The Georgia Senate voted overwhelmingly last week to adopt
comprehensive reforms to the state's outmoded adoption law, but
the bill's fate remains far from settled amid a swirl of
election-year politics and personality conflicts.
A similar measure came up for consideration last year, but
stalled after a religious liberty provision was attached in the
final hours of the legislative session. The Senate's newly
approved version pointedly excluded last year's poison pill,
but it contains a provision—an amendment to grant temporary
powers of attorneys to guardians of children—that Governor
Nathan Deal vetoed last year.
The legislation will now return to the House of Representatives,
which already twice passed adoption reform bills in as many years.
The House has before it three options: agreement to the Senate
version as-is; remove the offending powers of attorney's plank
and return it to the upper chamber; or send the bill to a
conference committee of both chambers to
