ATLANTA – A bill authorizing Georgia’s attorney general to investigate and prosecute gang activity statewide cleared the state House of Representatives Monday.
House Bill 1134, which passed 101-56 and now moves to the Georgia Senate, follows Gov. Brian Kemp’s proposal to fund the creation of a new Gang Prosecution Unit in the attorney general’s office.
The fiscal 2023 state budget includes more than $1.3 million to add a dozen prosecutors to the attorney general’s staff to handle gang cases.
“Sixty percent of all violent crime committed in the state of Georgia is gang motivated,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Efstration, R-Dacula, told his House colleagues Monday. “Addressing the gang issue is addressing violent crime.”
House Democrats questioned whether beefing up the attorney general’s office is the best way to reduce gang activity.
Rep. William Boddie, D-East Point, said the money earmarked for the attorney general would be better spent locally.
“All crimes, including gang crimes, should be prosecuted locally by locally elected district attorneys,” he said.
But Efstration said the state level is the right place for targeting gangs, as was the case when Gov. Brian Kemp cracked down on human trafficking in Georgia.
“Gangs are multi-jurisdictional,” Efstration said. “Involvement from the state is not only appropriate but needed.”
This storyavailable through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is asking state law enforcement agencies to post officers at polling places, early voting locations and county election offices where absentee ballots are being handled.
“Georgia has become the center of the election universe, and this year we are going to have hard-fought campaigns that are watched around the country,” Raffensperger said during a news conference at the state Capitol.
“With that environment, it only makes sense to provide additional resources for election security so that everyone can have confidence in the results.”
Specifically, Raffensperger proposed adding two agents at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to handle election cases.
He also asked that law enforcement officers with the Georgia State Patrol and other state law enforcement agencies be assigned to polling places to protect voters and poll workers, ensure credentialed poll watchers have transparent access, and make sure all state laws are followed.
Raffensperger called on the governor, legislature and State Election Board to work with his office to fulfill his requests.
He said his agency also will work with the Peace Officers Standards Training Council to provide the necessary training to ensure state law enforcement officers are well-versed on election law.
This storyavailable through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Education is accepting applications for a new tax credit aimed at recruiting teachers for high-need subjects in underserved public schools.
The General Assembly passed legislation last year authorizing a state income-tax credit for teachers in 100 rural and/or low-performing schools. Qualifying teachers can receive a $3,000 credit each year for up to five consecutive school years if they teach certain subjects that students struggle to learn.
“Georgia teachers have an impressive record of recent academic success, as evidenced by our record graduation rate and K-12 scores,” said state Rep. Dave Belton, R-Buckhead, the bill’s chief sponsor.
“This program places a laser focus on our rural schools and those performing in the lowest 5%. More importantly, it works to restore the all-important profession of teaching.”
Teacher recruitment and retention are top priorities for the state Department of Education. With teachers in short supply, the agency also is supporting legislation this year that would allow schools to bring back retired teachers for high-need subjects.
“If we want our students to achieve, it is absolutely essential that we retain our hard-working educators,” state School Superintendent Richard Woods said.
“That means creating an environment where those educators can thrive, compensating them appropriately, and treating them as the competent professionals they are.”
This story available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia Chief Justice David Nahmias resigned Friday, three days after delivering his first State of the Judiciary address to a joint session of the General Assembly.
Nahmias will leave the bench at the end of the state Supreme Court’s next term in July after more than 12 years on the bench. During that time, he has written more than 470 opinions and joined more than 2,700 others.
“I believe that I have contributed to making the decisional law of Georgia clearer, more consistent, and more faithful to the text and original understanding of our state’s Constitution and statutes,” he wrote in a resignation letter hand-delivered to Gov. Brian Kemp.
Nahmias went on to explain that he is leaving to spend more time with his family. He has not decided the next step in his legal career.
Before joining the court, Nahmias spent almost 15 years as a federal prosecutor, including a stint as U.S. attorney in Atlanta.
He was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 2009 by then-Gov. Sonny Perdue, then was elected to the position in 2010 and reelected in 2016. He stepped up to chief justice last summer when Harold Melton left the court for the private sector.
Kemp will appoint a new justice.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – After years of unsuccessful efforts, gun rights advocates have never been closer to convincing the General Assembly to pass legislation letting Georgians carry concealed firearms without a permit.
“To build a safer, stronger Georgia, we must ensure every Georgian feels safe and secure in their communities,” Gov. Brian Kemp said during his State of the State address last month.
“I believe that starts with fully recognizing the constitutional rights granted to law-abiding Georgians in our founding documents, and I look forward to supporting constitutional carry legislation this session.”
The constitutional carry bill, sponsored by Sen. Jason Anavitarte, cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee Feb. 2 along party lines, with six Republican senators supporting it and three Democrats opposed. Its next stop will be the Senate Rules Committee, which is expected to send it to the floor of the chamber for a vote of the full Senate.
“Our organization is grateful for Senator Anavitarte and his unapologetic support of the Second Amendment,” Jerry Henry, executive director of the Georgia gun rights group GA2A, said in a statement issued after the committee vote. “We are one step closer to restoring the constitutional rights afforded to every law-abiding citizen in Georgia.”
Legislative Democrats oppose Senate Bill 319 not only as an individual proposal but as part of a broader election-year push by Republicans to pass a laundry list of bills aimed at appealing to GOP base voters.
In the case of the gun bill, Democrats say allowing Georgians to carry guns without a permit would increase violent crime. In 2020, at least 5,000 Georgians were denied a firearms permit because of a criminal history, a track record that would have gone undiscovered had no permit application been required.
“Why would we want to make it easier for those criminals to carry firearms?” Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, asked during the Judiciary Committee meeting.
Republicans counter that requiring permits to carry guns only affects law-abiding Georgians because criminals don’t bother to apply for permits.
“The folks who are burdened by this process are those who are obeying the law,” said Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia.
Anavitarte, R-Dallas, said Senate Bill 319 would not change the laws governing who can carry firearms in Georgia or where they can bring them. It only pertains to the permitting process, he said.
Anavitarte said 21 states have adopted constitutional carry laws, including Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, statistically among the states safest from violent crime.
“In most [states with constitutional carry], crime has decreased or remained flat,” he said. “The bill puts law-abiding gun owners on an even playing field with criminals.”
But opponents argue that kind of Wild West mentality where everyone is packing a weapon is not popular with law enforcement agencies.
Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant expressed concern about the proliferation of guns on the streets of Georgia’s capital city last month after a 6-month-old baby was shot.
“Guns intensify violent encounters … upping the stakes and worsening the outcome,” Parent said.
But gun rights advocates say the right to privacy from government intrusion is at stake.
“This is about freedom,” Aaron Dorr of Georgia Gun Owners told members of the Judiciary Committee. “It’s about [gun owners] not having to put their name in a database and be tracked by the government.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
