Kemp recommits to tort reform

ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp Wednesday pledged to continue pushing major tort reform legislation when the General Assembly convenes in January for the 2025 legislative session.

Kemp made his announcement at the annual Congressional Luncheon in Athens sponsored by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the same venue he used a year ago to promise that comprehensive tort reform would be a major priority during the 2024 session.

However, in that session’s early days last January, the governor said getting tort reform done would require more than one year. As a result, lawmakers settled for passing legislation limiting the ability of plaintiffs in lawsuits against commercial truckers to file suit directly against a trucking company’s insurance carrier.

“We took the first meaningful steps on this issue this past session by creating a mechanism to gather needed information that will guide the next steps,” Kemp told a roomful of political and business leaders Wednesday. “And as we gather that data, I’m ensuring we listen to all stakeholders.”

Kemp announced he will hold a listening tour to hear from subject matter experts and industry leaders, including three roundtables that will inform his tort reform agenda for 2025.

Republican governors and GOP legislative leaders have worked for years to pass significant tort reform legislation. The most significant step in that direction came nearly 20 years ago with a bill that placed a $350,000 cap on non-economic damage awards in medical malpractice and product liability lawsuits. But the state Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional in 2010.

Since then, legislative Democrats and their allies in the legal industry have joined forces to sink efforts to enact tort reform, arguing it would take away victims’ rights to their day in court.

Kemp is backing tort reform as a pro-business measure that would stop frivolous lawsuits from driving up insurance premiums to the point that the costs prevent Georgia businesses from creating jobs.

Woods reverses course on AP African American Studies

ATLANTA – State School Superintendent Richard Woods Wednesday rescinded his recommendation that an Advanced Placement African American Studies course not be added to the state’s curriculum offerings, citing a legal opinion from Attorney General Chris Carr.

Woods’ announcement effectively ended a furor of protests that arose from political leaders of both parties and educators two weeks ago when Woods announced his decision against adding the AP course, which was piloted by several school districts during the 2023-24 academic year.

Last week, Woods clarified his recommendation by asserting that a portion of the course curriculum in his judgement violated the controversial “divisive concepts’ law the General Assembly passed in 2022. The Republican-backed bill, which passed along party lines, prohibits teaching U.S. history in a way that might make any student feel guilty or that they are superior or inferior to anyone else based on their race.

At the time, Woods indicated he was seeking a legal opinion from the attorney general’s office. State Rep. Will Wade, R-Dawsonville, the divisive concepts bill’s chief House sponsor, also sought Carr’s input on whether the law’s provisions apply to AP, international baccalaureate, and dual enrollment courses.

The attorney general responded with a letter to Wade explaining that the law exempts those types of courses.

The law “shall not be construed or applied to prohibit the full and rigorous implementation of curricula, or elements of a curriculum, that are required as part of advanced placement, international baccalaureate (IB), or dual enrollment coursework; provided, however, that such implementation is done in a professionally and academically appropriate manner and without espousing personal political beliefs,” Carr wrote, quoting language from the bill.

Opponents of Woods’ original decision complained that doing away with AP African American studies would have meant failing to teach Georgia students the full history of the state and the nation, both good and bad.

In light of Wednesday’s announcement by Woods, any AP, IB, or dual enrollment course a local school district develops will be automatically adopted within the state-approved course catalog. It will not have to receive a recommendation from either the state school superintendent or the Georgia Board of Education.

State Election Board’s GOP majority changes certification requirements

ATLANTA – County officials can certify election results only after a “reasonable inquiry” ensures they’re accurate under a controversial election rules change the Republican-dominated State Election Board narrowly approved Tuesday.

The change, which passed 3-2, essentially does away with a provision in current state election law that says county elections superintendents “shall” certify election results by the Monday following an election, making certification a non-discretionary function.

“It’s guardrails to make the point that what we are doing is very important and not to be taken lightly,” said Michael Heekin, a Republican member of the Fulton County Board of Elections, who proposed the rules change.

The State Election Board’s Republican members argued that it’s common sense to expect local elections officials to want to make sure votes have been counted accurately before they sign legal affidavits certifying the results.

Board member Dr. Janice Johnston dismissed arguments that the 142 hours after an election local officials are given to certify results is not enough time to do anything but rubber stamp them.

“An election like that is no better than an election in Venezuela or Russia,” she said. “We’re not asking a board to do a full audit, just a reasonable inquiry.”

But Democrats accused Republicans of rushing the rules change through just 90 days before the November elections to give local elections officials leeway to potentially delay certification and throw results into question, a tactic former President Donald Trump used four years ago with a flurry of lawsuits after Democrat Joe Biden carried Georgia’s 16 electoral votes.

Board member Sara Tindall Ghazal, a Democrat, said the term “reasonable inquiry” is too vague,

“The definition, the way it’s stated, allows exploitation,” she said.

Nikhel Sus, deputy chief counsel for the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the State Election Board doesn’t have the legal authority to let local election officials turn certification into a discretionary act.

“No statute gives county election superintendents discretion to conduct a free-roaming inquiry prior to certification,” he said.

But board member Janelle King, a Republican, said local election superintendents should not be expected to certify results if they’re not confident they’re correct.

“You don’t get to tell people to sign a legal document they’re not comfortable with and stand by it,” she said.

Board Chairman John Fervier, who joined Ghazal in opposing the change, said he received a series of emails from Democratic state lawmakers urging the board not to approve it. One suggested setting a time frame for how long a “reasonable inquiry” could last, while another argued giving local election officials such discretion over certification decisions could overwhelm them.

“They make some really good points,” Fervier said.

Georgia PSC hears eminent domain case

ATLANTA – A lawyer representing several Hancock County property owners asked the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) Tuesday to overturn a hearing officer’s recommendation to let Sandersville Railroad Co. condemn 43 acres through eminent domain.

The freight rail line is seeking to use the state’s eminent domain power to acquire the land for the Hanson Spur, which would be used to ship locally mined granite, farm products and timber along a CSX line to markets.

Some of the properties have been in the affected families for generations. One owner inherited their land from an ancestor born into slavery, while another family has owned their property since the Civil War.

The hearing officer ruled in April that the project would serve a legitimate public purpose and, thus, eminent domain would be justified.

But the company has failed to demonstrate the project either would benefit the public or that other alternatives wouldn’t accomplish its purpose, Bill Maurer, a senior attorney for the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit public interest law firm based in Arlington, Va., told the PSC.

“This commission got remarkably little information, remarkably few documents for a project this size,” Maurer said. “We believe it is impossible for the commission to find this is a legitimate purpose because we simply do not know enough about this project.”

But Robert Highsmith, the lawyer representing the company, said the state law governing eminent domain doesn’t require such details as a feasibility study, a noise impact analysis or an economic analysis of the project’s value.

Highsmith also argued that eminent domain exists in state and federal law for good reason.

“Every condemnation is a failure of a private negotiation for sale but a recognition that a public use and a public need is enough to justify the exercise of eminent domain,” Highsmith said. “Without it, we wouldn’t have airports, we wouldn’t have roads, we wouldn’t have railroads.”

Maurer and Highsmith also clashed over whether the Hanson Spur project would benefit the public.

“This project is not about meeting a public need, nor is it about providing a necessary service to the public,” Maurer said. “It arises for one reason and one reason only: the private want of private companies for more money.”

Maurer went on to the argue that reforms to Georgia’s eminent domain law the General Assembly passed in 2006 explicitly state that economic development does not constitute a public purpose for a project.

But Highsmith said that same 2006 law also states that business conducted by railroads qualifies as a public purpose.

“(The spur) opens a channel of trade, and that channel of trade is going to be used by multiple customers,” he said.

Highsmith said five business owners who plan to use the spur provided testimony to the hearing officer.

A lawyer for the Southern Poverty Law Center also addressed the commission, arguing the spur would have an impact beyond the specific property owners affected by the project. Jamie Rush spoke on behalf of the No Railroad in Our Community Coalition.

“Members have an interest in seeing this historically and predominantly Black neighborhood maintain its nature and character, including preventing increased industry and environmental burden on its residents,” she said.

Maurer asked the commission to at least stay any eminent domain order the PSC approves until after the case has been litigated in court.

Highsmith countered that a stay isn’t necessary because the project could not be built until negotiations establishing just compensation for the properties are completed.

Tropical Storm Debby could soak Georgia coast for days

ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp urged coastal Georgians Tuesday to stay off the roads so cleanup crews can take advantage of a lull in the heavy rains and flooding brought by Tropical Storm Debby.

“Do not let this storm lull you to sleep,” Kemp said during a news conference at the State Operations Center in Southeast Atlanta. “Models show the rain will come back. Give us time to clear the roads and get power back on.”

Debby made landfall Monday in the Big Bend region of Florida as a Category 1 hurricane before being downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved slowly across South Georgia and into South Carolina. Four people were killed in Florida, and a 19-year-old man died in Moultrie when a tree fell on his home.

President Joe Biden issued a federal disaster declaration for Georgia Monday night. Kemp said the order was for evacuation and sheltering purposes only, although only a few nursing homes and senior living facilities in the storm’s path were evacuated.

“We never anticipated high winds for an extended period of time,” said Chris Stallings, director of the Georgia Emergency Management/Homeland Security Agency (GEMA). “We knew this was going to be a water event.”

Indeed, the slow moving storm dumped heavy rains on South Georgia, along the coast, and up through Augusta throughout Monday and into Tuesday. Kemp said Debby could circle back from South Carolina and drop an additional four to five inches of rain on coastal Georgia, according to one storm model, and up to eight more inches under a second model.

“I don’t believe this storm is done with us yet,” Kemp said. “This event is not over.”

About 47,000 Georgians were without electricity Tuesday morning, as utility crews sought to restore power while the rain slackened. The ports of Savannah and Brunswick were closed on Tuesday.

Maj. General Dwayne Wilson, adjutant general of the Georgia National Guard, said about 300 members of the Guard have been deployed along the coast and up to Augusta. An executive order Kemp issued on Monday authorized the Guard to deploy up to 2,000 troops.

Will Lanxton, a meteorologist with GEMA, said the additional rainfall forecasters are expecting could still be affecting Coastal Georgia as late as Thursday and Friday.

“This weekend looks good for recovery efforts,” he said.