We need your help today to keep Georgia children safe. Please contact the House Rules Committee Chair, Richard Smith, and urge him to move HR 52 to the House floor for a vote. (404) 656-5141 richard.smith@house.ga.gov. Please call your House Representative and the members of the Rules Committee and ask them to vote YES on HR 52 in the Rules Committee and on the House floor.
HR 52: Creates Joint House-Senate Study Committee on Childhood Lead Exposure (Rep. Katie Dempsey, R-Rome)
HR 52 would create a Joint House Senate Study Committee to address childhood lead poisoning prevention. Lead is a neurotoxin for which there is no safe level of exposure. More than 2,300 children under age 6 were found to have lead poisoning in Georgia in 2019. Children under 6 and developing fetuses are at greatest risk of lead poisoning which can cause miscarriage, damage to brain, kidneys, nervous system, and harm speech, language and behavior, learning, reduce IQ, and even cause death. The greatest source of exposure for children is from lead paint dust and chips in homes built before 1978 when lead paint was made illegal in residences. Yet 30% of Georgia homes were built before that time. Poorly maintained homes or those where rehabilitation is done without regard to lead safety requirements are most hazardous. Georgia’s lead abatement statute is out of date and fails to meet CDC standards that identify when a danger is present. For more information, click here.
HR 52 passed the House Health and Human Services Committee on Tuesday, February 16th.
- Please contact members of the Rules Committee and urge them to put HR 52 on the House floor for a vote as soon as possible.
- Please contact your House member and urge them to vote YES when HR 52 comes to the House floor.
HB 408: Provide Fair Notice and a Right to Cure Deficiencies Before Eviction Filings (Rep. Sharon Cooper, R- Marietta)
HB 408 is a bipartisan bill that would promote housing stability to keep families safe, allow children to remain in school and parents to work, and help landlords get paid without resorting to court action. Georgia has some of the highest eviction rates and eviction filing rates of any state in the country. Eviction filings damage the ability of families to rent their next home and force families into unsafe housing, extended stay hotels, and homelessness. 40 other states, including our neighbors in the southeast, provide a right for tenants to “cure” the nonpayment of rent or other failure of performance before an eviction may be filed. HB 408 would provide a right to written notice to depart and the right to cure the non-payment of rent or other deficiency pre-eviction. This would preserve the ability to rent their next home, protect family stability, avoid hundreds of dollars in court costs, attorney’s fees, administrative fees and processing fees triggered by the filing of an eviction, and allow landlords to be paid without the burden and expense of going to court.
Please contact your house member and urge them to support HB 408.
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