'Lawmakers' Day 26: House OKs midyear budget, Senate passes ban on hormone therapy for minors

On Monday at the Capitol, U.S. Small Business Administrator and former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler paid members a visit ahead of a packed day. 

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was also in attendance.

With only two legislative days remaining until Crossover Day, House members voted on over 20 bills, including House Bill 89, which requires medical facilities to provide the Maternal Mortality Review Committee with psychiatric records for maternal deaths and set up perinatal care centers.

"People and physicians and hospitals have been very reluctant to give us that information, and it is essential to knowing the cause and what happened to them and saying if their psychiatric disorder or what they were being treated for was any cause," Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta) said.

The bill passed 168 to 7.

HB 358 received approval, despite opposition from Democrats.

The bill expands the definition of military base to prohibit certain foreign entities from owning land nearby.

After a lunch break, the House gave final approval to the amended mid-year budget. It includes an unprecedented amount of money for storm relief and cleanup.

"Working together, the House and the Senate built upon the governor's package by including an additional $18 million in the governor's emergency fund to help meet the state and local match of 25% of the for the debris removal," Rep. Matt Hatchett (R-Dublin) said. "The House and Senate felt strongly about adding $185 million in additional relief for the farmers and timber producers, for a total and unprecedented appropriation of $285 million."

The amended budget also allocates funds for updates to Georgia's prison system, funding for hospitals, and school safety grants.

The bill was transmitted immediately to the Senate.

The House also passed HB 399, which requires out-of-state landlords owning over 25 single family homes to have an in-state broker to manage tenant complaints.

"If you're trying to develop new housing stock, you are going to be competing with these entities who are going to raise the prices — take it away from your opportunity," Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur) said. "It's even going to affect the governor, who is trying to create workforce housing across Georgia. This is a big deal."

Speaker of the House Jon Burns provided an update on his chief of staff who was injured in a farm equipment accident earlier this session.

"Today, our own beloved chief of staff, former member of this body, Terry England, stood up three times with no pain," he said.

In the Senate, banning gender dysphoria treatment was once again on that body's busy agenda on Monday.

Senate Bill 30 would ban all hormone therapies and puberty blocking treatments for minors.

"This bill is the same bill that we passed last year, Senate Bill 30, and it outlaws puberty blockers for minors, specifically in gender dysphoria, where hospitals or physicians do this," Sen. Ben Watson (R-Savannah) said. "Two separate sections, two different sets of penalties if you do — that's basically what it does. It outlaws puberty blockers for minors with gender dysphoria."

Democrats tried to add an amendment to allow children currently going through the process to be able to continue treatments but still rejected the bill.

"I find it ironic that the party that often claims to stand for parent’s rights — the Republican Party — is insisting on telling parents that they cannot make these critical medical decisions for their own children," Sen. Elena Parent (D-Atlanta) said. "Many of the same politicians who claim that they fight against government interference in health care options now want to stand in the way of personal, familial, and medical conversations with other people's families — with other people's children."

The amendment failed, but the bill passed along party lines 34 to 19.

SB 74 would amend a current book ban law on school- and state-run libraries sharing sexually explicit or harmful materials to children by clarifying a loophole that excluded librarians.

The new law would punish librarians who knowingly disregard the law but protect those who make a good faith effort.

"If you look carefully in lines 25 through 29, the affirmative defense guarantees the librarian — and thanks to the senator for his recommendations in committee — not only the librarian, but workers in the library who might be challenged," Sen. Max Burns (R-Sylvania) said. "They have the same affirmative defense if they make a good faith attempt to identify and remove from access, not remove the material from the library, but simply to remove it from access to minors."

Democrats say the bill is more about controlling ideas than protecting children.

"Tell the hundreds, thousands of librarians and media techs in Georgia, both Democrats and Republicans, who are watching this dismayed," Sen. Josh McLaurin (D-Sandy Springs) said. "Tell them that they won't be charged. But I bet you won't, because it's the threat of being charged that's going to make that librarian comply with the first demand that a parent provides or makes, regardless of how unreasonable that demand is."

The bill was passed 32 to 23.

And finally, the Senate finalized the amended 2024-25 budget sent over by the House overwhelmingly passing it 55 to 1.

On Tuesday, the House is expected to vote on a bill that would prevent intellectually disabled adults from being sentenced to death.

Watch Lawmakers tonight to see Rep. Lisa Campbell (D-Kennesaw), Sen. Derek Mallow (D-Savannah), and Sen. Larry Walker III (R-Perry) discuss the latest on the legislative session.