Week four of the General Assembly saw the Senate take up four bills one of which was a great piece of pro-jobs legislation. SB273, which passed unanimously, opens Georgia up for the development of new biomedical labratories.
Also, I signed on to proposal that would allow for service members to buy into the State Employee Retirement System. SB 149 is a proposal from my Colleague Sen. Josh McKoon that was brought to him by a Veteran of the War in Afghanistan. The bill will allow for Veterans with Active Duty since 1990 to count upto 5 years of creditable service towards retirement from State Employment. This is similar to a Federal Program, and a very small but meaningful way for our state to acknowledge the sacrifices made by our servicemen and women. Given the impact that this would have on our community I hoped to see this bill pass out of the Retirement Committee in the near future.
Senate
Appropriations
Subcommittees met throughout the week to complete work on the Amended FY 2016 Budget. Reports of the subcommittees were submitted Friday to the "Green Door Committee" which, with the help of the Senate Budget and Evaluation Office, have been compiled into a proposed version of the Budget. The Senate Appropriations Committee will take up the amended budget on Monday. Work on the General FY 2017 Budget will begin soon.
