A bill that would require nationwide, fingerprint-based criminal background checks on day care employees passed the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee and is waiting for the Rules Committee to send it on for a full vote.

House Bill 350, by state Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, has support from the state and the day care industry and would bring Georgia in line with what most states already mandate.

$500 for innocence at Civil Service Board

Any accused employee who’s found by the Bibb County Civil Service Board to have done nothing wrong can claw back up to $500 in attorney’s fees from the board under a new House Bill 470.

That’s if the employee hired an attorney. The new provision specifies that employees can represent themselves instead.

The bill, by state Rep. Nikki Randall, D-Macon, has bipartisan support from her Bibb colleagues, so it could appear in the House Rules Committee without any other committee approval.

-- Maggie Lee