The Georgia House is scheduled to vote Monday on new restrictions on lobbying. Speaker David Ralston is arguably the legislature's most powerful member, so it's virtually certain the House will approve his plan tightening rules about who must register as a lobbyist and banning those individuals from buying gifts for individual lawmakers.

Georgia drivers would be able to have an electronic version of their car insurance card under a proposal that has cleared the state House of Representatives. The plan from Monroe Republican Bruce Williamson now heads to the Senate.

Florida’s Governor has changed his mind about Medicaid expansion, which is part of the federal healthcare reform law, known as Obamacare. Governor Nathan Deal said Thursday he intends to stand firm on his decision not to expand Medicaid. Florida Governor Rick Scott is the latest Republican Governor to reverse his position on Medicaid expansion.

The way is again clear for Andrew Allen Cook to die Thursday evening. Lawyers for the man convicted of killing two Mercer University students in 1995 had won a temporary stay of execution Wednesday from the Georgia Court of Appeals. They argued that the state cannot legally use a powerful sedative for lethal injections without first getting a prescription from a doctor.

The Georgia House of Representatives has approved a proposal that calls for the state to license and regulate businesses that call themselves pain management clinics. House Bill 178 is a response to a flood of so-called 'pill mills' that are credited with feeding prescription drug abuse. The 150-15 vote sends the measure to the Senate, where similar legislation died last year.