In an effort to further support Georgia’s foster parents and children, we passed House Bill 250, which will pave an easier road for foster care applicants who are early care and education employees. Currently, background checks and fingerprint checks must be completed through the Department of Family and Child Services (DFCS) and the department will not accept background checks completed through other state agencies, despite how thorough they may be. This regulation causes an unnecessary backlog within the foster care system. This bill would help fix that problem, ensuring that kids are placed in a loving, stable environment in a more timely manner. 

As we continue efforts to streamline our foster care process, we also worked to update Georgia’s adoption laws with the passage of House Bill 159. This bill includes many improvements to our current adoption code and would align our process with other states through the following: 

• Reduces the minimum age of a single petitioner from 25 to 21 and allows judges to use discretion on a case-by- case basis.

• Provides an exception to the 10-year age difference requirement between the adopter and the adoptee, in the case of relative and stepparent adoptions.

• Streamlines the path of a foreign adoption especially for Georgia parents previously able to obtain guardianship through international adoption procedures.

• Individuals over the age of 18 may surrender parental rights upon signature, waiving the 10-day waiting period.

• Eliminates the six-month residency requirement for adoptive parents to petition to adopt.

• Allows non-residents to adopt Georgia-born children.

• Allows Georgia residents to adopt from out-of- state agencies.

• Allows birthmothers in non-agency adoptions to receive limited living expenses to cover the cost of food, rent and utilities in private independent adoptions.

As home to the 5th largest veteran and military population, we regularly look for ways to improve the lives of our service members and their families. Last summer, the House Military Affairs Study Committee found that a quality public education was a top priority for military families. Last week we passed HB 224, HB 148,and HB 222 which will aid our efforts in providing that quality education. House Bill 224 would provide military students the ability to choose which school within their school system to attend beginning in the 2017-2018 school year, as long as that school has adequate space and resources.

House Bill 148, also known as the Educating Children of Military Families Act, would authorize the Department of Education to create identifiers unique to military students to help monitor the educational progress and needs of students whose parent or guardian is an active-duty military service member or National Guard reserve member. This bill will help prevent students who have moved from place to place and school to school from being lost in the cracks of a less than cohesive educational experience, and prioritize recognizing their needs, keeping them on track. 

Education reform continues to be of priority with the passage of House Bill 237. This bill would allow individuals, corporations and communities to financially assist Georgia’s low-performing schools by establishing the Public Education Innovation Fund Foundation under the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. The bill provides that the foundation could receive private donations to award grants to public schools aimed at improving student achievement, with priority given to low-performing schools. In order to donate to the foundation, taxpayers will be required to submit an electronic notification to the Department of Revenue of the donation amount which then must be approved by the state revenue commissioner. Allowable credits are as follows:

• $1,000 per year for single individuals, up to

• $2,500 per year for married couples filing joint returns and up to

• $10,000 per year for individual members of LLC’s, shareholders of Subchapter “S” corporations, or partners within a partnership.

• Corporation would be allowed a credit no more than the amount donated or 75 percent of the corporation’s income tax liability, whichever is less.

The total amount of credit would be “first come, first serve” and are limited through 2033, the bill’s designated sunset date. Finally, the foundation would be required to submit an annual report to the Department of Revenue showing the total number and value of donations, approved tax credits, as well as the total number and value of public school grants it awards. It is our hope that these bills will promote partnerships between businesses, nonprofit organizations, local school systems and public schools while improving student achievement. 

 

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