Legislative Report #4 of the 2006 Session of the Georgia General Assembly

Thursday (February 16th) was the midway point for the Session.  There are 20 more legislative days left.  During this past week, the supplemental budget for FY06 passed the Senate with some changes.  Because the Senate version is different from the House, it has gone to a conference committee.  The conference committee has been meeting to resolve those differences.  One of the conference committee members is Sen. Jack Hill, who is the chairperson of the Senate Appropriations Committee.  He is also a member of our Legislative General Oversight Committee (Oversight Committee).

Regarding the Oversight Committee, the first of the six 2006 required meetings scheduled for Thursday was postponed because the House members were still on the floor voting on the Governor’s education bill.   A new meeting time will be set.  Rep. Mack Crawford has been named by the Speaker of the House, Rep. Glenn Richardson, as chair of the Oversight Committee for the 2006 Session.  Rep. Crawford also chairs the Public Safety Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. Director Mike Mears and Deputy Director Sarah Haskin have presented our FY07 general budget request to this Subcommittee.

We hope that our bills, SB 503 (which contains most of our legislative agenda) and SR 793 (Removal Standard), will soon be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Crawford has introduced HB 1340 which provides for a county funded indigent defense coordinator in each county.  This person will determine indigence in accordance with our standards and will collect the $50 application fee.  HB 1340 also sets a statutory cap as to who will be considered indigent. 

The Senate Judiciary Committee has begun the first of several hearings on HB 1059 (sex offender bill) on Thursday.  It will continue hearing testimonies on the bill this coming Tuesday.  Sen. Preston Smith also introduced SB 521 which provides that individuals convicted of serious sex offenses are mentally ill and therefore will be civilly committed.   Circuit public defenders will represent these individuals in their civil commitment hearings.

New criminal justice bills that have been introduced so far are as follows:

House Bills

HB 1250: This bill extends the repeal date of the Probation Management Act of 2004 which created Day Reporting Centers from July 2006 to June 2008.
HB 1256: This bill requires procedures to be instituted for the goal of enhancing eyewitness identification accuracy.
HB 1266: This bill states that people in jail who are under the care and supervision of the Department of Human Resources for mental health reasons are transferred from the jail to a mental health facility until the time of their trial.
HB 1302: This bill amends the "Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act" by enhancing the penalties for participating in criminal street gang activity and providing for the admissibility of certain evidence at trial.
HB 1320: This bill extensively revises provisions relating to the offense of littering and other related environmental offenses.
HB 1330: This bill removes certain limitations with respect to the offering of rewards for the detection/apprehension of felons.
HB 1340: This bill provides for an indigent defense coordinator who will be responsible for reviewing applications for legal defense services.

HR 1336: This bill provides for the election of the Georgia Supreme Court Justices from districts.
HR 1392: This bill urges the State to implement and offer programs and education for substance abuse offenders to prevent recidivism.

Senate Bills

SB 521: This bill provides for civil commitment for certain sex offenses when aggravating circumstances are found beyond a reasonable doubt.
SB 522: This bill extends the commitment time for a delinquent juvenile.
SB 543: This bill changes provisions on granting appeal bonds and on what offenses are bailable.
SB 544: This bill provides that certain property used in conjunction with the producing of fake identification cards will be classified as contraband.
SB 546: This bill prohibits certain uses of cell phones while operating motor vehicles
SB 560: This bill provides that it shall be unlawful to have carnal knowledge with a disabled person who is incapable of granting consent.

Click here to see a full list of new criminal justice bills that have been introduced in this session so far.