Public Policy

The Douglas County Chamber in partnership with the Junior League of Douglas County hosted a post-legislative discussion event featuring a panel discussion with state legislators. The event was held on Wednesday, May 1st at the Douglasville Conference Center. The event featured a panel discussion with Douglas County Delegation facilitated by Georgia Chamber President and CEO,…

The Georgia General Assembly completed its fifth week of the 2015 session on Thursday, February 12. The legislature has now exhausted 15 legislative days of the 40-day session. An adjournment resolution was passed by both Chambers last week, which sets the final day of session for April 2. With 15 days of the session gone,…

Thursday, January 29 was the eighth legislative day of the 2015 40-day session. They plan to be in session three days this week, meeting on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The calendar has been set through Thursday, February 12, which will be the fifteenth legislative day. The major issues last week were the passage of the…

The General Assembly was in recess last week both to observe the MLK holiday and to conduct joint House and Senate budget hearings.  Agency heads presented their budgets to the joint committees and answered questions from committee members regarding their spending plans. Last Thursday, the Governor addressed the joint committees to highlight budget issues of importance…

The Georgia General Assembly kicked off the 2015 session on Monday, January 12. It was a busy week with Governor Deal, Lt. Governor Cagle and the other Constitutional officers and members of the General Assembly being sworn in on Monday. On Tuesday Governor Deal, Lt. Governor Cagle and Speaker Ralston addressed over 2,000 attendees of…

2014 Session Ends With Mixed Reviews The 2014 legislative session saw almost 2,200 bills and resolutions introduced by both the House and Senate.  That compares to over 2,700 bills and resolutions introduced during the 2013 legislative session.  One reason for the drop could be the quick pace of this year’s session, which ended on March…

2014 Weekly Legislative Update March 17-21, 2014 – Week Nine   2014 Legislature Calls It Quits, Goes Home on March 20   The legislature adjourned this week from the 2013-14 Session of the Georgia General Assembly.  Because hundreds of bills were debated and amended by the House and Senate during the final day of the…

Fractional Penny SPLOST Passes both Houses – Differences Must be Reconciled   The Senate passed the fractional penny SPLOST this week with overwhelming support.  However, the Senate version includes language that would allow for multiple fractional SPLOST’s to be levied simultaneously; language the House struck from their original legislation.  Thursday afternoon the House disagreed with…

2014 Weekly Legislative Update March 3-7, 2014 – Week Eight   House Reconsiders It’s Actions and Instead Passes Fractional Penny SPLOST Legislation   After defeating the fractional penny SPLOST legislation two weeks ago, the House reconsidered its actions and passed the fractional penny SPLOST legislation last week.  The legislation was sent to the Senate where…