This week was mostly spent doing committee work as the House looks at Senate Bills and the Senate looks at House bills. Because the House is three times the size of the Senate, the week after Crossover is especially busy for the Senators.

The most important bill we accomplished last week was the governor’s initiative to overhaul the Civil War era citizen’s arrest law in Georgia. This was in response to the horrific murder of Ahmaud Arbery last year. Current state law allows any citizen who believes they have seen a crime to arrest the suspected offender, essentially taking the law into their own hands. HB 479 will repeal that law, leaving the authority to arrest to law enforcement. It has nothing to do with stand-your-ground provisions, and it does not curtail Second Amendment rights. The bill passed unanimously with a standing ovation — one of the few important bills to do so this year. 

I wanted to highlight some good news in the budget regarding behavioral health, which received an additional $58 million this year. $2.7 million of additional monies went to addictive diseases, $6.5 million went to mental health services, $12 million will go to a pay increase for these providers, and $4.6 million for family support. $7million will go to a first-in-the-nation crisis center and $2 million to expand our APEX Program for schools. 

There is also some good news with the COVID-19 vaccine. Many of you know that the governor is now allowing anyone older than 55 to get the vaccine. Also, most people with disabilities are eligible, as well as people above the age of 16 with certain high-risk medical conditions. These include asthma, cancer, COPD, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, liver disease, hypertension, obesity, and sickle cell amongst others. Also, healthcare workers, teachers, residents of long term facilities, law enforcement and fire fighters, and parents with high-risk children are eligible, amongst others. 

I realize that the vaccine rollout has been difficult. I hope that everyone is grateful that we have a vaccine at all. Most vaccines take years to create. No one had ever created a vaccine for the 18 prior versions of COVID. Operation Warp Speed beat everyone’s expectations, when it created a vaccine for COVID-19 in less than a year.

On a completely different subject, it appears that the latest $1.9 trillion Federal CARES package will block a small income tax cut Georgia passed this year. While we are grateful for the additional $4.25 billion that K12 Education will receive, it is unfortunate that Washington has included this provision to hurt economically sound states. The enormous debt that this bailout will incur is also very troubling. 91% of this budget-breaking package did NOT go to COVID relief. 

Dave Belton is a Republican from District 112, representing Morgan and Newton counties in the Georgia House of Representatives.