ATLANTA – With legislation aimed at legalizing pari-mutuel betting on horse racing stuck in a Georgia Senate committee, a House panel aired a new version of the measure Tuesday.
Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, pitched a constitutional amendment asking voters to decide whether to legalize the sport as a way to reenergize rural Georgia’s struggling economy.
“It will create a new industry in Georgia of horse breeders and horse sales that could have over $1 billion [a year] in economic impact in our state,” Stephens told members of the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee, which he chairs.
Stephens held out Ocala, Fla., as an example, home to 37,000 racehorses, by far the largest breeding and training ground for horseracing in the nation. The industry generates an annual economic impact of $1.5 billion in Marion County, where Ocala is located, he said.
Stephens said horse breeding could become a safety net for tree farmers who lost their pecan crops to Hurricane Michael in 2018. It will take 20 years to grow new pecan trees to replace those lost to the storm, he said.
“This would allow those farmers to get into another industry,” he said.
To broaden support for the constitutional amendment in the General Assembly, the measure would dedicate 10% of the net proceeds from pari-mutuel betting on horse racing to health care. Most previous horse racing legislation has proposed putting the proceeds exclusively toward Georgia’s lottery-funded HOPE Scholarships and pre-kindergarten programs.
Stephens said the portion of the proceeds going to health care could be steered to rural communities, where some cash-strapped hospitals have been forced to close in recent years.
But Rep. Winfred Dukes, D-Albany, complained that the language in the measure isn’t specific enough.
“If it’s not specifically outlined, my concern is that the money would go everywhere,” he said.
Stephens said another part of the proceeds would be used to create “an opportunity fund” that would provide need-based scholarships and pre-k assistance to Georgia families with annual incomes below $58,000. Currently, HOPE scholarships are based on merit rather than need.
If the constitutional amendment passes the committee, it would require two-thirds majorities of the House and Senate to get it through the General Assembly and onto next year’s statewide ballot.
That promises to be a difficult hill to climb considering many lawmakers oppose legalized gambling both on moral grounds and because of its tendency to enable addictive gamblers.
“We can put a lot of lipstick on this pig,” said Rep. Randy Nix, R-LaGrange, referring to the promises of rural economic development and funding for education and health care. “But at the end of the day, we’re going to expand gambling big time in the state of Georgia.”
After several committee members objected they hadn’t had a chance to review the new proposal, Stephens agreed to limit Tuesday’s meeting to a hearing only. The panel is expected to vote on it Thursday.
Legislation allowing visits from caregivers and legal representatives including family members of Georgians in hospitals or nursing homes during emergencies like COVID-19 advanced in the state House of Representatives on Monday.
The bill is a scaled-back version of a measure brought by Rep. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, that initially required hospitals and nursing homes to give broad in-person access for patients and residents to visit with family members.
After some pushback last month, Setzler tailored his bill to allow only legal representatives that can include next of kin who are designated to make decisions by long-term hospital patients to visit up to an hour a day during statewide emergencies.
It would also let caregivers – which could include a family member – to visit with loved ones in nursing homes for two hours a day during pandemic-scale emergencies. Caregivers and legal representatives would have to follow all safety protocols set by the hospital or nursing home.
Setzler’s bill originally proposed allowing visits from family members without the requirement for them to be designated caregivers or legal representatives, a broader rule for in-person visits than his overhauled measure now seeks.
“The core of this bill is about patient representation,” Setzler said at a House Human Relations and Aging Committee hearing on Monday.
The committee approved the measure and sent it to the full House.
Setzler’s bill has faced some opposition from hospital and nursing home industry representatives who worry an influx of visitors could weaken safety protocols and might run afoul of federal rules on allowing visitors during emergencies.
Currently, Georgia allows visitation at nursing homes and long-term care facilities based on levels of COVID-19 positivity rates in a given community.
Despite its good intentions to connect patients with loved ones during tough times, the bill could create legal turmoil over visitors defying safety protocols and potentially hand too much power to designated representatives, said Anna Adams, senior vice president of government relations for the Georgia Hospital Association.
“This bill allows the patient representative to choose the essential visitor without the patient’s consent,” Adams said. “That is incredibly concerning.”
Democrats on the committee also opposed the bill, calling it too vague to ensure confidence visitors could enter hospitals and nursing homes during emergency situations without causing major problems.
“The vagueness of ‘reasonable standard,’ that doesn’t work for me,” said Rep. Donna McCleod, D-Lawrenceville. “If it’s not clear, we are going to cause chaos.”
Republicans, who hold a majority on the committee, pressed for passage of Setzler’s bill to make sure ailing loved ones could spend perhaps their final days in contact with their families.
“I just want to know how long we can wait for loved ones to see their family members,” said Rep. Charlice Byrd, R-Woodstock. “They have deteriorated, they have passed and I think we need to make the decision to get on with this. … This is seriously ridiculous for us not to pass this bill.”
Setzler said he agreed to the changes despite his wish and those of many supporters to broaden access to loved ones in hospitals or nursing-home care, with the aim of avoiding the grief of family members only being able to communicate by phone or live video.
“Is one hour a day for visiting adequate?” Setzler said last month during a hearing on the bill. “I struggle with that. It’s my personal opinion that it’s inadequate. But zero [hours] is unacceptable.”
Setzler has also said the bill would likely apply to future pandemics and emergencies rather than COVID-19, given it would not take effect until July, and the bulk of Georgians are predicted to have received vaccines by then.
Nearly 820,000 people had tested positive for COVID-19 in Georgia as of Thursday afternoon, with roughly 189,000 more reported positive antigen tests indicating likely positive results. The virus has killed 15,148 Georgians.
This story has been updated to clarify who can be designated as a legal representative.
State Rep. Barry Fleming, R-Harlem, pitches his bill proposing broad changes to Georgia’s voting system, particularly for absentee voting, on March 1, 2021. (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – Republican state lawmakers took a major step Monday toward overhauling voting by mail and other election procedures in Georgia with passage of an omnibus bill by the state House of Representatives along party lines.
Sponsored by Rep. Barry Fleming, R-Harlem, the 66-page bill contains more than two dozen provisions including proposals to impose stricter identification requirements on absentee voters, a change the state Senate approved last week.
Fleming’s bill would scrap Georgia’s current signature-verification process for absentee ballots and force voters seeking mail-in ballots to provide the number on their driver’s license or state identification card, or photocopies of other valid ID forms.
Democratic lawmakers and voting-rights groups have condemned the tightened absentee voter ID rule, likening it to an attempt at voter suppression seeking to blunt Democrats’ momentum after the party flipped the presidency and both of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats in the 2020 elections.
Republicans have argued the change is needed to shore up confidence in the state’s election system, which drew claims of fraud from former President Donald Trump after his loss to now-President Joe Biden by 11,779 votes in Georgia. Election officials and federal courts rejected all claims of widespread fraud.
Beyond absentee voting, Fleming’s bill would tweak rules for early voting on Sunday, instead requiring counties to pick either one Saturday or one Sunday ahead of Election Day for their precincts to be open.
It would also require absentee-ballot drop boxes to be located inside polling places or local elections officials during early voting, and scrap Georgia’s free-for-all “jungle primary” format for special elections that places all candidates on the same ballot.
Fleming chairs the House Special Committee on Election Integrity, where his bill passed last week. He said the measure aims to both boost voter confidence in Georgia’s elections and ease burdens on local elections officials who were taxed with tallying millions of mail-in ballots during the recent elections.
“The way we begin to restore confidence in our voting system is by passing this bill,” Fleming said from the House floor. “There are many common-sense measures here to begin that process.”
State Rep. Calvin Smyre, D-Columbus, speaks from the House floor to oppose Republican-led voting changes on March 1, 2021. (Photo by Beau Evans)
Democrats scoffed at that notion Monday, calling it a smokescreen for Republican moves in Georgia to upend the elections playing field after last year’s historic statewide wins by Democrats.
“This is a step in the wrong direction,” said Rep. Calvin Smyre, D-Columbus, the General Assembly’s longest-serving member. “I strongly believe it’s time that we encourage every citizen to participate in the purest sense of citizenship, and that’s voting.”
Democrats also warned passing Fleming’s bill could prompt costly lawsuits and cost counties millions of dollars to put in place changes like new security paper for ballots. They also argued the bill would limit opportunities for counties to secure grant funding for elections.
“Republicans in the Georgia General Assembly are trying to change the rules of the election here in Georgia – rules that you wrote – because you were handed defeat [in recent elections],” said Rep. Kimberly Alexander, D-Hiram.
“And you know your only chance at winning future elections is to prevent eligible Georgians from casting their ballots and having their voices heard.”
Republicans doubled down in touting Fleming’s bill Monday, framing it as a way to clean up confusion among voters and election workers and bolster faith in the integrity of voting by mail by tossing Georgia’s controversial signature-match process.
“Everybody’s got a right to vote and that subjective signature match is a tough one,” said state Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell. “This is an objective way of verifying who someone is.”
Republicans also highlighted less-testy aspects of the bill such as revising precinct boundaries to curb long lines, blocking outside groups from sending absentee-ballot applications to cut down confusing mailers sent to voters and boosting training for poll watchers.
“Our goals in regulating elections should be to assure voting is fair, accessible, understandable, convenient and trustworthy,” said House Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones, R-Milton.
The bill passed by a 97-72 vote along party lines and now heads to the state Senate, where it will join a host of other elections-focused measures now winding through the General Assembly.
While Fleming’s bill is the most wide-ranging measure on election changes, it is similar to a separate omnibus bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan, R-Carrollton.
Senators advanced other contentious measures last week that have split Republicans, including a bill sponsored by Senate Rules Committee Chairman Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, that would end Georgians’ ability to vote by mail for any reason and limit absentee voting to elderly, disabled and overseas voters.
That measure, which Democrats have blasted as an attack on voter access, has drawn opposition from key state Republican leaders including Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
However, those top Republican leaders have also supported proposals such as Fleming’s bill to tighten absentee voter ID laws, all but guaranteeing passage later this month in the Republican-controlled state legislature.
Other Republican-brought bills on election changes currently in play include measures to end automatic voter registration when Georgians obtain or renew their driver’s licenses, empower state elections officials to assume temporary control over local poor-performing elections boards and let county officials start processing absentee ballots a week before Election Day.
Protesters oppose state Rep. Barry Fleming’s, R-Harlem, bill to clamp down on absentee voting and other elections changes outside the state Capitol on March 1, 2021. (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – The late Gov. Zell Miller will be honored with a monument on the grounds of the Georgia Capitol under legislation the state Senate passed unanimously Monday.
“This is about the man who gave us HOPE,” Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, the bill’s chief sponsor, told his Senate colleagues during a brief presentation. “He passed the HOPE Scholarship that has sent thousands and thousands of people to get higher education who never could have otherwise.”
Miller, a Democrat who served both as Georgia’s governor and as a U.S. senator, died in 2018 at age 86 after battling Parkinson’s disease.
During two terms as governor in the 1990s, Miller was the driving force behind the creation of the popular HOPE Scholarship program, funded through the Georgia Lottery.
Before that, the native of Young Harris served four terms as lieutenant governor.
After leaving the Governor’s Mansion, he was appointed to the Senate in 2000 by then-Gov. Roy Barnes after the sudden death of Republican Sen. Paul Coverdell.
Miller decided not to seek re-election in 2004 after a public falling out with the Democratic Party, which he criticized with his book “A National Party No More.”
Under Senate Bill 140, the monument’s design will be chosen by a six-member committee.
Two members will be appointed by the speaker of the Georgia House and two will be appointed by the lieutenant governor. The final two members – one from the House and one from the Senate – will be chosen by the governor.
The bill also stipulates that funding for the monument will be raised from private donations. The measure now moves to the House.
ATLANTA – Legislation that would make significant changes to regulations governing Georgia’s coin-operated amusement machines (COAM) got some pushback Monday from lobbyists representing the industry.
Senate Bill 217 doesn’t strike the proper balance between the owners of the machines and owners of the convenience stores where the machines are located, Les Schneider, representing the Georgia Amusement & Music Operators Association, told members of the Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities Committee.
Under the bill, any contract between a machine owner licensed by the Georgia Lottery Corp. and a new COAM location would run for one year. After that, contracts could be renewed only for one year or seven years.
“This is a three-legged stool,” Schneider said, referring to the lottery, machine owners and location owners. “There can not be a perception that locations are chattels to master license holders.”
The bill stems from a Senate study committee that held several hearings last summer and fall.
Among other things, the panel endorsed the possibility of awarding gift cards to game winners as a way to discourage cash prizes, which are illegal under state law. Gift cards would be redeemable for gasoline and merchandise sold at the convenience store.
The gift card provision is part of a COAM bill the House Regulated Industries Committee approved last week. But the gift card is absent from the Senate measure.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-Macon, the Senate bill’s chief sponsor, said the lottery corporation is currently conducting a pilot program using gift cards.
“We need to wait and see what we learn from the work they’re doing,” he said.
Josh Belinfante, representing COAM machine owner Ultra Group, also complained about the provision in Kennedy’s bill locking in contracts between machine owners and location owners to one year with the seven-year option. He said he supports the House bill, which offers more flexible language governing contracts.
The committee did not vote on the Senate bill Monday. In fact, Chairman Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, suggested it might be better to wait for the House bill to clear that chamber and make its way over to the Senate.
“We’ve got an unfinished product right now, not ready for action,” he said.
Cowsert said the Senate might not have time to “perfect” Kennedy’s bill before Crossover Day, the deadline for bills to pass a legislative chamber in order to be considered further. Crossover Day is set for next Monday.
