Before I cover any legislation this week, I would like to mention a very important topic that impacts everyone in my district and in the state of Georgia.

The U.S. Constitution requires a national Census every 10 years. This Census will show state population count and determine representation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In addition the Census count determines your representation in the Georgia General Assembly. This year, the Census questionnaire, one of the shortest in history, is only ten questions long, and requires just 10 minutes to complete.

By law the Census Bureau cannot share any individual’s questionnaire responses with anyone including other federal agencies and law enforcement entities so that your privacy is protected.

Not only is the Census important for our representation at the national level but over $400 billion in federal aid is apportioned based on the census counts (approximately $1700 per person counted in Georgia).

I would encourage businesses, ministerial associations, civic clubs, local school boards and news media in District 147 to publicize the Census and encourage participation. The Census website is www.census.georgia.gov and you can click on “Census in Georgia” on that site to see if your area was listed as “hard to count” or “less than 55% response rate” in the 2000 Census.

The budget process was ongoing this week and the House recommendations on FY 2010 amended budget should be completed very soon. Then the process begins on the FY2011 budget.

HB 926 was passed by the House this week. This bill came from the Banks and Banking Committee and will enable banks to make the loan renewal process less cumbersome for small businesses on performing loans.

This will be beneficial to small business and open the door to better opportunities for job creation in our district. Banking Committee Chairman, James Mills, requested and the House agreed to send this bill immediately to the Senate to facilitate passage.

HB 219 which requires that a bitter tasting substance be added to antifreeze passed the House. This will remove a poisoning hazard to children from accidental ingestion of antifreeze due to the sweet taste of that product.

The passage of HB 910 allows electronic reporting of gender equality in the school system. This will simplify the reporting process on this issue and reduce costs to the local systems.

HB 923 extends the time that teachers have to complete a leadership training course for pay increase from July 1, 2010 to July 1, 2013.

Several education related bills passed aimed at helping local systems better manage during the economic downturn. HB 905 extends the sunset provisions for the school construction capital outlay program from June 15, 2010 to June 30, 2015.

This will enable school systems to continue to earn and use Advance Funding, Exceptional Growth and Low Wealth School Capital Outlay Grants.

HB 908 gives local systems total flexibility through waivers to eliminate expenditure controls on media center, direct instruction and staff development costs and to eliminate funding for additional instruction days.

Waivers will be available for request by school systems through July 1, 2013. Previous provisions regarding maximum class sizes and salary schedules were struck out of the original bill with this committee substitute.

Several local bills were passed, none of which affected any of the counties or cities in the 147th District.

Delegations from Dooly County and Houston County visited the Capitol this week to discuss issues that are of importance to them. The Houston County delegation included two leadership classes, Leadership Perry and Leadership Houston County.

Crisp County will be hosting its annual fish fry for the legislature on the Feb. 10, and Worth County has a delegation scheduled to meet with legislators on Feb. 9.

I commend the leadership of Crisp, Dooly, Houston, Pulaski and Worth counties and the cities in District 147 for their close attention to the legislative issues that affect the people that they represent.

Please contact me on any issues of importance to you. My e-mail address is bharden@planttel.net and my phone # is 404-909-5767.