January 29, 2001:

OPENING DAYS OF 2001 GEORGIA SESSION

The 2001 session of the GA General Assembly began on Monday, January 8. The usual opening day ceremonies marked the session--swearing in of all legislators, announcement of committee assignments, etc. The rest of the week continued the ceremonies for the most part except for the Governor's address to a joing House-Senate session to disclose his appropriations priorities for FY 2002. As always, the second week was dedicated to state agencies reporting to members of the two Appropriations Committees on their department requests for the new fiscal year.

However, the week after the regular budget break was not typical. In lightening speed, a deal was revealed to the House members regarding a new state flag. It passed, was sent to the Senate that same day, and the next day a Senate committee barely passed it out. On Tuesday, January 30, the full Senate is scheduled to take this matter up for a floor vote. Much has been written about the next step in this process and a report on these pages will be forthcoming.

Because of all the activities surrounding the flag issue, the Governor's state of the state address has been moved to next week. Also, the other business of the Legislature will again move to the front and normalcy will return to the hectic days of this body.