ATLANTA – Legislation
that would close a loophole in Georgia law pertaining to sexual misconduct by a
foster parent was introduced in the state House of Representatives this week.
House Bill
911, sponsored by Rep. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, would add “improper sexual contact” by a foster parent with a
foster child to a section of the state code that deals with sexual misconduct
by an employer with an employee.
Foster
parents convicted of the most serious form of the offense could face prison sentences of up to 25 years and fines
of up to $100,000.
The bill is
part of a legislative package Gov. Brian Kemp is pushing this year aimed at
making it easier for Georgians to become foster parents. The package also would
triple the state tax credit for foster parents from $2,000 to $6,000 and lower
the age requirement for unmarried Georgians to become foster parents from 25 to
21.
Foster care
is a priority issue both for the governor and First Lady Marty Kemp.
“This
legislation closes a dangerous loophole and prohibits foster parents from
engaging in improper sexual behavior with children in their care,” she said in
a prepared statement. “Moving forward, we will continue to devote our efforts
to protecting the most vulnerable in our state from sexual misconduct.”
Setzler’s
bill is being cosponsored by Rep. Jodi Lott, R-Evans, one of Kemp’s floor
leaders in the House.
ATLANTA – Participants
in Georgia’s newly legalized hemp business would have to carry a license when
transporting the product or face arrest under legislation before the General
Assembly.
House Bill
847 is a follow-up to a measure lawmakers adopted last year that allows hemp, a
cousin of marijuana that does not get users high, to be grown, processed and
possessed in Georgia. States have rushed into the hemp business in recent years
to take advantage of its many commercial uses, including the manufacture of
rope, textiles and CBD oil used to treat a variety of illnesses.
As the
Georgia Department of Agriculture continues developing the rules that will
govern the hemp program, one looming drawback is that police conducting a
traffic stop who notice a bag of green leafy material can’t readily tell
whether it’s marijuana or hemp.
The Georgia
Bureau of Investigation has machines that can determine whether a substance has
a THC content – the chemical that produces a high – of below 0.3%, the legal
limit. But the machines and tests are expensive.
There is no chemical difference between hemp and marijuana, Deneen Kilcrease of the GBI’s Crime Lab said Wednesday during a House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee hearing on the bill.
The House
bill would resolve that dilemma by requiring anyone in possession of such leafy
material stopped by law enforcement to produce a state-issued license for hemp.
“Law
enforcement had trouble distinguishing whether the product was legal or
illegal,” Kilcrease said. “The intent was to clear it up for law enforcement
and prosecutors.”
But Rep.
Scot Turner, R-Holly Springs, argued the law enforcement provision casts too
wide a net.
“Is it fair
to prosecute somebody for possession of something that’s not going to get them
stoned?” he asked.
Rep. John
Corbett, R-Lake Park, the bill’s chief sponsor, said Turner’s concerns would
not be an issue as long as people transporting hemp have the proper
documentation.
The
committee did not vote on the bill. Several issues remain up in the air,
including how much to charge for hemp licenses and whether to authorize private
colleges in Georgia to conduct research on the cultivation and research of hemp
or limit the program to University System of Georgia institutions.
ATLANTA – A
bill supporters say would increase protections for Georgia farmers from
nuisance lawsuits passed a state Senate committee Tuesday.
Dubbed the Georgia
Right to Farm Act of 2020, the bill would make it more difficult for property
owners living in areas zoned for agricultural use to sue nearby agricultural
operations such as chicken house or pig farms for offensive smells or runoff
from sludge lagoons.
“We’re just
doing our job to protect the family farmers in Georgia,” said state Rep. Tom
McCall, chairman of the House Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee.
McCall sponsored the bill in the House, which passed it last year and sent it over
to the Senate.
The bill
essentially updates a law the General Assembly enacted during the 1980s.
Supporters say farmers need greater protection against nuisance lawsuits than
the current law provides because rapid suburbanization of Georgia means more
non-farming homeowners are encroaching on farmland.
Under the
new bill, property owners wishing to file a nuisance suit against an
agricultural operation must be located within five miles of the source of the
alleged nuisance. Lawsuits must be brought within two years after a nuisance
occurs, down from four years under the current law.
Sen. Larry
Walker III, R-Perry, put together the substitute version of the bill the Senate
committee passed on Tuesday. He said he gathered feedback both from agribusiness
organizations that supported the bill and environmental groups opposed to it.
“What we
have before us is very strong protection for agribusiness that strikes a fair
balance with property owners,” Walker said.
But Sen. Zahra
Karinshak, D-Duluth, questioned the need for tighter restrictions on nuisance
lawsuits, including reducing the statute of limitations on filing legal action.
She tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill by changing the time limit back to
four years.
On the other
side of the debate, two amendments proposed by Sen. Bill Heath, R-Bremen, to
reduce the statute of limitations further to one year and to shrink the
five-mile radius for eligibility to file a nuisance suit to one mile also
failed.
The
committee passed the bill 6-3, voting along party lines. It now heads to the
Senate Rules Committee, which will decide whether to pass it on to the full
Senate.
ATLANTA – Georgia
cities and counties would be prohibited from regulating short-term rental
properties under legislation that cleared a state House committee Tuesday.
With the
advent of Airbnb and other vacation rental companies in recent years, short-term
rentals have become a fast-growing industry. But with that growth has come a
rise in complaints from neighbors about rowdy parties and absentee property owners
running what essentially are small hotels in residential areas.
Some local
governments have responded with tight restrictions banning short-term rentals
from their communities.
Cities and
counties can address such issues through nuisance ordinances and occupancy
limits without banning short-term rentals altogether, Rep. Kasey Carpenter,
R-Dalton, the bill’s chief sponsor, told members of the House Regulated
Industries Committee.
“These bans
and overregulation are an attack on private property rights,” he said.
Advocates
for local governments oppose the bill as usurping their zoning powers under the
Georgia Constitution.
Clint
Mueller, legislative director for the Association County Commissioners of
Georgia, said the state’s one-size-fits-all approach toward short-term rentals
won’t work in a state as diverse as Georgia.
“What St.
Simons does may be different than what they do in North Fulton or in the mountains,”
he said.
Mueller said
counties currently don’t even have a way to determine which properties are
being used as short-term rentals.
“If there’s
a violation, we don’t know who’s renting short term,” he said. “We can’t even
set up a notification process under this bill.”
House
Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones, R-Milton, one of three committee members who
voted against the bill, said it offers no protection for homeowners who might move
into a neighborhood expecting the quality of life that comes with living in a
residential area only to find short-term rentals plopped into their midst.
“Are you
concerned you’re changing the rules for millions of Georgians?” Jones asked
Carpenter.
But
Carpenter said his bill treats short-term rental properties the same as long-term
rentals that already are permitted in many residential neighborhoods. The only
exception is a carve-out provision for homeowners’ associations that ban
short-term rentals in their covenants.
“To me,
there’s not a lot of difference between a short-term rental and a long-term
rental,” he said. “You have bad apples in both cases.”
The bill now
heads to the House Rules Committee, which will decide whether to send it to the
full House for a vote.
ATLANTA – Georgia Power customers will get a break on their bills
next month thanks to the tax reforms Congress enacted back in 2017.
The third of three bill credits associated with a reduction in the
federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% will save the Atlanta-based utility
$106 million, resulting in a credit of about $22 in February for the average
residential customer.
“Over the past two years, Georgia Power has passed on the benefits
from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act through direct credits on customers’ bills,” Kevin
Kastner, vice president of customer services for Georgia Power, said Tuesday in
a prepared statement. “This final bill credit fulfills that commitment.”
The three bill credits totaling nearly $330 million were approved in
March 2018 as part of an agreement with the state Public Service Commission’s
staff. The first credit was issued in October 2018, and the second credit was
applied last June.
