Highlights
A state lawmaker introduced a human life amendment Tuesday that would ask voters to decide whether life begins at conception.
Filed as Senate Resolution 153, the constitutional amendment sponsored by Sen. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, needs a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate to be placed on the ballot.
Mississippi voters will decide a similar amendment at the polls this fall. Colorado voters rejected one last year.
The initiative would grant constitutional protections at the moment of conception and would likely prompt a legal challenge stemming from the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe vs. Wade.
Senate
Senate Bill 69: Allow nonpartisan elections for district attorneys, solicitors-general and sheriffs.
SB 70: Allow nonpartisan elections for tax receivers, collectors and commissioners.
SB 71: Allow nonpartisan elections for solicitors-general.
SB 72: Allow nonpartisan elections for district attorneys.
SB 73: Allow nonpartisan elections for clerks of superior court.
SB 74: Allow nonpartisan elections for sheriffs.
SB 75: Allow nonpartisan elections for county commissioners.
SB 76: Require the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission to designate funds to uncompensated trauma care provided by emergency medical services.
SB 77: Give preference to businesses owned and controlled by disabled veterans or disabled law enforcement officers for certain types of state contracts.
SB 78: Require certain safety standards for the Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission and include the Georgia Boxing Association as a recognized governing body for amateur boxing, wrestling and martial arts.
SB 79: Provide a phase-in period for local boards of education and require members to serve at least four years.
SB 80: Require DNA analysis for people arrested and charged with felony offenses and sex offenses.
SB 81: Require pharmacists to undergo mental and physical examinations before obtaining a license.
SB 82: Require oaths of election for superintendents, supervisors and designees for election boards.
SB 83: Under Rachel's Law, prohibit a law enforcement agency from selecting certain people to act as confidential informants and require that any agreement between a law enforcement agency and a confidential informant be written and signed.
SB 84: Create a code of ethics for the DeKalb County School System, including disclosure of financial interests in contracts pending before the school board.
SB 85: Require state board of education members to have completed some postsecondary education.
SB 86: Allow comprehensive planning by local governments to be optional.
SB 87: Rename the Georgia Educational Freedom Act and expand eligibility for the special needs scholarship program to include military and foster care families.
SB 88: Increase the age requirement for child safety seats in vehicles to age 8.
SB 89: Allow the mayor, city council and city manager to set the agenda for all Savannah city council meetings.
SB 90: Create term limits and staggered terms of office for Savannah's board of education.
SB 91: Prevent a Chatham County chairman from succeeding himself/herself in office more than three times.
Senate Resolution 155: Urge Georgia's district attorneys to invest in resources to solve homicides and choose public safety programs over the death penalty.
House
House Bill 241: Prevent seafood from being labeled "fresh" if it has been frozen, thawed and then subsequently refrozen.
HB 242: Enact the American Laws for Georgia Courts Act to prevent courts, administrative agencies or other tribunals from enforcing a foreign law in violation of the state and national constitutions.
HB 243: Prevent any food from being labeled "fresh" if it has been frozen.
HB 244: Create a mayor and city manager for the city of Arlington.
HB 245: Allow a cosigner to be entitled to a notice of default on a loan.
HB 246: Prevent employees of the Employees Retirement System of Georgia and the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia from receiving a compensation increase more than 50 percent of their salary.
HB 247: Allow the Department of Community Health to require fingerprinting and criminal background investigations of all emergency medical service personnel.
HB 248: Enact the Health Care Sharing Ministries Freedom to Share Act, which exempts a health care sharing ministry that enters into a health care cost sharing arrangement with its participants from laws about insurance companies, health maintenance organizations or health benefit plans.
HB 249: Provide pertussis disease and vaccine information to parents of newborns.
HB 250: Create a revised survivor's benefit option under the Georgia Judicial Retirement System, which would allow a member who rejected survivor's benefits to obtain the benefits by paying the actuarial cost.
Both chambers also passed various resolutions to recognize special days and people.