Georgia General Assembly Back in Session

ATLANTA — The Georgia General Assembly convened today.

Legislators say there is a long list of issues to consider, including how to proceed following President-elect Donald Trump’s repeal of the Affordable Care Act, regional transportation planning, expansion of the medical marijuana bill and a renewed effort by Gov. Deal to pass an altered version of the Opportunity School District (OSD) that was soundly defeated by Georgia voters last year.

It is unclear what Republicans plan to dismantle with regard to Obamacare since Georgia did not expand Medicaid or create an exchange.

Republicans have placed crafting a regional transportation plan at the top of their agenda. But there will also be a strong push for an initiative to bolster job training programs in high schools as well as an effort to get the Georgia

Lottery to reduce the prize money it offers to winners in order to direct extra funding to the HOPE scholarship program.

As they have in the past, Democrats are likely to push for gun safety, voting rights an expansion of the medical marijuana bill passed in 2015, and added protection for the environment.

Deal, who is in his final year in office, appears determined to ignore the will of the voters and pass some form of his unpopular OSD.

The governor told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week he is working with lawmakers on a plan that would give the state more power to let students transfer from the 153 schools on the state’s failing list.

Conservatives may push for a religious liberty bill for the fourth year in a row. House Bill 757 passed both the House and Senate last session before Deal sided with the LGBT and Chamber of Commerce lobbies and vetoed it in April.
The bill protected pastors from having to perform a same-sex wedding ceremonies and allowed businesses to refuse service to couples if they cited a sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions regarding marriage.