ATLANTA - As they worked into the last hours of the legislative session Thursday night, Cobb lawmakers said it was a grueling, but ultimately successful term.

State Rep. Judy Manning (R-Marietta) called it "the session of eternity."

"We're usually out middle of March. This was a hard session, but it was needed to make these cuts, and we needed to tighten our belt and do what we should do to protect the citizens of our state."

To begin with, lawmakers balanced the state budget with more than $3 billion in spending cuts during the last two years, said Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), Cobb's highest-ranking legislator.

Manning said she was glad that public education, which accounts for about 45 percent of the budget, only got hit with an 8 percent cut compared with other groups, that saw cuts of up to 18 percent.

State Rep. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth) said he was proud that the General Assembly approved "zero-based" budgeting.

"Every four years, we're going to make each state agency justify every single dollar they're spending, not just work around the fringes but really go to the core functions of state governments and make every penny that's spent by these agencies be justified, scrutinized in a much more significant way," Setzler said.

State Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan (D-Austell) said she was proud to have sponsored House Bill 1019, which allows people who are in a federally declared disaster for a period of 60 days get state documents replaced for free. Morgan also co-sponsored HB 938, which bans texting while driving and prohibits those under 18 from using cell phones while driving.

State Rep. Don Parsons (R-east Cobb) said, "We have initiated the elimination of the state portion of property taxes. We have passed legislation that will end the state income tax on retirement income. We have approved a transportation plan that will bring an end to gridlock and spur economic development across our state. Under the leadership of Speaker Ralston, we have passed legislation that strengthens what was already one of the strongest ethics statutes in the nation. The citizens of Georgia can be very pleased with the 2010 General Assembly."

As for transportation, after years of bickering, the House and Senate united to approve a funding bill that allows voters to approve a special purpose local option sales tax to pay for transportation needs.

Property Tax Reform

Rogers said a point of pride is his Property Tax Assessment and Appeals reform bill, Senate Bill 346, which is aimed at ensuring all Georgia properties are properly assessed at fair market value and that property owners have guaranteed rights to appeal. Rogers called it the most sweeping overhaul of the Georgia property tax system in decades.

The overall reform includes more than 50 changes to current state law. Significant provisions include: expansion of the appeal time period from 30 to 45 days; estimated property tax contained in every notice of assessment; alternative streamlined appeal option for property valued in excess of $1,000,000; automatic taxpayer victory on appeals when government fails to respond within 45 days; requirement that all relevant sales, including distress sales, be included when determining Fair Market Value; taxpayer must be given access to all data used in determining Fair Market Value; and sales price establishes Fair Market Value for next tax year.

Ethics

Ethics reform was another success, Rogers said, with Georgia expected to move from seventh to fifth in the national ranking for ethical laws. The Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Act of 2010 brings greater transparency and openness to Georgia's ethics laws by expanding the state's authority over campaign finance, lobbyist and personal finance disclosures, and requiring lobbyists to report their expenditures on public officials twice as often as currently required. The bill also addresses a situation where a public official uses the power of their office for coercion, retaliation or punishment.

Healthcare

State Sen. Judson Hill (R-east Cobb) was pleased to see the passage of SB 411, which includes Hill's authored legislation protecting Georgia's current rights on health care choice. The addition of Hill's language would prohibit mandatory participation in any health care system. SB 411 now heads to Gov. Sonny Perdue for his signature.

"My original bill intended to shield every person in our state from having their basic rights of choice infringed upon by an unwanted government mandate. With the passage of my measure, we will all continue to enjoy those rights to purchase private or public health care, or decline to participate in any health care plan at all," Hill said.

Promotions and demotions

There was some drama during the session, like when Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle stripped Hill from his role as chairman of the Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee for failing to vote in favor of a bill that imposes a fee on hospitals' net revenues. Hill was marked as excused from the vote.

State Sen. Steve Thompson (D-Marietta) and Rogers also differ over the so-called "bed tax." Rogers calls it a tax cut while Thompson calls it a tax on the sick.

While Hill was demoted this session, his colleague in the senate, John Wiles (R-Kennesaw), rose in the ranks, unanimously elected to the position of majority whip by the Senate Republican Caucus on Thursday.

Crime

State Rep. Rich Golick (R-Smyrna) had three pieces of crime legislation that are on their way to the governor.

Golick said HB 1015 significantly strengthens Georgia's Anti-Gang and Terrorism statute. He said the bill gives prosecutors additional tools to stop the threat of criminal street gangs as they continue to attempt to infiltrate schools.

HB 1016 strengthens Georgia's identity fraud laws to allow prosecutors to prosecute identity theft against businesses. HB 329 strengthens state law in the area of probation revocation to allow a judge to revoke a longer period of probation in circumstances where a misdemeanor occurred in another state, but which would have been a felony had the offense occurred in Georgia.

Parsons said he is proud of the passage of the Crime Victims Rill of Rights, House Bill 567, which he sponsored, and which is now on the governor's desk.

"This legislation greatly strengthens the legal rights of victims of crime to be notified, to be present and to be heard at proceedings. It also clarifies and strengthens the law relating to restitution," Parsons said.

School calendar

State Rep. Matt Dollar's (R-east Cobb) bill to start school no earlier than the third week in August never made it this year.

Local legislation

The Cobb Legislative Delegation approved a local bill requested by Mayor Steve Tumlin that revises the way the City Council operates. The bill changes the names of the council's Committee of the Whole and pre-council meetings. The problem is that neither of those two meetings is spelled out in the city's code, leaving the mayor without his tie-breaking vote or veto power in those meetings.

"We appreciate our Cobb Delegation acting favorably on the city's requested charter change," Tumlin said.