by Ty Tagami | Jul 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — It started harmlessly enough, with kids using artificial intelligence to cheat on their writing assignments, but the technology has become a palpable threat to society as lawyers and others in the justice system have conducted novel experiments with it and even clearly misused it.
In the five years since OpenAI unleashed Chat GPT-3 on the public, people have found creative and sometimes unwise uses for the technology, including attorneys who harnessed it to write briefs with fake citations.
Recognizing the risk, the Georgia Supreme Court undertook a 10-month review in August and released new recommendations on Thursday. The state’s high court proposes a three-year process to adapt to AI.
It will start with establishing leadership and governance and conclude with new policies and processes for all the courts in Georgia’s judicial system. There will be community engagement, process reviews, education and training, and the establishment of business and technology architectures along the way.
The committee behind the new report, “Artificial Intelligence and Georgia’s Courts,” was led by Justice Andrew A. Pinson. It incorporates observations by the State Bar of Georgia’s Board of Governors, who produced their own report on the risks of AI in early June.
The bar’s report said revisions to a rule of conduct for lawyers was “particularly critical” because it was about their competence and proficiency with technology.
“It is the committee’s assessment GenAI tools will in short order become ubiquitous,” the bar report’s authors wrote.
Pinson’s committee cited numerous examples of AI uses that occurred just during the 10 months of their review process, such as the Indiana Supreme Court’s introduction of AI for voice-to-text transcriptions, the Arizona Supreme Court’s use of AI avatars to deliver news about rulings by their justices, and a family’s use of AI to create a victim impact statement by their dead relative during the sentencing phase of the trial over his road rage death.
“A key challenge the committee faced during its work is the rapidly evolving nature of a technology new to courts and organizations across the country,” Pinson’s committee concluded.
The panel noted acceptable uses for AI such as for research and scheduling, unacceptable uses such as for jury selection and “black box” sentencing algorithms, and potential uses that need more study and testing such as language translation and sentencing and risk assessments.
by Dave Williams | Jul 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Whether the quick rise of data centers in Georgia will ultimately prove good or bad for the state’s economy is a hotly debated topic this summer.
Georgia boasts the fastest growing data center market in the nation, behind only Virginia – the world’s largest data center market – in volume. Data centers are creating jobs and boosting local tax bases, particularly in tax-revenue starved rural communities.
“Data’s the new oil,” said Chris Clark, president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
But critics say data centers are more of a drain on host communities than a benefit, sucking up huge quantities of electricity and water in exchange for an uncertain impact on local tax rolls.
Amy Sharma, executive director of the nonprofit Science for Georgia, which tracks the use of science in public policy, compares data centers to plagues of locusts.
“They come in and max out, then move on to the next place once they run out power or communities start paying attention, ” she said.
Estimates of the number of data centers that have set up shop in Georgia vary. A list compiled by Science for Georgia shows 97 data centers operating in the Peach State, with 27 more in the planning stages.
Dallas-based DatacenterHawk, which conducts research for the industry, reports 72 data centers operating in Georgia with 14 more under construction.
Through 2023, data centers contributed $25.7 billion to the Peach State’s Gross Domestic Product and $1.8 billion in state and local tax revenue while supporting 30,070 direct jobs and 176,790 total jobs, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the “Big Four” accounting firms.
Clark said new data centers announced this year alone take up about 30 million square feet of space, representing an investment of $40 billion. By comparison, shopping malls typically occupy 400,000 to 800,000 square feet.
With such a huge footprint, data centers have been getting pushback from state and local elected officials worried about their potential adverse effects.
The General Assembly passed legislation last year calling for a temporary suspension of a state sales tax exemption aimed at attracting data centers. But Gov. Brian Kemp vetoed the bill after the Georgia Chamber and other business groups argued that doing away with the tax incentive would discourage corporate investment.
This year, Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns formed a special committee to develop a plan for coping with the growing demand for energy and water data centers and other “large-load” electric customers put on supplies.
Also this year, state Sen. Chuck Hufstetler introduced legislation to prohibit utilities in Georgia from passing on the costs of providing electricity to data centers to their residential and small business customers. The bill cleared the Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities Committee but failed to reach the Senate floor after lobbyists representing utilities including Georgia Power opposed it.
Hufstetler said he plans to bring the legislation back for consideration when lawmakers convene for the 2026 session in January.
“If we could get these costs off of residential and small business customers we could lower their rates in Georgia,” Hufstetler wrote in an email to Capitol Beat. “I hope we can pass it and codify into law that everyone pays their fair share of the costs.”
Some local governments have weighed in by restricting data centers or banning them outright. The Atlanta City Council voted last month to prohibit data centers from setting up in some neighborhoods and require developers to seek a special-use permit for construction.
In May, the Coweta County Commission approved a moratorium on data centers after a developer proposed Project Sail, a massive 13-building data center on more than 800 acres along U.S. 27 near Newnan.
Todd Edwards, director of governmental affairs for the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, said the reception counties have given data centers is “a mixed bag.” Residents who live near data centers often complain about the noise.
“Counties usually look at the benefits of the [property] taxes,” Edwards said. “But neighbors may not be warm and fuzzy about it.”
Sharma said data centers don’t tend to create enough permanent jobs in their host communities to justify the tax incentives they receive. Those cities and counties don’t even get a clear picture of the tax revenue data centers will bring in because developers aren’t forthcoming with details on the projects they’re planning, she said.
“The tax benefits are hard to pin down because there’s not transparency,” she said.
Dan Diorio, vice president of state policy for the Virginia-based Data Center Coalition, an industry trade association, said the number of jobs data centers create often are undercounted because they don’t include jobs generated by data-dependent companies that locate near data centers.
“Data centers create strong business ecosystems around them,” he said.
Diorio said even the construction jobs data centers create – typically considered temporary – can last for years because workers tend to move from one data center to another once a project is completed or from one building within a large data center complex to another.
“We’re seeing these construction jobs turn into seven, eight, nine, 10-year jobs,” he said.
Clark said data centers also don’t impose the high costs of local infrastructure like schools and roads that accompany new manufacturing plants, while the permanent jobs they do create tend to be high-paying.
But Sharma said momentum against data centers is building in Georgia as residents become more aware of their potential negative impacts.
“Now that people are starting to understand what they are, we’re getting a lot of people stepping up,” she said. “The outcry is going up, not down.”
by Ty Tagami | Jul 2, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Shriners Children’s will establish a new pediatric medical research facility near Georgia Tech, bringing jobs and significant investment, the health-care nonprofit announced Wednesday.
Gov. Brian Kemp touted the new development as “an incredible addition to Georgia’s growing nonprofit, R&D, and life sciences communities.”
Leslie D. Stewart, chairman of the Shriners Children’s board, said the opportunity to collaborate and partner with Georgia Tech made Atlanta the clear choice for locating the new Shriners Children’s Research Institute.
The organization said it would invest more than $153 million in the new location at Science Square, across from Georgia Tech’s North Avenue Research Area.
The new facility will create 470 jobs, according to Kemp’s office, recruiting experts in gene therapies, robotics, artificial intelligence and other areas.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said the Shriners’ decision to locate the new facility in Atlanta was “a powerful commitment to healthier futures for children.” Robb Pitts, the Fulton County Commission chairman, called it a hub for innovation that will bring high-paying jobs and economic growth.
Shriners Children’s is a pediatric health-care system founded by members of the Shriners International fraternity in 1922. It focuses on orthopedic and neuromuscular conditions, burn injuries, spinal cord rehabilitation and cleft lip and palate conditions.
by Dave Williams | Jul 1, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp Tuesday nominated state Commissioner of Revenue Frank O’Connell chief judge of the newly created Georgia Tax Court.
Georgia voters approved a constitutional amendment last November creating the tax court, aimed at improving efficiency in the handling of tax cases at the state level.
O’Connell has headed the revenue department for more than two years after serving previously as the state agency’s deputy commissioner and general counsel.
“Georgia taxpayers deserve leadership at the Department of Revenue that recognizes who they are most accountable to,” Kemp said. “As commissioner, Frank O’Connell has never forgotten that – serving the people of our state with honor and great work ethic. That’s why I’m again asking Frank to serve in a leadership position that will benefit the entire state.”
Before joining state government in 2023, O’Connell served as a consultant in state and local taxation for a decade at two large accounting firms.
A member of the Tax Section of the State Bar of Georgia, he received his law degree from the University of Notre Dame and a postgraduate law degree in taxation from New York University.
O’Connell’s nomination is subject to confirmation by the Georgia House and Senate Judiciary committees.
The chief judge on the new court will be joined by up to three assistant judges.
by Dave Williams | Jul 1, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – State energy regulators Tuesday unanimously approved Georgia Power’s plan to freeze customer rates for the next three years.
Under an agreement the Atlanta-based utility and the Georgia Public Service Commission’s Public Interest Advocacy Staff reached in May, Georgia Power will not seek to raise base rates until 2028 at the earliest. However, the agreement excludes “reasonable and prudent” costs the utility has incurred from storm damage mostly from Hurricane Helene, a major sticking point with environmental groups that opposed the plan.
Before Tuesday’s 5-0 vote, Commissioner Tim Echols said Georgia’s economic successes of recent years are the result of sound energy planning.
“Our energy system has been the foundation of above-average economic growth in the state of Georgia,” Echols said. “That economic performance would not have been possible without the investment ratepayers made in our energy system.”
“The rate freeze resulting from this plan is a great result for customers, balancing the mutual benefits of extraordinary economic growth among all stakeholders and helping to ensure that we remain equipped to continue supporting growth in this state,” added Kim Greene, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power. “A plan like this is only possible due to the strength of Georgia’s constructive regulatory environment, and we thank the Georgia Public Service Commission for their vote today.”
But critics said the agreement represents a rate freeze in name only because it will let Georgia Power seek to recover storm damage costs from customers starting as early as next May.
Bob Sherrier, a lawyer with the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Atlanta office, accused the company of seeking to saddle customers with the costs of huge increases in electrical generating capacity to support the rapidly growing demands of power-hungry data centers springing up across the state.
“Everyday Georgians cannot be on the hook for Georgia Power’s data center spending spree,” he said. “The next three years are very consequential for the electric grid and deserve much more scrutiny than occurred here.”
A key point of contention in the agreement is the profits Georgia Power will be allowed to recover on its investments. The agreement sets that Return on Equity (ROE) at a maximum of 11.9%, a number Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald sought to trim to 11.5% Tuesday in a motion that died for lack of a second.
“With automatic rate increases in ’23, ’24, and ’25 … it is good for the ratepayers to have this frozen for the next three years,” McDonald said in explaining why he voted to support the rate freeze despite the defeat of his motion. “[But] if you show you made over $2.5 billion profit last year and then go above [the current maximum ROE] … it’s good to hold that for three more years.”
The agreement’s opponents also objected to the commission’s decision to freeze rates without the usual months-long process of hearings that would have let the public weigh in on the plan. The agreement with the PSC staff allows Georgia Power to avoid what was to have been a rate case that would have stretched over the last half of this year.
“Transparency and open dialogue are essential to building trust,” said Codi Norred, executive director of the nonprofit Georgia Interfaith Power and Light. “Many in our communities are worried about rising energy costs, and billpayers deserve to understand how these decisions are made.”
Tuesday’s vote set the stage for another decision confronting the PSC later this month. Commissioners are scheduled to vote July 15 on Georgia Power’s request for a huge increase in generating capacity primarily to serve “large-load” customers including data centers.
The utility plans to meet that growing demand by relying in part on fossil fuels, continuing to operate two of the company’s coal-burning power plants at Plant Bowen near Cartersville and Plant Scherer near Macon as well as upgrading existing natural gas units.
