ATLANTA – A bill that seeks to fix the problems that have long plagued Georgia’s medical marijuana program is a step closer to passing the General Assembly.
The state Senate voted 53-3 in favor of legislation the House passed earlier this month, but with a series of substantive changes that will force it to return to the House before it can gain final passage.
The state commission that runs the program was created back in 2019. But it took the agency until last year to award the first two licenses to companies to grow marijuana in Georgia and convert the leafy crop to low-THC cannabis oil for patients suffering from a range of diseases.
“It took us years and year for the commission to get organized, get its rules together … and award licenses,” Senate Regulated Industries Committee Chairman Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, told his Senate colleagues Monday. “All that time, the frustration has boiled.”
The awarding of licenses hasn’t ended the difficulty in getting the program off the ground. Four additional licenses beyond the first two are being held up by lawsuits filed by nine companies that lost bids for those licenses and are challenging the procurement process as legally flawed.
As passed by the House, the bill sought to move the program forward by expanding the number of licenses from six to 15, which would have allowed the nine protesters to compete for licenses if they agreed to drop their lawsuits.
But the Senate committee balked at the idea of rewarding those companies for filing lawsuits when other losing bidders did not take their cases to court.
Senators became convinced that expanding the number of licenses isn’t necessary at this time because each of the two companies already licensed have given assurances they can supply enough cannabis oil to treat 300,000 patients, while the state’s registry of patients eligible for the drug numbers fewer than 30,000.
The Senate version of the bill includes triggers for increasing the number of licenses the state awards as the number of patients on the registry grows.
“It takes a little bit of the politics out of it and gets it into a common-sense bracket,” said Sen. Matt Brass, R-Newnan, who chaired a legislative study committee on medical cannabis in 2018.
The Senate also added a provision to the legislation calling on the Georgia Department of Agriculture to examine how the medical cannabis commission has handled its oversight duties and make recommendations by Dec. 1. The commission has absorbed the brunt of the criticism for the delays to the program.
Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, sponsored a bill banning TikTok on state-owned devices.
ATLANTA – The state Senate unanimously approved a bill Monday to codify a ban on the use of TikTok on state-owned devices.
“Hopefully, we will see the federal government and other states follow Georgia’s lead,” said Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, the bill’s sponsor.
Senate Bill 93 would codify into state law Gov. Brian Kemp’s directive last year prohibiting the use of TikTok, a highly popular video hosting service that runs user-submitted videos, and other similar applications on state-owned devices.
TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, Byte Dance, and there is concern that its ties to the Chinese government could expose sensitive state data to a foreign government.
“It only takes one computer and one device to make us vulnerable,” Anavitarte told a state House committee earlier this month. “The concern [is] …foreign adversaries having ownership [of social media platforms] and the security concerns on government devices.”
The bill would also apply to similar social media platforms that are directly or indirectly owned by foreign adversaries.
However, the bill provides exceptions for law-enforcement investigations, cybersecurity research and for other governmental purposes.
Georgia joins at least 25 other states that have banned TikTok on state-owned devices.
The federal government has already banned the application on government-owned devices. Congress held a lengthy hearing on the matter last week that featured an appearance by TikTok CEO Shou Chew. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced legislation that would ban the app entirely.
The Georgia bill 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 aimed at preparing Georgia for the growing number of electric vehicles gained final passage in the General Assembly Monday.
The state House of Representatives voted 175-1 in favor of the bill, which included significant changes from the version of the legislation the Senate passed three weeks ago. The Senate then agreed to the House changes a few hours later Monday in a 51-4 vote.
Senate Bill 146 changes the way motorists charging their EVs will pay for the electricity they buy from the current system, which is based on the length of time a customer uses an EV charger. Instead, they will pay by the kilowatt hour, a federal requirement Georgia must meet to be eligible for $135 million in federal funds earmarked by Congress to build a network of charging stations across the state.
The biggest change the House made to the legislation reduces the tax rate motorists will pay when they charge their EVs. The final version of the legislation imposes a tax of 2.84 cents per kilowatt hour, down from 3.47 cents, as lawmakers responded to complaints that Georgia was poised to charge the highest excise tax on EVs in the nation.
EV owners currently pay a flat annual registration fee of $216 on their electric vehicles, which will not change under Senate Bill 146. That has prompted complaints that charging a flat annual fee on top of an excise tax at charging stations would disincentivize the purchase of EVs, the wrong message to send when Gov. Brian Kemp has pledged to make Georgia a national leader in electric mobility.
The excise tax at charging stations is necessary to capture tax revenue from out-of-state motorists traveling through Georgia, Rep. Kasey Carpenter, R-Dalton, said Monday.
Some legislators also questioned the excise tax because many Georgia businesses that offer free charging don’t have the technology to monitor the amount of electricity a motorist is using and, thus, will have to stop providing charging stations.
“We want to make sure in-state employees who work at these companies aren’t affected by that,” said Sen. Jason Esteves, D-Atlanta.
But House Transportation Committee Chairman Rick Jasperse said those companies could still offer free charging if they choose to install the software to accommodate the tax and paid it themselves.
Jasperse, R-Jasper, has been adamant as the Senate bill and a similar House version have moved through the General Assembly this year that both the annual fee and excise tax are necessary to make sure the Georgia Department of Transportation still brings in enough revenue to keep pace with highway construction needs as motorists begin moving away from gasoline-powered vehicles.
“What we’re trying to do is make sure people driving a gasoline-powered car are paying the same rate as someone driving an electric vehicle, and vice versa,” added Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, the bill’s chief sponsor.
Jasperse said reducing the tax rate at EV charging stations will put Georgia in the “middle of the pack” among states rather than making the Peach State the highest taxed in the country.
The legislation now heads to Kemp’s desk for signing.
ATLANTA – Legislation providing private-school vouchers to Georgia students attending low-performing public schools is struggling to get through the General Assembly in the final days of this year’s session.
After a lengthy debate late Thursday, the state House of Representatives tabled a bill that would create $6,500 vouchers for Georgia students.
House Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones, R-Milton, moved to table Senate Bill 233, likely because it did not have the votes to pass. The House voted 95-70 in favor of the motion, with many Democrats voting against putting off a vote on the measure.
That leaves just two legislative days – Monday and Wednesday – to get the bill passed.
“This is a chance to say to those children, those families, ‘We are here to give you an opportunity, a choice to be able to go to an alternative, to be able to do something at home or through hybrid, to be able to allow you to extend the educational opportunity,’” said Rep. Todd Jones, R-South Forsyth, who sponsored the bill in the House.
“We can help the public school system and provide choice. We [have] got to be able to provide a system that allows the family to have an opportunity.”
The Georgia Student Finance Commission would oversee the program, and parents would be required to live in Georgia for one year before availing their children of the scholarships.
Parents could spend the money at private or virtual schools, or for home-schooling and other expenses such as tutoring. Up to $500 could go for transportation.
Students using the scholarship would need to take at least one assessment test each year to help ensure accountability.
House Democrats criticized the measure, arguing it would harm public schools.
“We should not be diverting resources to support private interests that undermine Georgia’s public schools,” said Rep. Miriam Paris, D-Macon.
Paris said private-school tuition is usually around $10,000 to $12,000 annually, far more than the $6,500 voucher the bill would provide.
“This is a gift to our most well-off Georgians,” she said. “School vouchers do not address the root causes of poor educational outcomes. … We need to fully and equally invest in our public schools.”
The state Senate earlier this month approved the “Georgia Promise Scholarship” bill 33-23 along party lines. If the House passes the voucher measure next week, the Senate would have to vote again to approve it because it has been amended by a House committee.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Students from the Georgia Youth Justice Coalition oppose the new law limiting care for transgender minors.
ATLANTA – A new Georgia law limiting medical care for transgender children is likely to face serious legal challenges, experts say.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill into law Thursday that prevents Georgians under 18 from obtaining gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy or surgery.
The Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has vowed to sue the state over the new law. The challenge is likely to succeed, law professors told Capitol Beat.
Federal courts have blocked, at least preliminarily, similar laws banning gender-affirming care in Arkansas and Alabama, said Katie Eyer, a professor of law at Rutgers University. Neither of those cases has reached a full conclusion yet, but preliminary injunctions indicate the courts are likely to find the laws invalid, Eyer said.
“Federal courts have been pretty protective of transgender rights recently,” added Scott Skinner-Thompson, a professor at the University of Colorado Law School. “[The laws] are targeting trans kids and their parents and therefore discriminating against them on the basis of sex.
“[It] interferes with the parents and children’s right to make medical decisions about their lives, which the courts have also recognized as a fundamental right under the due process clause of the Constitution.”
The Georgia law, which takes effect July 1, is likely to face similar arguments.
“We can and will file a lawsuit before then,” said Cory Isaacson, legal director for the ACLU of Georgia. “[The law] violates fundamental constitutional rights under both the state and federal constitutions, including the right to be protected from discrimination and the right to parental autonomy.”
Georgia joins a growing list of states that have banned such care. Since the start of this year, similar laws have been enacted in South Dakota, Mississippi, Utah and Tennessee.
Florida has taken a slightly different approach. The state’s Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine adopted a rule banning gender-affirming care that took effect this month.
In the Peach State, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr will be tasked with defending the new Georgia law when it goes to court.
“The Attorney General will do his job, which includes defending laws enacted by the General Assembly and signed by the governor,” Carr spokeswoman Kara Richardson said.
“States … have broad authority to regulate in areas fraught with medical uncertainties,” one such brief argued.
But medical experts disagree. Major medical societies such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) oppose the bans because they conflict with established protocols. The Georgia chapter of the AAP and many other medical professionals called on state legislators not to adopt the law.
In contrast, some supporters of such bans in Georgia wish the law had gone even further.
“We are disappointed that this bill remains one of the weakest in the country, and we are mindful of those who worked to undermine full protections for children,” said Cole Muzio, president of Frontline Policy Action, a Christian advocacy group.
The Alabama and Arkansas laws both banned puberty blockers, while the Georgia law does not.
Puberty blockers are typically used to stop puberty from starting in children with gender dysphoria, a recognized medical condition that results in mental distress because of a mismatch between the sex a person was born with and the person’s own sense of their gender.
Puberty blockers often need to be followed by hormone therapy to help transgender youth go through the puberty process, said Ren Massey, an Atlanta-area psychologist who specializes in treating gender dysphoria.
Massey and others are concerned that the ban on hormone therapy will prevent transgender youth from going through the normal stages of teenage development – psychologically, socially and physically.
“Medical professionals try to approximate a normal pubertal development,” often starting with low doses of hormones, he said.
The gender transition process is a lengthy one that includes numerous psychological and medical assessments, Massey said.
He’s concerned that now doctors and psychologists won’t have all the tools they need to help children and teenagers with gender dysphoria – and that these Georgians will suffer.
Massey expects to see an increase in self-harm, attempted suicides and completed suicides among transgender youths in Georgia.
“I’ve had a couple of families already move out of Georgia because of fear of these kinds of laws,” he said. “I am hopeful that lawsuits will lead to an injunction. … [Transgender youths] are in desperate need of support and help to cope with this additional stress.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
