With Crossover Day behind them, state lawmakers are beginning to prioritize their final plans for the 2011 General Assembly session.

Bills were required to move from one chamber to the other on Wednesday, Day 30, meaning the most fast-paced and debate-filled legislative days are coming.

"We'll be looking at a tremendous number of bills from the House and getting them into committee, so Days 31-33 this week may start off a bit slow, but it'll really pick up from there," said Sen. Butch Miller, R-Gainesville.

"We'll have an extremely busy schedule in the last six or seven days, and we have some great pieces of legislation coming through about education and transportation."

The chamber also must pass the fiscal year 2012 budget, as required by the state constitution.

"The budget will be difficult at best," Miller said.
"I'm not on the Appropriations committee, but I've been sitting in the different subgroups that deal with the committees I'm on, such as Economic Development, Transportation and Agriculture. It's important to get a better feel for the priorities and what areas I might have an opportunity to impact."

Miller expects to see several hot topic bills come through his committees, especially those concerning illegal immigration.

"We've got several big bills coming along, which should be interesting," said Miller, chairman of the Senate State Local Government Operations Committee. "And in the Agriculture committee, we heard about the caged hunt of exotic animals, but that didn't make Crossover Day."

The House and Senate tackled nearly 100 bills on Day 30, pulling a 12-hour shift under the Gold Dome.

"It was a very productive day, and I'm very pleased that it went smoothly and efficiently with respectful and civil debate. We finished more than two hours before midnight," House Speaker David Ralston said.

"On Monday, we'll start the No. 1 priority: the budget."

The House approved $18.25 billion for the 2012 budget March 11, and the Senate is expected to see a floor vote on its version soon.

The chambers will iron out the differences in a conference committee, which they avoided for the 2011 supplemental budget.

"That's never happened while I've been here, and I think it shows how everyone is working together," said Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville.

"I'm not sure what will happen with the 2012 budget, but it is what it is and we have to deal with it. There's only so many ways you can get creative with negative numbers."

Though the economy is showing a slight uptick, legislators need to make up for the loss of more than $1 billion in federal funds.

"We are seeing some positive numbers, but any new money with this positive growth is back-building what's not there anymore from stimulus money," he said. "We know where it goes before we even get it."

Both chambers are also looking at larger discussions about water and the state's tax code.

"Tax reform is still an ongoing discussion, and hopefully we'll be able to talk about it in coming days," Ralston said. "It's still a very real issue, as is water.

Reservoirs are very important to the state, particularly in Northeast Georgia."

The Hall County delegation also will try to push through local legislation and smaller bills they sponsored earlier in the session, Collins added.

"There's a Georgia State Patrol bill that I'm finishing up in the Senate, and another one would bring back the fire commissioner for the Georgia, which could really help our local fire chiefs," Collins said. "Not a lot of those are very controversial, but they're still important to do."