State

Sen. Greg Hecht is pleased with his first two

years of work since making the transition from

the state House to the Senate in 1998.

"We

have a great agenda right now in the legislature:

tax relief, tough law enforcement, education and

consumer protection," Hecht said following

the end of the 2000 legislative session last

week.

Jonesboro lawyer, Hecht represents parts of

Clayton, Fayette, Fulton and Douglas counties in

the 34th District.

In

addition to liking the legislature's general

direction, Hecht said he is pleased that he has

personally authored 15 bills that have passed

both houses over the last two years.

Passed

this year are:

� The Victim's Rights Bill:

Senate Bill 228 allows victims of crimes to

appeal the exclusion of evidence by a trial court

judge from the prosecution's case in a trial

against an accused criminal. Under current law,

motions to exclude evidence are not appealable by

the prosecutor, who represents the victims of a

crime, but are appealable by the defendant in a

case.

"Victims

of crimes such as rape, armed robbery and other

felonies deserve at least as much protection

under the law as criminals," said Hecht.

"We must protect the rights of our victims

of crimes."

� A Mental Health

care Ombudsmen Program, coauthored by Hecht with

five other state senators who worked on the

Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance

Abuse Study Committee during 1999. Senate Bill

479 provides for the training, screening and

recruitment of individuals to oversee the

provision of mental health care, mental

retardation and substance abuse services.

It's aimed at

preventing physical abuse of patients, preventing

fraudulent billing practices and ensuring quality

service, said Hecht. "Our community service

boards and regional boards are doing tremendous

jobs under tough circumstances," he said.

"However, at the same time, a number of

regions have been audited. Some of these regions

have shown fraudulent billing practices, absent

documentation and a lack of sufficient care for

our citizens with mental illness or

retardation."

� Georgia

Mentoring Act of 2000: The legislation will

establish a major emphasis on screening, training

and gaining volunteers to mentor children having

difficulties with academics. The bill provides

for a program through the Children and Youth

Coordinating Council's office to coordinate

mentoring programs in all counties in the state.

Besides screening and training volunteers, the

program will reward counties with successful

mentoring programs.

"Mentoring is

a tremendous program for our children,"

Hecht said. "The Mentoring Act will provide

for a coordinated effort throughout the state to

give children individualized assistance and

encouragement."

� Elder and

Disabled Protection Act: SB 407 provides for

enhanced penalties for the battery of elderly and

disabled Georgians and requires anyone holding

property for elderly and disabled Georgians while

they seek health care to use it solely for the

benefit of that person. In addition, the bill

creates a crime for denying sustenance to elderly

and disabled people while they are served by a

long term care facility or by another custodian.

Lastly, the bill sets up reporting requirements

for certain professionals for reporting abuse,

neglect, and exploitation.

"This

legislation will punish those who financially

exploit and physically abuse our disabled and

elder Georgians who have taught us so much,"

said Hecht. Our parents and grandparents have

continued to be our source of strength, and we

need to protect their future from con men and

scam artists who defraud or exploit them

financially."

� A bill to expand

the DNA database for convicted felons: The

legislation will increase the database for DNA

samples to be taken from all violent felons. The

database will be used to try and track down

missing or unknown suspects who leave saliva,

blood, perspiration or another bodily fluid.

Upon the finding or

gathering of a specimen with a DNA pattern, law

enforcement will now turn to the database of

convicted felons to determine the presence of a

convicted felon at a crime scene. "DNA

technology is the most advanced forensic

technology we have," said Hecht. "The

use of this DNA technology upon convicted felons

to locate missing criminal suspects is a

tremendous step into the new millennium for crime

detection."

� Sales Tax

Holiday Resolution: Hecht and Tim Golden

introduced the resolution calling for a nine-day

statewide "sales tax holiday" exempting

from state and local sales tax back-to-school

items such as clothing and school supplies during

the first weekend in August.

The resolution

urges the Georgia House of Representatives, where

tax measures are required to originate, to pass

legislation known as the "Georgia Family

Sales Tax Relief Act of 2000."

"This proposed

legislation would save the working families of

Georgia millions of dollars in taxes by making

clothing and certain back-to-school items more

affordable for their children and at the same

time would boost sales for our local

merchants," said Hecht.

� SB 462: The bill

targets fraudulent pre-need sales agents, burial

companies which do not keep up and maintain grave

sites, predatory solicitors for burial service

and merchandise and companies charging exorbitant

fees for placing markers on grave sites. The

maximum charge allowed for an outside vendor to

place a marker is limited to $50 under the bill,

and the bill requires all consumers to be able to

gain a price list without hidden charges and a

copy of cancellation and refund policies of the

cemetery or funeral director's place of business.

"At the time

of death of a parent, spouse or child, the

surviving family members are in a great deal of

grief and vulnerability," said Hecht.

"While many of the companies and

professionals in this industry respect this loss,

others have taken advantage of this grief and

vulnerability at this critical time in the

consumer's life. This bill stops this

exploitation and related fraudulent

practices."

The bill resulted

from a year of statewide hearings where consumers

complained about the same plots being sold to two

different families, failure of several companies

to maintain grave sites and companies allowing

graves to be completely covered over by brush,

plants and grass. Consumers complained of being

charged $500 to $1,000 just to have a marker

placed at a grave site.

� Technology

Crimes Bill: SB 307, aimed at criminals using

technology to create false universal product code

labels and false receipts to rip off Georgia

businesses, prescribes felony penalties for

organized theft rings and individuals who gain

merchandise at a lower price with false universal

product code labels as well as criminalizing the

act of returning merchandise to retailers with

false universal product code labels and fake

receipts.

According to the

Georgia Retail Council, thieves of this kind and

others rob the economy of $16 billion a year

through these high technology crimes and

shoplifting.

� Legislation to

Protect Injured Law Enforcement, Firefighters and

Public Safety Officers from Injuries Due to

Violence/Fire: SB 377 and SR 204 call for a

constitutional referendum to provide for

differential pay by the state between workers'

compensation benefits and the salary for up to a

year for public safety personnel injured due to

violence or fire. The cost of the bill is minimal

as the State Indemnification Fund is presently

over-funded, said Hecht.

"Our law

enforcement officers, firefighters, deputies,

prison guards, probation and parole officers

perform inherently dangerous work. We must give

them the message that we will protect them if

they are injured in the line of duty due to

violence or fighting a fire," he said.

� Open Government

Legislation: SB 295 requires counties and cities

with over 5,000 residents to codify their local

ordinances and provide copies to requesting

citizens at a reasonable price. Cities with less

than 5,000 residents must organize their

ordinances and make copies available to the

public under the bill.

Also, copies of all

city and county codes must be made available to

the state of Georgia. The codification deadline

is Jan. 1, 2002 under the bill.

"Many cities

and counties maintain organized published

versions of their codes, [but] a number of cities

and counties have versions of their ordinances in

the bottom drawer of a clerk's office unavailable

to the public," said Hecht. "At the

same time, residents are charged with violations

of these ordinances and fined and punished as a

result.

"All citizens

of the United States deserve access to the

ordinances under which they are being

regulated," he said.

Not passed was SB

461: The bill, which provides for the banning of

cigarette vending machines as a means of access

for cigarette sales, passed the Senate but

stalled in the House Rules Committee. The bill

was introduced to help prevent teen smoking, said

Hecht, who quoted studies showing that teenagers

are the main purchasers of cigarettes through

cigarette vending machines.

"I am

extremely appreciative of the opportunity to work

in a bipartisan effort with Sen. Tanksley on

proposed legislation which can improve the health

of our children in Georgia," said Hecht.

"Vending machines are an access point for

children for cigarettes which require no means of

age identification to be presented. It is already

illegal to sell cigarettes to minors, but we have

given them access without enforcement against

vending machine sales.

"I am

disappointed the bill did not pass, but we will

try again next year," he said.

Hecht chairs the

Senate Corrections Committee, is vice chairman of

the Judiciary Committee, is chairman of an

Appropriations subcommittee, and serves as a

member on the Defense, Science and Technology

Committee.

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