New state laws take effect July 1st

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Some new state laws go into effect today. How well do you know them?

All it takes is a passing vote from the House, the Senate, and a signature from the governor. Suddenly, an idea becomes a law.

A $900 million transportation package sets gas taxes at 26 cents per gallon and creates a $200 fee on electric vehicles. There’s also an additional $5 per night for every hotel and motel in the state.

“Thinking that mostly visitors would pay for it, rather than residents, but as it turns out, many of the hotels in the area are resident oriented in that our guests are from Georgia. They’re not necessarily all from out of the state,” explained Robin North, the Vice President of Sales and Services for the Macon-Bibb County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

North claims this could impact a lot of smaller hotels. She adds 90% of Bibb County’s hotels are 100 rooms or less.

“Their rates are low and a $5 increase in a rate is a significant increase and could impact their ability to book people,” said North.

Changes are also coming to the classroom.

“By July 1, 2020, all school districts have to have digital curriculum available for their students to access,” said the Director of Instructional Technology for the Bibb County School District Monica Radcliff.

Radcliff explained this could mean using a textbook and online content. Her biggest concerns are how the district will make sure every child has access outside of the classroom and how the school board is going to pay for it.

“The state is going to negotiate some type of cost structure that will allow all districts to use what would normally be textbook funding for this digital content,” said Radcliff.

Lawmakers also want to make sure cyber bullying doesn’t become a big problem. House Bill 131 aims to prohibit it in schools.

“We do have some technologically savvy principals and assistant principals that can go into some of the Facebook pages and pull those things down. We have help with the kids providing their passwords so we can get some corroboration,” explained Steven Corkery, the Executive Director of Psychological and Social Services and Counseling for the Bibb County School District.

Students who didn’t get a chance to walk across a graduation stage now have a second chance at their diploma.

“House Bill 91 removes the graduation test as a requirement for graduation,” said Lynn James, the Director of Assessment for the Bibb County School District.

As long as a student met all other graduation requirements, such as passing all courses and having the right number of credits in the right subject areas, they can ask for their diploma.

Children under the age of six who suffer from autism will now have insurance coverage for their therapy sessions.

“I didn’t want to medicate my son because he’s so young. I wanted to do other resources such as therapies and things of that nature. Now that Ava’s Law has passed it allows me to use those resources and get my son the best benefits that he needs,” explained Elizabeth Douglas, the mother of an autistic child.

Now you can buy “big time” fireworks.

“What we consider aerial shows. Where you light it and you can reload it and it shoots. It’s all aerial night displays,” said Rusty Watson, the Retail Development Manager for Jake’s Fireworks.

Jake’s Fireworks is opening multiple stores across the state to make sure they’re cashing in on what employees say is a big profit.

“I’ve seen people spend $4,000 in one transaction,” recalled Watson.

Thanks to Senate Bill 63, beer lovers can enjoy more of their favorite drink at breweries.

“32 ounces prior to the bill and they’ve raised that limit to 36 ounces,” explained Jeremy Knowles, the President of Macon Beer Company.

Senate Bill 8 creates a “safe harbor” for sexually exploited children.

“They can’t be charged with any crime they were forced to commit while they were a victim,” said David Cooke, the Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney.

Cooke said it usually takes victims a while to talk about what happened to them. He hopes this law eases victims’ fears to bring them justice.

Another hot topic during the 2015 General Assembly was medical marijuana. People who suffer from eight different medical conditions can legally use cannabis oil in Georgia. Governor Nathan Deal signed the bill into law on April 16, 2015.