email : Webview : GAE Legislative Update for Tuesday, January 24

The House and Senate met again this morning for the 6th day of the 40-day legislative session. More and more bills are being introduced each day.

So far, four bills related to public education have been filed in the House:

HB 3, by Rep. Sandra Scott, D-Rex, creates a new weight in the QBE funding formula that would add money for school districts with a large number of students who are living in poverty. Assigned to House Education Committee.

HB 32, by Demetrius Douglas, D-Stockbridge, would essentially require the use of video instant replay for high school football championship games. Assigned to House Education Committee.

HB 51, by Rep. Clay Pirkle, R-Ashburn, would allow the use of "vehicles other than school buses for the transport" for any student. Current law, adopted in 2021, allowed the use of such vehicles to transport students receiving special education services and students who were homeless as defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Not yet assigned to committee.

HB 54. Last year, Rep. John Carson, R-Marietta, tried to double the state's existing tax break for donors to private schools. He was unsuccessful thanks to GAE's persistent lobbying on the issue. HB 54 is Rep. Carson's attempt to once again double the tax break, which will cost the state $200 million each year, a little less than a billion in the next 10 years. Not yet assigned to committee.

Additional new legislation will posted as the session progresses.

Legislative Calendar for This Week

The first meeting of the Senate Education and Youth Committee, originally scheduled for today, was postponed.

Tomorrow, the General Assembly will convene at 10 a.m. Gov. Brian Kemp will give his annual State of the State address at 11 a.m. The governor's speech will be live streamed at: https://www.gpb.org/events/news/2023/01/25/governor-kemps-state-of-the-state-address.

The House and Senate have competing meetings of their respective Higher Education Committees tomorrow, at 1 p.m. The House committee will meet in Room 606 of the Coverdell Office Building and the Senate committee will meet in 307 Coverdell. The House meeting live streams at https://vimeo.com/showcase/8988696?autoplay=1 and the Senate meeting at https://vimeo.com/showcase/9076408?autoplay=1. No substantive action is expected in either committee as the committees organize themselves into subcommittees and adopt committee rules for the session.

FIRST BATCH OF NEW BILLS FILED

Legislative Calendar for This Week

2023 GAE DAY AT THE CAPITOL

Next Legislative Alert will be tomorrow, Wednesday, January 25