ATLANTA --- The 2009 session of the General Assembly enacted 89 bills that become law Wednesday, affecting embryos to students to retirees.

The list includes two controversial measures. One establishes April as Confederate History Month. The other measure would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote, but the federal government must conclude it won't harm minority voting.

Among the most sweeping new laws is the reorganization of the state's health agencies so that concerns of mental health and disabilities get their own department.

"A new, focused agency will improve our mental-health system, while the two remaining agencies have been reorganized to better align services," said Bert Brantley, a spokesman for Gov. Sonny Perdue. "Our end goals are simple: better care for our state's most vulnerable citizens and more value for our tax dollars."

Here is a look at some of the other major new laws:

EDUCATION

- Parents will be able to choose which public schools their children attend, regardless of district boundaries, as long as the school has room.

l Starting math and science teachers will begin earning as much as teachers with five years of experience.

- High-schoolers aiming for the HOPE Scholarship will now have to keep a 3.0 grade-point average under a law that makes the eligibility calculation the same statewide.

l Children of active-duty military personnel in Georgia will be considered state residents for the purposes of receiving the HOPE scholarship.

- Military parents will have an easier time transferring their children into schools with relaxed requirements on paperwork and courses.

HEALTH

- People will be able to adopt an embryo without having to wait until the baby is born, and the "legal embryo custodian" will determine how any unwanted fertilized eggs would be disposed of.

- It becomes a felony to abuse a disabled adult.

- The Georgia Medical Center Authority can solicit grants through a separate subsidiary, and it will be able to own stock in companies it advises in its goal of facilitating medical-technology employment by nurturing start-up enterprises.

PUBLIC SAFETY

- Voters who have obtained a restraining order or who are residents of family-violence shelters can request that their addresses remain confidential on voter rolls.

- The state must attempt to locate the relatives of any child taken from parents before putting the child in a foster home.

BUSINESS

- Sales-tax exemptions on jet fuel, flight simulators and replacement parts used on airplanes not registered in Georgia aim to protect jobs.

- Businesses will no longer owe a state property tax on their inventory.

- Homeowner associations that charge annual fees over $500 must provide an expense list to homeowners.