It’s sink or swim time for bills in the Georgia Legislature. Georgia’s annual lawmaking session is intensifying, and Friday marks a key deadline: Crossover Day, the final day for bills to clear at least the House or the Senate to have a smooth path to becoming law. Typically, that means backroom deals, hurt feelings and […]
The Georgia Capitol on a previous Crossover Day. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
It’s sink or swim time for bills in the Georgia Legislature.
Georgia’s annual lawmaking session is intensifying, and Friday marks a key deadline: Crossover Day, the final day for bills to clear at least the House or the Senate to have a smooth path to becoming law.
Typically, that means backroom deals, hurt feelings and lawmakers working late into the night to get their bills across the finish line before time runs out.
“It’s the usual thing, it piles up at the end, and people get frantic about bills they have,” said Columbus Democratic Sen. Ed Harbison.
Harbison, who recently announced he will not seek re-election, has seen a lot of Crossover Days. He was first elected in 1992.
Harbison said that chaotic process serves a purpose.
“We wait until the last minute to do a lot of things just because they want to make sure they filter out some of the things that are not conducive to good government. It happens, and it’s going to happen in the future. And it’s just, I think it’s a way that we’ve started to make sure we’re not (passing legislation) to outlaw the Bulldogs or something like that. We do that and it dies and we get a chance to take a look at it again.”
State Rep. Lynn Smith, a Newnan Republican who is also not seeking re-election, agreed.
“The way it operates has never changed,” she said. “There’s a bulk of bills that come up, and there’s a lot of debate, and you just have to pay attention because there’s an urgency to get certain bills out. And there’s always a process. You’ve got to present, you’ve got to debate. It’s intense, but it’s meant to be.”
As the hour grows late on Crossover Day, empty coffee cups and energy drink cans can often be seen piling up on lawmakers’ desks. But Sandersville Democratic state Rep. Mack Jackson said late nights were more common in the past than they are now.
”Everything has changed over my career. I came here in 2009,” he said. “Things have changed, there are different people in here, more bills coming at you, sometimes, especially on Crossover Days. We would have worked longer days and longer nights in the past to try to get some of these bills out before Crossover, but now, things have changed.
“It’s been fewer long nights, we haven’t had really long nights except two or three times this session,” he added.
At stake are proposed laws that could reshape major aspects of life in Georgia, from health care and government transparency to immigration and First Amendment rights.
Bills that do not cross over by the final gavel on Friday will be dead for the year – mostly.
Language from a bill that didn’t make the cut can rise from the grave if it is grafted onto a similar bill that did cross over.
This year is also the second in Georgia’s two-year legislative cycle, which means bills that don’t become law will not carry over to 2027 and will need to start the entire process anew. But that also means there are bills left lurking from last year that can suddenly reemerge.
State Rep. Sharon Cooper, a Marietta Republican who has served since 1997 and recently qualified to run for re-election, said more late bills have been moving than usual and she’s ready for Crossover Day to be over.
“There’s sort of been a drag on the session, and just a little uneasiness,” she said. “It’s not just because it’s an election year, I have no idea why it is. So I will be glad when the Crossover Day is over and we’ll be talking about the Senate bills that come over, and they’ll be taking up ours, and we’ll see what happens.”
Bills have until April 2 to pass both chambers to make it to the desk of the governor, who can sign bills into law or veto them.
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