From the State House

We are now over halfway through the 2006 General Assembly session. I am proud to say that we have passed some very important and meaningful legislation.

This week was no exception as we moved to help military families, protected our children from internet pornography, and cracked down on the effects MTBE can have on our environment.

House Bill 984 is an important piece of legislation for families, whose mother or father has been called up for active duty overseas or is on leave from an overseas deployment. They will be granted excused absences up to a maximum of five days per school year.

This legislation pertains to all members of the military including those on active duty, the Reserves and the National Guard. With many of our Georgia National Guardsmen serving in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom, upon their return it is incredibly important that these families have time to be together to reconnect. This is our way of helping those families have that quality time together after the return of a parent. We passed this bill unanimously.

Additionally, we passed the state’s version of the federal Child’s Internet Protection Act. This piece of legislation mirrors its federal predecessor in protecting children and youth from internet pornography. One hundred percent of school districts are already in compliance with the federal mandate; however, legislation was needed at the state level where schools receive the majority of funding.

Floor action moved quickly to another measure which would institute a gradual phase out of the gasoline additive MTBE. The state acted to ban the additive due to its harmful effects on the environment. MTBE degrades slowly in nature and also binds itself with water to make disintegration a longer process.

On the education front, we passed House Bill 661. This bill will allow local school boards to give permission to parents and guardians to remove their children from school clubs or organizations. This bill was amended from its original form which would have required school boards to have written permission for any child to join a club.

The amended bill requires the parents to give written permission only if they don’t want their child in a certain organization. This bill came as part of an effort to allow parents greater control over their children’s activities and easily passed 143-25.

Thanks for allowing me to serve you. It is an honor and privilege and I enjoy my duties immensely. I will always take my job seriously, but never myself.

Call me anytime on my cell phone 478-957-2544 or via e-mail jmalcolmcole@hotmail.com.