Follow-up legislation to House Bill 221 was heard on January 11 on the Senate floor, as Sen. Seth Harp of the 29th introduced Senate Bill 383, which makes changes to the current law governing the determination and payment of child support.

The bill spells out the means for calculating child support-instructing the court to determine the amount based on the gross income and adjusted gross income of both parents. The table determines the pro-rata share of the Basic Child Support Obligation for each parent, making adjustments for parenting time, factors regarding health insurance, workrelated child care costs and other factors prior to determining the final child support order.

Sen. Harp said that the primary goal of the Commission that was responsible for writing the proposed legislation is to take care of children.

"This bill brings Georgia's child support law into the 21st Century, " he said.

The legislation was amended by Sens. Renee Unterman of the 45th and Valencia Seay of the 34th. Sen. Unterman's amendment mandates that if the non-custodial parent spends more than 120 days with their child, then the percentage of their child support would be adjusted according to the following schedule:

Sen. Seay's amendment orders judges to find non-custodial parents in contempt of court if they fail to aide by the visitation/ payment schedule.

"There are good dads out there and it is hard to find ways to help them, because they are being bused," Sen. Steve Thompson of the 33rd said. "A great percentage of the problem is that there are dads out there who are not great dads."

It’s Round Two For Voter ID Legislation
By: Senate Information Office

In what seemed to be déjà vu all over again, the senate debated the Voter ID legislation for the third time in less than a year on January 9-this time to "perfect' the legislation passed during the 2005 Session. It was round two for the senate bill 84, authorized by Senator Cecil Staton of the 18th, which was originally debated last March, only to be attached to House Bill 244 and debated for the second time. SB 84,which languished in the House for 9 months, was reborn earlier this year and replaced with language making it easier for Georgians without one of the 6 approved identification cards-including a driver's license, a passport or a military ID.

"For me, this is about the future, not the past," Sen. Staton, who agreed there are problems with absentee voter fraud, said. "Our civil rights dictate that we have a right to vote without undue encumbrances. But our civil rights also dictate that we have a right to have our vote count, and not be disqualified by someone else who votes illegally or who commits fraud."

After U.S. District court judge Harold Murphy halted the law that Gov. Perdue signed last year, saying it was equal to a "poll" tax and was unfair to certain groups -especially the poor, the elderly and minorities. The first week of the Session, the House of Representatives sought to make the changes so that it would pass Court and U.S. Department of Justice muster. The new legislation specifies that the State will provide free identification cards to all registered voters upon request, and that all county board of elections and all local offices of the Department of Driver's Services-more than 120 locations across the state will provide the state-issued ID card. The legislation also specifies that the State must educate voters about he new law.

"This bill is not about depriving people from voting," Sen. Preston Smith of the 52nd said. "This is about that sacred right which so many have fought and died for. It is about ensuring that we can vote and that our vote will have some meaning and not be cancelled out by the perpetuation of fraud."

Despite efforts to repair the legislation, the bill was not without its detractors.

"The 26th Amendment gave the right to vote to all us citizens 18 years of age or older," said Sen. Kasim Reed of the 35th, who has fought vehemently against the legislation told the members of the Senate, "Failure to present a photo ID is not grounds for denying the right to vote."