ATLANTA – A bill letting some family members visit Georgians in hospitals or nursing homes during health emergencies like coronavirus cleared the state House of Representatives Monday after an emotional debate.
The legislation, which passed 113-57 and now moves to the Georgia Senate, was revised numerous times as it went through the chamber’s Human Relations and Aging Committee to address safety concerns expressed by hospital and nursing home administrators.
Under the scaled-back version of the measure the House passed, “legal representatives” designated to make decisions – which could include a family member – would be allowed to visit a hospital patient for up to one hour a day.
“Essential caregivers” – which also could include a relative – could visit nursing home residents for up to two hours daily.
From a practical standpoint, supporters said legal representatives or caregivers would pose no more of a health threat to the patients or residents they visit than the many facility staff who regularly come into their rooms.
“If we can have the myriad of staff coming and going into these facilities, why can’t that one legal representative come in for one hour a day … that person who can help them make decisions and understand what they’re going through?” said Rep. Jesse Petrea, R-Savannah, the Human Relations and Aging Committee’s chairman. “That’s what this bill does.”
House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, supported the bill from an emotional standpoint. In a rare appearance in the well of the House, Ralston described how a young husband called him last summer asking if the speaker could help him gain permission to visit his dying wife, who was in the hospital. Ralston was powerless to help.
“He said ‘goodbye’ on FaceTime,” Ralston told his House colleagues. “I hope you will send a message … to the people whose pleas and hurt and heartbreak we’re trying to touch in some way.”
But the bill’s opponents argued hospitals and nursing homes have imposed necessary visiting restrictions to keep residents and patients safe.
“This is a feel-good, tug-at-your-heartstrings bill,” said Rep. Debra Bazemore, D-Riverdale, the House’s deputy minority whip. “However, I trust the medical professionals when they warn that to keep our loved ones healthy and safe, we will have to endure some precautions.”
Rep. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, the bill’s chief sponsor, said he took the concerns of health-care professionals into account in working through the multiple revisions he made to strengthen the measure’s protections.
“We’ve taken all this feedback and boiled this down to the core essentials,” he said. “This bill gives the patient the right to have their next of kin at their bedside to make critical decisions.”
The Georgia Senate passed two measures Monday to bar top state and local elected officials from continuing to draw paychecks after being charged with a felony for abusing their office.
Legislation to clamp down on paying suspended state officials comes after it was recently revealed former state Insurance Commissioner Jim Beck has continued receiving his salary for nearly two years since being suspended following his indictment on felony fraud charges.
The two measures sponsored by state Sen. Larry Walker III, R-Perry, would prevent suspended officials awaiting trial on felony abuse-of-office charges like Beck from receiving pay.
One of his measures would put to voters whether to bar pay for statewide officials like Georgia’s governor, secretary of state and insurance commissioner. The other would apply the same ban on pay for county and city elected officials.
Speaking from the Senate floor on Monday, Walker called his proposal a “common-sense measure” that would keep accused felons from abusing the state’s highest elected offices while awaiting trial.
“As elected officials we have a duty to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ money,” Walker said. “In the business world, we would not pay two employees to do one job, and you wouldn’t pay someone convicted of a felony to do a job.”
Walker’s two measures passed in the Senate with only one opposing vote from Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens. They now head to the state House of Representatives.
State law currently allows suspended officials to keep their salaries if they have not yet been convicted on the felony indictments they face.
That scenario sparked anger after Beck’s replacement, current Insurance Commissioner John King, told lawmakers earlier this year his indicted predecessor has been taking home his $195,000 salary since his May 2019 suspension.
That’s on top of taxpayers also paying King’s salary to do the job from which Beck was suspended. In all, state officials told lawmakers Beck had received roughly $343,000 in compensation since his suspension.
Federal authorities allege Beck orchestrated a scheme to steal more than $2 million from the Georgia Underwriting Association, where he worked for five years before being elected insurance commissioner in 2018. He faces 38 charges including wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering.
Beck has denied the charges and pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. His trial is scheduled to begin next month.
The Georgia Senate convened to vote on several major bills on voting and elections on March 8, 2021. (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – A major overhaul of Georgia’s absentee voting system and other election changes brought by Republican lawmakers passed in the state Senate Monday by a party-line vote, sparking cries of voter suppression from Democratic leaders.
The wide-ranging bill, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan, R-Carrollton, was one of 12 measures focused on election changes up for debate on the Senate floor Monday, marking a swell of proposals to change voting procedures after the 2020 election cycle.
Dugan’s bill contains some of the most sweeping and controversial election changes pitched so far in the legislative session, including provisions to require a driver’s license or state identification card number to request an absentee ballot and do away with Georgians’ ability to vote by mail without giving a reason.
The bill passed by a 29-20 vote along party lines after more than three hours of debate. It now heads to the state House of Representatives.
Among about two dozen proposals, the bill also calls for prohibiting the use of mobile voting units unless a regular polling place is damaged, requiring outside groups to post disclaimers when sending voters absentee-ballot request forms and giving state elections officials power to assume control of poor-performing county election boards.
The proposals in Dugan’s bill overlap with several other Republican-backed measures that were set to be voted on Monday in the Senate, including a measure by Senate Rules Committee Chairman Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, to end no-excuse absentee voting that was ultimately shelved.
Two other controversial measures – both of which did not face votes Monday – would end the practice of automatically registering Georgians to vote when they obtain or renew their driver’s licenses and prohibit state and local elections officials from sending voters absentee-ballot application forms unless the voter requests one first.
Monday saw the Senate jam-packed on the last day for bills to cross out of one chamber and still be considered before the legislative session ends on March 31, with nearly one-fourth of the 45 bills dedicated to election changes.
Georgia Republican lawmakers argue the proposed changes are needed to shore up confidence in the state’s election system after the 2020 election cycle drew claims of voter fraud from former President Donald Trump, who lost the general election in Georgia to President Joe Biden by 11,779 votes. State election officials and federal courts have rejected those fraud claims.
Democratic leaders have blasted the GOP-brought bills, framing their opponents’ focus on election integrity as a smokescreen for wooing conservatives still loyal to Trump and to halt Democrats’ momentum after the party’s historic wins in the recent presidential and U.S. Senate contests.
Dugan, speaking from the floor on Monday, traced the intent of his bill’s more controversial proposals to the lack of confidence many Georgians have in the state’s process for verifying signatures on mail-in ballots, as well as to ease burdens for local election workers who were overwhelmed by huge numbers of absentee ballots in the 2020 elections.
He also argued many Georgians would still be eligible to vote by mail even by restricting absentee voting to physically disabled persons, voters required to be at work or those ages 65 and older.
“This is not preventing anyone from voting by mail-in absentee,” Dugan said. “All this is doing is laying the groundwork for relieving the stresses that we continue to see moving forward.”
Several Democrats shouted down Dugan’s bill from the floor, saying it would shrink opportunities for Georgians to vote by mail and at mobile polling places in predominantly Black and other minority communities in an attempt at voter suppression.
Sen. Harold Jones II, D-Augusta, noted there has been little proven voter fraud in Georgia and across the U.S., arguing far more voters would be disenfranchised by the proposals in Dugan’s bill than any instances of fraud.
“If our concern is just one vote could be lost, then doggone it, we ought to make sure we expand the franchise, not restrict it,” Jones said.
Others urged Republicans to abandon doubt in Georgia’s elections sowed by Trump allies that has battered electoral confidence among conservative voters, saying their perceptions have been fueled by the former president’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
“The foundation for every one of the elections bills introduced today is a lie,” said Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta. “This is weaponization of Trump’s lies and it is a willingness and embrace of damage to American democracy.”
The Senate’s Republican leadership dismissed arguments from Democrats that Dugan’s bill would suppress voters to the GOP’s advantage, sticking with the refrain that the measure’s aim is to bolster flagging confidence in Georgia’s election system among conservative voters.
“We want every person to vote,” said the Georgia Senate Republican Caucus. “We want elections to be secure. We are open to solutions, but Georgia will not be vulnerable to voter fraud.”
Several Republicans soured at the proposal to scrap no-excuse absentee voting including Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who recused himself from presiding over the Senate during Monday’s debate. Duncan has long opposed ending no-excuse absentee voting as has the House’s top lawmaker, Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge.
“The lieutenant governor has been clear from day one that the repeal of no-excuse absentee voting – a measure passed by Republicans in 2005 – is a non-starter,” said Duncan’s chief of staff, John Porter.
Some Republican lawmakers including Sens. John Albers, R-Roswell, Kay Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta and Brian Strickland, R-McDonough – all Republicans in contested districts – excused themselves from the vote. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, also excused himself.
Georgia senators could next take up a separate 66-page omnibus elections bill that passed in the House late last month, which contains many of the same proposals in Dugan’s bill but nixes the ban on no-excuse absentee voting.
That measure, sponsored by Rep. Barry Fleming, R-Harlem, includes dozens of changes to add stricter absentee voter ID rules, set a deadline for voters to request an absentee ballot at 11 days before an election and forbid people from giving food or drinks to voters waiting in line outside polling places.
Senate lawmakers also passed measures to require county elections officials to get monthly reports on dead residents to clean the voter rolls; allow poll watchers access to view ballot counting; require new security paper to track ballots for auditing purposes; curb changes for voters to receive more than one absentee-ballot application; and post signs 7 days ahead of an election if a polling place has moved.
ATLANTA – Owners of convenience stores and restaurants featuring coin-operated amusement machines (COAMs) would be able to sell gift cards to players under legislation the Georgia House of Representatives passed Monday.
The use of gift cards would go a long way toward cleaning up the industry by discouraging the illegal cash payouts that have long plagued COAMs, said Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, chairman of the House Regulated Industries Committee and House Bill 544’s chief sponsor.
Powell’s bill, which the House passed 110-54, also includes regulations aimed at ensuring fair competition among the companies that own the machines and the retail businesses that house them, prohibiting machine owners from offering inducements to retailers to house their machines and imposing late fees when license holders fail to renew their licenses.
“This tightens up all controls,” Powell said. “Anybody would have to be dumb as mud to do [cash] payouts.”
The Georgia Lottery Corp., which has overseen the COAM industry since 2013, is currently conducting a pilot project selling gift cards at 198 locations. Powell’s bill would expand the gift card program statewide.
Under existing law governing the industry, the companies that own the machines receive 45% of the proceeds, and the retailers where the machines are located get 45%. The lottery gets the remaining 10% and dedicates it to the HOPE Scholarships program.
COAMs are a big business in Georgia. Players of the games spent more than $3 billion in the Peach State during the last fiscal year. After players redeemed prizes valued at $2.1 billion, that left $900 million in net revenue for COAM license holders, the retailers and the state to divide.
Some House Democrats argued Monday the state’s 10% share of that pie – $90 million – isn’t enough to justify permitting COAMs in Georgia.
“Ten percent is grossly too low,” said Rep. Winfred Dukes, D-Albany. “If we’re going to give [COAM companies] an opportunity to come into this state, you’ve got to give me more money. … The children of our state are being short-changed.”
Rep. Stacey Evans, D-Atlanta, expressed hope the state’s share of COAM proceeds would be raised when the bill moves over to the state Senate.
“This industry … attracts things we don’t want in our community. It’s a very addictive form of gambling,” she said. “[But] we’re willing to accept the ills if we get a benefit for our citizens. … Let’s make sure we’re not giving away something for nothing.”
ATLANTA – The Georgia House of Representatives and state Senate are at loggerheads over how Georgians should tell time.
The House passed legislation last Friday calling for the Peach State to observe daylight saving time all year.
That followed action the Senate took the week before to put Georgia on standard time permanently.
The one thing both chambers agree on is that the state should stop switching from standard time to daylight every March and back again to standard each November.
“There are some really serious health and safety reasons for eliminating time change,” Rep. Wes Cantrell, R-Woodstock, told his House colleagues shortly before they voted 112-48 to put Georgia on daylight time all year. “Our bodies are meant to adjust slowly to differences in the amount of daylight as the Earth rotates.”
Cantrell cited studies showing an increase in pedestrians being hit by cars during the two weeks after standard time kicks in during the fall because it suddenly gets dark an hour earlier.
Immediately following “spring-forward” in March, heart attacks go up, medical errors increase and even prison sentences handed out by judges increase, all tied to sleep deprivation, he said.
“ ’Spring forward’ sounds a lot nicer than it is,” he said.
Cantrell argued that going on daylight time all year would be better than switching to standard time permanently.
“More sunlight in the evening is good for our health,” he said. “It’s good for the economy. People prefer to shop in the daylight.”
But Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, sponsor of the Senate bill to switch to standard time, said observing daylight time during the winter would lead to dark mornings. The sun wouldn’t come up until almost 8:30 a.m. in December, prompting concerns for the safety of children going to school, he said.
The other advantage to Watson’s bill is that, if it passes and is signed into law by the governor, it could take effect with the next switch to standard time this November.
The House bill, on the other hand, could only move Georgia to daylight time permanently if Congress passes legislation giving states that option.
Watson’s bill includes a provision to make the switch from standard to daylight if and when federal lawmakers allow it.
