2019 Legislative Review

• Jurisdiction: Georgia,United States
• Citation: Vol. 24 No. 6 Pg. 0028
• Pages: 0028
• Publication year: 2019

2019 Legislative ReviewNo. Vol. 24 No. 6 Pg. 28Georgia Bar JournalJune, 2019

GBJ | Feature

2019 Legislative Review

The State Bar had a successful year under the Gold Dome, effectively passing two bills this session. Without the help of our lawyer-legislators and our members who volunteered their time, none of this success would have been possible.

BY CHRISTINE BUTCHER HAYES

The 2019 session of the Georgia General Assembly was marked with change. The November 2018 election ushered in leadership changes from the top down, with a new governor and lieutenant governor sworn in on Jan. 14, and a slew of new House and Senate committee chairmen filling vacancies created by retirements and election defeats. With a number of new legislators learning the ropes and veteran legislators navigating new changes in leadership, there were fewer bills filed overall in 2019 than in recent years. Legislation to expand Georgia's Medicaid waiver, procure new voting machines and expand access to CBD oil grabbed headlines across the state. And the State Bar had a successful year under the Gold Dome, effectively passing two bills this session.

The Legislature approved a $48.7 billion state budget for FY2020, which includes approximately $27.5 billion in state funding and approximately $14.2 billion in federal funds. In addition to a merit-based pay increase for state employees and a $2,775 pay increase for public school teachers, the FY 2020 budget also includes continued funds for grants to civil legal services providers for victims of domestic violence and continued funding of the Georgia Appellate Resource Center. The Legislature additionally approved a new $375,000 appropriation for grants that will go to civil legal services for kinship care families.

In addition to the State Bar's legislative package, the legislative team was busy tracking a variety of issues that affect lawyers in Georgia. Be on the lookout for these recent updates in the code, along with a number of others that span across practice areas.

Enabling the Georgia Statewide Business Court

After competing House and Senate bills creating the statewide business court made their way through the legislative process this year, the final product passed on Day 40 as HB 239. Rep. Chuck Efstration (R-Dacula) and Sen. Jesse Stone (R-Waynesboro) worked tirelessly to craft the business court legislation and ultimately strike a compromise between the House and Senate positions. Under...