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Senate committee advances bill to create Georgia Resilience Office within GEMA
Summary
The Senate Public Safety Committee on an unanimous voice vote advanced Senate Bill 264 to create a Georgia Resilience Office inside the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA); sponsors and agency counsel said they will continue technical talks before the bill reaches the Senate floor.
The Senate Public Safety Committee on a voice vote advanced Senate Bill 264 on a bipartisan basis to create a Georgia Resilience Office within the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA).
Supporters said the office would better coordinate disaster preparedness and recovery across rural and urban counties. “This is gonna create an office within GEMA that is going to be able to work with the local governments,” said Senator Steve Goodman, citing gaps his district experienced during recent hurricanes.
A GEMA representative asked for more dialogue about the office’s structure. “We really support the effort to increase our resiliency in the state. We just wanted to kinda have more of a dialogue about what this office would look like,” said Anna Burton, general counsel for GEMA Homeland Security, at the committee hearing.
Committee members and the sponsor said the bill was a priority and that staff would meet with GEMA and other senators to resolve outstanding questions before the bill reaches the Senate floor and the Rules Committee. Chairman, presiding over the committee, said the bill will go next to Rules.
The committee recorded the action as passing the bill out of committee; no roll-call tally was provided in the transcript (the motion passed by voice and was described as unanimous). The committee encouraged follow-up meetings between Senator Goodman, GEMA representatives and other members to address technical questions.
The committee adjourned the item after the motion and second; the bill remains eligible to be scheduled for a floor debate pending Rules Committee action.
