Your tip sheet: A record $25 billion state budget

Days remaining in the 2017 legislative session: 7

Both chambers go in at 10 a.m., but all eyes will on the Senate. That’s because the chamber is expected to back a record $25 billion state budget for the upcoming fiscal year that includes pay raises for 200,000 teachers and state employees and more than $1 billion worth of new construction projects.

 

 

House Bill 44 also includes a plan to spend $485,000 so Senate committee meetings can be streamed over the internet. Currently House meetings are streamed, but the Senate has in the past resisted streaming its meetings.

The House has one lonely bill on the floor: SB 47, which will make it legal for team doctors to treat their patients in Georgia. An example: the Falcons play the Patriots in Atlanta and Tom Brady breaks his leg. The Patriots’ team doctor would be allowed to treat the poor baby.

In the House, Senate Bill 16, which lowers the THC level allowed in the state’s medical marijuana program, and adds autism to the list of qualified disorders, is before a Judiciary Non-Civil subcommittee at noon. The bill is opposed by medical marijuana advocates, who prefer House Bill 65, which does not change the THC level and expands the list of qualified disorders.

 

 

The Senate Education and Youth Committee, meanwhile, will take up House Bill 338, the erstwhile school takeover plan. That meeting is set for 2 p.m. in Room 307 CLOB.

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