Articles

Perdue Shifts Stalled Child Safety Bill

Craig Schneider, AJC Staff
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
February 3, 2004

Gov. Sonny Perdue, dissatisfied with the progress of child endangerment legislation in the state House, shifted the measure to the Senate on Monday.

The governor's decision to start from scratch in the Senate follows a week in which lawmakers debated the bill in a House committee and, according to one legislator, argued behind the scenes over who would receive top billing as sponsors.

"It was not moving as quickly as we would like," Perdue spokeswoman Loretta Lepore said. "This is a priority of the governor. We want to move this along."

The bill was introduced last month to great fanfare, including a news conference during which the governor and lieutenant governor, sometimes political rivals, shook hands. It seemed to be on the legislative fast track, as lawmakers spoke of sacrificing partisan politics and political egos to pass a measure to help children.

Now some advocates are worried, because of the politics and egos.

"It makes me a little troubled that the bill may not make it, again," said Wendi Clifton, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, who is pushing the bill for the fourth year. "We are playing partisan politics, and that's not what we need to be doing with this."

Legislation on child endangerment has passed the Senate before but failed to gain final passage, in part because of the politics and efforts to add controversial amendments to the measure.

Although Clifton expects the bill to pass in the Senate, she said she is worried that if it should come back to the House for a vote, it could be in trouble.

"There may be ill feelings and reasons not to work together," Clifton said.

Georgia is the only state in the nation without a law on child endangerment. The proposed legislation would make parents criminally accountable for negligent behavior that endangers their children. The bill also would make it a separate felony to make methamphetamine in the presence of a child.

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Tom Bordeaux (D-Savannah), had raised concerns about the wording of the bill and had come up with a complicated way to make changes.

But behind the scenes, other disagreements arose, said Rep. Wendell Willard (R-Dunwoody), the bill's primary sponsor in the House.

Willard said Bordeaux had complained that he was not receiving high enough billing on the sponsorship of the bill, which could be particularly important in an election year. Bordeaux is listed as the sixth sponsor on the measure.

Willard acknowledged that he had told Bordeaux he could be the No. 2 sponsor on the bill. But the situation changed once the governor took control of the bill this year, Willard said. The Republican governor, he said, wanted his House floor leaders to receive high billing.

During the past week, Willard said he has tried to broker a compromise between Bordeaux and the governor's staff.

On Monday, Willard announced he was removing himself as the prime sponsor of the child endangerment bill. He added that he expects the bill will "just sit" in committee without action.

Bordeaux did not return two calls to his legislative office Monday.

Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, the top Democrat in the state Senate, has been pushing the legislation for years. On Monday, Taylor spokeswoman Kristi Huller said, "We are going to support any legislation that has child endangerment felony language in it."

Perdue declined to get involved in any legislative bickering.

"We are grateful for the bipartisan support" in the Senate, Lepore said, "and we're ready to provide protection for the children of Georgia."

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