ATHENS – Gov. Brian Kemp pledged Tuesday to push for tort reform during the next session of the General Assembly this winter.
“The laws on our books make it too easy to bring frivolous lawsuits against Georgia business owners, which drive up the price of insurance and stop new, good-paying jobs from ever coming to communities that need them the most,” Kemp told an audience of the state’s political and business leaders at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s annual Congressional Luncheon, held this year at Athens’ Classic Centre.
“Our business environment should help businesses start, operate, and grow – not incentivize higher prices, smaller payrolls, and more red tape.”
Advocates of tort reform – including insurance companies, physician groups, and the Georgia Chamber – have backed Republican-sponsored legislation for years aimed at what they say are “runaway” jury verdicts, but have little to show for it.
Opponents, including the trial lawyers lobby and legislative Democrats, say the various bills that have been introduced have favored insurers and would have made it harder for victims of car crashes and medical malpractice to get their day in court.
Kemp said he will work with lawmakers during the 2024 legislative session to reduce insurance premiums and level the playing field in courtrooms.
While the governor argued tort reform would help businesses’ bottom lines in Georgia going forward, he also touted record successes in economic development in the Peach State during the last fiscal year. He said Georgia saw $24 billion in investment during fiscal 2023 in 426 individual projects.
More than $20 billion of that investment and 82% of the new jobs created were outside of metro Atlanta, Kemp said.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., who spoke before Kemp, cited several major examples of business growth in Georgia he said were made possible by bipartisan cooperation in Congress. His list included a new electric vehicle model that will be produced at the Kia plant in West Point, the $5.5 billion Hyundai EV plant now under construction west of Savannah, and Korean solar panel manufacturer Hanwha Qcells’ $2.5 billion plan to build a new plant in Cartersville and expand an existing facility in Cartersville.
“Georgia’s economic development is a team sport, and we’re all on the same team,” Ossoff said.
Georgia Chamber President and CEO Chris Clark called on Congress to strengthen federal research and development tax credits so the U.S. can head off China’s goal to dominate the development of artificial intelligence technology.
“China has made it a point in the last 20 years to be a leader in that space,” he said. “It’s vitally important that we have a vital R&D tax credit.”
Georgia Commissioner of Transportation Russell McMurry
ATLANTA – Georgia has begun exploring the potential of deploying a network of hydrogen fueling stations across the state to power commercial vehicles.
The state Department of Transportation issued a Request for Information (RFI) Monday to gather feedback from the private sector on how best to proceed with the development and construction of hydrogen fuel stations.
Hydrogen-powered electric fuel cells are a promising technology for commercial vehicles including large trucks. They could be used for fast recharging of heavy vehicles, enabling goods to be delivered over long travel distances.
While the technology is in the early stages of development in the U.S., it has been deployed successfully in several other countries.
“We at GDOT (the Georgia Department of Transportation} are always seeking opportunities to advance our state through innovation,” state Commissioner of Transportation Russell McMurry said Monday. “With the feedback gathered by the RFI, we will have an opportunity to plan for the future.”
During the RFI process, the department will consider the full range of demand for using hydrogen for transportation purposes, including potential locations for hydrogen fueling stations. Areas adjacent to the ports of Savannah and Brunswick will receive primary consideration.
The RFI will remain open for 30 days. Interested parties should respond by email to ContractsOGC@dot.ga.gov.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones presides over the Georgia Senate.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Senate will take up legislation this winter aimed at protecting teenagers from cyberbullying and other negative effects of social media use.
“So many bad actors now are targeting our children,” Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who presides over the Senate, said Monday during a news conference. “People perpetrating these things we’re going to try to hold accountable.”
Numerous studies have found overuse of social media to pose a significant danger to young people, particularly girls, increasing their risk of suicide.
The proposed legislation, which is still in development, would require social media companies to take concrete steps to verify the age of their users. Existing rules requiring schools to monitor bullying would be updated to reflect the realities of modern technology.
The bill also would require social media companies to remove features they know or find to be addictive to minors.
“We want to be sensitive to the First Amendment,” said Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus, who will serve as the bill’s chief sponsor. “[But] we’re making a stand here in Georgia. Something’s got to change.”
Jones said the Georgia law will be modeled after those of states including Louisiana, which has a law on its books requiring social media companies to verify the age of users and imposing fines and/or jail time on those convicted of cyberbullying.
The General Assembly got its feet wet on the social media issue this year, passing legislation backed by Gov. Brian Kemp and sponsored by Anavitarte that bans TikTok from state-owned devices. The bill came on the heels of a memo Kemp issued late last year banning TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese company, from phones and laptops used by executive branch employees.
Jones said he and other backers of the legislation plan to reach out to social media companies, local school systems and parents for ideas as they craft the bill.
The 2024 General Assembly session will begin Jan. 8.
ATLANTA – An Americus lawyer has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
William McCall Calhoun Jr., 60, was convicted in March in a bench trial in federal court on felony and misdemeanor charges for obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol building.
According to the government’s evidence, Calhoun posted on several social media sites about his involvement in the breach of the Capitol. Before Jan. 6, he also posted about the importance of being in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, the date Congress was scheduled to certify the Electoral College vote formalizing Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in November 2020 over then President Donald Trump.
Evidence shows Calhoun attended the “Stop the Steal” rally of Trump supporters at the Ellipse, then made his way to the Capitol building. After entering through a broken door, he walked through the Capitol with a group of people who pounded doors and walls as they passed members’ offices. Calhoun ultimately made it to the outside of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
Calhoun was arrested Jan. 15, 2021, in Macon.
In addition to the prison sentence, he was ordered to serve 24 months of supervised release and pay restitution of $2,000.
The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Middle Georgia and the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office.
Allison Tresner was a member of PCOM South Georgia’s first graduating class in May.
ATLANTA – Facing a chronic shortage of physicians in mostly rural South Georgia, the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), which already had a branch campus in Gwinnett County, launched Georgia’s first medical school south of Macon in 2019.
In May, PCOM South Georgia graduated its first class of 51 doctoral students. A new class of 59 first-year students will arrive at the Moultrie campus this month.
“The experiment is working,” Bryan Ginn Jr., chief campus officer at PCOM’s branch in Suwanee, told an audience of South Georgia political and business leaders late last month at a forum on workforce development sponsored by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. “We’re delighted by that.”
Moultrie was a natural fit for PCOM South Georgia to set up shop. Its central location in the region provides easy access to population centers in Albany, Tifton, Thomasville, and Valdosta.
Also, PCOM already had established a hospital residency program for graduates at Colquitt Regional Medical Center in Moultrie.
A major barrier to workforce development in rural areas across the country has been convincing young people who grew up in rural settings to go back after they graduate from college or other post-secondary training to start their professional careers.
“The [South Georgia] students we were bringing into Suwanee from rural communities were not going back where they were raised,” said Joanne Jones, chief of campus operations at PCOM South Georgia. “We’re sending our students down to South Georgia to try to get them to come back home.”
The strategy is paying off. Of the 51 graduates in PCOM South Georgia’s first class, 15 are participating in residency programs inside the state, including four at Colquitt Regional and two at Archbold Memorial Hospital in Thomasville.
“It’s really good that they’re staying in the state,” PCOM South Georgia spokeswoman Cindy Montgomery said. “Those who don’t are still going to rural areas. … They chose us because they’re interested in rural medicine.”
Allison Tresner, one of the PCOM South Georgia graduates doing her residency in family medicine and psychiatry at Colquitt Regional, isn’t from Georgia. But the Michigan native said she was drawn to stay in South Georgia after graduation because she likes the region’s Midwestern vibe.
“South Georgia has been very welcoming,” she said. “The people are nice and genuine and make you feel like family.”
Tresner said she gravitated toward health care as a career early in life after losing her father to complications from diabetes. She chose family medicine during clinical rotations at PCOM South Georgia, the time when medical students learn various specialties first hand.
“I liked everything,” she said. “They say if you like everything in health care, family medicine is for you. … I really like the continuity of care. I can be with patients all of their lives.”
Tresner said she is proud to have been a member of PCOM South Georgia’s first graduating class of physicians.
“We were the pioneers,” she said. “It was very special to be part of the program from the beginning.”
Whether Tresner remains in South Georgia after she completes her residency is a decision she has yet to make.
“I like to keep an open mind,” she said. “I would have to find a place to beat this. I haven’t found it.”
Meanwhile, PCOM South Georgia soon will get some company educating and training physicians in the region.
Augusta University’s Medical College of Georgia (MCG), the state’s only public medical school, plans to open a branch at Georgia Southern University’s Armstrong campus in Savannah in the fall of next year. The new campus will allow MCG to accept 40 more students per year.
“Georgia ranks 40th in the nation for both the number of active physicians and the number of primary care doctors,” said Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, whose South Georgia district includes portions of the Savannah area. “Georgia needs more doctors, and I’m proud we are making this investment in our future.”
