Georgia Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, speaks during an interview about illegal immigration.
Georgia Sen. Charlie Bethel, R-DaltonHigh school administrators across the state of Georgia were still waiting as of late Thursday night to see what, if any, athletic changes were going to be forced upon the Georgia High School Association.
Georgia lawmakers, on the last scheduled day of the session, were set to work until midnight on several unresolved bills, including two that are directly aimed at the GHSA and the way it operates. As of 10 p.m. Senate Bill 288 was in conference committee, a measure taken to resolve differences in the original bill and the one amended by members of the House of Representatives.
Following the conference, the bill would either be accepted or rejected without further change, though it had not been brought back up as of 10.
The Bill 288, sponsored by Dalton's Charlie Bethel, intends to force the GHSA to make annual financial reports available to the public and would create an oversight committee that would evaluate the association more closely.
Bill 343, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Mullis of Chickamauga, is similar in the call for annual financial reports and the oversight committee. However, if passed it would change the makeup of the GHSA's executive committee and limit the terms of its members.
That bill, though, after passing unanimously in the Senate and given a solid chance of passing considering Mullis' clout, was sent back to the Senate after the House insisted on several changes. There was no official word at press time as to the bill's immediate future.