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Senate Rules Committee sets Day 39–40 calendar, advances dozens of bills
Summary
The Senate Rules Committee on March 30 approved a large calendar of House and Senate bills for Days 39–40, unanimously moving several study resolutions to the consent calendar and selecting dozens of measures — including school safety, veterans benefits and criminal-justice changes — for floor consideration.
Chairman Cowzer called the Senate Rules Committee to order on March 30, 2026, saying the panel would set the calendar for legislative Day 39 and Day 40 and handle late additions to the yellow sheet. The meeting opened with a prayer led by the vice chairman that asked the panel to remember Senator Freddie Powell Sims and her family after a recent death.
The committee first moved multiple study resolutions to the consent calendar. Chairman Cowzer said the motion came from his vice chairman, Representative Green, and was seconded by the majority whip; the committee carried the motion by voice, with Cowzer stating, “Motion carries unanimous.”
Members then gave 20-second summaries of bills they asked the committee to put on the calendar. Presentations ranged across policy areas: Representative Green said HB 659 would add optometrists to a rural loan-forgiveness list for health professionals; other lawmakers described bills to place infant safety devices in public locations (HB 350), preserve Marsh Tacky and Pineywoods livestock breeds (HB 466), certify community health workers (HB 291), clarify interstate child-predator language (HB 421), require virtual schools to meet minimum performance levels (HB 1259), and provide tax exemptions for Habitat for Humanity construction materials (HB 1132).
A Senate leader told the committee HB 1023 would require weapons-detection systems in Georgia public schools and said, “There is in the budget … $166,000,000 in the budget,” describing money in the pending budget that the leader said is intended for the measure. Several presenters described bills addressing domestic-violence survivor services, foster-parent rights, veteran benefits and adjustments to juvenile adjudication, among many others.
The committee used its customary multi-round selection process — referred to in the meeting as picking "dingers" — to let senators nominate and select bills for the consideration calendar. After multiple rounds and a short voting ballot for an extra slot, the chair read a long list of bills that had been circled for the calendar (including SB 628, SR 882 and numerous House bills by number) and said he would "hold the motion and go into recess" while the selections were confirmed.
On reconvening, Senator Albers moved a "due pass" for the compiled list of bills and Senator Anderson seconded. The committee voted by show of hands and the chair announced the motion carried unanimously, advancing the selected measures to the next step of floor consideration. Chairman Cowzer then recognized staff and interns for their work and the committee recessed for lunch.
The rules meeting covered process matters as much as policy. Members were reminded that interim study committees will meet in CLOB while the usual rooms are under renovation, and the chair warned members that once a bill is tabled it will need active advocacy to be restored to the calendar. The committee did not take floor roll-call votes recorded in the transcript; the two formal outcomes reported on the record were the unanimous consent vote to move the listed study resolutions and the unanimous adoption of the calendar via a due-pass motion.
