Sen. Judson Hill: Capitol News from Sen. Judson Hill

Your Georgia Desk

2015 Session Weekly Update # 5 – Capitol News from Sen. Judson Hill

Greetings From The Capitol

With another week coming to a close in the Georgia legislature, the Senate completed its 19th day of Session. I hope you managed to stay warm this past week with some of the lowest temperatures we have seen this year.

As the Session moves forward, Bills are more quickly passing from the House to the Senate and the Senate to the House. The Senate passed the Supplemental Budget, House Bill 75 on Thursday. The Bill has made it to the Governor’s office to review and signature.

We also had a good number of groups visit the Capitol this week, some of which were recognized on the floor by way of resolutions. Among those that visited are Leadership Cobb, Leadership Sandy Springs, LEAD Atlanta and Teen Pact (above). I would like to thank the members of these groups for taking the time to visit their Capitol Hill and for being such important leaders in their communities.

Below is a list of notable legislation that has been introduced in the Senate or passed the past week.

2015 Legislation of Note Passed or Introduced this Week in the Senate:

SB 109: This Bill was introduced to clarify the use and effectiveness of Physician orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment forms. It will provide alternate terminology for do not resuscitate orders and reflect patients’ Advance Medical Directives.These are very important documents to have to indicate your end of life decisions

SB 18: This Bill passed to allow the Technical College System of GA to accept prior work experience and skills learned through the Military to count for academic credit.

SB 58:

This Bill passed to allow each member of the General Assembly, the Governor, and the Lieutenant Governor to publicly distinguish a deserving student with a written letter of recommendation for that student’s use in the college admissions process, providing that the student is committed to serving in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program.

SB 51: This Bill passed to clarify Georgia law for the dispensing of expensive medical products called biologics. It defines the terms “biological product” and “interchangeable biological product” to better resemble definitions from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Public Health Service Act. The Bill will annotate the Code of Georgia with respect to implementing a special purpose local option sales tax to add to the purposes of the proceeds of the tax.

SB 72: This Bill called “Tanja’s Law,” passed to strengthens the punishments for crimes committed against a police dog while the dog is performing its official duties.

Please check weekly for my Session Newsletter for updates from the Capitol.

I encourage you to periodically review our high priority issues that we intend to address during this Session.

But more importantly, as always, I ask for your comments, suggestions, and questions as we work together to develop an atmosphere that fosters job creation, fiscal responsibility, world-class educational opportunities for our children, and address our transportation and infrastructure challenges while protecting the rights of every Georgian.

If you would like additional information regarding a specific piece of legislation, you may access the Georgia General Assembly website at www.senate.ga.gov

2015 COMMUNITY TOWN HALL MEETINGS PLANNED:

Mountain View Regional Library – 3320 Sandy Plains Road, Marietta

WHEN: Tuesday

Mondays – 23 from 7 to 8 PM

Please join me at these Town Hall meetings to hear more about the progress of the 2015 Session and to share with me your ideas and thoughts.

Other News

Homeschool Day at the Capitol

These two young men, Aidan and Brennan, visited the Capitol this past Wednesday for Homeschool day at the Capitol. They are both 12 years of age and are very interested in politics. This is why they wanted to be taken to the Capitol for this event. They are active in the Civil Air Patrol and have aspirations of joining the Air Force to follow in the foot steps of their father who is ex-army. Their parents intended to homeschool the boys between Montessori and middle school, but they thrived in the homeschool environment. With education being such an important topic to me, I admired these boys for their desire to learn and their interest in how our State operates.

VISIT YOUR CAPITOL

A tour of our State Capitol is a great educational experience at any age. If you plan to visit the Gold Dome please contact my office at 404.656.0150 so we may help you arrange a Capitol Tour. Also, if your son or daughter is between the ages of 12 and 16 and wishes to serve as a Senate Page for the day please contact my office.

Please visit the Senate website to watch the Georgia Senate Live most days during the Session, to learn more about other pending legislation, or to learn more about your dtv

Georgia Senate.

If your group is looking for a speaker at your community event or you wish to hear a discussion about the 2015 Session, please call me.

If you’ve received this e-mail from a friend and would like to add your name to our distribution list, just send me an e-mail atjudson.hill@senate.ga.gov and put “Weekly Newsletter” in the subject line.

As always, thank you for allowing me to serve you and our great State of Georgia. Please call me with your thoughts or concerns at 404.656.0150.

Sincerely,

Senator Judson Hill