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Published Wednesday, June 02, 2010 in Local

Perdue signs water stewardship bill

By Sarah Fay Campbell

The Newnan Times-Herald

Governor Sonny Perdue's bill signing pen has been busy the past two weeks.

Perdue has been signing dozens of bills passed during the 2010 legislative session. He has until June 8 to veto any bills. Anything not signed or vetoed by June 8 becomes law without Perdue's signature.

On Tuesday, Perdue signed Senate Bill 370, the Water Stewardship Act of 2010. The bill signing was held at Lake Lanier's Buford Dam Park, and Perdue was joined by State Rep. Lynn Smith, R-Newnan.

Smith, chairwoman of the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee, and her Senate counterpart, Russ Tolleson, crafted the bill.

Georgia has required the use of low-flow toilets, shower heads, urinals and faucets in new construction since 1992. The 2010 act tightens the flow requirements for everything but shower heads. The act also prevents the use of sprinklers for landscape irrigation from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, though most other types of outdoor watering are unaffected.

The legislation also creates the Joint Committee on Water Supply to study new opportunities for enhancing water supply, and directs eight state agencies to look at local government and water provider grant and loan programs to develop incentive criteria for retrofit programs at existing facilities.

The other major bill signed Tuesday was House Bill 1405, which creates the Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians.

The council will be filled by Perdue, four economics professors, two members each appointed by the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House, the 2010 chairman of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, and the 2010 Georgia chairman of the National Federal of Independent Business.

The council is charged with studying Georgia's revenue structure. The council will prepare a report of its findings and make a recommendation to the Special Joint Committee on Georgia Revenue Structure. That committee will then draw up a bill that will go to the House and Senate where it can't be amended.

While Perdue has signed many bills, some of the more controversial ones are still awaiting action.

Perdue's spokesman said recently that the governor is still considering whether or not to sign Senate Bill 360, which bans texting while driving. The bill also forbids teenagers from using cell phones while driving. Georgia's senators and representatives had no qualms in passing the bill. The Senate voted 46-0 to pass the bill, and 48-0 to agree to the conference committee report, which reconciled the House and Senate versions. The House voted 131 -19 for original passage, and 133-24 for the conference committee report.

Two bills dealing with firearms carry are also awaiting action. Senate Bill 308, sponsored by State Senator Mitch Seabaugh, R-Sharpsburg, does away with the "public gathering" statute and specifically states where guns can be carried by those with a carry permit, including the "non-secure" areas of airports.

SB 291 makes some clarifications to licensing laws and areas off-limits, and also includes the airport provision. It is not as far-ranging as SB 308.

Just like the texting bill, the two gun bills passed with wide margins. SB 291 passed the House 120-37, and the Senate 43-10.

Senate Bill 308 went through a few different versions, though all passed by solid margins. The final vote on the conference committee report was 39-11 in the Senate and 118-44 in the House.

Today, Perdue is scheduled to sign HB 665 and HB 1073. Each is designed to improve voting opportunities for Georgia's approximately 200,000 military and overseas voters.

Some of the more well-known bills that have already received Perdue's signature include SB 250, which strengthens Georgia's anti-bullying laws, and SB 299, which is designed to bring some common sense to "zero tolerance" laws.

Sen. Emmanuel Jones, D-Decatur, introduced SB 299 after a 14-year-old Morgan County student accidentally brought a fishing knife to school. The student realized he had the knife with him and turned it in to the principal. He was then arrested.

"Georgia is leading the nation in tackling the proliferation of zero tolerance policy abuses in schools," Jones said at the bill signing event on May 25. "Students have been expelled or sent to jail for bringing a keychain, nail clippers, and even a Cub Scout utensil to school. This legislation brings common sense to the all-or-nothing approach that school officials use to discipline kids under zero tolerance policies," Jones said.

The bill, which unanimously passed both the House and Senate, makes allowances for students who commit infractions without any intent to harm others. It also changes the juvenile code to make a first offense equal to a delinquent act instead of a designated felony. With the changes, juvenile court judges can take circumstances into account before automatically prosecuting students.

"This is common sense legislation that gives local school systems discretion in disciplining students," said Perdue. "No child should be kicked out of school for accidentally bringing a fishing knife and, upon discovering it, reporting it promptly to school officials."

Also signed May 25 was HB 883, the Sanitary Activity for Food-Processing Enterprises (SAFE) Act. The act, inspired by the Peanut Corporation of America salmonella outbreak in late 2008 and early 2009, allows for felony punishment if a food processor knowingly releases tainted food products to the public and those food products result in injury or death to consumers.

The SAFE Act also requires that every food processor maintain a written sanitizing plan at its facility to make plant inspections easier to conduct. And it imposes criminal sanctions on those who withhold food tests from inspectors.

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