Legislative Calendar:

The General Assembly convened for the second year of its 2019-2020 biennial session on Monday, January 13.  

Because this is the second year of a biennial session, all legislation that was introduced but did not pass last year is still active and able to be considered.  

The legislative calendar for the first 14 legislative days has been set: 

• January 13 …… Legislative Day 1 
• January 14 …… Legislative Day 2 
• January 15 …… Legislative Day 3 
• January 16 ……. Legislative Day 4 
• January 27 ….. Legislative Day 5 
• January 28 ….. Legislative Day 6 
• January 29 ….. Legislative Day 7 
• January 30 ….. Legislative Day 8 
• January 31 ….. Legislative Day 9 
• February 3 ….. Legislative Day 10 
• February 4 ….. Legislative Day 11 
• February 5 ….. Legislative Day 12 
• February 6 ….. Legislative Day 13 
• February 10 ….. Legislative Day 14 

State of the State:

On January 16, Governor Kemp gave his State of the State address, during which he outlined his agenda for the legislative session. He used the metaphor of building a house, noting that he was able to start as Governor last year on a good foundation laid by Governor Deal. Some highlights of Governor Kemp’s speech are as follows: 

Economic Development:  

• Georgia’s unemployment rate 3.3%, the lowest in our state’s history. There are a record number of Georgians in the workforce.  

• Georgia was named the #1 state for business for the 7th year in a row. Since last year, we added over 64,000 jobs. 71 economic development projects were announced by the Georgia Department of Economic Development. Of those 71 projects, 79% were located outside of metro Atlanta.  

Education: 

• Governor Kemp reaffirmed his commitment to Georgia schools and noted his trust in parents to make decisions in the best interest of their children. He applauded Governor Deal & Mrs. Deal for fully funding QBE and investing in early learning.  

• He announced that QBE will be fully funded for third year in a row. 

• He wants to continue to dismantle common core and reduce testing. 

• He announced his desire to give another teacher pay raise, with all public school teachers getting a $2000 pay raise.  

Healthcare: 

• Empowered by Patients First Act, his team crafted a Georgia-centric solution to lower cost, increase access, and improve health outcomes for Georgians. They developed 2 unique healthcare programs: Georgia Access & Georgia Pathway, the goal of which is to provide a new pathway for 408,000 Georgians to access care in an affordable way  

• He announced his intention to tackle the issue of surprise medical billing with legislative reforms.  

• He paid tribute to Senator Johnny Isakson, who was in attendance, by announcing the creation of a Johnny Isakson professorship at the University of Georgia. The PhD professor who holds that seat will be dedicated to searching for a cure for Parkinson's Disease, which Senator Isakson suffers from.  Over 20,000 Georgians live with Parkinson's; and while it is treatable, there is no cure.  

Public Safety: 

• Governor Kemp continues to focus on criminal street gangs, highlighting last year’s launch of the GBI Anti-Gang Task Force, which is focused on stopping and dismantling gangs.  

• He mentioned gangs & drug cartels fueling another public safety crisis: human trafficking. Last year he created the Grace Commission, which has worked to raise awareness about human trafficking. This session, he will seek legislation to close loopholes that leave children vulnerable to exploitation; help victims tell their stories in the courtroom without fear of retaliation; and help survivors enter the workforce without reliving the scars of the past.  

Values: 

• Governor Kemp reaffirmed his pro-life stance, and said our state needs to protect the unborn and the born. He commented how it is sad how many children are abandoned in our hospitals – hundreds every year who become wards of the state. Over the years we have made progress in updating our adoption laws but now we need to do more. So he will propose to triple the adoption tax credit: from $2,000 to $6,000 to offset the cost of adoption; he will seek to lower the adoption age from 25 to 21 so more Georgians can adopt and more Georgians can be placed; and he will launch the Families First Commission to make recommendations on how to improve our foster system.

Georgia Innovates Task Force:

At the Georgia Chamber’s annual Eggs & Issues breakfast, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan announced the formation of the Georgia Innovates Task Force, a panel of leaders who will advise on how to accelerate making Georgia the Technology Capital of the East Coast, making legislative or administrative recommendations. The task force will be divided into four subcommittees: (1) exploring public innovation; (2) education and training; (3) entrepreneurship and start-ups; and (4) rural initiatives.  

Co-chaired by former U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson and former Georgia Tech President Bud Peterson, members of the task force are:  

• Raphael Bostick, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta 

• Paul Bowers, Chairman, President, and CEO of Georgia Power 

• Lori Durden, President of Ogeechee Technical College 

• Lynn Murphey, Program Director, Knight Foundation 

• Shan Cooper, Executive Director, Atlanta Committee for Progress 

• Martin Flanagan, President and CEO, Invesco Ltd USA 

• Paul Judge, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Pindrop and Co-Founder and Partner TechSquare Labs 

• Barbara Rivera-Holmes, President and CEO, Albany Area Chamber of Commerce  

• Jeb Stewart, CEO of Xana Management LLC  

• Debra Lam, Managing Director, Smart Cities & Inclusive Innovation, Georgia Institute of Technology

Budget:

On January 16, 2020, Governor Kemp released his proposed budgets for amended fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2021. The General Assembly will get to work next week going over the Governor’s budget request with appropriations hearings lasting all week. Per Governor Kemp’s request, his proposed budget reflects a 4% cut for amended fiscal year 2020 and an additional 6% cut for fiscal year 2021.  

Already this session, the House and Senate have passed HB276, called “the Marketplace Facilitators Act.” Different versions of the bill passed the House and the Senate during the 2019 session, but the two bodies could not agree on the same version. The bill would force marketplace facilitators, websites or apps that sell goods or services by third parties, to collect and remit sales taxes for those online third-party sales. The bill will go into effect on April 1, 2020 and is expected to add around $150 million to state revenues each year.  

HB 184 – Small Cell Wireless  
Bill Sponsor: Rep. Brett Harrell 
Bill Status: Senate Recommitted 1/13/20 
Summary: To encourage small cell wireless deployment through the colocation of new equipment on already-existing infrastructure.  

HB 730 – Sales and Use Tax Exemption for Major Sporting Event Properties 
Bill Sponsor: Rep. Ron Stephens 
Bill Status: Introduced 1/13/20. Referred to Ways & Means. 
Summary: To exempt all tangible personal property from taxation when sold to or used by a local host committee for major sporting events. 

 HB 740 – Creation of a Sports Marketing Fund  
Bill Sponsor: Rep. Ron Stephens  
Bill Status: Introduced 1/13/20. Referred to Economic Development and Tourism. 
Summary: To create a Sports Marketing Fund and Sports Marketing Board to provide funding to sports commissions.  

 HR 306 – Reduction of Personal and Corporate Income Tax Rate 
Bill Sponsor: Rep. Efstration 
Bill Status: Introduced 2/22/19. Referred to House Ways and Means Committee.  
Bill Summary: To provide for a reduction in the highest personal and corporate income tax rates by 0.25 percent 

SB 162 – Disaster Mitigation Improvements and Broadband Services Infrastructure  
Bill Sponsor: Senator Matt Brass 
Bill Status: Introduced/22/19. Passed Senate 3/7/19. House Withdrawn, Recommitted 4/2/19.  
Summary:  A bill relating to local government, so as to provide for disaster mitigation improvements and broadband services infrastructure in projects of downtown development authorities and development authorities.  

SR237 – Congressional Term Limits 
Bill Sponsor: Sen. Cowsert 
Bill Status: Introduced 2/22/19; passed Senate 3/8/19. House Referred to Rules 3/11/19. 
Summary: A resolution urging Congress to call a convention to address term limits so as to limit the number of terms Members of Congress may serve. It would only be effective if 2/3 of the states passed.