Yesterday In The Georgia Legislature – 02/11/21

This is an informal rundown of the legislative happenings.

The House of Representatives passed the following measures:

HB 97 – Rep. Rob Leverett 

LINK → https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/58936 
WHAT THE BILL DOES:

• Requires that the Chief Clerk of Probate Clerk take an oath of office
• Sets the text of the oath
• Requires that the administration of the oath, the text of the oath, and to whom it was administered be recorded in the minutes of the court
• This is to streamline the line of succession in the event of an untimely death of a Probate Judge (as has been the case several times during the pandemic)
  • Currently, a number of courts do not outline who the chief clerk is.
• Probate Council is requesting this bill

Passed: 172-0

HB 106 – Rep. Heath Clark

LINK → https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/58953 
WHAT THE BILL DOES:

• Adds the state defense force to state indemnification fund
• Volunteers that get called in natural disasters and other capacities similar to that of the National Guard, if they are killed/injured/otherwise disabled, they cannot currently collect from the state indemnification fund. 
• This legislation ensures they can be participants of the state indemnification fund

Passed: 170-0

HB 134 – Rep. Victor Anderson

LINK → https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/59005 
WHAT THE BILL DOES:

• Allows governments to go into executive session to discuss cyber security contracts, planning, and protection matters
• Restricts any and all documents pertaining to cyber security from public record release under the Georgia Open Records Act
• Open meetings the ability to enter into executive session cyber security contracts, planning, and protect documents associated with from open records requests 

CONCERN: The executive session component is legitimate, as is the concern for cybersecurity specifics. The bill is problematic in that the actual contract will be sealed. The public has the right to know how much is being paid, to whom, and for what types of services…and all of that will be sealed because of the ‘any and all provision’ as it relates to documents. We can always hope that local and state agencies will do what’s best and release that information anyway, but they rely so heavily on the exact verbiage of the law, that will not happen. The unintended consequence will be less transparency, even though there is a legitimate concern for cybersecurity risks.
Passed: 170-0

HB 153 – Rep. Marcus Wiedower 

LINK → https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/59028 
WHAT THE BILL DOES:

• Will require a company that sends a solicitation in the mail about registering a business with the SOS to include a disclaimer 
• Any time the solicitation pertains to renewal of corporate licenses and also looks like a government document, there would be a required statement at the top about it falling under the definition of a ‘solicitation.’ 
• The sponsor said “People get confused” and end up paying double or triple the money required.
• This does not apply to all solicitations that look like government documents, just this specific type of solicitation about SOS registration/business license renewals. 
  • Legislature took similar action 5-6 years ago with regard to real estate documents. No word on if it has stopped people from getting scammed.

CONCERN: It is inconsistent as the state legislature thinks consumers are incapable of deciphering these documents in particular, but others are fair game.
Passed: 169-0

The Senate passed the following measures:

SB 44 – Senator Bruce Thompson

Link –> https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/59076
WHAT THE BILL DOES:

• Creates a special license plate which reads ‘Support Our Troops’
• Funds collected go to ‘Support Our Troops, Inc.’

Passed 52-0

SB 60 – Senator Bruce Thompson

LINK –>https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/59206
WHAT THE BILL DOES:

• Pertains to the State Indemnification Fund for public safety officers
• Revises the definition to include all public safety officers and outline ‘line of duty work’ as nonroutine and strenuous
• Specifically, work-related to law enforcement, fire suppression, rescue, hazardous material response, emergency medical services, prison or jail security, disaster relief, or any other emergency response…or the training associated with the aforementioned
• Also adds ‘heart attack, stroke, or vascular rupture suffered by a public safety officer” to cause for activation of state indemnification fund benefits, if it occurred while on duty or on duty immediately following a strenuous a work-related activity, or within 24 hours of the event, unless other medical evidence refutes that the work activity was not the cause of the heart attach, stroke, or vascular rupture.

Passed 51-0