Senate Rules Committee, February 12, 2026 Video: https://vimeo.com/1164148828 (a timestamp t plays at https://vimeo.com/1164148828#t=s) Page: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-12/senate-rules 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. [0:03:24] meeting to order. This is the Rules Standing Committee. And, uh, so if anybody's here for any other committee and you don't wanna be in here, now would be the time to leave. But, uh, if you're, more than welcome to hang out. So, uh, we've got in standing, we've got SR 744. I've got a committee sub, and I'll just tell you real quick the changes. Uh, there was, um, they misspelled my hometown, and so we got that corrected. [0:03:55] And then there was, uh, we're doing, uh, it's a day at the Capitol, not, not recognizing the entire day. So, uh, so that's the changes. [0:04:08] So moved. [0:04:11] I got a motion. [0:04:13] Second. [0:04:13] And a second. Take your pick. I got a motion from Senator Ginn, a second from Senator Kirkpatrick. [0:04:22] Okay. [0:04:22] All right, any f- further discussion? All in favor, say aye. [0:04:26] Aye. [0:04:27] All opposed say no. All right. LC443429S passes by committee sub. [0:04:35] Thank you. [0:04:36] All right. Now, we're gonna gavel out of there and gavel back into our Rules Calendar Committee. And we have several bills on the agenda. Uh, Senator Dixon, why don't you lead us in a word of prayer? [0:04:54] Glad to, Mr. Chairman. Everyone bow your heads. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I pray that, uh, you put a hedge of protection around, uh, the Senate as we move through session. Lord, uh, give us wisdom and guidance. In Your loving name I pray, amen. [0:05:07] All right. And Senator Dixon, my understanding is you wanna move- [0:05:12] SB 4437 [0:05:15] ... SB437. [0:05:15] Uh, four. SB447. [0:05:17] 447. [0:05:18] Mm. [0:05:19] Okay. [0:05:20] Oh, no, it is- [0:05:21] S- [0:05:21] ... SB3. Yeah, S. Sorry. [0:05:23] No- [0:05:23] I got both- [0:05:23] No worries [0:05:24] ... in the same chairman. [0:05:26] Mr. Chairman. [0:05:26] Okay. So he, he needs to move SB437 to the standing committee to make a few changes on that. So now would be the appropriate time for that motion. [0:05:37] Mr. Chairman, uh, request to move SB437 to standing committee. [0:05:43] Second. [0:05:44] Uh, your motion's out of order. I'm just kidding. All right, I got a motion from Senator Dixon. I got a second from Senator Anderson. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. [0:05:54] Aye. [0:05:55] All opposed say no. All right. Motion carries unanimous. All right, moving on. [0:06:03] We've got, I'm just gonna go down the list, Senate Bill 143, Senator Albers. Welcome back, by the way. [0:06:09] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [0:06:10] You're missed. [0:06:11] Uh, this is a, uh, great bill for the Firefighter Pension Fund, which has no state tax dollars in it whatsoever. Uh, it allows, uh, similar we did for police officers and our teachers, for them to be able to retire and then come back to work. They will not continue to vest in the retirement system, but allows us in a critical time to fill those roles for them to, uh, have our most experienced back on the job. [0:06:33] All right. Any questions for the author? All right. Senator Harbin, SB261. I will remind this committee that he was very good to us yesterday in foregoing his presentation and keeping us- [0:06:49] It tells the taxpayers something that the, the magistrate judges get to put more away at their own discretion. And, uh, it's a good bill for them, and it doesn't cost the taxpayers of Georgia anything. [0:07:00] That's right. It's about your what, third or fourth time coming back, isn't it? [0:07:04] I think it's fourth time. [0:07:05] Little wink to the- [0:07:06] Right [0:07:06] ... committee. All right. SB369, Senator Still. [0:07:12] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, this is the Dropout Recovery Charter School, not a completion school. Helps get kids across the finish line in, uh, the best way possible. Great bill, and, uh, got a lot of support. [0:07:27] We hear that a lot in here. [0:07:29] For the people. [0:07:30] For the people. [0:07:30] For the people. [0:07:30] For the children. [0:07:31] For the children. [0:07:32] Children. [0:07:33] Children. [0:07:34] Is there any questions for Senator Still? All right, moving on. SB395, Senator Kirkpatrick. [0:07:46] Thank you, Mr. Chair. You guys have heard about this before. This is gonna improve communication between the Department of Public Health and the Composite State Medical Board on our medical cannabis program. [0:07:56] Mm-kay. Any questions? [0:08:02] Hearing none. All right, moving on. Senator Setzler, SB405. [0:08:12] Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, uh, SB405 simply takes the maximum threshold for cases heard before magistrate court from 15,000 to 50,000. I'll be glad to take questions. [0:08:24] Well, you got a question from Senator Cowsert. That was the fastest that man's ever been- ... in and out of a mic, and you got questions for him. [0:08:32] Be a fast question. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Are you aware the, uh, magistrate court judges are not supporting this bill? They didn't request it, and they have to go through their court counsel or counsel of- [0:08:44] Well, the- [0:08:45] ... judges [0:08:45] ... the, I, I, I don't really agree with the premise. You know, the, the idea that, uh, we should go through a judicial counsel for any bill that affects the courts, I think the, I think their, the deference there is likely to this counsel among the judges that, um, that, that sort of take these things up in kind of an extra-legislative way. I, I think it's a, it's a fair approach for many things. This is an issue brought on behalf of constituents. It's not about managing court calendars and those kind of things that they might take up. This is a, a matter, I think, that affects directly the ability of constituents to get redress of issues where they don't have to hire an attorney. [0:09:20] I think as, as, as we look at the, the rising cost of fixing your house, your car- I don't believe a citizen should have to spend $15,000 on an attorney to fix a relatively simple fact-specific issue with a builder, and I think that's, this is on behalf of the constituents. [0:09:38] I think he said yes. Is that all? Yeah, I believe he's answered yes. It just took a while. He was aware of that. So that was- So the answer is yes to his question. [0:09:51] I, I, I don't know. The, the, the, the magistrate court is, judges have not come to me and expressed an opinion. Um, I trust the gentleman knows of which he speaks, but I don't think that's a, I don't think that's the reason to ... I, I've had individual magistrate court judges come to me and tell me how important and, and appropriate they think this is individually, but speaking for the councils may be a separate question. [0:10:12] Oh, yeah. We're good. We're good. Any other questions? [0:10:19] None? He's teed up. All right, moving on. Thank you. [0:10:25] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [0:10:27] Everybody's just tired, aren't they? Mm-hmm. Well, y'all cheer up. Come on. That's right. It's, it's your favorite hour of the day. Should be. All right, Senate Bill 409. Senator Walker is not here. That's his 409 bill. [0:10:51] It is. Yes, it is. Does anybody wanna cover it? [0:10:56] I can cover it. [0:10:57] Ah, Senator Harbison. [0:10:59] Yes. This is basically where insurance companies are using aerial drones or either satellite imaging, and they have to, uh, give the homeowner at least a 60-day notice of any kind of cancellation if it's because of that. And they also have a re- uh, uh, an ability to refute or to answer back the image. They have to send them the image and the resolution and the date and time that it was done. [0:11:24] Well done. Thank you. We're very fortunate to have the insurance- Chairman ... committee chairman here. Almost said commissioner. All right, SB 452, Senator Hatchett. [0:11:41] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is a very important bill, uh, for our state law enforcement officers. This is a governor's bill. He mentioned this in the State of the State, and this will increase the state's match into, uh, the retirement 401- 401accounts, uh, up to 15%. [0:11:58] Oh, damn. He ... Governor bill. Quite highlighted. [0:12:04] Okay. Did he mention your name in the State of the State? [0:12:08] He did not. [0:12:10] That would've helped maybe. All right, any questions? Senator Robertson. [0:12:17] Senator Hatchett, are, do you know if this would do it for every peace officer? Which would, that means they are post-certified peace officer that works for the State of Georgia, whether they be in Georgia State Patrol or whether they're in Department of Ag, uh, in, and in some of those other areas. [0:12:36] I know the bill specifically represents state law enforcement officer. I don't know about all peace officers, uh, but I can find that out. [0:12:43] Yeah, and it's just the peace officers that are employed by the state- [0:12:46] Correct [0:12:46] ... that I'm concerned about. 'Cause I know they wouldn't impact municipal and county and that, so I was just, I was curious about that. [0:12:51] Yeah. [0:12:51] Thank you. I appreciate that. [0:12:55] That was a good question. Any other questions? We've gotta get All right, moving on. Thank you. SB 471, Senator Dolezal. [0:13:07] Back in 2022, we passed the UNMASK Georgia Students Act, which prevented any school from putting a mask mandate in place that did not provide an opt-out for parents. That sunsets next year. All that this bill does is removes the sunset. [0:13:23] Okay. [0:13:27] I thought you liked sunsets. Romantic. While walking on the beach. [0:13:38] Any questions for the author? Hearing none, moving on. All right, HB 244. That's Representative Cannon's bill. Y'all remember that one. You might need a refresher course. All right, HB 455. That's the bingo. That is the bingo bill, and which, uh, I'm actually carrying that, so I can cover it. It, it allows for them, if a, if a entity has bingo in one location, and, and for the record, I think it's ridiculous that the state man- uh, regulates bingo, but we do. [0:14:20] And in that, if you have it in one location, you wanna move it to another building on your same property, you have to go back through the whole process again. And, um, and then we limit payouts, we limit how much the person running the bingo can make and all that, and this makes some changes to all that. So. [0:14:46] This has nothing to do with the dog. This has nothing to do with the dog. There's, we're not doing any judge pay raises on here. Any questions? [0:14:58] Number 429. You seem bothered, my vice chairman. Is there something- No ... something you wanna get off your chest? No, I'm just, uh, ready to go home. [0:15:11] He didn't know we're getting paid by the hour. Okay, let's pick a few. How many did I say? Three. Okay, where are we at? Senator Dixon. [0:15:25] What are you? One? [0:15:28] One. Yes, sir. [0:15:28] What would you like, sir? [0:15:33] Uh, SB 369. [0:15:36] Oh. Look at that. [0:15:39] That's nice. [0:15:43] No. [0:15:43] Yeah, that's my favorite number. [0:15:44] SB- [0:15:44] You take the, you take the, you have to take the 3 [0:15:46] ... 9. [0:15:47] Yeah. [0:15:48] All right, Senator Williams. [0:15:51] Thank you, sir. I'd like, uh, Senate Bill 452. [0:15:55] Senate Bill 452, the governor's bill. Look at you. Is that right? [0:16:03] I heard that in my committee. Good bill. [0:16:05] All right. Kissing up to the governor. [0:16:08] That wasn't a good bill? [0:16:11] Oh, didn't have to be. Senator Albers, on his first day back, gets a pick. You are- [0:16:20] Mr. Chairman [0:16:20] ... one savvy politician. [0:16:23] I learned, I learned from the best, Mr. Chairman. [0:16:25] I hear you. What's that? [0:16:26] Uh, after careful consideration, I'd like to look at Senate Bill 143, please. [0:16:31] One, uh, I mean, he comes back- ... gets to pick, picks his own bill. Wow. [0:16:35] No interest like self-interest. [0:16:37] Wow. I mean- [0:16:40] Nobody else would help him out [0:16:40] ... he disappears- [0:16:43] All the help's disappeared [0:16:44] ... for the whole week- ... and he comes back and picks his own bill. Just can't make this up. All right, you know what? I think three'll be enough. All right, we've got Senate Bill 143, Senate Bill 369, and Senate Bill 452, which is the governor's bill. I got a motion from Senator Albers. [0:17:10] Second. [0:17:11] I got a second from my vice chairman. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. [0:17:17] Aye. [0:17:17] All opposed say nay. Motion carries unanimous. And just to give you all a heads-up, uh, Senator Still will have the next pick, and then we'll be back at the top and work our way back down the list. [0:17:34] Mr. Chairman- [0:17:35] For those of you that are lobbying for your bills, that's who that was for [0:17:39] ... Mr. Pro, Pro Tem, can I say one thing? [0:17:42] Yeah, you are recognized at this time, Senator Anderson. [0:17:46] Just wanna help some of us, 'cause some of us will forget every now and then, but get your flowers and your valentine cards. Oh. [0:17:58] For what? [0:18:01] You'll, you'll figure it out. I think y'all can figure it out in the bill. [0:18:04] Mine's working all weekend. [0:18:08] He's buying 'em today though. [0:18:10] Mine's working at the hospital. I, I could buy flowers at the hospital. [0:18:13] Maybe we, we, Senator Williams can get you some plastic. Great thought. [0:18:18] All right. Did you have something, Senator Robertson? [0:18:22] Yeah. Does, does the good Senator Williams have a recommendation of a place where we can get flowers? [0:18:27] Ooh, good question. [0:18:28] Publix. Wait till Sunday afternoon. [0:18:33] Yeah. All right. [0:18:36] I think that's- [0:18:36] That's enough. [0:18:37] I think that's enough. [0:18:37] We'll have order, we will have order in here. All right, meeting adjourned. Y'all have a good weekend. Happy-