Several new laws will go into affect today in the State of Georgia including:
Driving
No texting or reading e-mails while behind the wheel, even at stop lights. Rookie drivers under age 18 can’t use cell phones either. The fine is $150 and 1 point against the driver’s record.
No driving all-terrain vehicles in a stream bed, except to cross it. Environmentalists joined with property owners frustrated by the damage ATV enthusiasts have caused.
A disabled parent or guardian who has had a driver’s license can accompany a student driver. And, a judge can grant limited permission to drive to someone younger than 18 whose license was suspended due to speeding.
State Patrol cars no longer have to have two-tone paint, a savings to taxpayers of $8,000 per vehicle.
The parents, children, brothers and sisters of anyone killed in action while serving in the military can now put a Gold Star license plate on their cars and trucks.
A “Blue Alert” system may be activated when a suspect in a death or serious injury of a peace officer is on the loose, or an officer on duty is missing under suspicious circumstances.
Government
Utility contractors with a valid utility contractor’s license — including plumbers, electrical and conditioned-air contractors — do not need a residential or general contractor’s license to work on a utility system.
State employees must wait more than two months before they return to work — even as an independent contractor — or their retirement application will be nullified.
Donations for operating expenses may now be solicited by local school boards, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Foundation for Public Education and the Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Commission.
Voters overseas, including members of the military, can cast a write-in absentee ballot or request an official absentee ballot by e-mail.
Governors and former governors can now perform marriage ceremonies, just like judges, as long as the marriage license is processed with a probate court.
Lake Oconee property owners who built seawalls and bulkheads no longer have to have a 25-foot buffer from the water as is required in other parts of the state.
Crime
Victims are able to attend juvenile court and state court hearings and describe the impact of the crime. They have had these rights in superior court where most major crimes are tried.
Juvenile judges have more options for what they can require of delinquents, including added restrictions, increased reporting, community service, counseling, weekend programs, electronic monitoring and home confinement.
Residential mortgage fraud is now subject to investigations by Georgia law-enforcement agencies, specifically the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Local jurisdictions may pay for private autopsies or analyses, since the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s forensic lab will no longer function as a repository of medical examiner reports and coroner investigations.
Downtown development authorities may now help businesses pay for energy or water conservation improvements.
Education
Local school boards can now use state funds to refurbish school buses rather than having to replace them. Until now, the state would only contribute toward new vehicles.
Local school boards that impose furloughs on teachers or other staff can’t turn around and give pay raises to their superintendent or other administrators in the same school year.
Textbooks can now be electronic, either software or hardware, and still qualify under the formal definition.
School districts with an education local option sales tax must publish a detailed annual financial report in the same way cities and counties do for SPLOST programs.
The study of the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. and Georgia flags, “including their institutions and ideas,” is now a required part of elementary and secondary schools history curriculum.
Health
Families don’t have to hire nurses to give routine shots and perform other minor, common medical procedures to care for a disabled loved one, although the “proxy caregiver” will have to be trained by a nurse practitioner.
Massage therapists will need a license now, and businesses may not advertise massages combined with escort services or adult entertainment.
Individual and group health plans may include wellness programs that provide rewards or incentives. The legislation also prohibits any law forcing individuals, employers or providers to participate in a health care system.
The Georgia Composite Medical Board may set up a program to rehabilitate health care professionals impaired by illness, alcohol or substance abuse or any other mental or physical condition.
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