Senate Rules Committee, February 19, 2026 Video: https://vimeo.com/1166139175 (a timestamp t plays at https://vimeo.com/1166139175#t=s) Page: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-19/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. [0:07:42] Uh, in Chairman Brass's absence, he is at a constituent's, uh, or family member's, uh, funeral, and, uh, I am chairing today. So, uh, Senator Anderson, we need lots of prayer today. If you don't mind opening us up for prayer. [0:08:02] Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we just once again thank you for another beautiful day you've given us. Dear Lord, just thank you for allowing us to be here. And dear Heavenly Father, we just ask you to watch over all our families as we're away from them. Dear Heavenly Father, we just ask you to be with our chairman today and his family as they're having a funeral. Dear Heavenly Father, we just ask you to give us the wisdom and the knowledge to make the right decisions for the great people of the great state of Georgia. [0:08:33] As always, we just want to pause and thank you for loving us. Thank you for your love and your mercy and your grace. Forgive us of our sins, and thank you for the wonderful blessings. In your namesake, amen. [0:08:45] Amen. [0:08:45] Amen. [0:08:49] Thank you, Chairman. We appreciate that. Um, so let's go through the legislation here. SB 157, who has... Uh, that's retirement. Um, Senator Williams. [0:09:05] Yes, sir. [0:09:05] You're, um- [0:09:07] Second, Mr. Chairman. [0:09:08] Mm-hmm. [0:09:09] Uh, this bill was brought for people who had served in the legislature for two terms, and then they were out a while, and they did not join into the legislative retirement. That if they come back into the legislature, they're able to buy back into that retirement after they've become vetted after eight years. [0:09:30] That's great. [0:09:31] Yes, sir. [0:09:31] Thank you. Uh, and SB 171. Is Chairman Burns here? We have heard this one. Uh, and then SB 261. Senator Harbin, um, do... You can go to the podium if you like. [0:09:50] Yeah. [0:09:50] And we have heard this one also. [0:09:53] Heard it. You've heard that. [0:09:54] Yes. [0:09:54] It's basically for the magistrates. It costs the taxpayers zero. This is basically an internal bill for them to change their board makeup, and it can increase their ability to make more contributions to their own plan, so it doesn't cost the taxpayers anything. [0:10:06] Thank you. [0:10:07] It's a good bill. [0:10:08] Yes, sir. [0:10:08] Thank you, sir. [0:10:08] It is a good bill. And, uh, let's see. We're... SB 392, we heard this one in Appropriations by our distinguished, uh, 56. Who is... Senator Albers. I'm sorry. Uh- [0:10:26] Number three [0:10:27] ... three. [0:10:28] I'm always first and last. First alphabetically, and last district number, Mr. Chairman. This is, uh- [0:10:33] I will always remember that one. [0:10:34] That's it. First and last. [0:10:35] First and last. [0:10:36] That's that. [0:10:36] Okay. All right. [0:10:37] Waste Reduction Act of 2026. That's reinstating zero-based budgeting. [0:10:42] Thank you. Any questions? This is the first time we have heard this, but we heard it, everybody heard it in Appropriations. Uh, was that yesterday? Wow. Uh, day before yesterday. [0:10:50] Day before, yeah. [0:10:51] Yeah. [0:10:51] Yes. [0:10:51] Okay. And, uh, 395, SB 395. Uh, s- dead straight across from you, Senator Kirkpatrick. [0:11:01] Yeah. Thank you. Uh, we've talked about this one before, but this fixes a disconnect in the communication between the Department of Public Health and the Composite Medical Board as it relates to our medical cannabis program. [0:11:14] Well, thank you very much. Any questions? No questions. SB 405, I think we have this one memorized. Uh, this increases it from 15,000 to 50,000. Any questions? It's a good bill. It will be picked- [0:11:30] One day [0:11:31] ... maybe not tomorrow, but it will be picked. All right. Okay. All right, uh, SB 409, our distinguished, uh, President Pro Tem. [0:11:41] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have, uh, described this already. It's a transparency consumer protection bill for homeowners. [0:11:50] Thank you so much. No questions. And another stellar bill, SB 427, uh, by now the chairman of Rules, as in today only. Uh, so, uh, foreign medical graduates, uh, and we've discussed this one before too. Any questions at all? Um, and SB 440, this is one of the department bills. Uh, and that is Senator Kirkpatrick again. [0:12:17] Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a red tape rollback bill that has to do with the Department of Public Health and a bunch of obsolete and, uh, non-functional, uh, parts of their code. [0:12:29] Thank you. Uh, SB 471, uh, Senator Dolezal. Chairman Dolezal is not here, but, uh, that, that has been covered already, and it has to do with doing away with, uh, with the automatic repeal there. Uh, SB, uh, 485, uh, Senator Payne, I saw him walk in. Uh, if you don't mind just talking about that. I'm thinking that that one has not been discussed or has been discussed? This- [0:12:56] It has not been discussed in Rules yet. [0:12:58] Okay. [0:12:58] No, no, sir. [0:12:58] Okay. [0:12:59] Um, this bill simply a- allows, uh, professional counselors, they're enrolled in, uh, they're trying to get their licensure. It allows them to take their test for the licensure, um, before they fi- take the final exams. [0:13:12] So like in the last semester they can take- [0:13:14] Yes [0:13:14] ... the social work. [0:13:14] Yes. [0:13:14] That's right. I, I knew I'd heard that. Thank you so much. Anybody with questions? No questions. Thank you, Senator Payne, Chairman. Uh, HB 244, um, Cannon and Senator Watson. Uh, you know what? It is a House bill. So we're doing a real big House bill tomorrow, so I don't... And we've done House bills in the past. I'm not sure the, the House has done any Senate bills, though, so we'll have to just wait and see on that. [0:13:48] Boo. [0:13:48] Yeah. [0:13:50] Boo. [0:13:50] Oh. Yeah, yeah. That's it. No. Okay, so we're going on to, let's see, House Bill 377, uh, Senator Leverett, uh, Senator- Representative ... Representative. We were giving him a promotion there, weren't we? Uh, being carried by Senator Setzler, who's also vacated, but you know what? S- same applies. He did, same applies. Uh, and you know what? We may be doing two House bills tomorrow, um, in honor of our chairman of Rules. [0:14:25] Uh, here we go. We're talking about bingo for Allen, the distinguished chairman of what we call Regulated Industries. I'm really not sure what they call it. Uh- Regulated Industries ... they do call it Regulated Industries, too. Uh, so bingo is regulated. And, and that is our Rules chairman. But any questions on that? Uh, and then HB 571. Uh, I see the chairman. He has shown us respect. [0:14:56] Have the podium, please, sir. [0:15:00] Dr. Hawkins- [0:15:02] Yes, sir [0:15:02] ... talk to us about radiology assistants. [0:15:05] We actually have radiology, radiology assistants in Georgia. They're not recognized. They're not licensed. We have nothing in code with them. I've met with the Board of Medicine and worked through this bill. This will license them to, uh, delineate their education and add to the workforce. Uh, right now we have r- uh, techs. The, uh, assistants will be, uh, be able to do a little bit more so people will wait a little less time to get the results and, and get to their healthcare quicker. [0:15:36] That's absolutely, we appreciate that. [0:15:38] Yeah. [0:15:38] Just more government. That's what, exactly what we need, but I'm, I'm just joking with you. It is a good bill. And, uh, and then we do have... Thank you. [0:15:46] Yeah. [0:15:46] Any questions on that? Uh, yes, Senator Rhett, uh, number 10. [0:15:54] So basically it just makes it a little more efficient, right? [0:15:58] Well, it license them. We have some hospitals who won't hire radiology assistants because they're not licensed in the state, that Athens will not hire them. So this clears up a, a, a cloud that's been over this profession. There is a school in North Carolina. One day we may have a school here, too. [0:16:18] Oh, all right, we have another question. The questions are now just flowing in. Okay. All righty. President Pro Tem. [0:16:26] Chairman Hawkins, uh, I'm known on the Senate side kind of as the anti-licensing- [0:16:32] Yeah [0:16:33] ... person. [0:16:33] That's right. [0:16:34] Uh, but you, uh, explained the need for this, and I'm, I'm excited that, is it, you know, d- doesn't it provide a career pathway for rad techs also to- [0:16:48] Yes, sir [0:16:48] ... maybe get further training and have a career path that might help us with our healthcare workforce? [0:16:54] That's right. [0:16:55] All right. [0:16:55] M- moving on up. [0:16:56] Thank you. Thank you. [0:16:57] All right, a- and out of our deference to the Hou- any more questions? All right. Thank you- [0:17:03] Thank you [0:17:03] ... Chairman. Out of our deference to the House, I mean, we're, we're gonna be doing House bills tomorrow, and I don't think they've been doing too many House bills. But, uh, Representative Cannon, you can certainly talk about House Bill 244 if you don't mind, 'cause no one was here to talk about it, but the floor is yours. [0:17:21] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is just a, it's a bill that we use to basically give some relief to, um, smaller cities and counties for audit purposes. There's a threshold that we went through with the auditor to create some conditions for smaller cities and counties with a spending level below $2.5 million. [0:17:37] Okay. Any questions? Sounds like a good bill. We certainly appreciate that. [0:17:42] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [0:17:43] Just let the, let the House know we're doing a couple of House bills tomorrow. We've done a few House bills. I did one myself, and, uh, and sent it back to y'all, so. [0:17:51] Will do. [0:17:52] Okay. Thank you- [0:17:52] Thank you, sir [0:17:53] ... so much. [0:17:56] All right, so did we do House Bill 973, that little bill? And I tell you what, the Appropriations chair just didn't even bother to show up here, so I don't know. W- I guess we'll, we'll- Postpone it. It m- [0:18:11] All righty, so, uh, at the discretion of the chair, I think that we can all agree that House Bill 973 is going on. And in honor of our Rules chairman, House Bill 455, again, two House bills going on. And then we have a department bill, 'cause we have over 30 that, uh, are still, uh, to be done, but we're gonna get them all done, uh, before the time is up. And, uh, so Senate Bill 440. So those three we're going to put on. [0:18:43] Uh, so we got, um, so we got two more picks. And the President Pro Tem, uh- [0:18:52] Mr. Chairman. [0:18:53] Uh- [0:18:54] Do, do we have any ringers? [0:18:56] We have no ding-dings. I am sorry. I, he just, he, he delegated a lot of things, but he did not designate any, uh, ding-dings. I have ding-dings at a funeral. Yeah. All right, uh, President Pro Tem Walker. [0:19:11] Thank you, Chairman. Um, Representative Hawkins brought us d- described a bill that he has that would help us with our healthcare workforce, but we've got a very good Senate bill that certainly will help us in that area, so I'd like to pick Senate Bill 427. [0:19:30] Oh, my goodness. Yes, that w- that is, uh, that, that, that's, uh- That's a ringer ... that's a very good bill. Absolutely. Yes, that is. Uh, and you know, I'm next on the list, so I may just return that favor and pick SB 409. [0:19:44] Oh, thank you. [0:19:45] So, uh, it is, uh- Oh. Right? So, uh, so we have... Let's go over the bills we have. So we have, we have five bills, and we have one that may be coming off the table. We're doing a working lunch tomorrow. We're starting at 9:30, and we want to be as efficient as possible for folks like Senator Hodges who has about four and a half hours to travel, uh, so much appreciated. [0:20:10] How long do you have to travel? [0:20:11] I, about, about four hours. So, uh- So, okay. All right, so we're doing Senate Bill 409, Senate Bill 427, Senate Bill 440, House Bill 455, and House Bill 973. So moved. I hear a motion from Senator Albers, second by my, uh, suitemate, uh, Senator Anderson. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those in against say s- like sign. [0:20:43] Like sign. Sounds unanimous. Thank you. Meeting adjourned.