Daily Report Number 04

January 15, 2004

The legislative machine was operating in earnest today as lawmakers considered ten items, nine of which received passage.

The major portion of the day's docket consisted of legislation dealing with state sponsored retirement programs. Chief among these retirement proposals were HB 914, which passed by a vote of 159-0, and 917, which passed 163-0. HB 917 deals with the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) and seeks to provide retiring teachers with another payment option when collecting benefits. The new plan would allow newly retired teachers to receive up to 36 months of their projected benefits in a one-time, lump sum payment. The plan would only be offered to new retirees, and the lump sum payment must be made on the first benefits payout. HB 917 is revenue neutral to the TRS since teachers choosing the partial lump sum option would then receive a reduced monthly benefit for the duration of their retirement.

HB 914 is identical to HB 917, except that it extends the partial lump sum payment option to the State Employees Retirement System.

Next, HB 739 would allow members of the Probate Court Retirement System to designate a recipient of their own choosing for benefits which are paid to the survivor in the event of their death. System members who are married would have to obtain a written agreement from his or her spouse waiving survivor's rights in order to designate their survivor benefits to a third party.
Realizing that such flexibility would allow retirees to help disabled children or relatives by naming them as their survivor, lawmakers voted 166-0 in favor of passing HB 739. It now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Shifting from retirement to education, House lawmaker passed legislation today aimed at curbing what seems to be a growing problem in this state: truancy.

HB 395 allows school officials to set up a protocol committee to adopt guidelines that spell out punishments and consequences for truant students. The guidelines would be distributed to parents and their children when they reach age ten. Parents or guardians who violate the guidelines could face fines of between $25 and $100, and the protocol committee would be required to report truancy results they gather to the Georgia Department of Education every 3 months. Furthermore, the measure allows schools to designate counselors or peace officers assigned to the school as school truancy officers. Such designees would have the authority to assume temporary custody of absentee children for the purpose of delivering the child to school, or to their parent or guardian.

There were concerns among some members that HB 395 could impinge upon a parent's right to take their child on trips, educational or otherwise. The legislation's supporters, however, reassured members that the bill's main focus is parents who neglect to monitor their child's attendance, and intentionally allow children to skip school for days, and even weeks at a time. The also pointed out that under President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, schools and school systems lose money if their absentee rates are too high. They went on to note that HB 395 has the approval of the Department of Education, and was modeled after a program in North Georgia's Fannin County, where the county schools were able to dramatically improve attendance rates. Members passed HB 395 by a vote of 162-3.

The only issue on today's calendar which was hotly contested dealt with the regulation of poultry contracts. HB 648 sought to place three requirements on any contract signed between poultry farmers and the processors/integrators who furnish the chicks and then purchase the fully grown fryers weeks later.

First, the bill requires that farmers be given three days in which they could consult with an independent lawyer to assess the fairness and basic merits of the newly proposed contract. Processors could forego this requirement by including a contractual stipulation allowing farmers to cancel the agreement within three days of signing.

Secondly, HB 648 states that processors must, upon request, provide the farmer with any statistical information and data use to determine compensation rates paid to the farmer. Finally, the measure would have given poultry farmers the right to be present to observe the weighing and measurements which are used to determine compensation due the farmer for his produced poultry. Opponents of the bill argued that these requirements already exist in federal law. They noted that the poultry industry represents more than $3.7 billion in Georgia, and warned against passage of any measure which could bring the perception that the state is becoming unfriendly to poultry producers. Supporters countered that the federal regulation is little known and, judging from the number of farmer complaints they have been receiving, not uniformly followed. They acknowledged that a majority of Georgia's poultry processors are fair, and straight dealing companies. These three stipulations are merely good business practice, and would have little effect on the many companies who are operating above board, supporters claimed. But without them, they went on to say, farmers are left unprotected from the dishonest practices of a few unscrupulous processors. A vote was taken and, with a count of 87-72, HB 648 came up four votes shy of the 91 votes required for passage. The bill's author immediately served notice of intent to ask the House to reconsider its action in defeating the measure on the next legislative day, and so this question is likely not yet settled. Other bills passing the House today include: