Comité Rules de la Cámara de Representantes, 27 de marzo de 2026

Transcripción

221 turnos. Seleccione un tiempo para reproducir ese momento del video.

1. 0:21:34

   Morning, everybody.

2. 0:21:48

   Morning, everybody. Happy Friday. Happy Friday.

3. 0:21:58

   Happy Friday. Okay, let's, let's call the, uh, meeting to order, and, uh, we'll open up with a word of prayer. Uh, Chair Lady Taylor is gonna offer for us, please.

4. 0:22:07

   Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Please bow your head. Good morning, Father. We thank you for the blessings of the day. I ask that you give us clarity, wisdom, and discernment as we work today for our districts and for the people of Georgia. We ask these things in your Son's name. Amen.

5. 0:22:24

   Amen. Amen. Thank you, ma'am. Before we start, I'd like to take a little personal privilege point here and recognize a group of young folks who traveled up here from Emanuel County to be with us today, Ms. Amanda Reynolds, eighth gr- part of her eighth grade class at, um, ECI down there. We're glad to have y'all with us. Wave your hands back there.

6. 0:22:52

   Thank you. We're g- we're glad to have you join us today, and, uh, hope you have a good day while you're here in Atlanta. Okay, let's go ahead and start. Uh, Senator, come on up.

7. 0:23:03

   Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I'm both happy and sad to report that this is my last appearance before House Rules this year.

8. 0:23:11

   Great.

9. 0:23:11

   And, um, I really wanted to thank the House and all my friends over here for your help.

10. 0:23:16

    Well, thank you. We're about to make you an honorary member. You've almost got perfect attendance. Thank you.

11. 0:23:21

    Uh, I have three bills for you today. The first one is on page one, the fourth one down. It's Senate Bill 33, and this has to do with, uh, cannabinoids. And it changed quite a bit in committee, and now what it does is it bans synthetic cannabinoids. It gives the, uh, insurance commissioner, not the insurance commissioner, sorry, the agriculture commissioner the ability to impound illegal products, and it adds penalties. Happy to answer any questions.

12. 0:23:52

    Okay. Don't, don't see a question. You got another?

13. 0:23:55

    O- Okay. The second one is Senate Bill 403. That bill has to do with unclaimed property, and that is an agency bill from the Department of Revenue. We learned during the research for this that there's $3.3 billion in unclaimed property in our state, which is a very high number of taxpayer money. And what this bill does is it streamlines the process for finding the unclaimed property and the process for getting it back to the people that really it belongs to.

14. 0:24:27

    The committee thoroughly vetted this bill. Uh, Judiciary Committee removed two sections and addressed concerns that members had, and I think it's in good shape now.

15. 0:24:38

    Okay. Don't see any questions.

16. 0:24:40

    Okay. And then the third one is, uh, Senate Bill 431, just near the bottom of page two, and that one has to do with foster kids, students that change placements, and it requires the school systems to immediately enroll them. Uh, they're facing a lot of challenges, and, uh, this, it helps if they can get in school right away. It also clarifies some definitions that were unclear in the school safety bill previously, and it adds, uh, there's a section on the IPSE grants, the Inclusive Post-Secondary Education grants.

17. 0:25:14

    It removes the sunset on those grants.

18. 0:25:17

    Okay. We've got a question. Leader Hugley.

19. 0:25:20

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Senator, on this, uh, requirement of two days, are we also requiring that the students' records be available within that timeframe so that the placement can be appropriate?

20. 0:25:35

    Um, the placement is to take place, and then there's a provisional period after that. Uh, there's an assessment that happens right away when the kid transfers. And some of the records are n- not able to be released due to federal law, HIPAA, and things like that. And so, um, we heard in our testimony in the committee that there were kids who were, whose credits were not transferring because they were not being immediately enrolled, and there was e- the, even young, one young lady who had to repeat a grade as a result.

21. 0:26:06

    So most of the school districts are doing a good job on this, but there's a process in the bill for what happens if there's a, uh, disagreement.

22. 0:26:15

    Uh, isn't it true that in Muscogee County, uh, the problem occurs when there, the m- the records don't follow the child, if the child is put in incorrectly, uh, and they have, uh, issues with mental health or issues with, uh, the juvenile justice system, we can endanger other children? So that has been the experience that we have had, so that's why that two days raises a red flag with me.

23. 0:26:46

    Isn't that true?

24. 0:26:48

    Um, we actually changed that to three days. And also, the assessment includes a trauma impact assessment that's already in code. And, um, so I think those concerns were addressed in the changes that were made to the bill, but happy to discuss it further.

25. 0:27:08

    Okay. You got another question. Uh, Chairman Erwin.

26. 0:27:11

    Great. Thank you, Chairman, and thank you for this bill. Senator, is it not true that this bill follows the federal regulations for foster children, and it's your, your bill mimics that?

27. 0:27:21

    That's exactly right, Mr. Chair.

28. 0:27:22

    Thank you.

29. 0:27:24

    Okay. Thank you. Don't, don't see any other questions.

30. 0:27:27

    Thank you.

31. 0:27:27

    Thank you, ma'am. Yes, sir.

32. 0:27:33

    Good morning, Mr. Chair. I'm Representative Adeyina of House District 110, and I'll be, p- would like to refer to my House Resolution 1670, which is on the yellow sheet. Okay. What we're gonna do on these resolutions, we've had many who have asked about those, and my plan was that we would do those Tuesday when we're back. But since you're here, go ahead and, and let us hear from you. Thank you. Uh, the 1670 is called the Georgia Rescuer Initiative.

33. 0:28:05

    Uh, it's simply just, uh, is a way to address food waste and food insecurity through sharing and, and encouraging municipalities and counties to share food on a digital platform. And of course, it addresses hunger, food waste, and food insecurity. Okay. Thanks, sir. I don't see any questions. Thank you. Senator Higley.

34. 0:28:33

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members. Um, I'm bringing to you Senate Bill 150. This is a return to work bill for teachers. We've talked about it so many times in both chambers, the shortage of teachers, and, uh, we have worked very closely with, uh, um, Chairman Carson and Representative Ballard on this bill. It's a very good bill, and I'm open for any questions.

35. 0:28:57

    Okay, don't, don't see any questions, Senator. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Okay. Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. Uh, today, if you'll look on page two, the second one from the top, Senate Bill 163, uh, this is actually a vehicle for the discovery bill that this committee considered right before crossover, uh, dealing with, uh, discovery and modernizing our criminal discovery processes here in Georgia. The underlying bill of Senate Bill 163, this House was able to take up towards the end of last session.

36. 0:29:32

    I believe we passed that out. It may be waiting for an agree on the other side, Mr. Chairman, but in essence, that's the explanation of how we got here in the bill. Okay. Don't see any questions. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

37. 0:29:45

    Yes, sir. Come on up. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, committee. I have, um, SB 76. It's the seventh one down. This is a license plate sticker bill, essentially taking the sticker off the license plate. You still have to renew, but, um, you just, you just won't have a sticker. Um, and it saves the state $5 million. And then also on it, it has, uh, the side-by-side vehicles will be able to drive on a state road as long as it's below 60 miles an hour.

38. 0:30:20

    Okay, got a question. Whip Park.

39. 0:30:27

    Try... Nope. Hit your button again. We got it now, Mr. Chair. Try it. Try again. Okay. Use the one next to you there.

40. 0:30:44

    Yeah.

41. 0:30:47

    T- t- try that.

42. 0:30:51

    Can you hear me now? Yeah. I can hear you. I can hear you. All right. Let me get the wireless. Wait a minute. We'll get the wireless. Hold on a second. All right. I don't know. You hadn't unplugged anything over there, eh?

43. 0:31:06

    You got it? Give it. Yeah.

44. 0:31:15

    Let's try that. Th- thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, as, uh, so Representative, I, I appreciate the bill. Lots of good things in here in my opinion. Uh, Section 8, Lines 127 to 133, uh, says that there would be no refunds, uh, upon cancellation, termination, transfer, suspension. Uh, can you help me better understand why we're not permitting refunds if we're expanding these tags to five- That legislation has already passed, so, um, that was the five-year bill, and, uh, that's already on the governor's desk.

45. 0:31:45

    We had, what we had to do was we had to merge two bills together so they wouldn't conflict. Mine essentially, what you're, uh, uh, speaking of is the five-year bill. Um, it's already done. C- can you speak to the LC number for this bill? It's LC, uh, 395110S. So, so the mer- the, you're, you are correct. It is in this bill, but what we had to do was we had to take this legislation and the five-year bill you're speaking of and merge them together. So the legislation you're speaking of, even though it is in this bill, is already on the governor's desk.

46. 0:32:18

    That's already, uh, it's already done. Thank you. But, but I can, I mean, I can explain it if you'd like me to. That's fine. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Okay, don't, don't see any other questions. Thank you. Thank you. Senator Robertson.

47. 0:32:35

    Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, committee. Um, I'm on page three. SB 527 is the sheriff's qualifications bill that we've seen for the past three years, uh, Mr. Chairman, and all this bill does is require that, uh, anyone wanting to qualify to run for sheriff in Georgia be a POST certified law enforcement officer. Okay. Don't, don't see a question. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir.

48. 0:32:59

    Yes, sir. Senator. Uh, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, thank you for me be- uh, allowing me to be here this morning. I've got two bills to present to you. Okay. Uh, the first one's gonna be on page two toward the bottom. It'll be Senate Bill 442. And, uh, all the Senate Bill 442 does, it's, um, about commercial driver's licenses, and it revises the license expiration date and testing requirements for non-citizens. Okay. Got a question. Let's try it again, see if it's gonna... Nope. Get, get the, uh, wireless mic.

49. 0:33:30

    You got it? Okay.

50. 0:33:34

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Senator Dickerson, um, what, what problem are you trying to solve here? Um, I know there is a Senate study committee that said that we have a truck driver shortage, which is one of the state's primary economic threats. Uh, upon review of your bill, this seems to go much further than what federal law permits. So, um, help me explain what problem you're trying to solve. Yeah. Well, thank you for the question. Uh, over the last several years, we've seen issues of, uh, particularly accidents on our interstates here in Georgia and across the nation to when we have these drivers that they can't read English, they can't write English, and actually can't even operate a vehicle.

51. 0:34:10

    Uh, and so what we've seen is, um, over the, uh, over the last several years, we have independent testing locations all around the United States. And again, this is a federal program. The CDL Driver's License System is a, is a federal program. And so whenever non-citizens come to United States, one of the industries they get into is transportation, and we've seen some of these independent testing locations, instead of actually conducting the test appropriately, uh, they are, um... I'm gonna be nice when I say this, uh, taking a, a, an excessive amount of money to falsify the testing results to allow those individuals then to get a license in their state and then they can transfer that license to any other state they want to in the United States.

52. 0:34:50

    Do you have any data or studies that show that this problem is more prevalent with non-citizens as opposed to citizens? I've got 32 years of transportation experience, and we saw it every single day. Hmm. I appreciate the anecdotal, but if you have any, uh, studies, uh, that, that'd be helpful. Uh, no sir, I do not. Thank you. Okay. Chairman Williams, and you pass? Okay. Secretary Kelley, go ahead. Thank you, Senator. Uh, you spoke to your experience in the transportation industry. Would you say a fundamental common sense measure, we say if you can't read the road signs on our highway system, that that would make you a less safe driver?

53. 0:35:29

    Uh, I would agree with that, sir. Thank you. Okay. Don't see any other questions on that. Do you, do you have another one? Uh, yes, Mr. Chairman. On page three, Senate Bill 513, uh, what this bill does is it, uh, seeks to provide K through 12 public school students who are chronically absent for unexcused reasons, uh, with a multi-tiered support systems and personalized attendance intervention plans. Okay. Thank you, sir. Got a question. Whip Park has a question for you.

54. 0:36:04

    Thank you. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I, I appreciate, uh, your intent regarding this bill, but, but again, you know, when we're making public policy, what, what evidence exists that pe- penalizing students by restricting extracurricular participation improves attendance? Yes. Is it simply punitive or do we, again, have any studies that demonstrate this would encourage attendance? Well, so we in the s- uh, Senate last year, we had a study committee and, uh, regarding this one issue. And, uh, what we did is we pulled about 14 or 15 different items that could, uh, help to reduce the chronic absenteeism in our schools.

55. 0:36:38

    And what we did is we pulled the top three or four that we felt like would make the most difference. Uh, we understand that this is not a silver bullet. It's not gonna fix every single, uh, school, uh, situation with a chronic, uh, unexcused absences, but we also know that we can come back next year and the year after to, to continue to fine-tune th- this program. Perhaps we could take the bill up next year as well. Okay. Representative Evans, did you have a question also? Let's try that mic, see if it works. If not, just use the wireless if you would, please.

56. 0:37:08

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Senator, I, I'm looking. Is there anywhere in the bill where we address parents? Is, or is this everything falls to the student? No, ma'am. This, this system is a, what we wanna do is we wanna push all this down to the local school systems and the parents and students have to come in to, uh, talk to the school or school district about that intervention plan. And so i- it's, basically this is tailored around the, the students, the parents and the, the school systems. We want everybody to be involved with this program.

57. 0:37:38

    We didn't want a heavy, heavy hand from the, uh, from the state standpoint. Uh, we know that every school district and every school system is slightly different in the state, and so that's why we wanted to give each one of them an opportunity to create their own individualized plan based upon their economic and demographic conditions. Well, I, I appreciate you saying that, but when the bill,

58. 0:37:59

    um, for losing access extracurricular activities, I have two concerns. One is you're saying you don't wanna be heavy-handed and you wanna let every school system tailor things to the needs of their school system. And then two, we're talking about kids. Most of these kids are not driving. They're not responsible for, you know, at the end of the day, they're not the ones getting themselves physically to school. And so I really think about a motivated student might be participating in sports, might be participating in debate, might have teachers that wanna look after them by having them at the school more perhaps because home is a rough place.

59. 0:38:35

    And now you're taking away perhaps the only joy, the only possibility for the student to move forward and find love in simply because perhaps they're having trouble with a car or the parent has trouble because they're working two jobs and they can't get off in time to take them to school. So can you please help me understand what we are attempting to accomplish by taking away extracurricular access to these students who are- Yes, ma'am, I'd be happy to. You know, as I'm a, I'm a carrot and a stick person both, and what we know is that before COVID, uh, our attendance rate, unexcused absence, uh, rate here in the state was about 9%.

60. 0:39:07

    Since COVID, uh, it has increased almost double digits. As of '24 and '25 it was 19.5%. Uh, we've been working on this for the past six years with a lot of carrots, and I'll be honest with you, um, it has not come down. So we're looking at multiple different programs to continue to work through that process. And what did you look at that told you the right stick would be taking away extracurricular activities? That was one- One thing. One thing you looked at. We, we looked at Senate Study Committee and that was one of the, the top five things that they felt like would make the most difference. That came from who? Who told us that? What evidence did we look at?

61. 0:39:37

    I'd have to pull the report to exactly look, but it was chaired by our Senate study committee last year. I would really appreciate that, 'cause because someone made a suggestion is not evidence. I want to see what we think showed that if we do this, that the students will start coming to school, 'cause it doesn't sound like we have that. So if you can find that for us, I would appreciate it. All right. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Lady Hugley, did you have a question? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Senator, is there any, uh, provisions made for, uh, students who are homeless, who are experiencing homelessness at...

62. 0:40:13

    Uh, you talked about your study committee. Did that come up in your study committee, what we do with students that are experiencing homelessness? And also, I see in here about a attendance intervention plan. Uh, can you elaborate on those two items? What are we doing for students experiencing homelessness? And, um, do the school districts have the resources in place to develop these attendance plans?

63. 0:40:44

    Yes, ma'am. Some great questions on both of those. So we do not specifically outline, um, homeless, uh, students in this program. But one of the things that we do do, and I'll speak about your intervention plan, is again, we know that, uh, the students in Dooly County is much different than students, uh, in Cherokee County. They, they all come from different walks of life. They may be having to, um, you know, work a second job to provide their family. They may have to be working on a farm. So that's why we give each local school and each will- each local school district to, to come up with their own intervention plan. We didn't feel like it was right to, uh, come up with a statewide plan.

64. 0:41:16

    Now, we did, um, when it came out of committee, um, what we did is we did put some provisions in there, uh, to allow the, the Georgia Board of Education to give some guidance and model policies of what they, uh, think these policies, these intervention plans should look like. Um, but it really comes down to each school district and each school system itself to really make that determination.

65. 0:41:42

    Give us just a second. We're gonna see if we can reset these mics and get that working. If, then we're gonna come back to Chairman Erwin has a question.

66. 0:42:04

    Yep. Good. That is. Rip Park, try yours and see.

67. 0:42:14

    I had it off. So I turned it on. Turn it on again. There we go. Thank you, sir. Okay. Good deal. Thank you. Thank you. It's just on now, so thank you. Yes. And thank you. I think that's got it. Okay. Uh, Chairman Erwin. Yes. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you, Senator, and thank you for this bill. Is that... Try it now. There we go. Yep. Thank you, Senator, and thank you for this bill.

68. 0:42:44

    Is it not true that our governing agency that, well, looks over, uh, our athletic competitions at high school require attendance the day of the game to participate in that game that afternoon or that evening? Mr. Chairman, that is correct. Well, follow-up question, if I could. Uh, the, do we not have, uh... I- is it not true that we have federal regulations on how we deal with attendance with children, uh, that are homeless? Mr. Chairman, that is correct. Thank you.

69. 0:43:15

    Thank you, sir. Don't see any other questions. Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, members. Yes, sir. Senator Dixon.

70. 0:43:27

    Good morning, Mr. Chairman, committee members. Um, bringing, uh, it's on page three, uh, seven down. It's Senate Bill 498. It has to do with, uh, charter schools. Uh, it sets up the Georgia Charter School Facilities Authority, and it outlines where they have the ability to issue revolving loans, uh, to charter schools for the ability to build new schools or remodel existing schools. Charter schools don't have access, uh, to funding like our, our public schools do for things like that, and this will keep, simply keep more dollars in the school.

71. 0:43:59

    Um, it passed bipartis- with bipartisan support, uh, in the Senate, uh, 49 to three, and then it passed, uh, your Appropriations Committee unanimously. Be happy to answer any question, Mr. Chairman. Yeah. Rip Park. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Senator Dixon, uh, is there a public school, a facilities authority? Um, not that I'm aware of, but public schools, they have access to ESPLOST, you know, your penny. Uh, they also can levy property taxes.

72. 0:44:29

    Um, and, uh, they, they've got access to a lot of different, different ways to, uh, pay for facilities that charter schools don't. Do you think that for some of our, uh, schools that are struggling, especially in rural Georgia, that, that an additional facilities authority for them would be helpful? Uh, you talking about public schools? Yes, sir. Uh, like I said, public schools, they have, you know, access, uh, you know, many different access, you know, to funding. Um, you know, if you've got an idea like that, yeah, I'd be happy to look at it with you. Thank you.

73. 0:45:00

    Okay. Miss Donna, if you would let those students out back there, please, ma'am, so they can join their other crowd. Y'all go ahead.

74. 0:45:10

    Okay.

75. 0:45:13

    Don't, don't see any other questions. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

76. 0:45:19

    Senator Gooch, come on up. Good morning. I'd like to draw your attention to the last sheet of your blue pages. This will be Senate Bill number 591. Current law makes it a crime for anyone to disrupt a memorial service or a funeral.

77. 0:45:37

    This bill simply adds any religious service to that code section. It also makes it a stiffer penalty if you interrupt a military funeral. So those are the two changes that was made to the code section. It came through your judiciary committee, scrubbed thoroughly by a bunch of good lawyers and it's ready to go to the floor at your, at your will, Mr. Chairman.

78. 0:45:59

    Okay, we got a question, one of these lawyers. Whip Park.

79. 0:46:02

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Senator, I appreciate the bill. Um, now this is more related to existing law, but, um, uh, existing law states that, uh, there's a 500-foot pere- uh, perimeter. Um, you know, with respect to now we're saying within 500 feet of a religious service, um, do you, are, are there any constitutional concerns that were raised with respect to that very expansive-

80. 0:46:29

    That's, that's a good question. And I think the reason the 500-foot buffer is in there is to not restrict someone's First Amendment rights. So that's how I think they circumvented the First Amendment when that bill was originally passed some decades ago. I don't know when that was put on the books, but there was a, a, a Supreme Court ruling on it, so it was upheld, so it's been tested in the courts.

81. 0:46:50

    I, I believe that was like 24, 25 feet-

82. 0:46:51

    Okay

83. 0:46:51

    ... not 500 feet.

84. 0:46:53

    Thank you.

85. 0:46:53

    Thank you.

86. 0:46:55

    Okay. Senator, I don't see any other questions. Thank you.

87. 0:46:57

    Thank you so much. Y'all have a great day.

88. 0:46:59

    Yes, sir. Let's come on up, Senator.

89. 0:47:03

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. Uh, I believe I have on the, uh, blue sheet SB458, which I've presented before. That is a collaboration between myself and, uh, Chairman Alan Powell and Representative Clint Crowe, but it is the Home Inspector Licensing Act. There's like 44 states that already require some form of license or certificate for a home inspector, and Georgia does not. So my 18-year-old son, if he wanted to go print business cards, could call himself a home inspector. And so basically it is just creating some core competency. You have to pass a test and, and you, uh, you also requires them to have liability insurance, and the bill also addresses, um, s- some bad practices that go on amongst wholesalers.

90. 0:47:43

    And, uh, Representative Al- Alan Powell and, and Clint Crowe, um, worked with me on that. And so it's been a collaboration between our two chambers.

91. 0:47:52

    Okay. Got a question. Chairman Powell.

92. 0:47:55

    I want to thank you for bringing this bill, but is it not true this was properly vetted and-

93. 0:48:00

    Mm-hmm

94. 0:48:00

    ... the home inspectors were put, not creating a new board, but, but putting them under the building construction board?

95. 0:48:06

    Yes, sir. That's correct. We, uh, met with the governor's office and, uh, we, uh, vetted it through the Senate and, uh, passed almost unanimously in the Senate. Uh, and of course, we, we went through a regulated industry subcommittee where, a house regulated industry subcommittee where it passed unanimously, and then in front of your full committee where it passed unanimously as well.

96. 0:48:25

    Further question, is it not true that you were gracious enough to let us put some language in there that cures a growing problem we have in the state with real estate sales, where unlicensed realtors are preying on probably the most vulnerable property owners to s- to buy their properties and flip them and with a dual transaction at one time?

97. 0:48:47

    Yes, sir. That's very true. And of course, I testified in committee down in South Georgia. We had an elderly lady, uh, elderly lady, a, a, a widow lady that, uh, uh, was, uh, fell prey to this. She, she sold 200 acres for $38,000. Uh, and so we- we're trying to make sure that we, uh, protect the most vulnerable among us.

98. 0:49:09

    Thank you. Thank you so much.

99. 0:49:10

    Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

100. 0:49:11

     Secretary Kelley has a question.

101. 0:49:14

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senator Goodman, I know in my area a lot of our home inspectors are also licensed contractors who have already been licensed by the state and gone through a rigorous procedure. Uh, are there any provisions for those individuals who may carry another trade license to be exempted from having to get another specific home inspector license? I think about, you know, someone who's a general contractor who would certainly know how to build a home, so he should know how to inspect a home. Is there any provision where he would, you know, kind of be granted that automatically versus having to come in and get another license?

102. 0:49:50

     No, sir. Um, to my, if I remember correctly, there's not. Of course, it's, the governor did not want to create a new board, but, uh, they were okay with putting it under the residential division of the contractors board. But, um, you know, if y'all wanted to make that change, I don't think that'd be a problem in the Senate, and we can send it back to you for an agree. I mean...

103. 0:50:07

     Thank you. I just hate someone having to get another license.

104. 0:50:10

     Sure. Understand.

105. 0:50:11

     Okay. Chairman Martin, is that you with a question?

106. 0:50:14

     Sir, Senator, if, if you would, if you remember, we talked about this in, in committee. Can you just make, make clear to the, um, the committee that this is not taking anything away from the contracts that are, exist out there? If one is buying a house and say, or buying a property and saying they intend to res- they still have the ability to do it. They just have to put it on the form. That, we kind of went back and forth, and I was unclear as the gentleman was presenting that, but you cleared it up for us.

107. 0:50:40

     Yes, sir. Well, you know-

108. 0:50:41

     That people can still do that. They just have to make the, the owner aware, and that happens on the, uh, standard real estate form. Isn't that true?

109. 0:50:48

     Yes, sir. That is very true.

110. 0:50:50

     Thank you, sir. Don't see any other questions. Thank you.

111. 0:50:54

     All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee.

112. 0:50:56

     Chairman Gullett.

113. 0:51:00

     Before you start, I got a question for you. Is today a special day?

114. 0:51:05

     For my mom, it's a special day, yes.

115. 0:51:10

     Uh, I-

116. 0:51:10

     Someone left their phone here by the way.

117. 0:51:11

     We, we, we understand it's your birthday.

118. 0:51:13

     It is. Yes, sir.

119. 0:51:14

     Yeah, so happy birthday. Glad to have you-

120. 0:51:16

     Thank you so much. Appreciate that

121. 0:51:17

     ... standing up.

122. 0:51:18

     Appreciate that very much.

123. 0:51:21

     Yes, sir. Go ahead.

124. 0:51:22

     Be real special if we get this bill out of here. It'd be amazing.

125. 0:51:28

     Um, this is Senate Bill 8, the very first bill on the very first page, uh, LC443546S. It's a substitute that we passed, um, out of committee. Uh, the previous bill is not in there at all. Um, this is authorizes Georgia notaries, uh, public to perform notarizations remotely over secure video technology. Uh, this is something that we have addressed in the House a number of times. The Senate's addressed it a number of times in a different way. Um, but this, this is remote online notary.

126. 0:51:59

     Um, it includes electronic notary. Um, but basically, it's Zoom for notaries, uh, with a whole bunch of guardrails and safeguards to protect, uh, people. Um, it's recorded. It's, uh, you've been verified, um, through your license. You've been verified through credential analysis like a credit report would do, which road did you not live on, things like that. Um, the, the recording is kept for 10 years. And, um, this is, this is happening all around the country. We're one of, like, the last states to adopt it, although we were one of the first states to try to adopt it.

127. 0:52:31

     Um, so it's been, I've been working on this since before COVID. Uh, additionally, it updates penalties for practicing law if you're not an attorney. Um, this is important not just for the not- notarial act aspect of it, but there are a number of, uh, victims that are happening in, in not only the Asian community, but the Hispanic community, where people are pretending to be a lawyer. They are taking your money to represent you, and they're not a lawyer, and they're gone. And so there's an upset penalty, uh, if you're practicing law and you're not an attorney. Happy to answer any questions for that, sir.

128. 0:53:02

     Okay, got a couple of questions. Whip Park had a question.

129. 0:53:04

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Chairman Gullett, I, I appreciate especially the electronic notary component. Um, I, I do think the penalty for the unprac- un- unauthorized practice of law is quite severe and would make Georgia an outlier. My understanding is that Texas, it's a misdemeanor with a $4,000, uh, fee, similar in Florida, about $5,000, um, in terms of a max penalty. This would make Georgia have it be a one-year minimum felony, uh, upon a first conviction with a $50,000 fine.

130. 0:53:33

     Right.

131. 0:53:33

     Um, can you help me understand that, and also help me understand the implications for nonprofit legal services organizations and law school clinics?

132. 0:53:42

     Um, so I would say, one, today, it's already against the law today. It's, it's a misdemeanor, and it's happening all over-

133. 0:53:47

     Oh, I'm sorry

134. 0:53:47

     ... all over. There are a ton of victims still this is happening to today. Um, so, uh, we thought it important enough to say this is a problem, um, with victims. A misdemeanor's not enough, apparently, uh, to keep people from doing it, so we've upped it to a felony. Um, the fines are significant. A lot of times this, this happens to, to, uh, people who have no means, and they're being, you know, every scrape of money that they can find they're using for this, and they're taken advantage of. Additionally, this sometimes happens, um, in real estate deals, and there's a lot of money on the line for these real estate deals, and this needs to encourage people to make sure that they are lawyers practicing law in the conveyance of real estate.

135. 0:54:23

     Um, as far as the nonprofit aspect of it, um, w- you know, there's one thing to give advice. I think, uh, think that's perfectly legal. What's not legal is to pretend that you're a lawyer giving advice, legal advice. And so you just gotta thread that needle and be very careful. Uh, not only is it, it's a, it's a criminal penalty, so you gotta go through, you know, you have to get prosecuted. And I think if you're in good faith not doing, um, bad things, you'll be okay. But if, uh, you know, if you're pretending to be a lawyer, taking money like you're a lawyer, giving advice like you're a lawyer, you should be held accountable.

136. 0:54:54

     S- so one additional follow-up, if I may. So subsection D has this such that if you're an office or trustee of a corporation, that it's a misdemeanor. Um, and, and so we, we, the bi- your, the proposal has a clear difference in terms of penalties, a felony for an individual, um, misdemeanor of a higher and aggravated nature for an officer of a corporation. Help me better understand why that distinction.

137. 0:55:19

     Yeah. So, um, that's usually, I would think, probably in real estate deals. Um, if you're overseeing, uh, if you're overseeing a closing in Georgia, you gotta be an attorney to oversee a closing in Georgia. Uh, if you're overseeing a closing and there's multiple people there, that you're making sure that the people that are, uh, that you're responsible for your folks. If you have a paralegal doing work or you have a office staff doing work pretending you're a notary, or pretending you're a lawyer, um, you need to make sure if you're overseeing the deal, you're responsible for it, and that's what this does. It makes sure that you're, there's some accountability for, uh, who's doing the work.

138. 0:55:50

     Thank you.

139. 0:55:50

     Okay, got a couple other questions. Uh, uh, Chairman Williamson, do you have a question?

140. 0:55:55

     Yes. Uh, thank you, Chairman Gullett, for your work on this bill.

141. 0:55:59

     Yeah.

142. 0:56:00

     Just, it's a lengthy bill. I'm trying to get my mind around it. But for, you said that, will it be the r- remote online notary's responsibility to keep a recording of the, of the signature for t- up to 10 years? Is that correct?

143. 0:56:13

     Yeah, must be 10 years. Yeah.

144. 0:56:14

     Would the parties to the contract be able to download a recording of that video?

145. 0:56:18

     Can who download it? I'm sorry.

146. 0:56:19

     The parties to the contract. I mean, if, you know-

147. 0:56:22

     Yeah, th- that's part of the... So, uh, all these vendors who do it, they, there are standards kind of throughout the US, but most of them keep it for an extended period of time. And, and yes, if there's a court proceeding, you need that video back, it's, it's there as part of the platform.

148. 0:56:34

     I guess, but-

149. 0:56:34

     And even if I be remo- if I'm removed from a remote online notary, um, those are available still. This doesn't, it, it's part of the, the process of being kept for the 10 years with your agreement.

150. 0:56:44

     So follow-up question-

151. 0:56:45

     Sure

152. 0:56:45

     ... just for clarity's sake. So I'm a party to the contract, but I could immediately download that and keep that in my permanent files in my office to, to save this?

153. 0:56:53

     That I don't, I, I don't know. I don't know exactly. I think that's dependent on the platform.

154. 0:56:56

     Or is it ability to print out or s- have some sort of paper or-

155. 0:57:02

     Yeah, so it's, it's really for the-

156. 0:57:03

     ... or receive my-

157. 0:57:03

     It's really for the notary. So if you're the notary doing it, you would have the ability to get that recording. If you, if something came up that was challenging something in that contract, I think you'd have the ability to go back to that vendor and get that, get into it.

158. 0:57:14

     I'll get with you offline because I'm, I'm trying to make sure that I have evidence in my records of, for, uh, of the contract of which, uh, other parties-

159. 0:57:23

     Sure

160. 0:57:24

     ... w- had their signatures notarized.

161. 0:57:25

     Yeah, I think it would depend on the vendor.

162. 0:57:26

     That I have evidence of that in my permanent records.

163. 0:57:28

     I'll verify offline. But, um, uh, and one thing I didn't mention, uh, a remote online notary is a special notarial credential. Uh, you s- you, in order to get that, you have to be a traditional notary. Traditional notary today, there's no journaling. There's no documenting what you, what you notarize. That's not part of law. Good notaries will do that. They'll say, "Yes, this person came in. Um, here's their ID that I checked. Here's what I was notarizing." That's not required by law today. It's just validating the ID, validating that they signed it, and you're off on your way. And if something happened

164. 0:57:58

     A year from now, would they remember that it was you who came in and what you presented, uh, as a document versus if it's recorded, it's, it's all there. Okay. Leader Efstration. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Gullett, isn't it true that I- I've expressed concerns in the past, specifically with the UPL, un- unauthorized practice provision, that there are individuals holding themselves out as giving legal advice? It may say counselor or some variation on terms, even, even like in advertisements to the point of, I believe, billboards, and that the issue becomes solicitors' offices may be- it may be very difficult for them to prosecute those offenses due to the number of cases they're carrying.

165. 0:58:39

     Right. But Georgians, um, folks, maybe folks who don't speak English as their first language, are particularly victimized by these kinds of, uh, this unauthorized practice of law. And while this may not really be, um... Well, that- that's something I've expressed concerns about in the past several years. That's true. And, uh, isn't it true that you've worked on this remote online notary issue for years, uh, here, and that we now have a product that will actually be able to move this, uh, pr- provide some relief to Georgians and pass some good policy finally this session with this bill?

166. 0:59:12

     That's exactly true. If you're a military, uh, person serving for us, you're overseas, you can, you can get a notary today. Um, but you can't... I mean, you can get a notary if we could pass this. You can't today necessarily. If you're sick and elderly, um, getting to the- getting to find a notary sometimes, especially in rural Georgia, can be difficult. Um, this would allow that. Um, p- I would imagine most banks will begin offering, "Hey, there's a not- you know, you can get on your phone," and they can see you, uh, on your app and, and, and doing it that way. So this is, this is a really good thing for Georgia.

167. 0:59:43

     Again, most other states do it. I think 46 states do it. Two of the remaining do hybrid, and two of us don't do it, when in reality, we were one of the first ones to try to adopt it back before COVID. Whip Burchett. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And this is, uh, in the same vein as, uh, the leader, um, and maybe to the, the whip's question earlier. Isn't it true that currently it is misdemeanor for UPL, and we're still having our, um, you know, English as a second language folks taken advantage of?

168. 1:00:14

     That's true. Isn't it true also that in, in my district, in rural Georgia, not just metro Georgia, w- I have had several Hispanic-speaking folks come to my office h- having given $10,000 to a person that purported to be a, a lawyer, and that, that person has absconded and they, they don't get the... And, and this is cash. This is not a check they can get back. Isn't that also true? That's true. I remember you telling me about that situation. A- and then lastly, this is just a point of personal privilege. I want to thank you, as the leader did, uh, on all your hard work.

169. 1:00:46

     I know this is literally your legislative baby, uh, with, um, uh, the Ron provision and, um, the hard work you've put in over the years. Uh, I appreciate e- everything you've done on this. I appreciate that. We've, we've all spent a lot of time on this. Most people in this room have been here a while, and you've all voted on it multiple times, so thank you for that, and thanks for your hard work on fixing and perfecting this bill. Thank you, sir. I think we've exhausted the questions. Thank you. Send me a birthday gift. Just get this thing done. Thank you so much. Happy birthday.

170. 1:01:19

     Senator Calver.

171. 1:01:23

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. I just have one bill on the list that hasn't previously been discussed, and it's on page three, Senate Bill 468. This bill deals with the sexual offender registry, and it, uh, enhances or, or heightens the requirements of reporting for homeless people so that we can track their locations and make sure that they remain more than 1,000 feet away from, uh, locations where minors congregate, churches, day schools, schools.

172. 1:01:57

     Uh, right now it's hard to track them. It requires them to report their location more frequently. If they fail to do it, the sheriff can notify their probation officer or their parole officer, and they can put them on electronic monitoring so we can watch them and, and protect us from the sexual predators. Okay. Got a question. Representative Evans. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senator- Yes ... um, I really appreciate what you're trying to do here. Obviously, we all wanna be as safe as we can, especially our kids. Um, but I, I...

173. 1:02:27

     When I think of the sex offender registry list, my understanding of it is that it's also a way to provide families notification that, "Hey, a sex offender may live on your road." Yes. And so while I get the, the monitoring, assuming somebody's watching it, might keep people away from a church or a school, I mean, these are, these are transient folks, so I'm not really sure how somebody's gonna, unless someone's following them around. But it sort of doesn't seem to fit the real purpose that we have for the sex offender list because it's not gonna be reported anywhere, unless I missed that in the bill, so that families could see.

174. 1:03:04

     It is reported to the sheriff in the county where it says- But is it available pu- Like, the, the sex offender list, I could pull it up right now and see, you know, if there's a dot in my neighborhood. Is it, is, is something like that gonna be available through this? I think that it is through the sheriff's department. I don't, I don't know. That is not in this bill any requirement that they publish the changes of address. One thing that is, I didn't mention, that's a good factor is if these people are going to a shelter, they have to notify the shelter that they are on the sex offender registry, 'cause a lot of those homeless shelters have families and have children there, and so it's to help protect them as well.

175. 1:03:41

     And those- I think a lot of the shelters look for that. I mean, I think a lot of the shelters filter for that as well, but- I hope so. Yeah. Um- Yeah ... my second question is the section four where this, anybody who's on the sex offender list, this is not just homeless people, have to report when they're

176. 1:03:58

     Leaving the county or they're leaving the country-

177. 1:04:00

     Yeah

178. 1:04:00

     ... and provide all this information about their flights. Um, I would like to know a little bit about what we're attempting, attempting to accomplish here, uh, because my understanding is that that's already a condition that someone could ask for, for someone's parole. And so I don't know why we wanna automatically put this on every, every person who might be deemed a sex offender.

179. 1:04:20

     Yeah.

180. 1:04:20

     Because I could also see this having the opposite effect, where somebody might try, a, a prosecutor might try to plead down so that you don't have all these added monitoring costs, and particularly thinking about... I mean, there, there's different... It's not good for anybody to be a sex offender. I don't, I don't, I, I'm not trying to make apologies for anybody.

181. 1:04:39

     Right.

182. 1:04:39

     But there are certainly degrees.

183. 1:04:42

     Yeah.

184. 1:04:42

     Um, and I'm, I'm afraid that we're, we're making a blanket decision here, as opposed to letting that be up to the parole officers, and I was wondering what the-

185. 1:04:51

     Well-

186. 1:04:51

     ... what the decision was, why we're doing that.

187. 1:04:53

     It, it is very often a term or condition of parole or probation to keep them notified of your whereabouts and if you're leaving the state. But this is the reciprocity with other states and other countries as well to make sure they're reporting to us if they got their sex offenders coming to visit us, and we're letting them know as well, uh, so that they can take whatever precautions they want to to protect their citizens from these people.

188. 1:05:17

     How many states have something like this?

189. 1:05:19

     I'm not certain. I'm sorry.

190. 1:05:22

     Thank you.

191. 1:05:23

     L- Lady Hugley.

192. 1:05:25

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senator, how are you this morning?

193. 1:05:27

     Just fine, leader. How you doing?

194. 1:05:29

     Um, thank you for the bill. My only question is, who pays for the monitoring devices? Because normally, uh, if it's a condition of probation-

195. 1:05:40

     Yeah

196. 1:05:40

     ... or parole, the person pays. So we're talking about homeless people. Who, who, who bears the cost for this?

197. 1:05:46

     The, the accused. The, well, ac- actually, they're the convicted. They're the sex offender. But I will tell you, the Department of Community Supervision has a program for indigents that can't afford it, and they have grants and funds available to pay the cost of that if the, if they can't pay themselves, which is probably common with the homeless population.

198. 1:06:09

     Mm-hmm.

199. 1:06:09

     Okay. Don't see any other questions, Senator. Thank you, sir.

200. 1:06:12

     Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.

201. 1:06:13

     Appreciate you being here. Okay. Any committee members have any requests that haven't already been asked? Chairman Gunter, did you have one?

202. 1:06:24

     Yes, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Um, I have, uh, a substitute to Senate Bill 111 that was in the, uh, Judiciary Committee. Um, this was, uh, what we put onto it, we used it as a vehicle and put Angie O'Steen's bill that went through the House on the Georgia Heart, uh, Tax Credit. Uh, it was stopped in the, uh, Senate. And, uh, so this is, uh, a way to try and get this through. What this does is it changes, um, uh, the definition or adds to the definition a rural freestanding emergency department, uh, that has a primary campus in, uh, a rural county.

203. 1:07:07

     Um, and it says that also that the licensed by the department to provide maternal and newborn services. Um, this is critical. Th- there are 51 hospitals in the State of Georgia that rely on this tax credit, and two are in real need of having, uh, the funds now. Uh, and I don't remember the names of the two, but there are two hospitals that will not survive if we don't pass this bill.

204. 1:07:36

     Okay.

205. 1:07:37

     So this is important to rural healthcare, and, uh, I would ask for your support.

206. 1:07:43

     Okay.

207. 1:07:44

     No questions.

208. 1:07:45

     No questions. Thank you. Uh, Vice Chair Leverett.

209. 1:07:50

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, I have Senate Bill 555 I'd like to present to the committee. It's at the bottom of page three. It's second from the bottom. Uh, this was the, uh, bill, the original portion of it would, uh, create a program where spouses of war veterans can stay with war veterans at the war veteran's home, subject to availability of beds, as long as it doesn't displace any other war veterans. And Gold Star parents, that's parents of a, a war veteran who died in service, can actually stay in the, in the home, but it's still subject to the limitation that it can't displace any war veterans.

210. 1:08:25

     Excuse me. Um, and there, there can't even be a greater percentage than 25% of total operational beds or less if the, um, Veterans Service Board sets it at a, a lower number. All of those would be, uh, private pay patients as well, so it would provide some additional, uh, income to help, uh, carry costs of some of the renovations they're doing. Additionally, we added, um, a bill of mine that has to do with appeals of determinations on Medicaid eligibility or other government benefits, uh, to make sure those appeals are decided on the merits and not because of a technicality.

211. 1:08:59

     Right now, if, if the, if someone is prosecuting that appeal as an authorized representative, which certainly in the Medicaid context is usually the case because it's often because someone's in a nursing home, if the patient dies while there's an appeal pending, the appeal is effectively terminated, uh, because the, the, um, defects has taken the position that that terminates the authority of the, of the representative, which is technically, that, that is a correct as a matter of law. This would just make it, would, would, would make a determination legislatively that that agent still has the ability to continue the appeal to a decision on the merits, so it'd make sure these things aren't dismissed for technicalities.

212. 1:09:39

     Okay. Don't see any questions. No, no, no. Okay. Uh, let's do a little housekeeping here before we set our calendar. Do I hear a motion that Senate Bill 454 go back to the Public Safety Committee?

213. 1:09:55

     So moved.

214. 1:09:56

     Have a motion.

215. 1:09:56

     Second.

216. 1:09:56

     And a second. Is any opposition? Okay, it's back in public safety. Okay, now let's set a calendar for today, uh, legislative day 38

217. 1:10:09

     Under modified structure, Senate Bill eight. Move. Have a move and a second. Any opposition? It's on. Senate Bill 29. Moved. Second. Moved and second. Any opposition? It's on. Senate Bill 146. Moved. Second. Moved and second. Any opposition? It's on.

218. 1:10:35

     Senate Bill 150. Moved. Second. Moved and second. Any opposition? It's on. Senate Bill 369. Moved. Second. Moved and second. Any opposition? It's on. Senate Bill 403. Moved. Second. Moved and second. Any opposition? It's on. Senate Bill 442. Moved. Second. Moved and second. Any opposition?

219. 1:11:04

     Objection.

220. 1:11:05

     Have an objection. All those in favor of putting it on say aye. Aye. Those opposed, no. No. It's on. Senate Bill 478. Moved. Second. Moved and second. Any opposition? It's on. Senate Bill 569. Moved. Second. Moved and second. Any opposition? It's on. Senate Bill 589.

221. 1:11:35

     Moved. Second. Moved and second. Any opposition? It's on. Senate Bill 605. Moved. Second. Moved and second. It's on. Okay, that'll be our first calendar for today. Uh, our next rules meeting will be at, uh, Tuesday at 9:00 AM, unless otherwise noted. So keep an eye out for your emails and any announcements. Thank you, all. We're adjourned.