News from the House

This year’s General Assembly session is coming to a close as we finished the 33rd day of a possible 40 legislative day session. Day 30 went until the early morning hours as it took members of the House of Representatives until 2 a.m. to debate and vote on the 82 bills deemed important enough to send to the Senate for consideration.

One of the best pieces of legislation to pass the House is H.B. 848. This bill would create a constitutional amendment exempting those 65 and older from paying state property taxes on homesteaded property of up to 10 acres.

If approved by the Senate and Governor Perdue, the bill would then require voter approval at the ballot box this November.

We also passed “Mercedes Law.” This legislation creates laws for the proper enclosure of vicious dogs and the procedures necessary to make local law enforcement aware of the presence of vicious dogs in the community. It also sets guidelines regarding the handling of vicious dogs when outside of their pens, and it establishes the confiscation requirements should an owner of a vicious dog be in violation. We easily passed this bill 155-10.

We also cracked down on businesses that try to cheat Georgia taxpayers. By unanimously passing H.B. 1506, we increased the penalties for dealers who “knowingly and willfully” fail to collect the state sales tax, falsify returns, or fail to open records for inspection.

Penalties include fines ranging from $100 to $5,000 and jail terms of up to a year. Subsequent convictions will result in fines up to $10,000 and five years in jail.

In an ongoing effort to improve education, we overwhelmingly passed two bills. H.B. 1227 creates the Agricultural Education Oversight Commission and H.B. 1228 creates the Career and Technical Education Oversight Commission. Both commissions would be tasked with reviewing the needs and problems associated with their respective areas of expertise.

We also passed Senate Bill 381, a bill that would provide state flags to honor Georgia Public Safety Officers killed in the line of duty.

Flags would also be provided for those individuals who have who have died after having served the state for an extended period of time. We passed this bill unanimously.

We are just about to wrap this session up. As of this article, we should have a little less than two weeks left.

I have learned a lot of lessons here at the Capitol and I will leave you with one more before ending: Most elected officials are conscientious and want to do a good job. Abilities and effectiveness vary greatly, but “desire to do a good job” is a pretty consistent quality. There is lots of good in the worst and a considerable amount of bad in the best.

In other words, just like a cross-section of society with a little extra ego thrown in for those in public office.

Call me sometime. You can reach me on my cell (478)957-2544 or via email jmalcolmcole@ hotmail. com.