Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens).
The Senate voted down a bill last week creating a voucher program for private-school students when several Republicans either sat it out or crossed party lines, and a rumored revote never came to pass. SB 173 is most likely dead for the session, along with the similar House Bill 301.
Crossover Day—the last day for a bill to pass either the House or the Senate and be eligible to pass in the other—came and went Thursday without a vote on HB 301 or HB 340, which would have restricted local governments’ ability to reform the cash bail system. SB 164, another bill aimed at bail reform sponsored by Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens) died as well.
HB 302, prohibiting local governments from regulating the design of houses, appeared to be on the fast track after passing out of committee, but also did not come up for a vote. However, all of these bills could be resurrected by attaching their language to bills on similar topics that did make it through Crossover Day. And they will get another chance next year.
Bills to ban abortion after six weeks, buy new touchscreen voting machines and legalize medical marijuana oil are progressing through the legislature, but bills to legalize casino gambling, tax streaming services like Netflix and prohibit domestic abusers from owning guns did not clear the Crossover Day hurdle, the AJC reported.
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