Senators try Hail Mary pass on pickup truck seat belt requirements

The Senate is making an eleventh-hour, mostly symbolic effort, to push along legislation that would require drivers to wear seat belts in their pickup trucks. 

The truck seat belt measure passed the Senate this year but has gone nowhere in the House. The same thing happened the last two years. The idea of wearing seat belts in a pickup traditionally dies in the House somewhere along the way. Former House Speaker Tom Murphy (D-Bremen), now deceased, vociferously opposed the idea. 

This year, the bill got stuck in the House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee. It did not get enough votes to get out of the ditch and on its way to the House Floor. Agricultural interests in the state oppose the idea, saying it could interfere with farm operations. 

Sen. Don Thomas (R-Dalton), sponsor of the pickup truck seat belt legislation in the Senate, said Georgia is the only state that has a primary seat belt law that exempts pickup trucks. Seatbelts save lives by preventing ejection from the cab of the vehicle during a crash, Thomas said. 

He is frustrated that his bill keeps dying. 

“At least three-fourths of the House would vote for it if the dictator would let them vote on it,” said Thomas, referring to House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram). 

“They felt pressure from the Speaker. That’s who’s behind this,” Thomas said of the silent hand that keeps killing his bill. 

In a series of “Hail Mary” passes, Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens) has tried to attach the pickup seatbelt amendment to three different House bills Friday. The Senate agreed to attach the language to H.B. 258, which deals with learner’s permits. On one occasion this morning Cowsert agreed to withdraw his amendment, and the latest time it was ruled non-germane and therefore he had to take it back.

If the House agrees to the Senate’s changes to H.B. 258, then the seat belt requirement would go to the governor for his signature. 

If not, the pickup truck amendment could kill the learner’s permit bill.