House Action. Several bills were approved by the House last week, including the following:

House Bill 919, creating a legislative oversight committee to ensure the Georgia Lottery Corporation is not spending excessive amounts of lottery funds on staff bonuses instead of on HOPE scholarships and Pre-K programs.

House Bill 1041, which requires applicants for registered nurse and advanced practice registered nurse licenses to undergo a criminal background check.

House Bill 969, ensuring that home-schooled children can meet the driving instruction requirements of Joshua's Law that must be completed to get a driver's permit at age sixteen.

House Bill 1105, which directs hospital staff to offer flu and pneumonia vaccinations to patients sixty-five years of age and older before they are discharged.

All of these bills will now move to the Senate for further action.

Sponsored Legislation. I have co-sponsored House Resolution 1216 (The Taxpayer Dividend Act), which would require any revenue surplus to be spent to provide for unforeseen increases in student enrollment and to maintain an 8% reserve fund. All additional revenues would be returned to taxpayers in the form of income tax reductions. I hope that introduction of this bill will stimulate discussion toward greater fiscal responsibility in state government spending.

Committee Action. After completing several hours of testimony, the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee voted to recommend to the full House passage of House Bill 336, the felony DUI bill that I introduced last year. As I have mentioned in this column previously, this legislation would increase penalties for a DUI conviction to include mandatory jail time for repeat offenders and would make a fourth or subsequent DUI offense a felony, rather than simply a misdemeanor. The bill also provides the opportunity for more intensive substance-abuse treatment.

This legislation is supported by prosecutors, judges, the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, substance-abuse treatment providers and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Unfortunately, Georgia remains one of the last states without a felony DUI statute.

Transportation Funding. Testimony was given last week on a legislative proposal to establish a statewide penny sales tax to fund over $22 billion worth of projects over ten years. Another proposal would create the authority for regional taxes to be used for local projects. There is still a great deal of work ahead, but finding way to improve Georgia's transportation system must remain a top priority.

Hawthorne Elementary Receives Outstanding School Award. Recently, I was privileged to attend the Georgia Schools of Excellence awards dinner at which Hawthorne Elementary School received recognition as one of Georgia's outstanding places of learning. We are lucky to have exceptional schools in House District 82, and it was gratifying to see one of them receive well-deserved, public accolades from the State of Georgia.

If you are interested in more detail about what happened at the General Assembly this session, then please feel free to call or write me or visit the General Assembly website: www.legis.ga.gov. The website provides direct access to the text of legislation and vote tallies as well as schedules and live coverage of committee meetings.

(Another resource is offered when the General Assembly is in session by Georgia Public Broadcasting through a television program called "Lawmakers," which airs daily at 7 PM and rebroadcasts at 5:30 AM the following morning. The program covers each day's events at the Capitol.)

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