GEORGIA SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS ASSOCIATION
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE – 2018
WEEK SIX
With this week’s school shooting in Florida, the twenty-fifth since Columbine, we need to take a moment to say a prayer for all the individuals affected by this terrible act in Florida and for all others affected by senseless acts of violence in the past.
As the calendar keeps moving on for this legislative session, we have only six days remaining until crossover day. If most committees stay on their regular meeting schedules, there will be only one or two committee meetings left for bills to get out of conference, get on the long list of bills in the rules committees, and get voted on the floor before crossover day, which is legislative day twenty-eight. We are currently tracking thirty-two bills that have already made that journey. Those bills can be found under the HOT tab on the GSSA website, with “crossover” indicated in the short note comment section.
Just as a reminder, below is the legislative calendar for the days up to and including the 28th legislative day:
Tuesday, February 20th Legislative Day 23
Wednesday, February 21st Legislative Day 24
Thursday, February 23th Legislative Day 25
Friday, February 24th Legislative Day 26
Monday, February 27th Legislative Day 27
Wednesday, February 28th Legislative Day 28
Crossover day Legislation will need to be passed by one side and sent to the other side for consideration in the last 12 days of the session.
Thursday, March 1st Legislative Day 29
Currently, the legislative session is scheduled to end on March 31, 2018.
From February 12, 2018 through February 16, 2018, the House or the Senate took action on seventy bills. To see all of the education related bills that we are tracking, go to the GSSA website legislative page and enter the February 12 – February 16 dates in the DATE LOOK UP SECTION of the website and press go. A list of all those bills will be available for your review.
The Senate did pass the Amended FY18 Budget with changes. That budget will now be sent to a conference committee for work to agree on a final budget.
Another bill that has received a lot of attention this week is HB 903 – “Teachers Retirement System of Georgia; certain members shall not have a contractual expectation of cost of living postretirement benefit adjustments; provide”
This bill has been assigned to the House Retirement Committee. The members of the committee are listed below. As of Friday, February 16, 2018 the retirement committee has no scheduled meetings.
Committee Members
Battles, Paul Chairman
Kirby, Tom Vice Chairman
Watson, Sam Secretary
Bentley, Patty Member
Benton, Tommy Member
Beverly, James Member
Buckner, Debbie Member
Coleman, Brooks Member
Coomer, Christian Member
Gordon, J. Craig Member
Greene, Gerald E Member
Lopez, Brenda Member
Maxwell, Howard Member
Meadows, John Member
Thomas, Erica Member
Wilkerson, David Member
Williams, “Coach” Member
The House and Senate will be in recess until Tuesday, February 20, 2018 for the twenty-third day of the legislative session.
Be on the lookout for John Zauner’s weekly reports and occasional daily reports as well as his Twitter feeds. We will be posting daily legislative reports beginning on the 30th day of the session. Those reports will include all of the bills that crossed over to the other chamber.
Please remember in these trying times, that your efforts really do make a difference in the lives of students and their families. Families send their children to school every day to be in a nurturing and safe environment. Please continue your good work to ensure their safety and success.
If I can be of assistance to you with any of the activities of the 2018 legislative session, please contact me.
Michael Surma
Legislative Liaison
Georgia School Superintendents Association
404-909-1639
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