by Dave Williams | Jan 27, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – State prisons chief Tyrone Oliver asked Georgia lawmakers Monday for $10.4 million to hire an additional 330 correctional officers during this fiscal year to staff a prisons system the U.S. Justice Department harshly criticized in an audit last fall.
The additional staffing is part of a plan to phase-in 880 more guards by the end of calendar 2025 to improve staff-to-inmate ratios from one officer for every 14 inmates to one officer for every 11.
In a 94-page audit report following a multi-year investigation, the feds accused Georgia’s prison system of violating inmates’ constitutional rights by failing to protect them from widespread violence.
Early this month, Gov. Brian Kemp proposed to address the problems identified in the audit with $372 million in new funding for the Department of Corrections, a combination of adding staff and upgrading deteriorating prison infrastructure.
On Monday, state Rep. Al Williams, D-Midway, said the public has lost confidence in the prison system because of chronic short staffing.
“People don’t have faith in our ability to fix the prison system,” Williams told his colleagues on the House Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over public safety.
Oliver said the system currently has 2,600 vacant positions, too many to fill in a single year.
“We didn’t get here overnight,” he said. “We won’t get out of it overnight. … (But) these budget recommendations are a step in the right direction.”
Williams also was skeptical about a request for $96 million to design and build four 126-bed modular correctional units to house inmates who must be moved out of brick-and-mortar prisons slated for renovation projects.
“A modular unit isn’t going to be as solid as brick and mortar,” he said. “There’s no way it’s going to last 30 years.”
But Oliver said the modular units the corrections agency plans to use – manufactured by Galveston, Texas-based ModCorr LLC – shouldn’t be confused with modular homes.
“They’re not like modular units,” he said. “These are hardened prefab fortresses.”
While the modular units slated for prison use can be fixed or mobile, Oliver said the state plans to put them in permanent long-term locations . Specific sites for the units have yet to be selected.
Oliver also asked for $35 million for drone detection equipment to target a problem that has become rampant in the prison system: drones that drop contraband including cellphones inside prison walls for inmates to retrieve and use.
Oliver said inmates, including members of prison gangs, use cellphones to order hits on rival gang members inside and outside of prison walls as well as to smuggle illegal drugs into prison.
“Cellphones are considered a deadly weapon inside prisons,” he said. “They’re a very lucrative business.”
The subcommittee will send its recommendations on public safety spending to the full House Appropriations Committee to consider along with the rest of Kemp’s $40.5 billion fiscal 2025 midyear budget, which covers state spending through June 30.
by Dave Williams | Jan 24, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The signs are clear as Georgia lawmakers prepare to resume the 2025 General Assembly session on Monday after a weeklong recess: Gov. Brian Kemp is making tort reform a high priority.
Even before the session began two weeks ago, Kemp issued a call for tort reform in a speech to newly elected and returning legislators in a December speech at the University of Georgia.
He returned to the theme Jan. 14 in his annual address to political and business leaders at the Eggs and Issues breakfast sponsored by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
Two days later, Kemp devoted a major portion of his State of the State message to a joint session of the Georgia House and Senate to the need for tort reform.
“One of the biggest threats to Georgia’s future is our state’s legal environment,” he said. “The cost of insurance is threatening (small businesses’) ability to operate. … At the end of the day, the increased cost of doing business is simply passed on to the consumer, hardworking Georgians who are already struggling to make ends meet.”
Tort reform has been a goal of Georgia Republicans and their allies in the business community for decades. But most of their efforts have fizzed amid opposition from legislative Democrats and the trial lawyers lobby worried that imposing restrictions on lawsuits would rob victims in liability cases of their day in court.
The most significant reform legislation to make it through the General Assembly came way back in 2005, a bill that imposed a $350,000 cap on non-economic damage awards in liability lawsuits.
The cap immediately came under fire in a constitutional challenge. The Georgia Supreme Court sided with the plaintiffs and threw out the cap in 2010.
The General Assembly passed a Kemp-backed bill last year that laid the groundwork for a big push for tort reform in 2025. The legislation directed the state insurance department to gather data on legal trends affecting insurance premiums and deliver a report.
While Kemp has not yet released details on what his tort reform legislation will look like, the report – released in November – includes recommendations that could find their way into this year’s bill.
The report found that the number of tort claims in Georgia increased steadily between 2014 and 2023, while the average claim payout also has risen. Cases where the plaintiff retained a lawyer paid out 66.2% higher on average than claims where no lawyer was involved, according to the study.
The study pointed to a number of steps the General Assembly could take to rein in “runaway” jury awards in tort cases, including limiting liability property owners face from plaintiffs injured on their premises due to actions of third parties, restricting the use of third-party litigation financing, and limiting so-called “venue shopping” by plaintiffs looking for a favorable jurisdiction for filing a lawsuit.
The report even suggested revisiting caps on non-economic damage awards such as pain and suffering as a way to curb “nuclear verdicts” – those exceeding $10 million.
Accolades for Kemp’s stand on tort reform poured in following his State of the State speech, with representatives of Georgia retailers, restaurants, and convenience stores endorsing his position. The Georgia Senior Living Association also chimed in, arguing that runaway damage awards have driven up insurance premiums to the point that providers are having a hard time staying in business.
“Georgia’s imbalanced civil justice system threatens Georgia’s economic competitiveness and our long-term prosperity,” said Chris Clark, the Georgia Chamber’s president and CEO.
“Georgia’s litigation environment is among the most costly and unpredictable in the nation, contributing to rising insurance premiums for businesses and families alike,” added Will Barnette, chairman of the advocacy group Georgians for Lawsuit Reform and associate general counsel at The Home Depot. “These legal burdens stifle economic growth, discourage investment, and create barriers to job creation.”
But legislative Democrats say the state’s civil justice system is the wrong target for the vitriol aimed by Republicans and business leaders.
“The problem isn’t lawsuits. It’s the insurance companies themselves,” said state Rep. Tanya Miller, D-Atlanta, who chairs the House Minority Caucus. “Rather than holding insurance companies accountable, Republicans are standing in defense of corporate Goliaths while everyday Georgians are left to fight for their homes, their businesses, and their dignity.”
State Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, warned Republicans that pushing tort reform could cost them politically because it’s not an appealing message to GOP base voters.
“I can assure you, they have more of a problem with insurance companies than they do with trial lawyers,” McLaurin said Jan. 17 on the floor of the Senate.
The prospects for meaningful tort reform legislation in 2025 are good. Kemp went so far during his State of the State address to suggest he would call a special session of the General Assembly later this year if lawmakers fail to act during the 40-day session that ends in early April.
With Republicans holding 100 of the House’s 180 seats and 33 of the Senate’s 56 seats, the GOP has more than enough votes to make it happen.
by Dave Williams | Jan 24, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Lt. Gov. Burt Jones announced a new round of legislation Friday aimed at helping small businesses by reducing government regulation.
The Red Tape Rollback Act of 2025 is a follow-up to legislation the General Assembly passed last year. The 2024 bills included three measures easing license requirements for veterinarians, hair stylists and qualified veterans seeking certification as a nurse aide, paramedic, cardiac technician, emergency medical technician, or licensed practical nurse.
Another 2024 bill in Jones’ package eliminated state boards and commissions that are inactive.
Most of the 2024 measures received overwhelming support from minority Democrats as well as the General Assembly’s Republican majorities.
Bills that will be introduced into the state Senate this year, where Jones serves as the presiding officer, would require all state agencies to complete a thorough review of all agency rules and regulations every four years, require agencies to consider the economic impact of all proposed rules, and allow legislators to request an economic impact analysis of any legislation affecting small businesses.
“Last year, we made positive changes to combat burdensome and costly regulations on behalf of workers and business owners all over Georgia,” Jones said Friday. “As a business owner, continuing our efforts to promote deregulation and free our businesses from harmful government red tape will continue to be a priority.”
Hunter Loggins, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said his organization will push for passage of Jones’ 2025 package.
“Main Street businesses are under tremendous economic pressure right now,” Loggins said. “Inflation continues to drive up the cost of doing business, and employers are still struggling to fill vacant positions. The Red Tape Rollback Act of 2025 would bring even more common-sense reforms to state government and make it easier for our members to own, operate, and grow their businesses.”
by Dave Williams | Jan 24, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Georgia Board of Education has adopted a requirement aimed at ensuring cooperation between local school systems and public safety experts in the design of school safety policies and infrastructure.
Under an amended rule the state board approved, local boards of education must consult with their municipal or county law enforcement officials, or with emergency management agencies when designing new facilities to house public school students.
“The safety of our students is our highest priority,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said Friday. “By setting the expectation that all local school systems collaborate with law enforcement and emergency management professionals, we are taking an essential step toward ensuring that our schools are designed with safety in mind from the ground up.”
The amended rule is expected to allow local school systems to incorporate such security measures as secure entry points, effective surveillance systems, and safe school evacuation routes.
Gov. Brian Kemp is asking the General Assembly to provide an additional $50 million in state grants to improve security in Georgia schools. The added funding would bring the total for the current fiscal year to $158 million.
School security has taken on a greater sense of urgency in Georgia since last September’s mass shooting at Apalachee High School near Winder killed two students and two teachers. A 14-year-old student at the school, Colt Gray, was arrested at the scene and charged in the murders.
by Dave Williams | Jan 23, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A deer shot by a hunter in South Georgia has tested positive for Chronic-Wasting Disease (CWD), the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reported Thursday.
The two-and-a-half-year-old male white-tailed deer, shot on private property in Lanier County, is the first case of CWD detected in Georgia.
Chronic-Wasting Disease is a fatal neurological disease that occurs in deer, elk, and moose caused by infectious proteins called prions. While there are no current treatments or preventative vaccines, there has been no known transmission of the disease to humans.
“I want to assure our hunters that deer hunting will continue to thrive in Georgia, despite this current discovery,” DNR Commissioner Walter Rabon said Thursday. “Working together with our hunters and all Georgians, we will manage CWD and maintain healthy deer herds.”
The DNR has put a response plan into effect establishing a CWD Management Area, which includes Lanier County as well as Berrien County, which is within a 5-mile radius of where the diseased deer was found.
The agency also is working to determine how far the disease has spread and what percentage of deer in the area have CWD. That is being accomplished by working with landowners through “cluster sampling” in the immediate area.
While CWD doesn’t appear to be a threat to humans, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that hunters harvesting a deer, elk, or moose from an area where the disease is known to be present have their animal tested for CWD before consuming the meat.
