Discarded bills litter the Georgia Senate floor after state lawmakers adjourned the 2021 legislative session “sine die” just after midnight on April 1, 2021. (Photo by Beau Evans)
The 2021 legislative session was a mixed bag for police supporters, gun owners and criminal-justice reformers in Georgia who saw several key bills stall as the clock ran out Wednesday night.
Republicans pushed through a controversial proposal to tightly limit budget cuts for local police agencies and scored a bipartisan win by largely repealing Georgia’s Civil War-era citizen’s arrest law.
But efforts to loosen rules on interstate gun-carry permits, prosecute violent protesters and create a driver education program on how to interact with police during traffic stops all fell short of final passage amid stern opposition from Democratic leaders.
“Really good news but really surprising,” said Sen. Jen Jordan, D-Atlanta, about the stalled measure on gun permits. “Just remember it’s not over. … This one can get passed in 2022.”
The gun measure, sponsored by Rep. Mandi Ballinger, R-Canton, would have allowed anyone licensed to carry weapons in other states to bring their guns legally into Georgia and have their concealed-carry permits recognized.
It came on the heels on two mass shootings earlier this month, including one in which eight people were killed at Atlanta-area massage parlors. The timing prompted Republicans to shelve the bill in the state House of Representatives.
“We’re a week out from two mass killings,” said Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge. “That heightened my sensitivity to that.”
Meanwhile, Ralston and top Republican leaders hailed passage of a bill by Rep. Houston Gaines, R-Athens, that blocks most city and county governments from slashing their police budgets by more than 5% over a 10-year span.
That measure, which is awaiting Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature after passing in the state legislature largely along party lines, came after Atlanta and Athens officials nearly shrunk their police budgets last year.
“While cities like Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Portland might feel comfortable slashing police budgets and compromising public safety, we won’t let that happen in Georgia,” Gaines said in a statement after the bill passed.
“Instead, we proudly stand with our men and women in blue – and call on every other state legislature to take action and ensure that the radical ‘defund the police’ movement doesn’t endanger more American lives.”
Passage of Gaines’ bill followed last summer’s nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice, which sparked calls for redirecting police funds toward other social services as well as moves by conservative leaders to shore up support for law enforcement.
But a pair of proposals favoring police officers that were filed partly in response to those protests failed to gain enough traction Wednesday to clear the General Assembly and reach the governor’s desk.
One measure, brought by Sen. Randy Robertson, R-Cataula, would have made it a felony for groups of seven people or more to cause property damage or violence and hold city and county governments liable in civil court for interfering in a police agency’s protest enforcement.
Another measure – also by Robertson, a retired Muscogee County police officer – would have required driver-training courses in Georgia to include instruction on how drivers should act when police officers pull them over during traffic stops.
Backers called it a common-sense proposal to improve interactions between police and citizens after years of high-profile deaths involving people being detained that have eroded public trust, such as the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis officer last May.
“This just recognizes the fact that we as a community have a responsibility to each other for our mutual safety when it comes to traffic stops and law enforcement interaction,” said Rep. Martin Momtahan, R-Dallas, who carried Robertson’s bill in the House.
Democrats and criminal-justice advocates argued it would put the burden on drivers to behave in certain ways with police while ignoring scenarios in which officers may abuse their authority during traffic stops.
“This is horribly one-sided, out of touch with reality and incredibly dangerous,” said Rep. Kimberly Alexander, D-Hiram. “When civilians do not know their own rights, it is more likely that their rights will be violated.”
Beyond all of those bills, the General Assembly also passed out crime and policing measures to toughen punishments for mail and package theft, relax hurdles for low-level offenders to end their probation early and require cash bail for additional crimes including burglary, staling and car break-ins.
Among the failed bills on criminal justice this session was a measure to create an oversight board able to punish and remove bad-actor district attorneys and solicitors general. The proposal hit a wall in the Senate amid criticism it could strip Georgia prosecutors of important tools to pick and choose cases.
Bills that failed this year could catch a second wind in 2022 for the next half of the two-year legislative term.
The General Assembly has passed a bill to hire a chiel labor officer over the objections of Georgia Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler.
ATLANTA – The General Assembly wants to hire a chief labor officer despite objections from Georgia Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler that the position represents an unnecessary encroachment on his jurisdiction.
The state Senate voted 29-20 Wednesday night to create the position of chief labor officer after months of complaints from jobless Georgians waiting for unemployment compensation checks. That’s the bare minimum of votes needed to pass a bill in the 56-member body.
The Georgia House of Representatives had passed the measure 142-22 earlier in the evening.
Under the bill, the chief labor officer’s job would be to keep lawmakers up to date on financial audits of the labor department.
Lawmakers have been bombarded throughout the coronavirus pandemic with complaints from constituents reporting delays in receiving benefit checks and the lack of response from the agency when they call to ask about their cases.
Legislators trying to run interference with the department for their constituents haven’t gotten satisfaction, House Majority Whip Trey Kelley said on the House floor Wednesday night.
“We’re just having trouble getting information on how claims are being processed,” said Kelley, R-Cedartown.
Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler spoke out against the bill as it went through the committee review process. He argued that hiring an untrained person lacking knowledge in how the department operates would do nothing to speed up the processing of an unprecedented deluge of claims resulting from the pandemic.
The bill also creates uncertainty over who would be in charge of the agency, a statewide elected official put there by Georgia voters or an appointee, Butler said.
A late change added to the bill would require the labor commissioner to submit periodic reports to the General Assembly on the disposition of unemployment claims.
“We’re going to hold them accountable to make sure they’re progressing, so we can give [legislators] information they can give to their constituents,” said Rep. Tom Kirby, R-Loganville, a member of the House Industry and Labor Committee.
The fiscal 2022 state budget the General Assembly passed Wednesday night includes $198,916 to fund the new position.
The job is meant to be temporary, expiring at the end of next year unless it’s renewed by the legislature.
The bill now heads to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature.
ATLANTA – Georgia lawmakers left the Gold Dome early Thursday after passing legislation loaded with business tax breaks and firing a shot across the bow of Delta Air Lines for criticizing a controversial election law overhaul.
The General Assembly sent to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk a bill that would provide new or expanded tax credits to medical equipment and pharmaceutical manufacturers, performing arts venues, companies that repair expensive yachts and short-line railroads.
Other beneficiaries of the package would include developers of “mega-site” corporate projects and the aerospace industry, a tax credit aimed primarily at Marietta’s Lockheed plant.
Supporters pitched the legislation as a way to help businesses hurt by the economic impact of COVID-19.
However, a joint House-Senate conference committee that negotiated the final version of the bill scrapped a controversial grant program aimed at rural Georgia. The state approved an initial round of funding for the program known as CAPCO early in the last decade, but critics argued its impact on creating jobs has never been evaluated in Georgia or proven effective elsewhere.
Proving they can both give and take away in the same bill, the conference committee also included legislation introduced early in this year’s session by Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, requiring the state to conduct periodic audits of tax credit initiatives.
The measure calls for independent auditors to review up to five tax credit programs each year to determine whether their economic impact justifies the loss of state tax revenue.
“This is a large bill,” Albers said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “It brings checks and balances. It has us measure the return on investment, and it keeps Georgia the No.-1 place to do business.”
Meanwhile, leaders in the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives took aim at Atlanta-based Delta in separate tax legislation after CEO Ed Bastian released a statement on Wednesday arguing a GOP-backed elections reform bill lawmakers passed last week will it make it harder for Georgians to vote, particularly in minority neighborhoods.
“Since the bill’s inception, Delta joined other major Atlanta corporations to work closely with elected officials from both parties,” Bastian wrote in an open letter to Delta employees. “We had some success in eliminating the most suppressive tactics that some had proposed. However … the final bill is unacceptable and does not match Delta’s values.”
House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, took offense at Bastian’s statement.
“Some of the language reflected a complete lack of understanding of the bill,” Ralston said shortly after midnight Thursday after the House had approved legislation to take away a state sales tax exemption on jet fuel that primarily benefits Delta. “I was disappointed in that.”
However, the General Assembly’s bark proved worse than its bite when the state Senate declined to consider the removal of the tax break before adjourning the 2021 session, ending the threat.
The Georgia Capitol at night (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – The General Assembly signed off on Gov. Brian Kemp’s $27.2 billion fiscal 2022 state budget Wednesday night during the waning hours of this year’s legislative session.
The Georgia Senate passed the budget unanimously early in the evening. The state House of Representatives followed suit 148-21 several hours later, less than one hour before lawmakers adjourned after 40 days under the Gold Dome.
While the state is expecting to receive $4.6 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds through President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery also credited Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to reopen Georgia’s pandemic-buffeted economy earlier than many states for easing the budget process.
House and Senate budget writers were able to restore a large portion of the 10% across-the-board spending cuts they were forced to make last year at the height of the pandemic.
“There is no chance this budget would have run this smoothly had Governor Kemp not reopened Georgia when he did,” said Tillery, R-Vidalia.
Chief among the restored funds in the new budget, which takes effect July 1, is $567.5 million in “austerity” cuts to Georgia public schools the General Assembly imposed last year.
The spending plans also adds about $40 million more for mental health services than Kemp recommended in the budget he submitted to lawmakers in January.
Another $10 million would be used to expand the deployment of rural broadband in Georgia. Those funds are in addition to $20 million included in the fiscal 2021 mid-year budget the governor signed in February.
Lawmakers provided pay raises to help retain employees in state agencies that have suffered from high turnover, including the departments of Agriculture, Banking and Finance, Driver Services, Corrections and Juvenile Justice.
The joint House-Senate conference committee that negotiated the final version of the budget allocated $36.7 million in bond funding to a new convocation center at Georgia Southern University that will be named in honor of the late state Sen. Jack Hill R-Reidsville, and his late wife Ruth Ann. Both died within weeks of each other last spring.
Lawmakers also approved $21 million in bonds for a conference center at Lake Lanier Island, $5 million to renovate the Christenberry Field House at Augusta University and $3.5 million to design the planned Gateway Building on the campus of Georgia Gwinnett College.
Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, questioned why the budget still includes $382 million in austerity cuts to K-12 education.
Tillery said the $6.9 billion Georgia schools expect to get from the American Rescue Plan will more than make up that shortfall.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Terry England, R-Auburn, said the influx of federal funding is timely. But he left his House colleagues with a warning.
“Federal funds are never permanent,” he said.
The budget now goes to Kemp’s desk for his signature.
