Rep. Alan Powell – 2024 Legislative Newsletter – Week Twelve

By State Representative Alan Powell, HD 33

My House colleagues and I returned to the Gold Dome on Monday, March 18, 2024, continuing to give passage to a number of Senate bills. There are now only two legislative days remaining until Sine Die, Thursday, March 28, 2024.

We unanimously passed Senate Bill 465, or “Austin’s Law,” to create the crime of aggravated involuntary manslaughter when someone intentionally manufactures or sells a controlled substance that contains fentanyl and fentanyl is determined as the sole cause or a contributing factor in a victim’s death; and outlines criminal penalties. Receiving final
passage, the bill heads to the desk of Governor Kemp to be signed into law;

Senate Bill 480, to provide student loan repayment assistance to mental health and substance use providers who offer services to underserved youth or practice
in geographic areas of the state that lack adequate services, through the Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce. The bill heads to Governor Kemp to be signed into law;

Senate Bill 440, revises the Georgia’s Accelerated Career Diploma program, part of the state’s dual enrollment program for qualified high school students; simplifies and improves pathway programs available for an associate’s degree in applied science within Georgia’s Technical College System (TCSG) or TCSG programs included in the State Workforce Development Board’s high-demand career list; introduces the
Dual Enrollment ACE (Accelerated Career Education) grant program, and exempts students from the 30-hour dual enrollment cap;

Senate Bill 112, the “Workforce EXCELeration Act,” to provide a pilot program to establish a high school diploma program for adult learners, facilitated by the State Board of the Technical College System of Georgia and requires at least two distinct programs to be automatically repealed on June 30, 2029;

Senate Bill 293, revises the selection and qualifications of district health directors; the Commissioner of the Department of Public Health would appoint district health directors to serve as chief executive officers of each local health department in the respective
district;

Senate Bill 340, amends current law related to the Georgia Agricultural Tax Exemption to extend the sales and use exemption to diesel exhaust fluid used for agricultural purposes;

Senate Bill 362, prohibits companies that receive economic development incentives from: voluntarily granting recognition rights for the employees solely on the basis of
signed labor organization authorization cards, if a secret ballot could have been used; voluntarily disclosing an employee’s personal contact information to a labor organization without prior consent; or requiring a subcontractor to
engage in these activities; applies to any agreement between the state and an employer starting on January 1, 2025;

Senate Bill 368, prohibits foreign nationals from making contributions to a candidate, campaign committee, independent committee or political action committee, as well as prohibiting those entities from accepting contributions from foreign nationals;

Senate Bill 373, amends the definition of “supervisor” related to professional counselors, social workers and marriage and family therapists to remove the requirement that an applicant should be a psychiatrist or a psychologist; removes the requirement that applicants to become a professional counselor should have a doctoral degree in order to be licensed; an associate professional counselor would be required to have 90 quarter hours in relevant education rather than 80 hours in order to be licensed;

Senate Bill 376, amends current law related to dependency proceedings to require that a court determine whether the parent has made substantial progress toward completion of the case plan at the initial 75-day period review. During a review that is after an initial 75-day review, the bill would require the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) to develop a case plan within 14 days of the review;

Senate Bill 412, increases the fines that the Office of the Secretary of State could issue to charitable organizations that violate relevant rules. A willful violation would have a maximum fine of $10,000 issued for a single violation or a maximum fine of $100,000 for multiple violations in a single proceeding or series of proceedings. The secretary of state could seek to impose these penalties through an administrative manner directly or through a superior court;

Senate Bill 420, prohibits a person who is not a U.S. citizen or legal resident, is an agent of a foreign government designated as a foreign adversary and has been out of the country for a period of time preceding the acquisition of land from acquiring directly or indirectly any possessory interest in agricultural land or land within a 10-mile radius of a
military installation, excluding residential property;

Senate Bill 456, adds disabled persons to the central caregiver registry. A “disabled person” would be defined as someone who is mentally or physically incapacitated, has Alzheimer’s disease or dementia;

Senate Bill 503, is related to general contracting licensure and splits licenses into two separate categories for commercial and residential.

With Thursday being Sine Die, the last day of the 2024 Legislative Session, expected to intensify under the Gold Dome as we work to address outstanding issues and finalize pending legislation before the clock runs out.

I encourage you to visit or call my Atlanta office at 404-463-3793; [email protected] or [email protected].

When writing, please include your address and phone number. As always, thank you for allowing me to serve as your State Representative.