by Dave Williams | Aug 13, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Lawyers representing the state and the Republican National Committee asked a federal appellate court Wednesday to reverse a lower court order blocking two provisions of a controversial election reform law the GOP-controlled General Assembly passed in 2021.
A U.S. District Court judge granted a preliminary injunction in 2023 to civil rights and voting rights groups challenging a provision in Senate Bill 202 that prohibited volunteers from providing food and water to voters waiting in long lines within 150 feet of a polling place. The judge also threw out a second provision requiring voters to include their birthdate on absentee ballot envelopes.
The legislature’s Republican majorities passed Senate Bill 202 in the aftermath of a Democratic surge in 2020 that saw Joe Biden become the first Democrat to carry Georgia in a presidential election since 1992, followed in short order at the start of 2021 by the elections of Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock to the U.S. Senate.
Legislative Democrats opposed the bill, calling it an effort by the GOP to suppress the vote in Georgia.
On Wednesday, Georgia Solicitor General Stephen Petrany argued before the 11th District U.S. Court of Appeals that the 150-foot buffer zone established by the law was aimed at protecting voters in line at the polls from intimidation and to prevent voter fraud.
“States have been doing this for over 100 years, trying to protect voting lines,” he said. “Just the commotion … might be enough to dissuade some people from getting in line.”
But Davin Rosborough, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project, said the volunteers who provided food and water to voters in line at polling places were not attempting to intimidate them. They simply were encouraging them to stay in line, he said.
“Long lines in Georgia are notorious, six hours, eight hours,” Rosborough said. “The intent of groups showing up and providing support to people standing in line was to deliver the message that participation (in voting) is important, despite the obstacles.”
Gilbert Dickey, a lawyer representing the Republican National Committee, told the appellate court panel the provision in Senate Bill 202 requiring voters to include their birthdate on absentee ballot envelopes was necessary to establish their identity.
“The state is entirely within its rights to confirm identification,” he said. The birthdate is a way to do that.”
But Laurence F. Pulgram, a lawyer for the NAACP, argued that throwing out an absentee ballot because the voter provided an incorrect birthdate or failed to provide a birthdate reduces the number of votes that end up being counted. He said 74% of the ballots rejected in Gwinnett County in 2022 were due to the birthdate requirement.
Pulgram said requiring birthdates on absentee ballot envelopes is unnecessary because voters already are required to establish their identification through the state’s photo ID requirement under another provision of Senate Bill 202.
“We don’t want anyone not qualified to vote to cast a ballot,” he said. “(But) if it’s not material, a (birthdate) error must be overlooked.”
Voting rights advocates and civil rights groups also are challenging other provisions of Senate Bill 202. Oral arguments in those cases are due to be heard this fall.
by Ty Tagami | Aug 12, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — A fifth state lawmaker has joined the campaign to become Georgia’s next lieutenant governor, with Rep. David Clark, R-Buford, announcing his candidacy Tuesday.
“I’ve been tested in combat and in the Capitol,” the Green Beret, who served in Afghanistan, says in an online ad, which begins with a voiceover about “a world on fire” that needs warriors, not politicians.
Clark’s announcement came one day after state Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, announced his own candidacy, becoming the third Republican state senator who has declared an intent to succeed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who is running for governor.
Clark and Tillery hit similar talking points in their announcements, from cutting taxes and illegal immigration to transgender issues. Two previously announced senators, both former members of the chamber’s Republican leadership — Sens. John F. Kennedy of Macon and Steve Gooch of Dahlonega — are also running on platforms aimed to appeal to President Donald Trump’s MAGA base.
Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, is also campaigning to be Georgia’s next lieutenant governor, the officer who presides over the Senate and fills in for the governor when absent. McLaurin, the lone Democratic lawmaker in the race, was a near-daily critic of Trump and his economic policies and defiance of court orders when the General Assembly met this year.
by Dave Williams | Aug 12, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The University System of Georgia (USG) generated $23.1 billion in economic impact in fiscal 2024, while recent graduates stand to earn $1.4 million more over their lifetimes thanks to their college degrees, according to two studies released Tuesday.
The economic impact total represented an increase of 5.4% over the previous fiscal year. Of that total, $15.2 billion was in direct spending by students and the system’s 26 institutions on personnel and operating costs, while $7.9 million was the multiplier impact of those funds on local communities.
The companion study found that graduates from the Class of 2024 earning bachelor’s degrees on average will see $1.4 million in lifetime earnings more than those without a college degree. For those with master’s degrees, those earnings rise to $1.7 million, while holders of doctorates earn nearly $2.5 million more in their lifetimes on average.
“A degree from one of USG’s 26 public colleges and universities is a million-dollar deal for graduates and a billion-dollar boost for Georgia,” system Chancellor Sonny Perdue said Tuesday. “Students see real returns through higher earnings and better opportunities. Meanwhile, our institutions power Georgia’s economy and help local communities thrive.”
Of the jobs generated by USG schools during the period surveyed, 32% were on campus, and 68% were off campus. Between them, the university system and the various campuses created about the same employment impact in Georgia as the state’s top five employers combined.
Both studies were conducted on the system’s behalf by Jeff Humphreys, director of the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia.
by Dave Williams | Aug 12, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The University System of Georgia (USG) generated $23.1 billion in economic impact in fiscal 2024, while recent graduates stand to earn $1.4 million more over their lifetimes thanks to their college degrees, according to two studies released Tuesday.
The economic impact total represented an increase of 5.4% over the previous fiscal year. Of that total, $15.2 billion was in direct spending by students and the system’s 26 institutions on personnel and operating costs, while $7.9 million was the multiplier impact of those funds on local communities.
The companion study found that graduates from the Class of 2024 earning bachelor’s degrees on average will see $1.4 million in lifetime earnings more than those without a college degree. For those with master’s degrees, those earnings rise to $1.7 million, while holders of doctorates earn nearly $2.5 million more in their lifetimes on average.
“A degree from one of USG’s 26 public colleges and universities is a million-dollar deal for graduates and a billion-dollar boost for Georgia,” system Chancellor Sonny Perdue said Tuesday. “Students see real returns through higher earnings and better opportunities. Meanwhile, our institutions power Georgia’s economy and help local communities thrive.”
Of the jobs generated by USG schools during the period surveyed, 32% were on campus, and 68% were off campus. Between them, the university system and the various campuses created about the same employment impact in Georgia as the state’s top five employers combined.
Both studies were conducted on the system’s behalf by Jeff Humphreys, director of the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business.
by Dave Williams | Aug 12, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The University System of Georgia Board of Regents approved a $3.87 billion fiscal 2027 operating budget request Tuesday.
The 2027 budget, which takes effect next July, represents a $267.5 million increase over this year’s spending plan, or 7.4%.
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget (OPB) instructed state agencies last month not to ask for more money, citing the potential loss of federal funds. But the university system is being allowed to request increases in spending that reflect enrollment growth, an increase in square footage across system campuses, and higher health-insurance costs, Tracey Cook, the system’s chief fiscal officer, told the regents before Tuesday’s unanimous vote.
Most of the proposed increase – $216.5 million – would go to cover enrollment growth. About $11.9 million would provide startup costs for a new medical school at the University of Georgia due to enroll its first cohort of students next fall.
The regents also approved a $197.7 million capital budget request. The largest chunk of the funding – $83.1 million – would go toward two building projects.
Of that amount, $48.6 million would pay for new student support, engagement, and wellness facilities at Savannah State University. Another $34.5 million would be used to fund the fourth phase of a multi-year modernization of the Science and Ag Hill area of the University of Georgia campus in Athens.
“These projects have been vetted … and determined to be of the highest priority,” Cook said.
The operating and capital budget requests will head next to the OPB. Gov. Brian Kemp will present his spending recommendations to the General Assembly in January.
