By: Randy Evans

With de facto super majorities in both the Georgia Senate (38 Republicans to 18 Democrats) and House of Representatives (119 Republicans to 60 Democrats with one independent), Republican legislative leaders had two narrow and specific goals for the 2014 Georgia General Assembly.

First, “get it done.” On March 20, weeks if not months before many prior sessions of the General Assembly ended, House Speaker David Ralston and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle declared sine die – ending the 152nd Session of the Georgia General Assembly – just 65 days after convening on Jan. 14.

Under Georgia’s Constitution, the Georgia legislature can only remain in session for a total of 40 legislative days. In the end, the General Assembly was in session 40 days out of a maximum total 65 calendar days, including weekends and snow days, even with two winter super storms forcing unexpected pauses in the legislative march toward an early ending. Now, that is a “get it done” attitude in action.

Of course, with primaries on May 20 — just 60 days after adjournment, and a prohibition against raising campaign funds while the General Assembly was in session, both political parties had every incentive to end the session with dispatch – and they did.

Second, and equally importantly, the goal of legislators was to “do no damage.” This means no fights, no public confrontations, and by all means, no serious infighting. Based on Georgia history, these are things that are easier said than done when legislators gather under the Gold Dome.

Both Georgia Republicans and Democrats have a long and sordid history of self-inflicted wounds, especially during election years. Sometimes, such wounds come from working too hard to pacify key constituencies among the political base of the political party in power.

Other times, things just get out of control.

Of course, the pre-session admonition of “do no damage” never stops the media, pundits and political parties from nonetheless raising the ominous specter of a whole host of issues that might pass which could create real headaches and heartburn among political insiders

keenly focused on winning the next election. Indeed, 2014 was no different — with occasional headlines of outlandish proposals accompanied by weekly rallies at the State Capitol on a myriad of issues with news reporters and rival campaigns stoking the political fires for their own purposes.

But, in the end, the 2014 Georgia General Assembly was entirely predictable. The leadership in both chambers has a whole host of tools available to kill or derail bills and proposals that can cause political problems.

Indeed, these tools are so effective that often bills are killed or derailed with such efficiency that no one knows who or how the bill got off track. Instead, such proposals just never make the light of day, stuck in a committee somewhere awaiting further action or subject to rules that make passage impossible.

Of course, things do get done – as they must. The General Assembly must adopt a balanced budget.

Buried beneath the reams of paper and innumerable line items, the vast majority of the work of the General Assembly is in fact done in the budget. Not surprisingly, during election years, there are plenty of handouts for selected legislators in need of a little pork to take back home to assist in a re-election bid.

Yet, for the most part, real policy decisions get made in the budget through decisions of whether to fund or not fund. Policies that legislators support get money; those that legislators do not get none.

Beyond that, nothing significant passed this legislation session. The legislature moved state elections to match the date forced by a federal judge for federal elections. It extended the $1 tire disposal fee for another five years. It allowed bars to sell alcohol on Sundays when St. Patrick’s Day falls on a weekend. It passed bills authorizing a monument containing the Ten Commandments and a monument honoring Martin Luther King Jr. on the Capitol grounds.

Candidly, the only real newsmaker legislation was a gun bill, which in the end did little more than allow more places like churches to “opt in” on whether to allow firearms on their premises.

All the rest was best summed up months before in The Evans Report, which said:

“Do not believe it. There will be lots of news coverage about all kinds of things that the Georgia legislature will consider during the 2014 General Assembly. The topics will include everything from legalization of medicinal marijuana to massive tort reform. None of it will happen.”

And, there was a good reason for nothing happening. Almost 60 percent of Georgians believe that Georgia is headed in the right direction. With those kinds of numbers, there is little reason to do a whole lot more.

Get it done; do no damage. Mission accomplished.