Report for
The 31st day of the legislative
session was called to order by Lt. Gov. Mark
Taylor. The Journal was read and
found to be correct by Sen. Don Thomas of
the 54th and was subsequently confirmed. Senate Bills 616-624; Senate Resolution 889; House
Bills 274, 558, 727, 975, 1151, 1416, 1431, 1450, 1511, 1598, 1611, 1612, 1662,
1663, 1664, 1668, 1675, 1676, 1680-1685, 1699, 1700; and House Resolutions 1096,
1262, 1341, 1404 were read for the first time and assigned to their respective
committees.
Following the reports of the standing
committees, Senate Bills 263, 392, 414, 451, 471, 546, 579, 588, 594; Senate
Resolutions 321, 442, 461, 632, 675, 827, 863; and House Bills 340, 365, 1162,
1441, 1455 and 1519 were read for the second time.
Sen. Thomas of the 54th led the Senate in the Pledge of
Allegiance and introduced the Chaplain of
the Day, Pastor Eddie Brannon of
Sens. Liane Levetan of the 40th and David Adelman of the 42nd recognized Dr. James Wagner for his appointment as the
19th President of Emory University.
Dr. Wagner gave brief remarks
pledging that he and the
Sen. Joey Brush of the 24th introduced the Doctor of the Day, Dr. Jerry Lambert, a family practice
physician in
Sen. Seth Harp of the 16th spoke to his resolution
recognizing individually decorated combat veterans of the Georgia National
Guard for their service to the state and nation. Major General David Poythress spoke to the Senate regarding the Georgia National
Guard’s operations in
Lt. Gov. Taylor noted that General Poythress
has an extensive public service history in
Sen. Connie Stokes of the 43rd spoke to her resolution
recognizing Stephen Coleman of
Daedlus Capital, LLC for his service and performance as a fund manager for
investors in Georgia and nationwide.
Sen. Don Cheeks of the 23rd spoke to his resolution
recognizing Marta Goodson as an outstanding educator at
Sen. Brush spoke to his resolution recognizing Carol Hough, a Milken National Educator Award recipient and educator
at
Sen. Valencia Seay of the 34th spoke to her resolution recognizing the superior athletic
performance of the North Clayton County Athletic Association cheerleaders.
Sen. Carol Jackson of the 50th spoke to her resolution
recognizing Macy Sirmans, the Georgia Youth Poet Laureate, who recited
a poem she wrote honoring
Sen. Ross Tolleson of the 18th spoke to his resolutions
recognizing several students who have excelled in academics from various high
schools throughout his district.
Sen. Michael Meyer von Bremen of the 12th spoke to his resolution honoring Dr. and Mrs. Charles Ward for their service to citizens of
Sens. Bill Hamrick of the 30th and Nathan Dean of the 31st spoke to their resolution
recognizing Carrollton High School’s 2004 State Champion Cheerleading Squad. The captain of the squad gave brief remarks
thanking the Senate for welcoming and honoring the championship team.
Sen. Mary Squires of the 5th spoke to her resolution
recognizing Joe Smith for his
service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There were no unanimous consents.
The following Points of Personal
Privilege were made:
Sen.
Eric Johnson of the 1st
took the well to talk about scheduling.
He noted that the Senate would be in session on Monday, March 15th;
Wednesday, March 17th; and Friday, March 19th pending the
Senate’s approval of House Resolution 1575.
Sen.
Sam Zamarripa of the 36th
took the well to ask the Senate to join him in a moment of silence for the nearly
200 lives that were lost in a suspected terrorist bombing in
Sen.
Kasim Reed of the 35th
took the well to share that Rep. Roger
Bruce of the 45th had been hospitalized due to a stroke. He said Rep. Bruce is in stable condition and asked the Senate to join him in a
moment of silent prayer on his behalf.
Sen.
Mike Crotts of the 17th
took the well to urge the leadership of the House to allow the members of its
body to vote for a second time on SR 595.
He noted that the House already has voted in favor of reconsidering its
position on the Resolution.
Points
of Personal Privilege were suspended to continue the reading and adoption of
privileged resolutions.
Sens.
Harp and Nadine Thomas of the 10th spoke to their resolution
recognizing the U.S.A. Track and Field Georgia Chapter for outstanding athletic
performance.
Privileged
Senate Resolutions 884-898 were read and adopted.
Sen.
Thomas of the 54th made a
motion to withdraw HB 1138, which would make it an offense to smoke in a motor
vehicle with a child in a car seat, from the Transportation Committee and
recommit it to the Health and Human Services Committee. Without objection the motion carried.
The
Local Consent Calendar, SB 615 and HB 1112, passed by a vote of 41 to 0.
Sen.
Renee Unterman of the 45th
took the well to speak to her legislation, SB 458, which revises the
definition, licensure and job description of physician assistants.
Sen.
Thomas of the 10th took the
well to speak to Amendment 1, which will give advanced practice nurses
prescriptive authority.
Sen.
Gloria Butler of the 55th
took the well to speak in support of Amendment 1.
Sen.
Unterman made a parliamentary
inquiry to ask the Lt. Governor to rule on the germaneness of Amendment 1 to SB
458. Lt. Gov. Taylor ruled that the Amendment was germane to the underlying
bill. He added that if the Senator
objected to his ruling he would defer to the Senate Parliamentarian, President
Pro Tempore Eric Johnson of the 1st,
for his ruling on germaneness. Sen. Unterman
objected to the Lt. Governor’s ruling.
Sen.
Thomas of the 10th made a
parliamentary inquiry citing sections from SB 458.
Sen.
Unterman then moved to table the
bill; Sen. Thomas of the 10th
objected to the motion.
The
motion to table SB 458 carried by a vote of 32 to 17.
Sen.
Tolleson took the well to speak to
SB 528, which would require that firearms dealers applying for a license, must
submit to a criminal background check as part of the licensing process. It
passed by a vote of 49 to 0.
Sen.
Dan Moody of the 27th
took the well to speak to SB 554, which provides for the Spread the Word Program Act.
The Act would provide for children and schools that need additional
books. SB 554 passed by a vote of 52 to
0.
Sen.
Ginger Collins of the 6th
took the well to speak to SB 564, which provides that social security numbers
shall not be used as the identification number on drivers licenses. Sen. Collins
also introduced an Amendment that allows a one-time exception for automatic
renewals. She yielded to questions from
Sens. Regina Thomas of the 2nd
and Don Balfour of the 9th.
Sen.
Crotts introduced Amendment 2, which
would identify non-citizen immigrants with a green transparent line down the
right side on the face of their drivers license. He
yielded to questions from Sens. Zamarripa,
David Shafer of the 48th,
Mitch Seabaugh of the 28th,
Chuck Clay of the 37th, Meyer von Bremen and Robert Brown of the 26th.
Sen.
Zamarripa took the well to speak in
opposition to Amendment 2. He yielded to
questions from Sen. Seay and Vincent Fort of the 39th.
Sen.
Crotts made a motion to withdraw his
Amendment. Without objection the motion
carried.
The
Committee Amendment, which changes the effective date, was adopted by a vote of
37 to 0.
Amendment
1 was adopted by a vote of 38 to 0.
SB
564 as amended was passed by a vote of 49 to 0.
Majority
Leader, Sen. Bill Stephens of the 51st
moved to stand in recess until 5 p.m., and then adjourned until
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