Senate Bill 274 would amend the Georgia Utility Facility Protection Act (GUFPA). The most onerous provision of the bill is that it would remove the exemption from civil penalties for local government. The bill would limit the amount the Public Service Commission could fine a local government for noncompliance to $50,000 in a single year. Such fines could only be levied against local governing authorities for refusal to comply with GUFPA or in the event of a severe excavation violation or a demonstrated pattern of willful noncompliance, and the PSC could not levy fines if their investigators determined that the local governing authority had made a good-faith effort to comply. The House Committee substitute adds a definition of “refusal to comply” to clarify that this term “means that a utility facility owner or operator does not respond in PRIS to a locate request, does not respond to a direct telephone call to locate their facilities, or other such direct refusal. Refusal to comply does not mean a case where the volume of requests or some other mitigating circumstance prevents the utility owner or operator from locating...”
Status: Passed Senate 3/11. Passed House by committee substitute 3/22, to which the Senate agreed 3/31. Awaiting Governor’s signature.
GAWP Position: GAWP opposed SB 274, and specifically opposed the removal of the exemption from civil penalties for local government. It should be noted, however, that the bill is dramatically improved from the bill which was originally introduced. With these changes, we stopped actively working to defeat the bill.
Senate Bill 190, as amended by the House Natural Resources Committee, would provide an automatic 90-day stay if an environmental permit issued by EPD is appealed. According to the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, which supports SB 190, this would be an improvement over current law, which provides for an indefinite stay that could easily delay projects for several months or years until all appeals are exhausted. SB 190 also calls for the involvement of the superior court, which would aid the Environmental Protection Division in expediting the appeal process. The legislation further allows for any person seeking to file a stay to have the right to seek a temporary restraining order, which, in most cases, runs a period of 30 days. Supporters of this bill believe this would diminish the number of frivolous stay requests that are currently filed by the general public.
Status: Passed Senate 3/11. Passed House committee substitute 3/24, to which the Senate agreed 3/31. Awaiting Governor’s signature.
Link: http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2005_06/sum/sb190.htm
|
House Bill 444 would eliminate the options for meeting the requirements to become registered as an Engineer-in-Training or a Professional Engineer without obtaining an engineering or engineering technology degree. The bill would provide a sufficient transition time to allow people currently working toward certification to become registered under current rules.
Status: Passed House 3/2. Passed Senate 3/29. Awaiting Governor’s signature.
Link: http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2005_06/sum/hb444.htm
House Bill 98 is a Governor’s initiative to establish a Land Conservation Trust Fund and a Land Conservation Revolving Loan Fund to assist local governments in the acquisition of greenspace. Initial funding is proposed at a level of $100 million, of which $25 million would be private funding, and $75 million State funding, with the funds managed by GEFA. Of the $75 million State funds, $55 million would be taken from the repayment stream for water and sewer projects.
Status: Passed House 1/31. Passed Senate 2/14 with minor amendments, to which the House agreed 2/16. Awaiting Governor’s signature.
Link: http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2005_06/sum/hb98.htm
Status: Passed Senate 3/31.
Link: http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2005_06/sum/sr469.htm
See more here...
|
All Exclusive Updates on this page are presented in Abode PDF format
