ATLANTA – Legislation guaranteeing parents’ involvement in their children’s education was introduced into the General Assembly Wednesday on behalf of Gov. Brian Kemp.
Dubbed the Parents’ Bill of Rights, the legislation will be steered through the state House and Senate through separate versions sponsored by Sen. Clint Dixon, R-Buford, and Rep. Josh Bonner, R-Fayetteville, two of Kemp’s floor leaders.
The bills would add transparency provisions to state law guaranteeing parents the right to access instructional material.
Principals or superintendents who receive a request for information from a parent would have three working days to provide it. If the principal or superintendent is unable to share the information within that timeframe, they must provide the parent a written description of the material and a timeline for its delivery, not to exceed 30 days.
“At a time when our nation is more divided than ever, we’re leading the fight to ensure parents do not have any barriers which prevent them from playing an active role in their child’s education,” Kemp said.
“Students do best when their parents have a seat at the table and their voices are heard and respected. … At its core, [the bill] is about transparency, access, and promoting an engaged partnership between the parent and educators to the ultimate benefit of the student.”
The right of parents to be involved in their children’s education become a hot political issue last fall when Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe said in a debate, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
The gaffe helped propel Republican Glenn Youngkin to victory over McAuliffe, who had previously served a term as governor and was favored to win in what has become a Democratic state in recent years.
Kemp is backing separate legislation prohibiting Georgia schools from teaching “critical race theory,” which emphasizes the existence of systemic racism in America.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Two of six Republicans running for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District seat had raised more than $1 million through the end of last year.
Dr. Rich McCormick, an emergency room physician and former Marine helicopter pilot, raised more than $1.9 million through the end of December, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Jake Evans, former chairman of the Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission, raised more than $1.2 million during the same period.
The other four Republicans looking to succeed Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath in the 6th District lagged well behind McCormick and Evans in fundraising.
McCormick, who lost to Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, D-Lawrenceville, in the 7th Congressional District race in 2020, moved over to run in the 6th District after the General Assembly’s Republican majority redrew Georgia’s congressional map last fall to create a heavily Republican 6th District.
McBath responded to the new shape of her district by announcing she would run in the 7th District this year, pitting her against fellow Democrat Bourdeaux in a May primary.
Both McCormick and Evans have built part of their campaign war chests on personal loans. McCormick loaned his campaign $400,000, while Evans loaned $500,000 to his campaign.
Mallory Staples is running third in fundraising among Republicans competing in the 6th District. She had raised $572,267 through the end of last year, including a $250,000 loan.
Former state Rep. Meagan Hanson raised $416,281 through the end of December, but all her money came in contributions from others rather than loans.
GOP activist Suzi Voyles raised $96,652 through the end of last year, while small business owner Byron Gatewood raised $69,761.
The six will face off a May 24 Republican primary. If no one receives a majority of the vote, the top two vote-getters would square off in a runoff for the GOP nomination.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is appealing to congressional Republicans in his push to ban members of Congress from trading stocks.
Ossoff told reporters Wednesday he has spoken with a dozen Republican senators about signing onto a bill he introduced last month banning stock trading by members of Congress.
Eight House Republicans already are on board with the idea, he said.
“Members of Congress have extraordinary access to confidential information,” Ossoff said. “We shouldn’t be permitted to trade stocks.”
Ossoff’s legislation, cosponsored by Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., would require members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children to place their stock portfolios into a blind trust, something Ossoff did last year.
Violators of the ban would face fines up to the amount of their congressional salary.
The idea of banning the buying and selling of stocks by members of Congress began gaining momentum in 2020 after several lawmakers – including then-Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia – became the subject of press reports that they sold a large number of stock shares following a briefing by health officials about the coronavirus pandemic.
While denying any wrongdoing, Perdue restructured his retirement savings to eliminate individual stock trades, while Loeffler liquidated her family’s holdings in stocks in individual companies and moved those investments into exchange-traded funds and mutual funds.
Bipartisan legislation banning stock trading by members of Congress was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives last year by Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Chip Roy, R-Texas.
A third bill applying only to members of Congress but not their families was introduced last month by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
Indeed, the debate over banning stock trading is shaping up to be bipartisan. The idea not only enjoys bipartisan support but faces bipartisan opposition.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said last month she trusts existing reporting requirements governing members of Congress to prevent insider trading without the need for a ban.
Ossoff said he’s undaunted by opposition to his bill.
“Members of Congress should not be permitted to trade stocks while in office,” he said Wednesday. “If that ruffles some feathers, so be it.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Legislation that would let Georgians carry firearms without a permit cleared a state Senate committee Tuesday 6-3 on a party-line vote.
Majority Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee supported the bill as striking a blow for protection of Georgians’ Second Amendment right to bear arms. Democrats opposed it, arguing that loosening the state’s already lax gun laws would increase violent crime.
So-called “constitutional carry” bills introduced in the Republican-controlled General Assembly going back to the middle of the last decade have failed to gain traction. But with Democrats making headway in the last couple of election cycles, Gov. Brian Kemp and GOP legislative leaders are backing a permit-less gun bill in this election year as part of a conservative agenda aimed at Republican base voters.
Adding a government-imposed barrier to the free possession of firearms only punishes law-abiding citizens without affecting those who break the law, Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, the bill’s chief sponsor, told committee members Tuesday.
“The requirement to have a permit does not deter the criminal. They’re going to carry one anyway,” he said. “This bill puts law-abiding gun owners on an even playing field with criminals.”
But Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, said more guns in the hands of more people does not equate to less gun violence.
“Guns intensify violent encounters, upping the stakes and worsening the outcomes,” she said.
Twenty-one states have adopted constitutional carry laws, said Bethany Young of the National Association for Gun Rights. Tennessee and Texas passed the law last year, and Florida and Alabama are considering it, she said.
“Constitutional carry states consistently rank among the safest in the country,” she said.
But Fallon McClure, organizing and elections director at the Working Families Party, cited polls showing most Georgians oppose constitutional carry.
“Georgians want investments in their community that promote public safety,” she said.
The bill now heads to the Senate Rules Committee to schedule a floor vote.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The state of Georgia awarded almost $408 million in federal economic stimulus grants Tuesday to businesses, households, communities and nonprofits in 70 counties for broadband projects.
Including matching funds, the $738 million in total investment will pay for 49 projects in parts of rural Georgia most lacking in broadband connectivity, Gov. Brian Kemp announced during a ceremony at the state Capitol.
“In Georgia, we are getting very close to closing the gap between the served and unserved,” Kemp said. “We wanted to reach as many Georgians as possible.”
The governor appointed three bipartisan committees last June to sift through applications to share in Georgia’s $4.8 billion allocation of federal COVID-19 relief funds.
The committees focused separately on offsetting the economic impact of the pandemic, extending broadband connectivity and helping pay for needed water and sewer improvements.
Tuesday’s awards were the first selected by the Broadband Committee.
“Broadband has truly turned into another piece of infrastructure just as important as roads, water and sewer and electricity,” said Georgia House Appropriations Committee Chairman Terry England, R-Auburn, who participated in the committee selections.
“I’m thankful for the impact these grants will make.”
“These dollars will help us fill in holes where other funding is not available,” added Romanous Dotson, general manager of Swainsboro-based Altamaha Electric Membership Corp., which received a grant of almost $6 million.
The largest grant awarded Tuesday was $25.4 million to the One Sumter Economic Development Foundation. Central Georgia EMC and Flint EMC each received just more than $25 million.
Broadband Committee members were aided in their selection of project applicants by a broadband availability map rolled out by the state Department of Community Affairs in 2020 showing areas in most need of high-speed internet access.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
