Highlights
Georgia's school and hospital officials could be required to count the number of illegal immigrants they serve each year, according to new legislation introduced Tuesday.
Rep. Josh Clark, R-Buford, sponsored House Bill 296, which would require the state Board of Education to tally the numbers by school district and publish it on the state board's website.
Hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities would have to do the same with patients and publish it annually on the state Department of Community Health's website.
However, the legislation could be halted in its tracks. A 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Plyler v. Doe requires school districts to educate children regardless of their legal status. The state board's rules prohibit school officials from asking the legal status of students.
Senate
Senate Bill 110: Repeal restrictions on municipal solid waste landfill sites being located within significant groundwater recharge areas.
SB 111: Create requirements for any electronic transmission used to send a prescription drug order to a pharmacist.
SB 112: Enact the Military Parents Rights Act, which gives procedures for parental rights if one parent is subject to military deployment.
SB 113: Clarify that the authority of municipal corporations to enter into contracts doesn't conflict with any other authority to enter into such contracts.
SB 114: Allow the creation of a manufacturer's or distiller's license to a fruit grower for the manufacture of distilled spirits, and allow a manufacturer's or distiller's license authorizing the manufacture of distilled spirits from agricultural products other than perishable fruits.
SB 115: Exclude foster care payments from the calculations of gross income for determination of child support obligations.
SB 116: Enact the Sound Money In Banking Act, which requires any bank serving as a depository for the state to offer and accept gold and silver coins for deposit.
SB 117: Increase the amount of certain exemptions for levy and sale of property.
SB 118: Change the way criminal records are inspected, purged and modified by the Georgia Crime Information Center.
SB 119: Revise definitions relating to tuition equalization grants and HOPE scholarships, allowing certain high schools to be accredited for July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2013.
SB 120: Require a parent or guardian participation component in the alcohol and drug course used to obtain a driver's license for a person under age 18.
SB 121: Require the Department of Natural Resources Department to refund fees collected in error or overpayment.
SB 122: Require the Water Supply Division of the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority to participate in the planning, financing, constructing, acquiring, operating or maintaining certain water reservoirs, facilities and systems and allow local government contracts in these areas.
SB 123: Enact the Georgia Residential Mortgage Fraud and Foreclosure Fraud Act, which relates to the foreclosure and transfer of security deeds.
House
House Bill 280: Allow additional uses for Emergency Telephone System Fund dollars for the enhancement of dispatch and response activities and equipment of public safety personnel.
HB 281: Change the legal rate of interest and the maximum rate of interest and change criminal penalties for excessive interest.
HB 282: Enact the Military Parents Rights Act, which gives procedures for parental rights if one parent is subject to military deployment.
HB 283: Require the State Board of Education to incorporate the "Love Is Not Abuse" curriculum as a rape prevention and personal safety education program for preventing teen dating violence.
HB 284: Change how process servers are certified.
HB 285: Change how criminal background checks are given for school employees.
HB 286: Require training for certain people licensed to carry a pistol or revolver.
HB 287: Repeal exemption of state sales taxes for certain foods between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2013.
HB 288: Require DNA collection as a condition of bail for certain offenses.
HB 289: Revise a definition relating to ad valorem tax exemptions.
HB 290: Protect against fraudulent use of state purchasing cards as discovered and recommended by the House Committee on Information and Audits.
HB 291: Require property tax bills to not include non-tax related fees.
HB 292: Extend contribution rates and credits for employment security.
HB 293: Define "retirement bill having a fiscal impact" to mean any bill that grants to a public retirement system an insurable interest in active or retired members of such retirement system.
HB 294: Provide for staggered terms of office for Paulding County board members.
HB 295: Create a method of calculating accrued benefits for people under the Georgia State Employees Pension and Savings Plan who transfer between the Employees' Retirement System of Georgia and the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia.
HB 297: Prohibit public retirement systems from expending or obligating funds for certain purposes.
HB 298: Establish a small business investment company credit.
HB 299: Require all convicted felons who are incarcerated or on probation or parole to give a DNA sample.
HB 300: Provide compensation for Putnam County board members.
HB 301: Allow a maximum weight variance for vehicles hauling organic poultry waste from the point of origin to a farm.
HB 302: Change the dates for general and qualifying elections in 2012.
HB 303: Allow physician assistants to sign off on certain documents relating to health care.
HB 304: Change information that must be registered by a service supplier for the 911 system.
HB 305: Require local board of education members to serve four years.
HB 306: Allow a state sales tax exemption for sales to qualified job training organizations.
HB 307: Include burn centers and burn patients as part of the trauma network under the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission.
HB 308: Define the duties for public retirement systems' boards of trustees as required by the Public Retirement Systems Standards Law.
HB 309: Change the value of a vehicle that can be scrapped and require owners to notify the Department of Revenue about the cancellation of titles to scrap vehicles.
HB 310: Enact The End to Cyberbullying Act, which would punish cyberbullying with computers, phones and websites on school property.
HB 311: Enact the Parent Protection Act, which would give leave to employees to attend school conferences and medical appointments of their children.
HB 312: Enact the Protecting Public School Funds Act, which would change funding related to student scholarship organizations and the qualified education tax credit.
House Resolution 340: Inform Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol W. Hunstein that Georgia is a republic, not a democracy, as she stated in a speech, and recognize the differences between these two forms of government.
HR 341: Promote an increase in public awareness of the dangers of celebratory gunfire.
HR 342: Enact the Taxpayer Dividend Amendment of 2012, which would give a prioritized expenditure of excess state revenues, including income tax relief, in the event of a budget surplus. Limit appropriations from the Revenue Shortfall Reserve.
Both chambers also passed various resolutions to recognize special days and people.
Carolyn Crist