Weekly Update

​Legislative Days 5 – 8
January 26, 2021, to January 29, 2021
 
After a week of Appropriation meetings, Session resumed Tuesday the 26th in a roaring fashion. The switch has been thrown, and the horse race took off. The House set the Legislative Adjournment Schedule for the next eight days (H.R.31).Telling us that the two-week increments will continue until further notice.  At this point, it is unclear as to when Crossover will occur. Lori and I had the opportunity to go to the Capitol for some introductions and meetings since this is my first Session at the Capitol. I got to see firsthand the new protocols and procedures with all its yellow tape this year in person. Bi-weekly Covid test per Member and Staff every week administered by GA-Tech looks to be very robust. It was good to see firsthand how seriously this was being taken for the safety of every member, the staff, and our friends at the Capitol. As for the numerous bills being dropped for first reads and committee meetings starting up, it has shown that this Session will be as unique as they come. For this week, all eyes were on the Budget and getting Committee meetings lined up and rolling.
 
The real highlight of this week was seeing the Appropriation General Budget Bill move so quickly to come to a vote just yesterday in the House with only an hour and half of the whole House Committee deliberation. The House voted a “Do Pass” and Immediate transfer to the Senate’s Appropriations Committee. This usually doesn’t happen as quickly as this occurred, but with all eyes aimed at the National Pandemic, the Vaccine, and Georgia’s Health and Economic wellbeing, keeping everything moving is a priority. 

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