ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp has signed controversial legislation prohibiting businesses seeking state economic development incentives from voluntarily recognizing unions if a secret-ballot election option is available.
Senate Bill 362, which cleared the General Assembly’s Republican majorities largely along party lines, was part of Kemp’s agenda for the 2024 legislative session and was backed by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. The governor signed the measure on Monday.
GOP lawmakers argued that secret-ballot elections protect workers’ right to privacy. Among its provisions, the bill forbids companies from disclosing their workers’ contact information to union organizers without written permission.
Democrats countered the measure is part of an effort by southern Republican governors to push back on union gains in the South, including last week’s vote by workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga to join the United Auto Workers.
“SB 362 is a direct attack on workers, businesses, and labor unions that will disqualify any business voluntarily recognizing a labor union in their workplace from receiving state economic incentives,” the Democratic Party of Georgia wrote in a statement. “[It’s] a violation of federal labor law that puts Georgia taxpayers on the hook to pay all the legal fees the state will spend defending their overreach in court.”
Also on Monday, Kemp signed the Safe at Home Act. House Bill 404 provides renters in Georgia new rights by requiring rental properties to be “fit for human habitation” upon signing a lease. Landlords also will be required to maintain their properties throughout the lease.
ATLANTA – The new congressional map the General Assembly drew during last fall’s special redistricting session is forcing Gov. Brian Kemp to shuffle several members of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents to other seats.
Regent Tom Bradbury of Vinings is being shifted from representing Georgia’s 11th Congressional District to the 6th District, the governor’s office announced Friday. Kemp appointed David Dove of Cobb County, a former executive counsel to the governor, to the 11th District seat.
Regent Richard “Tim” Evans of Alpharetta, who has been representing the 6th Congressional District, will move over to the 7th District seat, succeeding Jose Perez of Peachtree Corners, who is rotating off the board.
Regent T. Dallas Smith of Atlanta was named to represent the 5th Congressional District, moving over from an at-large seat. Smith succeeds Sarah-Elizabeth Langford of Atlanta, whose term expired in January.
Besides Dove, Kemp appointed two other new members to the Board of Regents: Dan Murphy of Newton County and Dr. Deep J. Shah of Fulton County.
Murphy will represent Georgia’s 13th Congressional District, succeeding Ray Aldridge of Fulton County. Shah will serve as an at-large regent, succeeding Smith.
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp signed a package of health-care bills Friday, including the most significant reforms in decades to Georgia’s law governing hospital construction and new medical services.
Most of the measures include provisions aimed at increasing access to quality medical care in rural Georgia, an issue gaining urgency as economic developments efforts continue to pay off in job creation in rural communities.
“The need for health care is all parts of our state is only going to increase,” Kemp said during a bill signing ceremony on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens. “We’re creating problems because we’re growing so much.
Since the General Assembly enacted Georgia’s Certificate of Need (CON) law in 1979, applicants wishing to build a new health-care facility or provide a new medical service have been required to demonstrate the facility or service is needed in that community.
The law’s opponents have long argued the CON process is so time-consuming, cumbersome, and expensive that it delays and sometimes blocks efforts to bring more health-care services to rural counties where they have been in short supply.
“It was prohibiting small communities from improving access to health care,” said Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who has made CON reform a major priority.
House Bill 1339 exempts proposals to build hospitals in rural counties from having to obtain a CON if they plan to have a full-time emergency room, accept psychiatric and substance-abuse patients, participate in Medicaid, provide indigent care, and offer a training program.
“[It] … will streamline Certificate of Need processes for hospitals, especially in the areas of new equipment, infrastructure improvements, and behavioral health,” said Monty Veazey, president and CEO of the Tifton-based Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals.
“We hope this bill will be allowed to take effect for several years before being revisited, to see how it affects health care and patient outcomes.”
The legislation also will raise the annual cap on the state’s rural hospital tax credit from $75 million to $100 million and create a state commission to look for additional ways Georgia could improve health-care access.
Other bills in the health-care package Kemp signed Friday will:
create a new state income tax credit to physicians, dentists, nurse practitioners, and physicians assistants committed to practicing in rural communities.
expand Georgia’s service-cancelable loan program to include dental students committed to practicing in rural communities.
provide student-loan repayments to mental-health and substance-abuse professionals.
allow non-physicians to serve as heads of local public health boards.
expand the availability of residential mental-health treatment programs for children.
ATLANTA – U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s 14th Congressional District doesn’t look to be competitive as she seeks reelection to a third term representing Northwest Georgia.
But the Rome Republican’s national profile is making her by far the most prolific fundraiser in this year’s Georgia congressional races.
The Greene campaign had raised nearly $5 million through the end of the first quarter, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission this week. Of that amount, about $4.8 million came from individual contributors, including $3.4 million in small-dollar donations of $200 or less.
The closest to Greene in fundraising among Georgia congressional candidates is Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, who had raised just more than $1.5 million through March 31.
Since winning election to Congress in 2020, Greene has built a reputation as an outspoken conservative not afraid to rock the boat in the House Republican Caucus. Currently, she is behind a motion to vacate the speakership of Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., over his support for additional U.S. aide to Ukraine.
“She’s become a national name, for better or worse,” said Kerwin Swint, a political science professor at Kennesaw State University. “That brings certain benefits, and that includes fundraising.”
While Green’s profile has drawn financial support from Republicans across the country, it also has attracted significant donations to Democrats willing to challenge her for the 14th District seat. In fact, Democrat Marcus Flowers outraised Greene during the 2022 campaign – $16.6 million to $12.5 million – according to the campaign finance website OpenSecrets.
However, Flowers only received 34.1% of the vote in losing to Greene two years ago. Now, he has moved over to challenge longtime Democratic Rep. David Scott of Atlanta in Georgia’s 13th Congressional District.
Flowers and a political action campaign linked to his campaign had raised more than $615,000 through the first quarter, compared to more than $865,000 raised by Scott.
This year, Democratic donors appeared to have settled on Afghanistan combat veteran Shawn Harris, a retired Army brigadier general from Rockmart, among the four Democrats challenging Greene. Harris had raised $302,212 through January, February, and March, all but $5,000 from individual contributors.
Joseph Leigh of Rossville had raised only a little more than $17,000, including $7,000 in the form of a loan he made to his campaign. Clarence Blalock of Paulding County was next among the Democratic hopefuls with $11,378, followed by Deric Houston of Dallas with $5,810.
ATLANTA – Incumbent U.S. Reps. Lucy McBath and Rich McCormick are blowing away their opponents in campaign fundraising in their “crisscross” reelection bids heading into the May 21 primaries.
McBath, a Democrat from Marietta, has raised more than $1.5 million during the current election cycle, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
McCormick, a Republican from Suwanee, has raised more than $1.4 million since the beginning of last year, according to his FEC report.
Both incumbents face the challenge of seeking votes from a lot of new potential constituents. The new congressional map the Republican-controlled General Assembly drew last fall ran what had been a Democrat-friendly 7th Congressional District represented by McBath north into heavily Republican Forsyth, Dawson, and Lumpkin counties.
The 6th District, represented by McCormick, was extended into south Cobb, eastern Douglas, and northern Fayette counties, areas favorable to Democrats.
As a result, McBath and McCormick essentially swapped the districts they chose to run in this year. Congressional candidates are not required by law to live in the districts they seek to represent.
The 6th District Democratic race has drawn two well-known challengers to McBath’s bid for a fourth two-year term, but neither have been competitive when it comes to fundraising.
Cobb County Commissioner Jerica Richardson had raised $111,512 through the first quarter, according to her FEC report. State Rep. Mandisha Thomas of South Fulton raised $14,825 in January, February, and March, $12,000 of which came in the form of a loan she made to her campaign.
The lone Republican candidate in the 6th District, Jeff Criswell of Smyrna, raised $12,817 during the first quarter.
Over In the 7th District, Democrat Bob Christian of Dawsonville raised just less than $11,000 during the first quarter in his uphill challenge of McCormick. The incumbent, who is seeking a second term, is unopposed for the Republican nomination.
