ATLANTA — The first bill to make it through the House and Senate in the current legislative session won unanimous support, passing Thursday two days shy of the midpoint.
The measure, Senate Bill 5, clarifies legal issues holding up federal funding for the deepening of the Savannah River shipping channel.
“We typically don’t pass Senate bills until after Crossover, but this is so important,” said Rep Ron Stephens, R-Savannah.
For most bills, the House and Senate only consider measures proposed by their own members before the 30th day in the 40-day session. That’s because after that day, bills that don’t crossover to the other chamber are effectively dead for the year.
Some side work has begun on the channel deepening but the bulk of it is yet to start. The bill is necessary to iron liability issues between the state and federal government.
The Senate also passed SB 5 without any objections.