When “Dying in Committee” Is a Good Thing

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, April 6, 2018 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

You might think bills and resolutions that die are defeated by House or Senate votes, but whether good or bad, most bills die in committee. The committee system is necessary to handle the 2500 bills and resolutions introduced every session.

This year, committees stopped two bills that would have weakened Georgia laws protecting monuments and state symbols. So, state monument laws remain as they were and so do local laws. A local law that remains in effect originated on September 14, 2017 when the Atlanta City Council established an Atlanta advisory committee to recommend the replacing or removal of confederate monuments and street names. The committee’s working list of Atlanta street names includes the twelve that have already been renamed and eighteen under consideration for change.

Committees, also, stopped two resolutions that proposed marijuana amendments to the state constitution. One resolution authorized in-state cultivation of marijuana and the other would have legalized the cultivation of hemp. Hemp is marijuana that has a very low level of THC, the hallucinogenic substance in all marijuana plants.Those bills died, but the marijuana issue was kept alive when H.R. 1473 passed. It creates a five-member House committee to study the production of industrial hemp, which is expected to be an economic boon for Georgia farmers. The bill promotes the economic value of growing hemp, but it does not mention that no marijuana seed in the world is guaranteed to produce marijuana with hemp-level THC. The committee is authorized to meet five times by December 1st and submit a report or meeting minutes to the Clerk of the House.

H.B. 65 that was held-over from 2017 was totally re-written by its author, Representative Peake, the last day of the session, and it passed. So, a ten-member Joint Study Commission on Access to Low THC Medical Oil will be appointed by the Speaker and Lt. Governor. Also, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and intractable pain will be added to the eight conditions already qualified for THC treatment. This commission, also, is authorized to meet five times before December 1st, when its findings and recommendations for possible legislation are due.

Consider this: While committees killed two proposed constitutional amendments to legalize in-state growth and recreational marijuana, two new committees were created to study marijuana. One will study in-state hemp-growing and the other will study in-state access to THC oil, its cultivation, manufacture, labeling, dispensing and delivery. Remember this: Hemp comes from low-THC marijuana and THC oil comes from high-THC marijuana. Conclusion: Both committees are expected to recommend legislation in 2019 to legalize in-state growing and sale of marijuana products. Those committee meetings will be open to the public – times and locations have not been announced, yet. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.