ATLANTA — On Monday, the Georgia House of Representatives unanimously passed House Bill 651, legislation introduced by Rep. Amy Carter (D- Valdosta) allowing schools quicker access to the Georgia sex offender list.
The bill was the second one passed by the House during the 2010 session.
“As a teacher I try to bring a unique understanding of Georgia schools and their needs to the General Assembly,” said Carter. “In this case I was able to see our schools’ needs for easy and efficient access to the Georgia sex offender list and find a simple way to allow access to the list while saving taxpayer money.”
The Georgia Department of Education must mail the Georgia sex offender list to each school in the state under the current law.
This process costs the state over $7,000 due to the labor intensive process of manually creating compact discs and mailing them to each school.
HB 651 allows the list to be updated electronically, which eliminates the need for the discs and cost of creating and mailing them.
Prior to passing HB 651, the House passed House Bill 926 with overwhelming support. This measure allows state-chartered banks to more easily renew loans or lines of credit to customers in good standing.
Carter supported this piece of legislation.
“I see no reason to penalize responsible Georgians who pay their loans on time,” she said. “HB 926 allows responsible Georgians access to the loans they need to grow their businesses and create jobs.”
Both HB 651 and HB 926 now go to the Senate for consideration.
