Legislative Update – Week Seven

Fractional Penny SPLOST Legislation Vote Comes Up Short

The fractional penny SPLOST legislation, which would give local governments the option to levy less than a penny SPLOST, failed by twelve votes in the House last week.  The bills author asked that the House reconsider its action on legislative day 30, the last day House legislation can crossover to the Senate.

Clayton County Transit Referendum Legislation Passes House

The House passed HB 1009, by a vote of 163-2, which would remove the local sales tax cap in Clayton County allowing Clayton County residents the ability to levy a one percent sales tax for transit purposes.  The legislation now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Legislation to Help Define Discovery of Electronic Stored Communications Passes House

Legislation that helps define the parameters that businesses and attorneys must practice in maintaining and filing for discovery of electronic stored communications passed the House this week.  The legislation, HB 643, is fashioned after North Carolina and Florida laws.  In clarifying the intent of the legislation, Troutman Sanders LLP stated, “These changes attempt to keep pace with the reality of modern litigation and the discovery burdens caused by the ever-increasing volume of electronically stored information subject to discovery.”  The legislation is now being reviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Joint Study Committee on SPLOST Passes Senate Committee

A joint House and Senate 17 member study committee resolution passed the Senate Finance Committee this week.  The study committee would look at a fractional penny SPLOST, allowing local school systems to use local sales tax monies for purposes other than capital construction, working with adjacent local governments on projects of regional significance and other reforms to the existing SPLOST law.  Because the resolution proposes a joint study committee, the resolution must be adopted by both the Senate and House of Representatives.

Legislative Day 30 is Monday

Both the House and Senate must pass legislation originating in their respective legislative body by midnight Monday, March 3, 2014.   However, legislation that doesn’t pass by the 30^th legislative day is not necessarily dead for 2014.  Legislators will continue to look for opportunities to get their legislative language adopted after the Day 30 restriction by amending other legislation that deals with the same subject matter.  When taken to an extreme, this is commonly known as “Christmas treeing” a bill with other legislative language that was not in the originally introduced version of the bill.

Have a great week.

For detailed information on specific legislation visit:   www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/Search.aspx