The Latest Local News from the Rome News
Eddie Lumsden was happy to hear the gavel slam down when midnight struck on the last day of the 2015 General Assembly session.
A Georgia state representative for three terms, the Armuchee Republican knew the 40-day session would be stressful.
“The last two were a piece of cake compared to this year,” Lumsden said. “This year has been more intense. It seems like everything we’ve dealt with has been more intense.”
The intensity abruptly ended at midnight Thursday when the gavel came crashing down at the end of “Sine Die,” which means the proceedings have ended and no future date to meet is set.
Lawmakers passed a plethora of bills before the gavel sounded. Among them are a $40 billion state budget, a $900 million transportation bill and a medical marijuana initiative that made Georgia history.
Among the bills that failed to reach Gov. Nathan Deal’s desk is the contentious Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a measure filed by state Sen. Josh McKoon that drew national attention.
Lumsden said the media attention garnered by a similar bill that recently passed in Indiana played a role in the Georgia bill’s fate.
Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, said many people mischaracterized the bill.
“It is in no way meant to discriminate,” Hufstetler said.
RFRA may gain headlines, but it’s each representative or senator’s personal bills that typically dominate their thoughts as the session slowly grinds along.
Lumsden shepherded House Bill 402, that if enacted would provide incentives to businesses to hire 16- and 17-year-olds. It didn’t pass this year. Lumsden said the Workers Compensation Advisory Committee will first examine it before it moves through the legislative process.
The committee meets before each session.
Lumsden filed the bill late this session, and the committee didn’t have a chance to examine it. He anticipates it’ll return to lawmakers’ desks next year.
Hufstetler finds himself in the same position with his Senate Bill 115. If passed, it would allow physician’s assistants to prescribe certain drugs — a power they had previously before a federal law change removed it.
The bill remains in the Senate, and can be considered next session. If it fails to pass both chambers before Sine Die 2016, it would die.
Rep. Christian Coomer, R-Cassville, carried bills that if signed into law would rewrite the state’s juvenile justice code and reform child care laws.
Rep. Katie Dempsey, R-Rome, attributed a positive attitude on Sine Die to the passage of major legislation, including the budget and transportation bill. The speed of legislation reached a fever pitch as midnight approached on the last day, as it typically does, but at least lawmakers had dealt with most looming legislation.
Dempsey carried five bills this session — the most she’s shouldered in her nine years as a lawmaker. All five passed, including the Jason Flatt Act, which will require all public school personnel to receive annual training in suicide awareness and prevention if signed by the governor.
“Overall I think we had one of Georgia’s most effective legislative sessions,” Dempsey said. “We made some really difficult and impacting decisions that will affect all of Georgia.”
Source: Rome News
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