April 7, 2005
The 2004-2005 Session HAS ENDED!
Here is what happened.
BILLS/RESOLUTIONS THAT PASSED or DIED
SR 49 - “The Faith & Family Services Amendment ” - OPPOSE - DEAD!!
This resolution would repeal the Georgia state constitutional provision governing the separation of church and state. Our state provision, like that of 37 other states, is more stringent than the federal constitution. The effect of the bill would be to open the door to school vouchersand the stated intent of the bill is to implement a Bush-like, faith-based program. The resolution was passed by the Senate Rules Committee. No notice was given that the bill would be discussed in the Committee. The entire Rules meeting was 15 minutes. On February 10, 2005, the resolution failed on the Senate floor with a vote of 35-20-1. But a motion for reconsideration passed on February 14. The bill came to the Senate floor again on March 11. This time the bill failed by an even greater margin - 33-21-1.
Please take time to thank those legislators who voted NO.
SR 326 - Ten Commandments Senate Resolution - OPPOSE - PASSED
This resolution asserted the constitutionality of government displays of the Ten Commandments and urged the governor and local governments to post the Ten Commandments. The bill also contained admonishing judges for “making laws” and defined religion in accordance with Judge Roy Moore’s definition. The bill passed with a vote of 41-8-7 on March 17, 2005.
HB 67 - Druid Hills Bill - OPPOSE - PASSED
The City of Atlanta has a public accommodations law that prohibits a business that provides public accommodations from discriminating on the basis of marital status or sexual orientation. The Druid Hills Golf Club, which has an alcohol license and serves more than just its private members falls within the law. The state legislature has decided to inject itself into the dispute between the City and the Club by passing a state law, prohibiting the City from adopting such anti-discrimination ordinances. The bill passed the House on February 7, 2005 with a vote of 124-39. It is now in the Senate State and Local Government Operations (G) Committee. On February 16, 2005, the Senate Committee favorably reported the bill out of the Committee. The bill passed the Senate on Thursday, March 17 with a vote of 37-11-8
HB 197 - “Woman’s Right to Know Act ” - OPPOSE - PASSED
This bill combines the 24 hour waiting period and state-scripted information requirements of the “Woman’s Right to Know Act” and the stringent amendments to the current parental notification statute. This bill was passed by a special subcommittee of the House Health and Human Services Committee on Wednesday,February 9, 2005On February 16, 2005, the full committee adopted a committee substitute and made some additional amendments to the bill. Although the bill is improved, it is still an unnecessary piece of legislation that makes women’s access to abortion more dangerous, difficult, and expensive. This bill passed the House and on March 4 passed the Senate. The bill now only awaits a signature from the Governor.
HB 340 - Open Records and Public Colleges and Foundations - OPPOSE - PASSED
This bill would prevent access to information about donations to public colleges and foundations. This bill passed on the floor of the House on March 3, 2005 with a vote of 129-30-21. An amendment was added to the bill to expand the Open Records Act as well. The negative implications of the main provision in the bill, however, outweighs any benefits from the amendment. The Senate Higher Education Committee, held two hearings on the bill and favorably reported the bill out of committee. They removed the amendment placed on the bill in the House. Furthermore, they amended the main text of the bill. Although the amendment limits the scope of the exemption, it still does not respond to most of our objections to the bill. The Chairman of the Rules Committee stated that the bill will not go to the floor unless there is one Democrat who will vote for the bill. On March 24, 2005, the bill was put on the floor of the Senate and it narrowly passed with a 30-21-6 vote. Six Republicans voted against the bill and 2 Democrats voted for the bill. One of the Democrats who voted for the bill stated that he did so because he was threatened that funding for the school in his district would be slashed if he opposed the bill. The House narrowly approved the Senate amendments. In fact, the vote was so close that the Speaker of the House had to cast a vote in order for the bill to achieve a constitutional majority.
HB 437 - Open Records Act Exemption for ALL Public Employees - OPPOSE - PASSED
This bill would exempt information about public employees. Currently, the social security number and the financial and medical information about an employee is protected. Now, all that is available is a person’s name and address. This bill would prevent that information from being obtained by the public. This bill passed the House Committee on Governmental Affairs and passed unanimously on the House floor. On March 18, 2005 the Senate State and Local Government Organizations Committee took up the bill and reported the bill out favorably. On March 24, 2005, the bill passed the Senate on a party-line vote. Those who opposed the bill noted that it was unnecessary, broadly worded, and it was targeted at Labor Unions for political reasons.
HB 577 - Fingerprints on Driver’s Licenses - SUPPORT - PASSED
Currently a person must submit his or her fingerprint in order to get a driver’s license. That print is stored in a computer system, that is maintained by a private company and your print is also stored on the license itself. This bill would prohibit the state from collecting your print and would require that all print collected by the DMV be destroyed. This bill was favorably reported by the House Motor Vehicles Committee on March 4, 2005.It was passed by the House on Saturday March 12 with a vote of 118-33-16. It was passed out favorably from the Senate Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee with a unanimous vote on Thursday, March 17, 2005. The bill passed the Senate with three amendments on March 24, 2005. The vote was 40-10-6. One of the amendments was troubling because of its anti-immigrant sentiments. Because of the amendment, the ACLU stopped its vocal support of the bill. Overall, however, the benefits of biometric portion of the bill outweighs the potential implications of the amendments in the bill. The House approved the Senate amendments and now the bill goes to the Governor for signature.
HB 597/244 - ID at Polling Places - OPPOSE - PASSED
HB 597, like SB 84, would require that people show a photo ID at polling places. The House Governmental Affairs Committee favorably reported the bill on March 4, 2005. This bill is dead because it was not passed by the House before crossover day. The text of the bill, however, was put onto another bill - HB 244. That bill was passed by the House on March 11, 2005. This bill, like SB 244 evoked passionate opposition and passage evoked a walkout.
HB 678 - Prayer at Public School Athletic Events When Held At Private School - OPPOSE - PASSED
This bill would state that private schools may hold a pray over the intercom at a joint private/public school sporting event. This bill is clearly unconstitutional in that it would coerce public school students to participate in prayer during public school functions. The House Governmental Affairs Committee favorably reported the bill on March 4, 2005. It was passed on the House floor on with a vote of 149-10-21. The bill was then favorably reported out of the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday, March 16. The bill passed on the Senate floor on 49-1-6. We thank Senator Fort for being the only person in the Senate who recognized the unconstitutionality of the bill.
BILLS STILL ALIVE FOR NEXT YEAR
HB 218 - Public Records Exemption- OPPOSE -
H.B. 218 could dramatically undercut the public’s ability to find out almost anything that government officials decide to call “a program of economic development.” That could include a new factory that creates much needed jobs, or, it could include a waste treatment plant, a dump for out of state garbage, or a private prison. The bill proposes to shield from public view the identity of the parties to the terms of any agreement being negotiated by a public agency, to the extent the agency couches the deal as “ economic development. There is no evidence that our Open Records Law has prevented Georgia from landing economic development deals.
This bill was passed in the House on Wednesday, February 9, 2005, with a vote of 118-52. It was also approved by the Senate Economic Development Committee on February 15, 2005. The bill was put on the Senate floor on Thursday February 24, 2005. The supporters of the bill intended to pass the bill with two amendments. The Senator carrying the bill in the Senate placed the bill on the table, however, because he lacked the bills to pass it. A bill on the table can be brought up on the floor at any time after a member makes a motion to remove the bill from the table and a majority of the members vote in favor of removing the bill. Then, at that moment, the bill will be voted on. This could happen at any time.
Contact your Senator and tell him or her to vote NO on this limitation to public knowledge about taxpayer incentives to corporations.
SB 69 - Choose Life License Plates - OPPOSE
This bill would create license plates that state “Choose Life.” There is no contemplation of any pro-Choice license plates. Because the state is permitting one viewpoint on abortion, but not the other, this bill violates the Free Speech Clause of the US Constitution. This bill was approved by the Senate Public Safety Committee on February 16, 2005. The full Senate passed the bill and rejected an amendment to add “Pro-family, Pro-choice plates” on March 4, 2005. It is now in the House Motor Vehicles Committee.
SB 84 - ID at the Polls Bill - OPPOSE
This bill would severely limit the types of identification that are acceptable at polling places in Georgia.
The Senate State and Local Government Committee passed the bill out of Committee on February 24, 2005. On March 11, 2005 the bill came to the Senate floor and was passed. Members of the black caucus passionately opposed the bill. In response, the leadership cut off debate. After the bill passed with a 33-21-3 vote, the black caucus and most members of the Democratic party left the floor in protest. The bill is now in the House Committee for Governmental Affairs. A subcommittee and then the full committee held hearings and approved the bill. The bill will not move next year because HB 244, its counterpart passed both chambers this year.
SB 153 - Open Records for Educational Facilities - SUPPORT
This bill was introduced in response to a recent court decision that held that the Mercer University Police Department was not subject to the Open Records Act. The Court acknowledged that the importance of having the department subject to the Open Records Act was just as high as other police departments, and encouraged the legislature to fix the language of the statute. This bill would do just that. This bill was favorably reported out of Senate Judiciary on March 4, 2005. The bill passed the Senate on the consent calendar on March 11. Therefore, no official vote on this bill was taken. The bill was favorably reported out of House Judiciary on March 17, 2005. It now heads to the Rules Committee.
SR 42 - “Faith-based Amendment” - OPPOSE
This resolution is another faith-based bill. It is a vast improvement over SR 49 - it would not open the door to vouchers, and it would require that only “separate affiliates” of religious organizations could get state funds-but it does not provide ample protections against taxpayer money funding religious discrimination. Furthermore, no change in our state constitution is needed because religiously affiliated organizations can receive state funds if they abide by the same rules as secular organizations.
SB 123 - Pharmacist Exemption for Emergency Contraception - OPPOSE
This bill would allow pharmacists who “believe” that a drug causes an abortion to refuse to provide that drug. There are no protections in the bill for women seeking the drugs. For example, there is no requirement that the pharmacist refer the woman to another pharmacist. Because this bill lacks those protections, we oppose the bill. This bill was favorably reported by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on March 2, 2005. It is now in the Rules Committee. This bill was not passed in Senate before cross over day and is dead for the session.
SB 149 - Permission Slips for Gay/Straight Alliance - OPPOSE
SB 149 is designed to prevent students from joining gay/straight alliances at public schools. The Equal Access Act states that if a school allows non-curricular clubs at school, it must allow all others, regardless of the content of the speech of the club. This bill, in order to prevent students from joining gay/straight alliances, would require permission slips for students before they can join ANY club or attend ANY extracurricular activity. This bill was scheduled for committee consideration twice. The bill was not acted upon because the BOE has begum passing regulations to address the situation. The bill is dead for the session.
SR 184 - Capital Punishment Study Commission - SUPPORT
Creates a study commission to study the administration of the death penalty and to place a moratorium on executions.
SB 77 - “The Woman’s Right to Know Act” - OPPOSE
This bill combines the 24 hour waiting period and state-scripted information requirements of the “Woman’s Right to Know Act” and the stringent amendments to the current parental notification statute. Further, this bill would implement civil liability on doctors from those other than the woman who receives the abortion. The bill passed the House and Human Services Committee on 2/12/04. Because HB 197 passed, this bill will not be moving.
SB 148 - Racial Profiling Bill - SUPPORT
This bill would ban racial profiling for traffic stops, require officers to attend training on racial profiling, and require officers to collect data regarding traffic stops.
SB 213 - The “Racial and Ethnic Justice Act of 2005" - OPPOSE
This bill claims to take on the problem of racial profiling. The problem with the bill, however, it would not accomplish this goal. Passing a bill that does not address the problem will make it even more difficult to pass a bill that would address the problems.
IN THE HOUSE
HB 4 - “Baby’s Right to Know Act” - OPPOSE
The state would ask an unmarried woman, who just gave birth to name the father of the baby. The state would then contact the father and tell him that his child has been born. This bill implicates core privacy and parenting rights. Furthermore, this bill could creates severe dangers for women in abusive relationships. This bill was heard by a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee and was tabled.
HB 13 - Aggravated Sodomy - OPPOSE
This bill would amend the current aggravated sodomy law so as to provide that the penalty for the crime is DEATH. This bill was brought up in a Judiciary subcommittee, but no action was taken.
HB 30 - Racial Profiling Bill - SUPPORT
This bill would ban racial profiling for traffic stops, require officers to attend training on racial profiling, and require officers to collect data regarding traffic stops.
HB 93 - Abortion Unlawful - OPPOSE
This bill would make abortion illegal in all instances.
HB 156 - Women’s Informed Consent Act - OPPOSE
This is a modification of the “Women’s Right to Know Act.” The bill is a vast improvement over HB 197 and SB 77. However, as abortion is already covered by informed consent law, no 24 hour waiting period or state scripted information is necessary. Because HB 197 passed both chambers, this bill will not go any further.
HB 158 - Historical Documents - OPPOSE
Prohibits a school that receives state funds from “restrict[ing] the use of historical documents in classrooms for educational purposes on the basis that such documents contain or make reference to God or the Creator. This bill is problematic because it is misleading to teachers and schools and could be in conflict with the federal and state constitution. Although it does not violate the Constitution to use such documents in many contexts, these documents could also be used in unconstitutional ways (such as when many of these documents are used, redacted to only their religious references, and taught out of context). The bill, as written, would prohibit schools from prohibiting even improper uses of the documents. The House Education Committee Favorably Approved the Bill. This bill was not passed in House before cross over day and is dead for the session.
HB 179 - Evolution Bill - OPPOSE
This bill, prompted by the Cobb County Disclaimer sticker case, would require the teaching of “evidence supporting or consistent with evolution theory and factual scientific evidence inconsistent with or not supporting the theory shall be included in the course of study.” On February 17, 2005, a subcommittee of the House Education Committee tabled the bill.
HB 243 - Feticide Act - OPPOSE
This bill would add more crimes that would be considered feticide. This bill was favorably approved by a special judiciary subcommittee on March 9. This bill was not passed in House before cross over day and is dead for the session.