Vote isn't expected to slow water plan

ATLANTA --- Water, the issue that ended the first week of this year's legislative session, will kick off the second week as the House votes again on a statewide policy for divvying up the resource.

After the House approved the measure on a 131-37 vote Jan. 18, an opponent asked that the chamber "reconsider" its action today.

If a majority of lawmakers vote for the motion to reconsider -- which is not expected to happen -- the House will have to try again to pass the policy.

"I'm confident the House will confirm its overwhelming support of that resolution," said House Majority Leader Jerry Keen, R-St. Simons Island.

Even with the House giving final approval, the policy will not automatically take effect. Either the House or Senate must approve the other chamber's version, which could happen later in the week.

Policy supporters are promising to act quickly because it must be approved by the session's 20th working day.

"As soon as I receive the House resolution (in) my committee, I'll hold a hearing on it and try to move it along," said Ross Tolleson, R-Perry, the chairman of the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee.

Mr. Keen promised that the quick pace will not slow as the General Assembly returns after a week of budget hearings.

"We're in midsession form, getting our work done," he said.

Also this week, a bill reinstating limits on where sexual offenders can live could make the House floor, and a proposal by House Speaker Glenn Richardson, R-Hiram, to replace local property taxes devoted to school funding with a broader statewide sales tax could gain the approval of the House Ways and Means Committee.

With the main hearings done, budget writers will begin poring over the spending plans proposed by Gov. Sonny Perdue.

This year, the House and Senate Appropriations committees won't have to wait for Congress to fill a gaping hole in PeachCare, the joint state-federal health care program for children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance.

That means Mr. Perdue's proposal for an additional $332.6 million in state spending between now and June 30, the end of the fiscal year, should pass fairly quickly, Mr. Keen said.

Reach Brandon Larrabee at (678) 977-3709 or brandon.larrabee@morris.com.