Sandy Springs, Buckhead legislators say upcoming session hard to predict – Reporter Newspapers

State Sen. Judson Hill, R-Marietta, has part of Sandy Springs in his district. He said he thinks an election year is an ideal time to pass controversial legislation, like bills allowing for referendums on new cities.

“I’ve always been in favor of introducing and passing great legislation, no matter when it is,” Hill said. “The best time to pass really good bills is during an election year. If it’s not good in election year, in my view it’s not good.”

Hill said he’d like to pass legislation establishing charity care clinics and privatizing some of PeachCare, a service providing affordable health insurance to low-income children. He said new bills might be difficult to pass this year.

He said passing the state budget will likely consume most of the Legislature’s time and energy in 2014.

“The budget will take up a lot of time because the financial challenges on revenues,” Hill said. “Even though we’ve had a slight increase, much of that increase has been brought about by slow gradual increase in revenues for individuals and corporations as well as the car title fee changes, but between education and Medicaid, those are quickly absorbed.”

District 6 Sen. Hunter Hill (R-Smyrna), who represents a portion of Buckhead, said he plans to work on passage of legislation to streamline the process to create public-private partnerships for state projects. “This is about delivering mission-critical facilities,” he said.

via Sandy Springs, Buckhead legislators say upcoming session hard to predict – Reporter Newspapers.