Improving Education

House Bill 237 would provide a way for individuals, corporations and communities to financially assist Georgia's low-performing schools by establishing the Public Education Innovation Fund Foundation under the Governor's Office of Student Achievement. Under HB 237, the foundation could receive private donations from taxpayers in order to award grants to public schools to fund academic and organizational innovations to improve student achievement, with priority given to low-performing schools.

Honored to welcome Dr. Williams who was honored for his work with Community Health Centers

Commitment to Georgia's Children

House Bill 250, which passed unanimously, would allow foster parent applicants and caregivers who are early care and education program employees who have received satisfactory background and fingerprint records checks within the previous 24 months to submit evidence from their employee background and finger print check to the Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) to satisfy the department's records check requirement. Hopefully, this bill will allow greater flexibility for those who are taking the steps to care for and improve the lives of children in our state's foster system.

Another measure that unanimously passed the House chamber was House Bill 159, legislation that would modernize and reform Georgia's adoption laws based on best practices and the best interests of the child, birth parents and adoptive parents.

Commitment to Our Military

House Bill 224 would give military students the ability to attend any school within their school system beginning in the 2017-2018 school year. School aged children of a military service member living in military housing, on or off-base, would have the flexibility to attend the public school of their choice within their local school system if space is available at that school.

HB 222 would allow a member of the Georgia National Guard or a member of a reserve component of the armed forces of the United States located in our state to be classified as a legal Georgia resident under eligibility requirements for HOPE Scholarships and grants.

Advancing our Film Industry

House Bill 199 amends the 'Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act' by reducing the annual total aggregate payroll for employees working within Georgia for a qualified interactive entertainment production company to qualify for tax credits. The bill also adds pre-released interactive games to the list of projects considered to be qualified production activities.

Section Two of the bill creates the 'Georgia Entertainment Industry Postproduction Investment Act' which allows for a 20 percent tax credit for post-production companies, and increase the tax credit for companies who locate in rural Georgia up to 40 percent.

We will reconvene on Monday, February 27 for day 25.