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Gold Dome Update 
Highlights from the House 
Following our "Crossover Day" deadline, we have officially made our way into the final stretch of the 2021 legislative session. The last couple of weeks has been productive as we continue to pass legislation out of the House chamber as well as out of our respective committees. Below is quick highlight of what we have accomplished over the past few legislative days!
Legislative Days 20-27
Tax Reform / Economic Growth

We are pleased to announce the passage of a number of bills aimed at assisting our state’s economic recovery through tax relief and job growth. These bills came in the form of House Bill 593, House Bill 586 and House Bill 587.

Tax Relief Act of 2021
House Bill 593, or the Tax Relief Act of 2021 will cut income taxes during the tax year 2022 by the following:
  • Increasing the standard deduction for taxpayers that are single and heads of household from $4,600 to $5,400 and
  • Increasing the standard deduction for a married couple filing jointly from $6,000 to $7,100.
  • Increasing the standard deduction for married couples who file individually from $3,000 to $3,550.

In short, HB 593 would save Georgia taxpayers approximately $140 million, allowing taxpayers to keep more of their hard-earned money.

Georgia Economic Recovery Act
Further, we overwhelmingly passed House Bill 586, the “Georgia Economic Recovery Act of 2021.” This bill will extend a number of sales tax exemptions for manufacturing and other businesses. Exemptions include:
  • Sales tax exemptions for projects of regional significance and for supplies in select manufacturing industries.
  • Tickets for fine arts performances from sales taxes to bolster an industry gravely impacted by COVID-19.

Georgia Economic Renewal Act
House Bill 587, or the “Georgia Economic Renewal Act of 2021,” also passed overwhelmingly. This bill would make multiple amendments to Georgia’s income tax laws, including a tax credit to incentivize manufacturers of medical equipment to locate and create jobs in Georgia. The bill also makes way for an additional tax credit to attract high-impact aerospace defense projects to our state.

Rural Support
To ensure the continued support of the less populated areas in the state, we successfully passed House Resolution 185 and House Bill 32. HR 185 reauthorizes the House Rural Development Council, which has been key in our efforts to spur economic growth and bring jobs specifically to rural Georgia.

House Bill 32 seeks to recruit and retain 1,000 Georgia teachers to extremely rural or low-performing schools by offering a refundable income tax credit of $3,000 for certified teachers for up to five years. This credit would be available to teachers who work in a high-need subject area at a rural school or at a school that performed in the lowest five percent of schools. 



Healthcare Legislation



Gracie's Law
We are pleased to report the unanimous passage of House Bill 128, also known as “Gracie’s Law.” If passed, this bill would safeguard against organ transplant discrimination for children and adults living with disabilities. Under the legislation, individuals who are candidates for an organ transplant would not be deemed ineligible or denied insurance coverage solely based on the individual’s physical or mental disability. Additionally, if an individual cannot independently meet medical requirements after a transplant but has an adequate support system to assist with recovery needs, the individual would not be deemed ineligible for the transplant. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA), which performs most of the pediatric organ transplants in the state, has expressed support for this legislation, stating that there is no medical reason to warrant such discrimination.

Telemedicine Expansion
As we continue our work to ensure all Georgians have access to quality healthcare, we successfully passed House Bill 307. This bill would authorize health care providers to continue to provide telehealth services beyond the pandemic. This means patients would be allowed to receive health services from the comfort of their own homes. Provisions of the legislation are as follows:
  • Allows for audio-only care via phone call under certain circumstances, such as a lack of broadband connection.
  • Extends insurance coverage for telehealth services.
  • Prohibits insurers from requiring separate deductibles or an in-person consultation before paying for a virtual appointment.
  • Restricts insurers from requiring providers to use a specific telehealth platform or vendor.
  • Restricts insurance from requiring the prescription of medications through telehealth that are more restrictive than in-person prescribing.
  • Requires providers to maintain documentation of each virtual appointment as they would during in-person visits.


Child Protection

Family First
New parents within our state’s workforce will be thrilled as our House body overwhelmingly passed House Bill 146, which would extend paid parental leave to many state employees. Stipulations of the bill are as follows:
  • Provides up to 120 hours, or three weeks, of paid parental leave annually.
  • Eligible state employees are those who have had a recent birth or those who have had the placement of an adoptive/foster child within their home.
  • State workers employed for at least six months would be able to use this parental leave regardless of whether they have paid leave benefits.

Adoption / Foster Care Reform
In recent years, we have worked tirelessly to reform our outdated adoption and foster care laws. Our efforts continued last week with the passage of House Bill 154. This bill would lower the age at which a person can petition for adoption from 25 to 21 years old. This change would allow an older sibling or close relative to petition for adoption as an avenue for the child to remain with family members if deemed the best option. Additionally, if passed, this legislation would do the following:
  • Recognizes other state’s adoption processes, clarifying alternatives for out-of-state adoption proceedings.
  • Specifies paperwork requirements for those who seek to adopt a child whose parents do not first need to surrender their rights.
  • Allows a non-resident petitioner to appear for the final hearing via electronic means if the petition for adoption is uncontested.
  • Permits the state to begin the search of the putative father after an adoption petition has been filed.
  • Requires the petitioner to request an investigator to verify the adoption petition if the court fails to appoint one.
  • Confirms that juvenile courts would keep children’s names confidential during proceedings.
  • Creates a civil cause of action to address adoption scams where individuals misrepresent a pregnancy or intention to place a child for adoption.

We are pleased to see that our efforts are beginning to pay off as the number of adoptions in our state has grown, while the number of children in foster care continues to decrease. This is great news for our Georgia children who seek permanency and stability in their newly found “forever home.”

Child Insurance Coverage
Although our Georgia children already enrolled in state assistance programs are also eligible for enrollment within our state health insurance program, many are not. House Bill 163 seeks to improve this issue by automatically enrolling those eligible into our state’s insurance program by cutting burdensome requirements and regulations. If approved, the bill would allow the implementation of “express lane” eligibility in Medicaid and the PeachCare for Kids Program by automatic enrollment and renewal of children who have already qualified for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).


Custody Proceedings
As the world continues to change, so does our need to update outdated policy. To ensure the protection of our children, during child custody proceedings, we passed House Bill 442. This bill specifically highlights the impact of social media within our households. To date, child custody laws require that one or both parents hold specific decision-making authority for a child’s education, health, extracurricular activities, and religious upbringing. Under HB 442, parents will also be responsible for including social media management in their joint parenting plan agreement.


Safe and Secure Elections

We have been dedicated to ensuring the security of our sacred elections process. We believe that free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy. Recent events occurring within our elections cycle have shaken the faith of Georgia voters. There is no doubt that restoring trust and confidence in our system is critical.
 
To address these concerns, we successfully passed House Bill 531. This bill is a comprehensive election reform package that works to strengthen absentee ballot requirements, standardize voting procedures across Georgia’s 159 counties and ease restrictions on military voters. Access is also of great importance as every Georgian legally eligible to cast a ballot should be able to do so.
 
We are committed to removing barriers to access and providing all voters with critical election resources and information. Partisan voices and dark money groups want you to believe that safeguards equal suppression. This is false. We can—and WILL—enhance election security while increasing voter access legally and fairly.


Highlights of HB 531:
  • Replaces the controversial signature verification for absentee ballot to a driver's license or state ID card verification.
  • Implements special security paper for ballots. 
  • Provides quicker election results and more certainty that a voter's ballot is counted by changing the request for absentee ballot deadline from the Friday before the Tuesday election to two Fridays before the upcoming election. 
  • Creates shorter lines by creating a polling precinct for every 2000 voters. 
  • Advances the security of drop boxes in early voting locations, eliminating the risk of late-night "ballot dumps." 

You can keep up with all bills concerning our elections process by following along with our Special Committee on Election Integrity. We are pleased to report that the following bills have been favorably reported by the Committee and make their way to the next step in the legislative process. 


Floor Passage

Recent weeks also brought passage of the following bills which are now under review in the the Senate:
House Bill 90, which would clarify the damages a person holding a security in land may seek when the land is converted without their consent; this would create uniformity with the Uniform Commercial Code by specifying that a buyer in the ordinary course of business shall not have liability to such persons;
House Bill 93, which would eliminate duplicative state licensure requirements and regulation of clinical laboratories in Georgia that are certified by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services;
House Bill 111, which would act as the annual revision of Georgia law related to banking and finance. Superfluous language is clarified, removed and consolidated, and terminology is also updated, and outdated language is removed;
House Bill 130, which would require counties, municipalities and consolidated governments to treat fence detection systems for non-residentially zoned properties the same as alarm systems and would prohibit these local authorities from banning the installation or use of fence detection systems that comply with Georgia law;
 
House Bill 165, which would allow for the use of a mount for a telecommunications device on the front windshield of a motor vehicle;
House Bill 168, which would create an exception to the confidentiality rules pertaining to inmate files for purposes of responding to actions by the State Board of Pardons and Paroles. This exception would be for information requested by the local district attorney when an inmate has been sentenced for a serious violent felony or a dangerous sexual offense that was committed against a minor;
House Bill 169, which would add the completion of a commercial driver training course as a requirement to receive a commercial driver’s license to make Georgia law consistent with federal requirements, and it would change the maximum length of time that a commercial driver’s instruction permit is valid from two 180-day periods to one 365-day period;
House Bill 200, which would change the description of the type of three-wheeled motor vehicle that a driver with a Class C driver’s license is permitted to drive from a three-wheeled vehicle that is equipped with a steering wheel to a three-wheeled vehicle that has seat belts and a frame to partially or fully enclose the driver, as well as exempt drivers of certain three-wheeled vehicles from headgear and eye-protective requirements;
House Bill 207, which would require certain specified documents and registrations to be submitted to the Georgia Department of Revenue electronically instead of through the mail;
House Bill 212, which would revise Georgia law regarding cardiopulmonary resuscitation to amend the term “parent” to include a person with legal authority to act on behalf of a minor or a parent of an adult without decision-making capacity, as well as clarify requirements for the issuance of an order not to resuscitate a minor to ensure no such order can be issued without consent of the minor’s parent if the parent is reasonably available or competent;
House Bill 254, which would update Georgia’s public adjuster laws and increase consumer protections from fraud by requiring public adjusters to be licensed by the Department of Insurance (DOI), requiring these adjusters to use DOI approved contracts, among others; this bill would also outline rules for fees, commissions, advertisements and solicitations;
House Bill 282, which would update Georgia’s ad valorem tax for qualified timberland property by allowing an applicant to declare a tract of land as contiguous even if the tract is divided by certain boundaries, roads or railways, as well as update the qualified timberland property manual and the requirements for a parcel map drawn by the county cartographer or Geographic Information System technician;
House Bill 287, which would require that mandatory instruction regarding drug and alcohol use include tobacco and vapor products for students in every grade;
House Bill 353, which would require drivers to make a lane change away from a bicyclist when passing them on a roadway if it is possible or reduce their speed and pass the bicyclist with at least three feet between the vehicle and bicycle; a violation of this law would be a misdemeanor

House Bill 44, which would allow Georgia to observe daylight savings time year-round if it is first authorized by the U.S. Congress;
House Bill 92, which would lower the amount of time that vital records must be kept by the state registrar before they are transferred to the State Archives;
House Bill 94, which would designate a new felony crime when a person possesses stolen mail addressed to three or more different addresses and possesses a minimum of 10 separate pieces of stolen mail; the bill would also designate a new felony crime for “porch piracy” when a person takes or removes any envelope, bag, package or other sealed item of another person from that person’s porch, steps or entranceway without that person's permission;
House Bill 124, which would allow crematories to use aquamation by creating a new definition for “cremation device” and expand the current references to a "retort" to also include vats and containers in which cremation occurs by traditional flame, alkaline hydrolysis or other approved means;
House Bill 244, which would add flood risk reduction to the list of services provided by counties to inhabitants of unincorporated areas;
House Bill 248, which would allow the local governing body of the city or county whose law enforcement agency is authorized to enforce speed limits to apply for school zone speed enforcement camera permits rather than have each school apply;
House Bill 302, which would require that the proceeds from regulatory fees be used to fund such regulatory activity, eliminating regulatory fee calculation methods specific to the construction industry, and removing taxicab and limousine operators, boxing promoters, shooting galleries and firearm ranges, and firearm dealers from the list of examples of businesses or practitioners of professions or occupations which may be subject to regulatory fees of local governments;
House Bill 303, which would provide active-duty military service members with private motor vehicle insurance a reduction in the premium for motor vehicle liability, first-party medical and collision coverage for each named driver listed on the policy application;
House Bill 316, which would increase the pharmacist to pharmacy technician ratio from three to four for pharmacists directly supervising technicians;
 
House Bill 322, which would remove references to prostitution from the definition of “sexual exploitation” in Georgia law regarding the juvenile code, child abuse reporting requirements and child abuse records;
 
House Bill 328, which would establish a one-time right-of-way permit fee, reduce the annual right-of-way fee that is paid to cities by telephone companies that do not have retail and would end user customers located within the city limits;
 
House Bill 333, the “Ethics in Government Act of 2021,” which would make several changes regarding the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission’s operations and authority, as well as update requirements for utilizing campaign funds;
 
House Bill 334, which would authorize remote online notaries and remote online notarizations;
House Bill 355, which would require the director of the Georgia Forestry Commission to establish the Sustainable Building Material Technical Advisory Committee;
 
House Bill 363, which would remove various subsections of Georgia’s code to escalate punishment for elder abuse crimes due to “rule of lenity” concerns with existing law; these changes would allow courts to sentence defendants more appropriately for elder abuse crimes;
 
House Bill 364, which would allow Georgia law enforcement officers, who are certified by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, to be exempted from certain requirements when applying for private detective and security licenses;
 
House Bill 369, which would expand the eligibility as to who can issue an affidavit to authorize a motor vehicle disability parking permit by including advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants;
 
House Bill 371, which would allow judges to conduct hearings in civil cases via telephone or video conference, excluding criminal trials;
 
House Bill 392, which would make new alcoholic beverage licensees for off-premises consumption subject to its local jurisdiction’s distance requirements from school and educational buildings;
House Bill 410, which would transfer the regulation of bingo to the authority of the Secretary of State from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation;
House Bill 443, which would create the “Georgia Structured Settlement Protection Act” to provide new requirements regarding the transfer of structured settlement payment rights;
House Bill 450, which would authorize the Georgia Department of Public Health to release de-identified data related to the Low THC Oil Patient Registry to government entities and others for various purposes after removing any information that could be used to identify prescribers;
House Bill 451, which would allow a taxpayer that claimed the finished goods inventory exemption for the 2020 tax year to have the option for the 2021 tax year to claim the exemption using the fair market value of finished goods as of January 1, 2020 or January 1, 2021;
House Bill 453, which would allow current and retired firefighters to utilize a firefighter special license plate on a vehicle used for transportation purposes unrelated to their role as a firefighter;
House Bill 459, which would prohibit certain municipalities from annexing any territory that includes a county-operated airport unless the county government adopts a resolution approving such annexation;
House Bill 466, which would lower the required course hours from 20 to 16 for intervention programs regarding alcohol or drug use while driving and allow for the courses to be conducted in-person, online or via remote participation platforms;
House Bill 470, which would exempt condominium units, where the boundaries of the unit are not designated by walls, floors, ceilings, or other physical structures, from the requirement of submitting plans for each individual unit as long as the boundaries of the unit are depicted on a plat of survey;
House Bill 476, which would create the “Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors Act of 2021” to rename the State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors to the Georgia Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors Board; and the bill would update education requirements for engineers, structural engineers and land surveyors;
House Bill 477, which would extend the sunset date from December 31, 2021, to December 31, 2026 for the qualified donation of real property;
House Bill 480, which would establish liens for labor, services or materials performed or furnished by registered interior decorators;
House Bill 497, which would clean-up, modernize and revise errors in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated;
House Bill 511, which would dedicate specific fees by general law for 10 years and create the framework to segregate the collections for each fee dedicated in this manner as a unique trust fund earning interest within the Office of the Treasurer.
 
House Bill 539, which would revise Georgia law regarding institutional licenses in the “Medical Practice Act of the State of Georgia” by adding hospitals licensed by the Georgia Department of Community Health, medical schools approved by the Georgia Composite Medical Board, teaching hospitals and clinics that service predominantly Medicaid, indigent and underserved populations;
House Bill 548, which would provide access to records of child abuse reports for the Administrative Office of the Courts for the purpose of providing more information in cases involving children who have been the subject of dependency actions and actions to terminate parental rights;
House Bill 553, which would amend the “Georgia Administrative Procedure Act” to allow for administrative law hearings, which were previously permitted to be conducted by telephonic communication, to be conducted using broader electronic communication means;
House Bill 554, which would require that no action involving an interest in real property shall operate as a pending legal action until the official, public notice that a property has a pending lawsuit or claim attached to it is issued by a court, and a superior court must keep a docket of all official pending legal actions filed with them;
House Bill 574, which would create the Companion Local Government Animal Trust Fund and dedicate no more than $50,000 of collected pet dealer, kennel, stable, and animal shelter fees to the fund, provided the fund's total does not exceed $200,000;
House Bill 577, which would be the Georgia Department of Transportation’s annual “housekeeping” bill related to capital construction or capital maintenance, airport licensing and speed limits;
House Bill 588, which would update Georgia’s code section on projects completed as a public private partnership by defining public benefit and a P3 project, requiring GDOT staff to report potential undertakings regarding public private partnerships and dedicating the collection of sales and use tax on fuel used exclusively for the operation of locomotives to GDOT for use exclusively on freight and logistics projects;
House Bill 591, which would authorize licensed marriage and family therapists to admit individuals for involuntary evaluation of mental or substance use disorders;
House Bill 601, which would exempt products that are approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration from definitions in state law;
House Bill 606, which would include the Georgia Independent School Association in the list of accepted accrediting agencies in order to establish HOPE eligibility for private high schools;
House Bill 620, which would make changes to the maximum value regarding settlements for claims of minors;
House Bill 635, which would allow superior, state, probate and magistrate court judges to perform any lawful, judicial act from any location, not just Georgia;
House Bill 645, which would expand the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission’s responsibilities and requirements for reporting, allow local jurisdictions to use their zoning powers for additional dispensaries, as well as allow certain universities and colleges to engage in THC oil research;
COVID-19 Update
We have made great progress in our efforts to mitigate COVID-19. Since the beginning of the year vaccinations have been made available through various avenues, including newly introduced mass vaccination sites. This week, Governor Kemp announced the expansion of those eligible to receive the vaccine to include individuals who are 55+, as well as individuals who suffer from certain medical conditions. For more information in regards to COVID-19, please check out the links below.


Keep Up with Capitol Hill

The Georgia General Assembly has unveiled a brand-new website! This site is easy to navigate and I encourage you to explore this great informational tool.
Check out the helpful links below. 
Please be on the lookout for weekly newsletters as we make our way through the remainder of our 2021 Legislative Session. As always, thank you for the honor of allowing us to serve you under the Gold Dome as we continue our efforts towards ensuring simple, smart and effective government within our great state of Georgia. 

Respectfully,
Shaw Blackmon
Representative of Georgia's 146th House District
Representative Shaw Blackmon
District 146

Phone: 404-463-7583
Address: 401-K State Capitol
Atlanta, Georgia 30334