Final chance for bills on taxes, abortion, medical marijuana
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia lawmakers have until midnight Thursday to vote on bills allowing more people to use medical marijuana, cutting income taxes and trying to lower the number of abortions in the state.
Thursday marks the 40th and final day of the legislative session.
Leaders set an aggressive schedule this year, because all House and Senate districts will be on the November ballot. Members running for re-election are in a hurry to return home and begin campaigning.
Bills that don't pass both chambers before adjournment must start all over again next year.
The House and Senate remain at odds on several hot-button issues, including a bill setting a strict time frame for testing rape kits for sexual assault victims.
Rep. Scott Holcomb, an Atlanta Democrat, proposed requiring law enforcement to pick up the kits from hospitals within 96 hours and his bill unanimously passed the House earlier this year. But it stalled in the Senate without a committee hearing.
Republican Sen. Renee Unterman of Buford has said a federal grant will fix any backlogs of rape kit testing in Georgia and declined to act on Holcomb's proposal.
The House attached the language from Holcomb's legislation to another bill, sending it to the Senate. The chamber could pass it Thursday and send it to Gov. Nathan Deal.
Macon Republican Rep. Allen Peake hopes the same strategy can help pass his bill expanding the number of people eligible to use a medical marijuana derivative in Georgia. Peake's bill would allow patients diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome, Autism and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, among other conditions, to possess cannabis oil. It easily passed the House but also stalled in the Senate.
Bills that survive head to Deal for his signature, and opponents and supporters of several bills already approved by lawmakers are now turning their attention to him.
Representatives from the anti-gun advocacy group Moms Demand Action, along with several legislators, students and campus faculty said they delivered 30,000 signatures against a concealed-handgun proposal to Deal on Thursday morning.
The bill would let licensed weapons owners carry concealed handguns on campuses, except in athletic facilities or in student housing. Georgia requires people be 21 to receive a license.
Deal has expressed concerns about the bill, including that it would allow weapons in campus day care centers, in disciplinary hearings and in faculty or administration offices.
Legislative leaders have showed no sign they plan to respond to the governor's concerns before the session ends.
Lawmakers also have approved a bill protecting opponents of gay marriage and completed work on the state budget.