UPDATED
Perdue Signs Credit Freeze Legislation, Charter Schools Measure, Reservoirs Bill

Update at 3:01 p.m. adds governor signing reservoirs bill. New material highlighted.

(4/13/08) Gov. Sonny Perdue was all over the place Tuesday in bill-signing ceremonies, putting his signature to a credit-freeze bill, a measure giving charter school advocates a way to circumvent opposition from local school systems and a new law to help speed the construction of new reservoirs.

The credit-freeze bill is HB 130. It allows consumers to direct credit reporting agencies not to release information about their credit history without specific authorization from them. It’s aimed at keeping criminals at bay.

Along those lines, Perdue also signed SB 388, one of his own initiatives, which creates the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Identity Theft Task Force and transfers the authority to investigate identity theft to the GBI from the Office of Consumer Affairs. He also signed SB 24, which increases the penalties against identity theft by the use of Internet phishing.

The charter schools bill is HB 881 by Rep. Jan Jones, and it allows charter school applicants to bypass a local school board if its charter application has been rejected and go to a newly-formed state charter commission.

Jones, attending the signing ceremony, said the measure “offers Georgia one more tool in the education toolbox to meet students’ unique needs through high quality charter schools ... This legislation will lead to a greater variety of smaller, specialized or innovative public schools that will be held to high achievement standards.”

Perdue also signed HB 831, which allows the state school board to create a grant program to provide matching funds to charter school groups for capital improvements, and HB 1277, which allows charter school personnel access to the State Health Benefit Plan.

The reservoir bill, SB 342, creates a water supply division and establishes a reservoir fund within the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority to assist in permitting and funding additional reservoirs. The goal is to better prepare the state for future drought.