Skip to content
Georgia Commons
Menu

Senate Rules Committee

Senate Rules Committee, February 10, 2026

2025-2026 Regular Session · 450 CAP · 15 min

This is a machine transcript of the General Assembly's video, made by a speech-recognition model. It is not an official record and can mishear words, names, and numbers. Speakers are not identified. The video is the record: every timestamp links to the moment it plays.

Copy for LLM, View as markdown, and Send to AI use the Markdown version: the summaries Georgia Commons wrote, under headings that name them, then the whole transcript with its times. View raw is the transcript alone.

The video is the General Assembly's, played from its Vimeo channel. Select any time below to play that moment. Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

Summary

Written by an AI model (gpt-6.1-sol) from the transcript. It is not part of the record, and the video is what was said.

The committee heard presentations on SB 400, SB 405, SB 409, SB 444 and HB 244. Members questioned the sponsor of HB 244 about which local governments would qualify for audit flexibility, audit requirements and penalties for noncompliance. The committee then unanimously approved selecting SB 398, SB 400 and SB 444 to move forward. No vote on the other listed bills was shown.

Bills discussed (6)

Each account covers the stretch of the meeting it names. The bill's number is said in that stretch, unless it was the only bill on a committee's agenda.

SB 400. Education; unaccredited institutions from offering degrees; prohibit

From 0:05:48 · turns 7 to 130

The sponsor described SB 400 as an agency bill concerning independent, nonpublic postsecondary schools, without explaining further provisions. No substantive questions followed. Later, a committee member selected the bill to move forward, and the committee unanimously approved it together with two other bills.

SB 405. Magistrate Court; the maximum amount of civil claims that can be tried in magistrate court; increase

From 0:06:33 · turns 21 to 105

The chair said SB 405 would raise the limit for civil claims in magistrate court from $15,000 to $50,000. When the sponsor arrived later, the sponsor said the higher limit would allow people to represent themselves without paying for an attorney. No substantive questions were asked, and no vote on the bill was shown.

SB 409. "Insurers' Use of Aerial or Satellite Images Act"; enact

From 0:07:04 · turns 32 to 39

The sponsor said SB 409 would provide transparency for homeowners when insurers use aerial images to evaluate their homes. The sponsor explained that an insurer declining to renew a policy because an aerial image shows a roof needing repair would have to send the policyholder a date-stamped copy of that image. No substantive questions or vote followed.

SB 444. Private Review Agents; certain decisions with regard to the provision of insurance coverage for healthcare services shall not be based solely on artificial intelligence systems; provide

From 0:08:05 · turns 40 to 130

The sponsor described SB 444 as a patient-protection measure to ensure human involvement when artificial intelligence is used in prior authorization decisions. No substantive questions followed. Later, the sponsor selected the bill to move forward, and the committee unanimously approved it together with two other bills.

HB 244. State auditor; local governments to request and receive in certain circumstances due date extensions related to filing annual audits; provide

From 0:08:20 · turns 42 to 98

The sponsor said HB 244 would give local governments spending less than $2.5 million flexibility in annual audit requirements, helping them qualify for funding while maintaining taxpayer accountability. Asked whether schools would qualify, the sponsor said the bill covered cities and counties, not schools. One member said the state audit website showed 14 school systems had not submitted 2024 audits and six had not submitted 2023 audits, and opposed giving schools more extensions. Another member asked about extensions and penalties, noting smaller cities may struggle to find someone to perform audits. The sponsor said small cities lack the staff and money for the same procedures used by larger cities. The sponsor said the bill would require a full audit every fifth year and let the auditor establish a framework for compliance. The sponsor also said some cities had gone nine years without an audit, a problem this bill did not address. Asked about penalties, the sponsor said noncompliance prevents local governments from receiving certain state funding and federal funding distributed through the state. No vote on the bill was shown.

SB 398. Wiretapping, Eavesdropping, Surveillance, and Related Offenses; criminal offenses of virtual peeping; establish

From 0:13:51 · turns 115 to 130

A committee member selected SB 398 to move forward, and the chair identified its subject as wiretapping. No explanation of its provisions or substantive debate followed. The committee unanimously approved the selection together with two other bills.

Transcript

131 turns. Select a time to play that moment of the video.

  1. 0:03:57

    Meeting to order. Senate rules, February 10th, 2026 in the year of our Lord. Senator Robertson, why don't you lead us in a word of prayer?

  2. 0:04:12

    If you'll bow your heads with me, please. Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you today, Lord God, as your humble servant, we ask that you open up our minds and our hearts, Lord God, as we move through the decisions that you've given us to make. We ask all these things, Lord God, in the name of your Son and our precious Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

  3. 0:04:29

    Amen. All right. We've got, uh, several bills for consideration, and, uh, some of y'all have presented before. You don't have to come back, but you're... M- I mean, I'm... You know, s- it's harder to keep saying no to you, so I applaud you for keep coming. So, Senator Harbin, you did cover this yesterday, um, but go ahead and-

  4. 0:04:55

    Real quick

  5. 0:04:55

    ... just be quick and, and be gone with you, as my predecessor used to say.

  6. 0:05:02

    This bill saves no money. It simply is changing really four things. The compos... Uh, this is for the magistrate judges, changes the composite, uh, mix-up of their board, what is there. It raises their dues on their members. It changes early retirement to 55, but with a penalty of 3% per year. Uh, their normal retirement age was 60. And then it, uh, changes the multiplier that they've got. There is an actuarial, uh, physical note on it, and it does not affect the bill.

  7. 0:05:30

    All right. Any questions? No questions. Senator Hatchett, not with us.

  8. 0:05:40

    I don't even know this. Anybody that came out of Judy? Anybody on Judy wanna cover that? All right, moving on. Senate Bill 400, Senator Burns.

  9. 0:05:51

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Listen, I wanna remind the committee of an old song by Engelbert Humperdinck. It's called Please Release Me, Let Me Go.

  10. 0:06:01

    Oh.

  11. 0:06:02

    Senate Bill 400's agency bill takes care of, uh, independent schools that are non-public-

  12. 0:06:08

    Oh, Rice Ed ain't here

  13. 0:06:10

    ... post-secondary. Thank you.

  14. 0:06:11

    All right. Another musical reference. And he yelled it, too-

  15. 0:06:17

    Hey

  16. 0:06:17

    ... just to make, for emphasis.

  17. 0:06:19

    Please release me, let me go.

  18. 0:06:20

    Emphasis.

  19. 0:06:24

    Please release me, let me go.

  20. 0:06:24

    All right. Is, is Rice, Rice Ed here? I don't see.

  21. 0:06:28

    Yeah, he's over doing karaoke.

  22. 0:06:30

    All right. Senator Setzler, that's SB 405. That's his taking magistrate court from 15,000 to 50,000.

  23. 0:06:39

    Right.

  24. 0:06:42

    Any questions that I can't answer? All right. Good. Senator Cowsert, you-

  25. 0:06:48

    Feeling okay

  26. 0:06:49

    ... feeling okay today?

  27. 0:06:50

    Mm-hmm.

  28. 0:06:51

    Feeling okay? All right. All right. All right. Senator Walker. Thank... Welcome back.

  29. 0:06:56

    Thank you.

  30. 0:06:56

    We're glad to have you back.

  31. 0:06:57

    Thank you, Chairman.

  32. 0:06:58

    We missed you. We had a moment of silence for you.

  33. 0:07:02

    Missed being with you all. Um, Senate Bill 409 provides consumer protection and transparency for policy holders when insurance companies are using aerial imagery to underwrite, uh, their home. So if they are, if the insurance company decides to non-renew a homeowner's policy based on using aerial imagery to say your roof is in need of repair, then they have to send the policy holder a copy of the picture, and it's gotta be date stamped, and so they can understand what, what they're looking at.

  34. 0:07:43

    Okay. Understood. Be hard to... Well, okay. All right. Any questions?

  35. 0:07:59

    You got a question-

  36. 0:08:00

    Yes, sir

  37. 0:08:00

    ... about your bill?

  38. 0:08:01

    It's a good bill.

  39. 0:08:02

    Okay.

  40. 0:08:03

    For the people.

  41. 0:08:04

    For the people. Senate Bill 444, Senator Kirkpatrick.

  42. 0:08:08

    Thank you. You've heard about this patient protection bill to be sure that humans are involved in the AI process for prior authorization.

  43. 0:08:17

    Okay. Any questions? All right. HB 244, Representative Cannon. I don't know how he snuck a house bill in here.

  44. 0:08:27

    Mr. Chairman, good to be back in the Senate again. Good to see y'all.

  45. 0:08:30

    You must, you must know somebody.

  46. 0:08:31

    Uh, y'all, y'all saw this bill last year, Mr. Chairman. Um-

  47. 0:08:34

    We see a lot of bills.

  48. 0:08:35

    Yes, sir. Um, we had a good back and forth with, uh, Chairman Dixon's committee on this bill, House Bill 244. Appreciate the feedback from the committee. Uh, what the bill does, in general, it basically provides some flexibility, uh, in the state's annual audit requirements for small local governments whose expenditures are less than 2.5 million. And by allowing some of this flexibility, it will set the conditions for these local governments to receive some critical state funding for their citizens. So it, it achieves some balance between the cost of compliance for our smaller cities with smaller populations, uh, while retaining accountability for the taxpayers who live there.

  49. 0:09:13

    We've, I think we've achieved that balance with this language in the, in the bill, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much.

  50. 0:09:17

    Did you write that speech?

  51. 0:09:18

    Yes, sir.

  52. 0:09:19

    Good job.

  53. 0:09:19

    Appreciate it.

  54. 0:09:21

    It was well executed, too.

  55. 0:09:23

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

  56. 0:09:25

    Any questions? Ah, Senator Hofstetler.

  57. 0:09:28

    I- is this applied just to cities, or it would be counties and schools as well?

  58. 0:09:32

    Local. Counties and cities, Mr, Mr. Chairman.

  59. 0:09:35

    Just counties and cities, not schools?

  60. 0:09:36

    No, that's correct.

  61. 0:09:37

    Okay.

  62. 0:09:38

    That's correct.

  63. 0:09:38

    The reason I bring that up is I was looking, and we've had, uh, in '24 there's, according to the audit website, we've got 14 school systems that haven't even turned in their audit. And for 2023, we've got six school systems that haven't turned in their audit. So I don't wanna give them any more extensions.

  64. 0:09:56

    Okay. Uh, Senator Harbison, you have a question?

  65. 0:10:00

    Thank, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, what, what kind of extension are we talking about? Because some of the smaller cities-

  66. 0:10:06

    Well-

  67. 0:10:06

    ... do miss the deadline because-

  68. 0:10:08

    That's correct

  69. 0:10:08

    ... of, I guess, inability to have somebody to carry it out or something.

  70. 0:10:12

    Well, there's no requirement for them to have an actual full GAAP audit right now. This actually adds a, a full GAAP audit required every fifth year. Um, but there's no requirement now to have them. We've got some cities that are haven't done an audit in nine years. Um, so there's gotta be some, some, some issues. There's some issues there with that. I'm not sure how we address that. This bill doesn't address that, but for the ones that are, have smaller populations, uh, with smaller expenditure amounts, they're having to go through the same audit procedures that a larger city has. They don't have the staff.

  71. 0:10:42

    They don't have the avail-

  72. 0:10:43

    Right

  73. 0:10:43

    ... the, the pay for it. So just, this sets a framework that auditor c- auditor can work with that city and set a framework for them to complete the audit and, um, and be, be in compliance with the, the framework the auditor sets- ... for the city.

  74. 0:10:56

    What kind of penalty is involved in this?

  75. 0:10:58

    Uh, the penalty is that if you're not in compliance with the audit, you're not a qualified local government, so you're not, you don't have access to CDBG, uh, your LMIG funds, your LRA. So any, any state or federal dollars that flow down through the state to the local government, that you're not, you're not, you can't receive those.

  76. 0:11:14

    Thank you.

  77. 0:11:16

    Thank you.

  78. 0:11:16

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

  79. 0:11:17

    Senator Summers, you had a question. Oh, I'm sorry, Senator Rhett. Your earpiece threw me off.

  80. 0:11:27

    I did have a question, but I heard you through my earpiece answer it. Thank you.

  81. 0:11:32

    Yes, Mr. Chairman.

  82. 0:11:34

    Okay. Is that a question? All right, anything else? You guys got anything for the good of the order over there?

  83. 0:11:43

    Just strategizing, and I noticed how Chad has been sitting here.

  84. 0:11:47

    Ho- hold on, hold on.

  85. 0:11:50

    Just noticing how the, the fine representative, once he got out from under the strong arm of Uncle Sam, apparently he quit going to the barber, and I just can't wait to get back and tell his good friend, uh, that's a friend of mine, that he's forgone the haircuts.

  86. 0:12:02

    Mr. Whip, I have a haircut at 8:00, or 5:00 on, on Friday.

  87. 0:12:06

    Ranger Joe's?

  88. 0:12:07

    Ran- well, I, not Ranger Joe's, but my hometown barber.

  89. 0:12:09

    There you go.

  90. 0:12:10

    Are you gonna get him to leave that spot alone?

  91. 0:12:17

    You in trouble.

  92. 0:12:18

    Sorry. Sorry. Look-

  93. 0:12:20

    We'll be back

  94. 0:12:20

    ... the good Lord gave me one thing in life, and it's hair.

  95. 0:12:22

    Good hair.

  96. 0:12:23

    So-

  97. 0:12:23

    I'll be back soon, Mr. Chairman

  98. 0:12:23

    ... I got nothing else. I didn't get height. I didn't get good looks. I didn't get money. I'll just stop there. 'Cause the list is long. All right. Uh, you're good. Thank you.

  99. 0:12:39

    Thank you to the committee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

  100. 0:12:41

    Senator Setzler, we covered your bill, but if you would like to address the committee in less than 45 minutes- ... uh, we can allow that.

  101. 0:12:49

    Mr. Chairman, S- Senate Bill 405, uh, simply raises the threshold for magistrate court, allowing folks to represent themselves without incurring the cost of an attorney. I'd like to take questions.

  102. 0:12:59

    Right said, Ed. Any questions? All right. I can... Chairwoman, uh, Kirkpatrick's getting antsy over there, so her committee starts at 2:00.

  103. 0:13:11

    I've been whispering.

  104. 0:13:11

    I know. At what time?

  105. 0:13:13

    Soon.

  106. 0:13:14

    Ooh, I might take you all the way to 1:59 just to watch you squirm. I'm just kidding. All right. You're good. Thank you. No questions. All right. Let's pick a few. We left, uh... Wow. Senator Kirkpatrick.

  107. 0:13:29

    Oh. Well, I'm gonna have to look out for the patients and pick Senate Bill 444.

  108. 0:13:35

    Hmm. Picked her own bill.

  109. 0:13:38

    How about that?

  110. 0:13:39

    Ooh, that's-

  111. 0:13:40

    Man.

  112. 0:13:42

    That's raw.

  113. 0:13:45

    Let's circle that.

  114. 0:13:46

    I learned it a lot from this.

  115. 0:13:48

    Senator Anderson.

  116. 0:13:50

    Let's go with Senate Bill 398.

  117. 0:13:53

    Senate Bill 398, wiretapping.

  118. 0:14:01

    Let's see. Don't wanna do... Let's do one more. Senator Hufstetler.

  119. 0:14:07

    Senate Bill 400.

  120. 0:14:08

    Senate Bill 400 for Senator Humperdink. What's that guy's name?

  121. 0:14:17

    Engelbert.

  122. 0:14:18

    Engelbert. Who names their kid that?

  123. 0:14:21

    born in 1440.

  124. 0:14:22

    Mr. Humperdink. Old man Humperdink, apparently. All right. I think that's good enough. Uh, all right. We got Senate Bill 398, Senate Bill 400, and Senate Bill 444.

  125. 0:14:37

    Motion.

  126. 0:14:37

    I got a motion from the majority leader. I got a second from the majority whip. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye.

  127. 0:14:47

    Aye.

  128. 0:14:48

    Aye.

  129. 0:14:48

    Aye.

  130. 0:14:48

    All opposed say nay.

  131. 0:14:53

    Motion carries unanimous. All right. Y'all get to your committees.

Machine-readable https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-10/senate-rules.md · https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/index.md · MCP https://mcp.georgiacommons.org/mcp