Qualifying week is over and the election field has taken shape in Georgia. While most of the media focus is on the big national races for US Senate and the Governor’s office, the impact on the General Assembly is significant as well. Over 70% of the House and Senate seats will be involved in competitive races. Some of those will be open seats where the incumbent has retired or is running for another office. However, most of the races will include an incumbent running for re-election against challengers. We’ll have a more complete review of the legislative and state-wide races following the Session.

With Qualifying over, the pressure will be on the General Assembly to finish its business in early April so that the members can start raising money and campaigning. 

Legislation Requiring Retailers to Accept Cash Moves to Rules Committee
HB 1152, requiring retailers to accept cash for purchases, passed the House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee this week. The bill would require stores that do not keep cash for change to give the customer store credit if they cannot make change for a customer transaction. The bill does exempt online purchases but is unclear whether a delivery service would fall under the new rules. If the bill moves forward, amendments are being prepared to clarify that a business would be in compliance as long as the store had one location such as a register or a customer service counter that accepted cash and to clarify that the bill would not apply to delivery services.

Legislative Schedule
The General Assembly has now completed 27 Legislative Days of the 40 Day Session.
Next week’s schedule is as follows:

• Monday (3/14)– Out of Session
• Tuesday (3/15)– Legislative Day 28 (Crossover Day)
• Wednesday (3/16)– Legislative Day 29
• Thursday (3/17)– Legislative Day 30
• Friday (3/18) – Legislative Day 31