Weekly Legislative Summary

Legislative Days 17-19
February 16, 2021, to February 18, 2021

​It was a cold start to this week's session; we had a three-day schedule because of the President's day holiday. Even though there were only three days this week, both chambers and their respective committee meetings moved at full speed. The Governor started the week off by signing into law the General Assembly's Joint Supplemental Appropriations Act (budget bill).
 
Bills are being voted on left and right in both chambers as the heavily scheduled committee meetings are pushing bills through the legislative process. A few of the Governor and First Lady priority bills on the Senate side have been brought to the floor and passed. These bills have to do with the pandemic response and the First Lady's anti-human trafficking initiative. Election reform bills are now working their way through committees and will continue through the legislative process.
 
COVID-19 is still treated very seriously at the Capitol. Committee and subcommittee meetings were reminded to keep people coming to the Capitol to testify or speak on the bill to an absolute minimum. It was announced that there had been some instances in the smaller meeting rooms where social distancing was violated. If anyone wants to testify or speak on the bill, then they should contact the bill's author or contact the committee secretary ahead of time.  Remoting into the meeting to testify or share their concerns is being strongly encouraged.
 
One of the bills we are watching closely, Remote Notary Bill (H.B. 334), went to its first committee hearing. Lori Godfrey testified in front of the House Judiciary Gunter subcommittee about the concerns we have for community banks with the bill's current draft. To hear Lori testify,  visit our CBA of GA LinkedIn Post.  For more information on our concerns, visit last week's Weekly Update, where we highlighted the Remote Notary Bill and our thoughts and concerns. We understand the importance of this bill and are continuing to work very closely with all parties to have language inserted into a committee substitute that may mitigate our concerns.
mitigate our concerns.  

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