The week started with an announcement by Governor Perdue on his comprehensive proposal that will encourage water conservation, reduce wasteful loss and incentive innovation in both increasing water supply and lessening demand. A large number of the water policies come from the Governor's Water Contingency Task Force, on which Representative Gerald Greene serves. The particulars of the bill are yet to be talked about, and south Georgia Representatives are on alert to protect our farmers and South Georgia's water.

The House committee on State Institutions and Property passed out a committee substitute to the Governor's proposal to place parole under the Department of Corrections. The Legislation combines parole and probation under one agency and will strengthen cooperation between the two agencies. Greene stated "that he voted for the measure after a grandfather clause was placed in the legislation assuring those individuals in parole would be protected with a job and no cut in pay. Protecting the safety of our communities come first and to protect our communities we need to protect our workers and insure that they will be there to carry out the mission of public safety." The bill now moves on to the Rules Committee for action.

The House has now completed 13 days of the 40 day session. Most of the legislation that has come before the house has been retirement bills, such as House bills 54 and 486. Both bills affected the Judicial retirement system and the cost to the system would be neutral as the Individuals affected would buy in at their own cost. Another bill affected school boards and teacher contracts. The bill extended the time frame to May instead of April when contracts would be signed. This move would give boards an opportunity to weigh the budget cuts with their own budgets before issuing contracts. This is a repeat of legislation passed last year to help the budget process in counties.

Governor Perdue announced that he would seek Legislation to do away with the state wide election of the Department of Labor, Insurance, Education, and Agriculture. These positions are currently elected by the people, but if Legislation passes, then they would be appointed by the governor in 2014. Representative Greene commented that he needs to hear from the people of his district before he addresses this legislation. Also a transportation bill is being introduced, and the particulars are being finalized. "It is important for our district and South Georgia to make sure that we get our fair share of roads, if we are going to be asked to pay more at the pump. I want to see that fourth penny that is paid now at the pump dedicated to our LARP program that would benefit our cities and counties," Representative Greene stated.

Legislation coming out of the Rules committee has been very slow, and has kept many bills bottled up for further study. Please continue to comment on legislation and thank the editor of your newspaper for providing space for news from Under the Golden Dome. Please contact Representative Gerald Greene at 404 656-0314 or by email at gerald. greene@house.ga.gov