Lawmakers in the state House and Senate OK'd several controversial bills on a key day of the 2024 legislative session. 

Host of GPB's Lawmakers, Donna Lowry, talks with Morning Edition's Pamela Kirkland about Crossover Day in the Georgia legislature and the bills that Republicans and Democrats hope to push bills through their chambers before this year's deadline. Lawmakers features a special episode tonight at 7 p.m. on GPB-TV.

Both chambers moved through the rules calendar quickly to pass as many bills as possible before Crossover Day. And Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler announced her retirement. 

Lawmakers remembered Laken Riley, the former University of Georgia student killed last week. The murder quickly became a politicized debate over border control and immigration over the weekend, with Republican state Sen. John Albers weighing in today, along with Democratic state Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes.

Today at the Capitol, the chambers clashed over the mid-year budget, and lawmakers debated safeguards against a new type of election fraud.  

On Day 24, lawmakers welcomed a new member and debated new rules that could affect your driving. 

It was a nuts-and-bolts bill day at the Capitol as lawmakers passed bills about education and taxes under the Gold Dome. 

The day started with the seating of new House Rules Chairman, Representative Butch Parrish.  

Before discussing the bills of the day in the Senate, the rise in gun violence was noted on the Senate floor.

As we reached the halfway point in the session, it was a tale of two chambers — leading up to a major announcement from Gov. Brian Kemp.

Senators discussed a Republican-penned resolution allowing Gov. Brian Kemp to allocate resources to help the state of Texas secure the border.

Today, lawmakers in the House debated a bill that would make cornbread the official state bread. 

The Carter Center hosted its inaugural Mental Health Parity Day by the Georgia State Capitol. Mental health stakeholders, legislators, and leadership from several state agencies gathered to discuss how to advance implementation of the bipartisan Mental Health Parity Act passed in April 2022.

Last year, the Georgia Senate passed Senate Bill 92, which would create a commission to oversee and potentially punish local district attorneys who fail to uphold Georgia law or  break it. Today, the Senate revisited the bill.

Lawmakers continued the debate on a familiar issue under the Gold Dome today as a bill legalizing sports betting made its annual appearance in the Senate. Lawmakers will convene again on Tuesday.