Good Day Leaders, Advocates and Friends!   

Georgia PTA held its 2020 PTA Day at the Capitol on February 25th.  PTA leaders were empowered by our amazing speakers then together we marched to advocate at the Capitol. See video of our 2020 PTA Day at the Capitol HERE.  

Since PTA convened at the Capitol in February, legislation has moved quite a bit in both houses in anticipation of Crossover Day slated for Thursday, March 12th, Day 28 of the legislative session.  Crossover Day is the legislative day in the session where a bill must clear its house of origin and have “crossed over” to the other house.  Unless attached to another bill that has crossed over, any bills that haven’t crossed over by Thursday are dead for the year.   

HB444 has passed both houses and is headed to the Governor’s Desk for his signature. This bill makes sweeping changes to the Dual Enrollment Act in response to the burgeoning costs of the program. It will limit student eligibility, allowable courses and course credits for participating schools in the University System of Georgia and Technical College System of Georgia.   

Regarding the state budget, no compromise was reached between the Senate and House so the bill begins the Conference Committee Process. A Conference Committee is made up of three legislators from each house that convenes to reach a compromise on a bill when the Senate and House cannot agree. The Conference Committee for this bill will be Senators Jack Hill, Butch Miller and Mike Dugan and House Representatives Terry England, Jan Jones and Jon Burns. See a 5-min video of the Georgia’s Legislative Process HERE  

The Senate Youth and Education committee offered a substitute for SB386 “voucher bill” which originally expanded the program to include all students with 504 plans and foster students to be eligible for a voucher to attend a private school. The substitute bill, among other things, will limit vouchers to specific 504 plans and creates a list of conditions diagnosed by a physician that would make a student eligible. PTA opposes vouchers that take dollars from public education and don’t require those dollars to have the same accountability that public schools must provide. We urge you to contact your Senator to ask them to vote against this bill. 

Regarding vaping legislation, HB864 was amended in the Ways and Means Committee and the substitute will reduce the tax on certain tobacco products by half and fails to sufficiently tax e-cigarettes. See excerpt below from a recent press release by a Coalition of Public Health Organizations including the American Lung Association and the American Heart Association. (where is this??) Georgia PTA supports equally taxing all tobacco products.  

Good News!  REGISTRATION STARTS SOON for our 2020 Georgia PTA Convention. Details to follow. Good luck and safe travels to the Georgia PTA Delegation headed to Washington, D.C. this week to advocate on Capitol Hill at the 2020 National PTA Legislative Conference.  For questions or concerns about this blog, please email legislation@georgiapta.org.