News feed [Apr. 2, 2002]

April 2, 2002 News Feed
(Please feel free to personalize)
Greetings, this is Rep. _____________.
Day thirty-six brought nine Senate items for member consideration. Although the calendar was relatively short, there were a couple of measures drawing some spirited debate.
Undoubtedly, the topic drawing the most fire was SB 32, which deals with elections. Under the proposal, each county throughout Georgia would be required to form a county board of elections and registration. The five member boards would be made up of two members from the political party whose candidate received the most votes for Governor in the last statewide election, two members from the party which was the runner-up in the last Gubernatorial race, and one `at large' member to be selected by the county's superior court judge from a list of candidates provided by the other four members. Each county board would be charged with the conduction of all primary, general, and special elections as well as overseeing the county's voters' registration and absentee balloting processes. In order to avoid conflicts of interest, a provision within the legislation bans any elected official from serving as a member of any county's elections and registration board.
Concerns arose about the effect on smaller rural counties, a number of which use probate court judges to oversee their elections processes. Many of these counties have a smooth running system already, some lawmakers argued, and any change would merely cause turmoil to an otherwise effective system. Furthermore, they pointed to the provision in the bill requiring elections board members to be paid a per diem for their official activities saying such an expense effectively piles

another financial obligation onto the cities and counties of this state.

Supporters, however, claimed SB 32 aims only to bring about some

uniformity to the state's elections process. They also dismissed many of the

criticisms by noting that any locality wishing to remain under their old system

would merely have to pass a local legislation bill exempting themselves from the

elections board requirement before it takes effect in 2005.

A vote was taken, and although the measure garnered 88 votes in favor, it

needed 91 for passage. SB 32 was saved from the scrap heap, however, by a

motion to reconsider, which passed the House by a vote of 85-79. The proposal

will therefore be eligible for a re-vote in the coming legislative days.

Other items passing the House today include:

<

SB 409-- Allows the Georgia Building Authority to start up and

operate child care and child development facilities for the children of

state employees

<

SB 391-- adds a resident of the Hog Hammock community to the

Sapelo Island Heritage Authority

<

SB 530-- sets up a continuing education requirement for Bail

Bondsmen. The curriculum will be established by the Georgia

Association of Professional Bondsmen

<

SB 347-- exempts commercial trolling fishermen from the creel and

possession limits for whiting, spot, and Atlantic croaker. An

amendment was also added to exempt noncommercial pole fishermen

from the possession limits for whiting only

Reporting from your state capitol this is Rep._________. If you have any

questions or comments please do not hesitate to call me at (404) 656 (

).