Georgia Legislative Diary for Wednesday, Feb. 22

<p>HEADLINES</p><p>Billboards advertising strippers and go-go dancers would be outlawed under legislation that passed the House on Wednesday. The bill also places 70-foot height restrictions on billboards and bans electronic signs with flashing lights that have become increasingly popular along the roadway. Stripped from the bill was a controversial proposal that would have given companies that lower their billboards more freedom to clear and trim back trees.</p><p>ODDS & ENDS</p><p>_House lawmakers held a moment of silence for former Rep. Eleanor Richardson, of DeKalb County, who died Monday. Richardson, who served from 1974-91, was one of the first women to serve in the state Legislature and was a past president of Georgia's chapter of the League of Women Voters.</p><p>_A bill that would require more hours of physical education in Georgia schools passed 42-7 in the Senate. The plan increases the required number of minutes of exercise for grade-school students from 90 to 150 each week _ over objections by some members that the plan would take away from core subject instruction.</p><p>_The House voted 138-8 to allow the city of Johns Creek in Fulton County to incorporate. The vote permits the 65,000 residents, now in unincorporated Fulton County, to set up their own city government.</p><p>_Primary caregivers of children under the age of 4 would be exempt from jury duty under a bill which passed the House. The bill would also excuse those home schooling their children from jury service.</p><p>_University of Georgia football coach Mark Richt delivered the morning devotion in the Senate, then posed with senators for pictures.</p><p>QUOTE OF THE DAY</p><p>"I can think of no greater reason for us to dedicate a road than to honor a fallen soldier." _ Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, on a resolution naming a highway in Coweta county in honor of Sgt. Michael Stokely, a National Guard member who was killed Aug. 16, 2005 by a roadside bomb in Iraq.</p><p>DAYS IN SESSION</p><p>Wednesday was the 22nd day of the 2006 session; 18 days remain.</p>

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