Published: March 13, 2006 09:01 am      

Legislature’s ‘crossover day’ a marathon of lawmaking motion

ATLANTA (AP) — Today is do-or-die day for Georgia lawmakers hoping to groove their ideas through an election-year session of the state Legislature.

“Crossover Day,” by tradition, is the final day by which a bill must be passed in one chamber — the House or Senate — for it to be considered by the other.

The result is a marathon day of lawmaking that frequently sees the Legislature work late into the night, with emotions and frustrations mounting as the hours fly past and pet projects face potential doom.

“There’s a lot of pressure to get things onto the calendar, and probably not everything that gets on the calendar is going to get approved,” said University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock. “A lot of people who think they’ve rolled the stone to the top of the hill will find it rolling back down on them.”

For decades, crossover was on the 33rd day of the Legislature’s 40-day session. But Republicans, who took control of both the House and Senate for the first time since Reconstruction last year, moved it to Day 30 hoping to make the session’s final days less frantic.

A typical legislative day sees each chamber consider roughly a half-dozen bills and resolutions — even fewer in the session’s opening weeks. On Monday, the Senate will consider 48, while the House has already scheduled 50 and plans to add more before the day is over.

A pair of House proposals backed by Gov. Sonny Perdue are expected to be among Monday’s most high-profile, and potentially controversial, efforts.

Both are proposed constitutional amendments that have met resistance the past few years. The first would ensure that the state may continue doing business with religious organizations. The other, which Perdue has dubbed the HOPE Chest amendment, would require money from the Georgia Lottery only be used for pre-kindergarten and the popular HOPE scholarship in the future.

The faith-based groups bill has been voted down two years in a row in the Senate, where minority Democrats say it appears to be designed to clear the way for giving state dollars to private, religious schools.

The lottery effort failed in the Senate this year, with Democrats — led by Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, who hopes to challenge Perdue in this year’s election — holding out for their own plan which would have put stronger protections on the program.

As constitutional amendments, the efforts require a two-thirds vote in both chambers and also must be approved by the state’s voters.

“We are mystified as to why the Democrats have been trying to block the people of Georgia from having an opportunity to vote on the HOPE chest and on faith and family services,” said Perdue spokesman Dan McLagan. “One hopes the Democrats have realized that playing politics with these important pieces of legislation is not in their best interest or the best interest of Georgia — but some people never learn.”

Democrats are banking on support from teachers’ groups, who oppose the faith-based bill as a backdoor effort to approve school vouchers.

“The only thing we want to do is protect education,” said state Rep. Calvin Smyre, D-Columbus, in a recent interview. “If you’re not for vouchers, why not put (a voucher exclusion) in there? What’s the risk in doing that?”

Crossover Day has seen of some of the Legislature’s most dramatic moments — and fiery political jousting.

Last year, Democrats in both chambers, led by members of the Legislature’s black caucus, staged brief but dramatic walkouts after votes on the measure requiring voters to show a photo ID card at the polls. Protesting House members sang the civil-rights anthem “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ’Round,” leading Speaker Glenn Richardson to have them escorted out and threaten to censure them.

In 2004, Republican Senate leaders abruptly closed their session much earlier than expected, effectively killing eight Democratic bills that were scheduled for a vote. Support for one of them, an effort by now-deceased Sen. Rene Kemp to streamline prescription drug care for mentally ill patients who get state help, led shouting Democrats to angrily accuse the chamber’s leaders of cowardice.

One potential hot button this year — the lengthy day was scheduled by Republican leadership on the same day as the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, an annual fundraiser for the state’s Democratic Party.