Wednesday, March 21, 2001
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Wednesday, March 21, 2001 |
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Hecht scrambling on last day of session By DAVE
HAMRICK
As the clock ticks down on the 2001 session of the Georgia General Assembly today, Fayette's Sen. Greg Hecht is engaged in a last-minute flurry of activity in hopes of getting some more of his bills passed. Senate Bill 217, his measure aimed at increasing competition among natural gas suppliers, has passed both houses and awaits only the governor's signature to become law. The bill would allow customers to switch suppliers once a month. Also passed by both houses is a bill creating a registry for spouses under protective order in domestic violence cases. Hecht said this week he is also working to get a House version of the natural gas bill through the Senate. Having passed the Senate, SB 34 one of several anticrime measures sponsored by Hecht was approved by the House Monday, but one provision was cut from the House version and Hecht said Tuesday he will try to force a conference committee to restore the provision. Cut by the House was a provision calling for confiscation of a person's property if it's used to help entice children into prostitution. "I don't have a handle on why they did that," Hecht said. The Crime Prevention Act also increases the penalty for escape, changes the definition of pandering and provides for forfeiture of a motor vehicle or home used in the commission of pandering. It provides that those who use their cars or homes in pimping to turn children into prostitutes will lose them, and the crime will be a felony. The escape provision sets a new one- to five-year penalty for prisoners who escape before they are convicted of a crime. Current law provides one to ten years, but only for convicted felons who escape. "Again, a lot of these drug dealers consider that a cost of business," said Hecht. Penalties for some drug crimes are very high, whereas "It's just 12 months if they run," he said. Also, persons will be charged with pandering if they solicit anyone under 18. Current law says the person solicited must be under 17. SB 66, which requires that sex crime first offenders and those who plead nolo contendere be included on the sex offense registry, was bottled up in the House Rules Committee, Hecht said, adding that he was trying to get the measure on the calendar for debate today. "I'll find out tomorrow if it's on the calendar," he said Tuesday. Another Hecht bill, a measure requiring that insurance companies pay for treatment that they have precertified, has been attached to an unrelated House bill and he's hoping that bill will make it through the session as well. Today will be a barn-burner, Hecht predicted. "It's going to be a midnight ending, just like all the other sessions," he said. But 2001 has been a fairly smooth session overall, he said, with less hostility and contentiousness. "I think it has something to do with the fact that reapportionment is coming up," he said. "Nobody wants to get anybody too mad." Senate and House district lines, along with Congressional district lines, will be redrawn this summer in a special session, to adjust for the 2000 U.S. Census.
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