ATLANTA – The General Assembly gave final passage in the last hour of this year’s session to legislation restricting how racism can be taught in Georgia schools, with an 11th-hour provision aimed at transgender athletes.
House Bill 1084, introduced on behalf of Gov. Brian Kemp, cleared the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives 99-69 Monday night, then passed the Georgia Senate 32-21 along party lines during the rush of the session’s waning minutes without Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller even disclosing to his colleagues the addition of the transgender piece to the underlying measure.
The so-called “divisive concepts” bill, which Kemp is expected to sign, prohibits teaching about U.S. history in a way that might make any student feel guilty or that they are superior or inferior to anyone else because of their race.
Republican supporters argued during committee and floor debates throughout the session that nothing in the bill forbids the teaching of slavery or the civil rights movement in America.
Democrats countered that the potential penalties included in the bill would make teachers reluctant to offer students the full reality of U.S. history, both good and bad. The Democratic Party of Georgia released a statement accusing the governor of pushing a politically motivated “anti-education” agenda.
“Kemp’s plan to attack teachers and ban kids from learning a full and honest history of our nation is entirely driven by politics,” spokesman Max Flugrath said. “Faced with a brutal primary, he’s embracing extreme policies and big government censorship in Georgia classrooms to support his re-election campaign.”
The transgender component of the bill was originally introduced as a standalone bill the Senate passed in February to prohibit transgender students born male from competing in most girls’ sports. Supporters said students who went through puberty as males would have unfair advantages in speed and strength over female participants.
Opponents said such a policy would only further stigmatize transgender students, who already feel isolated and suffer a much higher suicide rate than other students.
When the bill failed to gain traction in the House, supporters agreed to what was held out as a compromise giving jurisdiction over policies governing participation of transgender athletes in school sports to a newly created oversight committee reporting to the Georgia High School Association (GHSA).
“We’re basically adopting the NCAA model, kicking it over to the GHSA,” said House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge. “That’s where the determination needs to be made.”
Under the bill, any policy the GHSA adopts governing transgender males participating in girls’ sports would apply to all member public high schools. Any school that does not comply would lose its state education funding.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Voters wait in line at a precinct in Cobb County (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – Republicans in the General Assembly were forced to settle for a much narrower election reform bill during the last hour of this year’s legislative session.
But GOP lawmakers got the centerpiece of their bill – giving the Georgia Bureau of Investigation the authority to investigate complaints of election fraud – as an 11th-hour rider on a different bill mostly related to the transmission of criminal case data.
Senate Bill 441 got through the state House of Representatives 98-69 along party lines, then passed the Georgia Senate 33-22 in another party-line vote.
The original election reform measure introduced in the House this year, the second year in a row Republicans pushed a major election bill through the General Assembly, included provisions aimed at ensuring ballot security through tighter controls on the transfer and custody of ballots. It also would have prohibited local elections offices from receiving private grants to help carry out their duties without going through the State Election Board.
But the Senate balked at the requirements after local elections officials from across the state descended on the Capitol to complain the bill would be burdensome for offices already suffering from a high turnover of election workers.
The Senate Ethics Committee virtually gutted the bill, leaving only a provision requiring employers to give their workers up to two hours off to cast their ballots during the early voting period prior to an election.
House Republicans didn’t give up and came back on the morning of the session’s last day with a proposal keeping many of the bill’s original provisions, including giving the GBI original jurisdiction to examine allegations of election fraud, so the agency wouldn’t have to wait to be called into a case by elections officials or the attorney general’s office.
When that effort fizzled later in the day, GOP lawmakers agreed to whittle down the bill to just the GBI provision. But Democrats warned giving the GBI – derided by the bill’s opponents as “election police” – the power to issue subpoenas in election-fraud investigations would set a dangerous precedent.
“You’re giving the GBI the power … to grab ballots while they’re being counted,” said Rep. David Dreyer, D-Atlanta. “We are authorizing the executive branch of the state of Georgia to mess with elections.”
Rep. Bee Nguyen, D-Atlanta, who is running for secretary of state, said Republicans are still rehashing the 2020 elections and the disproven allegations of fraud in Georgia by former President Donald Trump.
“Stop passing legislation predicated on the Big Lie,” she said.
But House Speaker David Ralston said the GBI with its resources is the appropriate agency to handle election complaints.
“GBI jurisdiction was something I pushed for,” he said. “It’s not a partisan measure or sour grapes over 2020.”
Senate Bill 441 now moves to the desk of Gov. Brian Kemp, who is expected to sign it.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia lawmakers approved a tax cut Monday night during the final hour of this year’s General Assembly session.
After the state House of Representatives voted 167-2 to support a compromise version of the legislation reached by a joint conference committee, the state Senate followed by a margin of 41-13.
The bill includes a phased-in rollback of Georgia’s income tax rate from 5.49% to 4.99% over six years, starting with the 2024 tax year. The current tax rate is 5.75%,
Democrats had blasted the original version of the bill proposed by the legislature’s Republican majority, which would have dropped the tax rate to a flat 5.25% immediately upon taking effect, arguing some Georgians actually would end up paying higher state taxes.
“We haven’t been able to find anyone who pays more,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, said of the compromise bill. “Everybody pays zero [more in taxes] or less under this plan.”
The bill also includes a trigger mechanism to make sure tax cuts don’t continue if the economy falters. Taxes would not be reduced in any year where state revenues don’t grow by at least 3% or the year’s net revenue collections are not higher than those of each of the previous five fiscal years.
“If the triggers aren’t met, it will pause a year,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome.
The legislation also increases taxpayers’ personal exemptions. Single filers will get an exemption of $12,000. Exemptions for married couples filing jointly will increase every two years, from $18,500 in 2024 to $24,000 in 2030.
Hufstetler said the tax cut will cost the state $455 million during its first year and $1 billion during the second year.
Danny Kanso, senior tax analyst with the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, said it will end up costing more than either version of the bill the House and Senate passed earlier in the session.
“Lawmakers are skewing the tax code so that the wealthy get massive tax cuts and would not have to pay their fair share, but only paying lip service to support for low- and middle-income families,” he said.
Kanso noted the final version of the bill does not include a state-level Earned Income Tax Credit, which had been included in the Senate version.
But Blackmon said the tax cut has something for all taxpayers.
“This bill puts $1 billion back in the pockets of hardworking Georgians,” he said.
The legislation now goes to Gov. Brian Kemp, who is expected to sign it.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
The Georgia Capitol building in Atlanta (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – The General Assembly gave final passage Monday night to a $30.2 billion state budget that provides pay raises to state employees and Georgia teachers.
During the final hour of this year’s legislative session, the Georgia House of Representative passed the fiscal 2023 spending plan 160-5. The state Senate had passed the budget unanimously earlier in the day.
The budget, which takes effect July 1, will increase salaries for most state employees by $5,000 and gives state retirees their first cost-of-living adjustment in 14 years. Targeted raises will go to correctional officers in the adult and juveniles prison systems to try to stem huge turnover rates.
Teachers, who saw a $3,000 raise in 2019, will get another $2,000, fulfilling a pledge Gov. Brian Kemp made on the campaign trail four years ago to raise teacher pay by $5,000.
With state coffers flush with robust tax revenues coming out of the pandemic, the budget increases spending by 10.8% over the budget the General Assembly adopted last spring. It includes an $11.8 billion investment in K-12 education, the largest in the state’s history.
The spending plan also eliminates the institutional fees the University System of Georgia began charging students during the Great Recession and increases Medicaid coverage for low-income mothers in Georgia to a full year following the birth of their children, up from the current six months.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery injected a word of warning when he presented the budget on the Senate floor. While strong state tax collections have given lawmakers leeway for the additional spending, there are signs of trouble for the economy, said Tillery, R-Vidalia.
“The storm clouds are on the horizon,” he said. “We need to know that and be honest with our constituents as we approach the next 12 months.”
The budget now heads to Kemp’s desk for his signature.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Legislation making it harder for property owners to file nuisance lawsuits against farms gained final passage in the General Assembly Monday.
On the last day of this year’s legislative session, the Georgia House of Representatives passed the Freedom to Farm Act 106-60, agreeing to a substitute version of the bill the state Senate passed last week.
House Bill 1150 will give neighbors bothered by bad smells, dust or noise emanating from a farm two years to file a nuisance suit, up from just one year under the original House bill. After that, any farm operating legally will be protected.
As the bill went through the General Assembly, supporters argued farmers need the certainty legal protection against nuisance suits would give before they invest the huge sums needed to operate a farm.
Opponents said a current state law enacted during the 1980s gives farmers more legal protection than the new legislation.
They said the current law protects existing property owners when new neighbors move in, whether they’re homeowners or other agricultural operations. On the other hand, House Bill 1150 gives existing farmers only get two years of protection from nuisances that might arise from a new farm operation.
The final version of the bill also includes a carve-out for confined animal-feeding operations (CAFOs) including large hog farms and chicken operations. Under the bill, if any existing farm adds a CAFO, the two-year statute of limitations for nuisance lawsuits is restarted.
The legislation now moves to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature,
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
