by Dave Williams | Mar 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Environmental activists asked Georgia House lawmakers Monday to enact a moratorium on mining adjacent to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
But opponents of a proposed mining ban defended Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals’ plan to mine titanium dioxide along Trail Ridge as an important source of jobs in a high-poverty area of southeastern Georgia.
Two bills sponsored by state Rep. Darlene Taylor, R-Thomasville, include different versions of a ban on mining. One would place a five-year moratorium on mining, while the other would prohibit future mining altogether.
Taylor told members of a House subcommittee that the largest blackwater wetland in North America deserves and needs protection from mining, which would ruin a natural resource that draws 800,000 visitors each year and pumps more than $90 million into the region’s economy.
She has introduced legislation during the last several years to prohibit mining adjacent to the Okefenokee. Thus far, none of those measures has reached the House floor for a vote despite dozens of lawmakers signing on as cosponsors.
“I have been there,” Taylor said of the swamp at the start of a hearing on her bills. “Some of my fondest memories as a child involve visiting and enjoying the beauty. I want that for my grandchildren and your grandchildren.”
Rhett Jackson, a professor of water resources at the University of Georgia, said the planned titanium dioxide mine would lower water levels in the Okefenokee, increasing the chance of damaging wildfires.
“The largest wildfires in the state’s history have started in the swamp during drought periods,” he said
Environmental lawyer Josh Marks, president of the nonprofit Georgians for the Okefenokee, complained that the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, which is considering permit applications for the mine, has not used “sound science” in evaluating the project.
“Georgia EPD has show it is incapable of protecting the swamp,” he said.
But the mine’s supporters argued Taylor’s bills would essentially let the General Assembly decide whether to approve the project, usurping the EPD’s authority.
“The legislature lacks the expertise to make mining decisions,” said Joe Hopkins, owner of Toledo Manufacturing Co. in Folkston.
Lewis Jones, a lawyer representing Twin Pines, said the form of titanium dioxide found along Trail Ridge is both rare and critical to national security. Lighter than steel, titanium is used in the manufacture of bombers and fighter jets.
Jones also disputed arguments that the mine would harm the Okefenokee.
“We’re not going to lower the water levels,” he said. “We’re not going to pollute the swamp. If that were to happen, EPD wouldn’t approve the permit.”
Charlton County Commissioner Drew Jones said the mine would provide an economic boost in a county that can’t afford to provide adequate social services or roads.
“We are in desperate need for high-paying jobs in our community,” he said.
The bills’ opponents also said banning mining along Trail Ridge would amount to an unconstitutional taking of private property, an assertion the measures’ supporters disputed.
The subcommittee did not act on either bill. Crossover Day in the General Assembly – the deadline for bills to pass either the House or Senate to remain alive for the year – falls later this week, leaving little time for the bills to make it to the House floor for votes.
by Ty Tagami | Mar 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
The Georgia Senate adopted a measure Monday that would strip librarians of their decades-old shield from prosecution for violating a law against giving children pornography and other materials deemed obscene.
Librarians have been exempted from Georgia’s “harmful to minors” law since the mid-1980s. Republican state senators have been trying to remove that exemption for several years.
The party-line 32-23 vote to pass Senate Bill 74 followed a partisan debate about free speech.
“It is a bill designed to protect children,” said Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania, the chief sponsor of the measure. He said Georgia is one of four states that exempt librarians from obscene materials laws.
Burns said bookstores enjoy no such exemption and must filter questionable materials from children’s sections. Trained librarians should be expected to do the same, he said.
SB 74 “requires all Georgians to follow Georgia law. I don’t get an exemption. You don’t get an exemption.”
Democrats said the measure seeks to pressure librarians into more conservative judgments about whether content is obscene.
“It would criminalize librarians simply for doing their jobs,” said Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta.
The bill is not about protecting children, she said. “It’s much more about censorship and fear.”
Parent noted a movement in recent years to remove classics such as “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Diary of a Young Girl” from library shelves.
Burns said the legislation doesn’t seek to ban any particular book.
“We simply ask that you put it in the right place,” he said.
SB 74 now goes to the Georgia House of Representatives.
by Ty Tagami | Mar 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
The Georgia Senate passed legislation Monday that would ban puberty blockers, which would affect children who want to change their gender.
Senate Bill 30 was adopted 34-19 Monday in a near party-line vote. It’s among several GOP-led bills this year addressing transgender issues.
Puberty blockers are medicines that suppress natural hormones in children, postponing puberty. Were SB 30 to become law, doctors and hospitals could lose their medical licenses for administering puberty blockers in minors.
Senate Republicans said the prohibition was needed for the safety of patients too young to consent.
Some other countries have banned puberty blockers in minors, said Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, the chief sponsor of the bill. A medical doctor, Watson added that laws prohibit minors from smoking and other activities because their brains are not fully developed.
“We don’t allow minors to do a lot of things,” he said.
Watson said puberty blockers can cause long-term health impacts — to bone density, for instance.
“We’re asking them to make changes that will affect them for the rest of their lives,” he said.
Democrats said puberty blockers are reversible and that prohibiting them would expose a marginalized group to an even higher risk of suicide. They accused Republicans of pandering to a “far right” base that wishes transgender people didn’t exist.
Sen. Kim Jackson, D-Stone Mountain, who is gay, called the measure “the othering of a minority group for political gain.”
Democrats tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to let medical providers continue providing puberty blockers to children who are already using them.
All the votes against SB 30 were by Democrats except one. Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, D-Dawson, crossed the aisle to vote for the measure. It now moves to the state House of Representatives.
by Dave Williams | Mar 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The General Assembly gave final passage Monday to a record $40.5 billion mid-year budget that prioritizes hurricane relief and prisons.
The mid-year budget, which covers state spending through June 30, sailed through the Georgia House of Representatives 168-5 before passing the state Senate 55-1.
It increases state spending by $4.4 billion over the fiscal 2025 budget lawmakers adopted last spring, including a disaster relief package of $862 million for victims of Hurricane Helene, up from $615 million Gov. Brian Kemp requested in January.
“We know there’s pent-up demand for these funds,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin, told his House colleagues before Monday’s vote. “People are still hurting.”
Another big-ticket item is $345 million for additional staffing for Georgia prisons as well as safety and security improvements. Of that amount, $50.9 million will go toward hiring additional correctional officers.
After reducing Kemp’s request for four new modular units to temporarily house inmates while crumbling infrastructure inside existing prisons is replaced, the House and Senate went back to the governor’s original recommendation of $80 million. Each of the units holds 126 inmates.
The mid-year budget also includes $18 million for body cameras, tasers, and surveillance technology upgrades and $17 million for drone detection equipment. Drones smuggling cellphones and other contraband into state prisons has become a major concern for prison officials.
The various funding increases follow the release last fall of a federal audit that criticized the state’s prison system for failing to protect inmates from widespread violence.
The House and Senate supported Kemp’s request for $501 million to increase surface water supplies in Coastal Georgia to supply the Hyundai electric-vehicle manufacturing plant now being built along Interstate 16 west of Savannah. Another $266 million is earmarked for water and sewer improvement projects elsewhere in the state.
Another $500 million is earmarked for the state Department of Transportation’s Freight and Logistics program, a series of highway improvements aimed at speeding up the movement of freight.
Lawmakers also backed the governor’s recommendation for an additional $50 million in school-safety grants, enough to provide every school in Georgia with nearly $70,000.
The House and Senate added $21.5 million to expand the state’s medical residency offerings, an initiative aimed at addressing a shortage of physicians, particularly in rural South Georgia. Another $38.5 million will go toward the growing demand for foster care.
The mid-year budget now goes to Kemp’s desk for his signature.
by Dave Williams | Mar 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The University System of Georgia is looking to the private sector to lead Albany State University.
The system’s Board of Regents voted Monday to name business executive Robert Scott as Albany State’s next president.
Scott currently serves as president of research and development at The Kraft Heinz Co., where he has worked since 2021. Prior to joining Kraft Heinz, he was a divisional vice president at Abbott Nutrition and vice president at The Coca-Cola Co.
Before that Scott was a biology professor at Norfolk State University and an associate dean at Boston College and at Spelman College.
“Dr. Scott is an exceptional candidate, a results-driven leader whose vast research, higher education and corporate experience will help strengthen ASU’s impact in the community and across the state,” university system Chancellor Sonny Perdue said. “He has a unique blend of academic and industry acumen, traits that will nurture Albany State’s vital role as a regional workforce leader while celebrating its importance as a premier HBCU in Georgia.”
Albany State is one of three public Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Georgia. It has a $266 million annual economic impact on the Albany area, fostering economic development and a strong workforce that attracts and retains large-scale employers to the region.
The university has been led by interim President Lawrence Drake since last July. Drake replaced President Marion Ross Fedrick, who now serves as executive vice president and chief of staff to the president of Georgia State University.
Scott thanked Perdue and the Board of Regents for considering him for the post.
“As both a first-generation graduate and long-standing advocate for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, I’m deeply committed to advancing Albany State’s mission of fostering educational excellence and serving as a catalyst for economic growth in Southwest Georgia,” he said.
“Our ability to thrive as a university depends on how well we align the needs of our students, industries, government and the broader community. We will seek partnerships and prioritize programs that bring real value to our students, our faculty and the region we serve.”
The regents will hold a final vote on Scott’s appointment at a future board meeting no sooner than five days from naming him as the finalist.
