Notes from the State House

The Georgia General Assembly has completed its 26th day in the session and the pace and volume has increased. Most of our efforts have been driven towards securing a budget agreement between the House and Senate.

The all important 30th day, affectionately called “crossover day,” is scheduled for Monday, March 13. As I mentioned last week, crossover day is the last day that legislation can be considered that hasn’t passed either the House or Senate.

On Thursday, the House signed off on a major piece of education legislation before adjourning late that afternoon. With passage of House Bill 1358, a long anticipated plan to reduce class sizes may finally go into effect.

The measure stipulates in very clear terms that the maximum class size for kindergarten not to exceed 18 children. Grades one through three cannot have more than 21 students, and fourth and fifth grade classes can’t seat more than 28 pupils. The maximum size for middle school is set at no more than 32.

The House of Representatives has passed several bills this year that are designed to increase access to health care for many Georgians. This week we passed legislation that will allow optometrists in Georgia to prescribe oral and topical pharmaceutical agents related to the diagnosis or treatment of diseases and conditions of the eye and areas related to the eye.

House Bill 1390 passed overwhelmingly by a 129-23 margin. Along the same venue, we also allowed advanced practice registered nurses to issue prescription drug orders and provide professional samples. H.B. 935 passed 146 to 6.

Giving prescriptive authority, under certain restrictions, to optometrists and APRNs, was viewed by many Representatives as a good alternative in helping to strengthen patient access to healthcare in rural and inner city locales.

The weekend of August 3-6 has been declared a sales and energy star tax holiday. The school sales tax holiday allows for state sales tax exemptions on school supplies, clothing, footwear, and computer tools up to specified amounts. While the energy star tax holiday will authorize tax free purchases of energy efficient items up to $1,500 for personal non-commercial use.

The measure will simplify bookkeeping for retail stores, the Department of Revenue, and consumers by combining the holidays. This will result in a consumer savings of over $11.28 million.

I will leave you with another lesson I have learned in Atlanta. Thomas Jefferson once said “….very few die, and none retire.” He was referring to office holders. In other words, if you continue to run long enough, you will probably be defeated.

And, if and when you are defeated, someone will take your place and will do the job—perhaps better than you did it—and the world will continue to turn.

Thanks for letting me serve and I am truly humbled to represent all of you.
Please call me 478-957-2544, or email me at jmalcolmcole@ hotmail.com