Day 6- January 26, 2010

Republican leadership in the House and Senate announce plans to ask legislators to accept more furlough days, new changes in House Rules abolishing the hawk system, new legislation prohibiting racial profiling and more highlights from last week's budget briefings.

Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle and House Speaker David Ralston are asking legislators to take six more furlough days before July. Combined with five furlough days already taken by the legislature that brings the total to eleven days of furlough this fiscal year. The move would give back $170,000 to state coffers.

The ACLU and other community coalitions joined legislators in announcing a new measure to prohibit racial profiling. The measure would require annual law enforcement training as well as a system of reporting the race, sex and ethnicity of all traffic stops. Similar legislation passed the House in 2004, but failed to pass the Senate. Supporters say that this version of the bill will be acceptable to law enforcement

The outlook for the economy and job creation in Georgia were the subject of a Joint House–Senate Economic Development Committee meeting this afternoon. Prominent economists shared their thoughts about the challenges Georgia faces in the coming year. Despite some rather bleak assessments for the immediate future, the consensus is that we're headed for recovery.

As a part of the celebration of Lawmakers’ 40th season, we continue our Lawmakers Flashback series. Tonight’s excerpt features highlights from the 1971 budget briefings.

Today was Stop Violence Against Women Day at the State Capitol. Advocates for battered women expressed concern over proposed budget cuts and urged legislators to increase rather than decrease the funding. Victims and their families spoke out about the need for more resources. Lawmakers’ Lara Fawaz has that story.