limitations on child molestation in which the victim self-reports the abuse.
HB 0272 seeks to raise the Juvenile Court jurisdiction from age 17 to 18. The bill would also extend Child in Need of Services (CHINS) in which Juvenile Courts may intervene to help parents and school officials deal with troubled or criminally charged youth. Opponents of the bill say it will clog the already overburdened Juvenile Courts with individuals who should be treated as adults.
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HB 0289 expands the punishment of unlawful assembly by denying unemployment benefits and future government jobs to those convicted of the crime. The bill also strips governments of sovereign immunity in some cases where local governments are deemed to be “grossly negligent by allowing the commission of violence against persons or property during an assembly of two or more persons.” The bill would allow victims of unrest to sue their county or city directly for damages occurred in civil unrest.
SB 0236 will allow restaurants to sell mixed drinks to-go. With the pandemic causing a surge of curbside food service as opposed to dining in, the bill lets restaurants serve a maximum of two mixed drinks as long as the order is part of a food order. This bill may come in conflict with counties or municipalities that have strict open container driving laws.
HB 0591 allows marriage and family therapists to conduct mental evaluations rather than refer individuals and families to another mental health professional such as a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist.
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HB 0150 is what is called “preemptive legislation” and it denies local governments the ability to adopt “any policy that prohibits, or has the effect of prohibiting, the connection or reconnection of any utility service based on the type or source of energy or fuel to be delivered to any customer.” Local governments may still opt to “go green” in terms of utilities for properties they own, but cannot dictate which form of energy that can be used in its jurisdiction.
All bills that do not make it past Sine Die have to start from scratch when the Assembly
reconvenes in January of 2022.
Scott Hudson is the Managing Editor of The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
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