by Ty Tagami | Dec 30, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Big tech has reached so far into the lives of children that some Georgia lawmakers want to push back.
After legal missteps in an effort to restrain the industry, the state Senate got new recommendations this month from a study committee that heard grim stories about the impact of social media and other platforms.
Among those who testified were parents of children who died by suicide after extensive use of social media and experts who spoke of an escalating mental health crisis after the merger of two technologies.
“Smartphones and social media, they take the person who is vulnerable, who is struggling mentally, and further isolate and distance them from real human relationships,” Dr. Stan Sonu, a medical director at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, told the senators at a hearing at the state Capitol in November.
He described a patient who had become withdrawn over the past year, burying his head in TikTok videos. He said the boy had high scores for anxiety, depression and thoughts of self-harm despite a calm demeanor.
Sonu said he initially dismissed the changed behavior, ascribing it to teen angst. Then, the 12-year-old disclosed what had been bothering him: other boys had made him watch sex videos in the school cafeteria, bullying him afterward because of his discomfort.
Sonu said the boy had been using social media to self-medicate.
“Social media is, and I don’t say this lightly, it is legalized digital heroin,” Sonu told the senators. “By leveraging neuroscience to grab a hold of our attention, it promotes this powerful illusion that your real-life problems can be pushed aside.”
The committee is picking up the pieces after the tech industry torpedoed the General Assembly’s last attempt to rein in social media.
The Protecting Georgia’s Children on Social Media Act sailed into law with broad bipartisan support last year, but an advocacy group for tech companies sued.
A federal judge for the Northern District of Georgia ruled in June that the plaintiff was likely to prevail on claims that the law violated the First Amendment’s speech protections. She issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement.
The law required social media companies to make “commercially reasonable efforts” to verify users’ age, and it mandated parent consent for those under 16. It also banned advertising to children.
It had been a priority for Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Republican who is now running for governor.
Jones authorized the bipartisan committee — co-led by a Democrat and a Republican — that issued new legislative recommendations in late December.
The committee proposed a prohibition on addictive platform design, stricter data privacy and making artificial intelligence platforms subject to product liability laws.
The committee also backed measures to empower parents, such as a proposal that social media companies secure parent consent before letting minors access their platforms. But that would require age verification by everyone, like the mandate that prompted the federal judge to sideline last year’s law on the grounds that it was a “severe burden” on adults to require them to prove their age.
The committee also recommended expanding on a measure that will go into effect next fall: a prohibition on student use of personal digital devices in public elementary and middle schools. The committee recommended extending the ban to high schools.
by Ty Tagami | Dec 30, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The federal government will give Georgia nearly $219 million to bolster health care in 126 rural counties, under a program established by President Donald Trump’s signature budget reconciliation bill passed in July.
The distribution, announced Monday, is part of a $10 billion allotment to the 50 states during the federal fiscal year that began in October, with another $40 billion to be divvied among them in equal installments during the following four fiscal years.
Half of the money is being distributed equally, meaning less populous states will get more per person. The other half is being split based on a variety of factors, including rural population, the proportion of rural health facilities and “the situation of certain hospitals” in each state, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Georgia got more than all neighboring states, with the seventh largest sum nationally — $333,000 ahead of Nebraska and $3 million behind Kansas. Texas got the most money at over $281 million.
Georgia’s application by the Department of Community Health targeted 126 of the state’s 159 counties, excluding the Atlanta metro area and other populous regions, such as Athens, Dalton, Macon, Rome, Savannah and Valdosta.
The application said the state’s initiative — the Georgia Rural Enhancement and Transformation of Health program — would focus on “root causes” of disease and on “strengthening the continuum of care” in rural areas.
“This funding will help move us forward in strengthening our rural providers while bringing cost-saving innovations to the state’s health system,” Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement.
The federal Rural Health Transformation program was authorized by Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. A government description says the money must be used for things like “evidence-based, measurable interventions,” “consumer-facing, technology-driven solutions” for chronic disease, or training for use of “technology-enabled solutions” for delivering care.
Program goals include more “efficiency and sustainability,” encouraging “the growth of innovative care models” and fostering “innovative technologies that promote efficient care.”
The money comes as thousands of Georgians will see a spike in their premiums under the federal Affordable Care Act.
Democrats criticized the One Big Beautiful Bill for its impact on that program and on Medicaid — and on rural health care. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock visited Evans Memorial Hospital in Claxton in August because, his office said, the hospital had to cut $3.3 million a year due to the budget reconciliation bill. The Georgia Hospital Association warned in a letter to Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate in June that the bill as it was written then would “devastate” rural health care, putting dozens of rural hospitals at risk of closure.
The White House pushed back in a memo about the new funding, blaming presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama for expanding enrollment in government-funded health care, saying only a fraction of Medicaid spending was reaching rural hospitals as a result.
The memo said CMS would hold states accountable for their use of the new money “to ensure resources are delivered to the most deserving care providers and their patients, not the most politically well-connected.”
by Ty Tagami | Dec 29, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Most new laws from this year’s legislative session took effect in July, but a handful of significant bills become law on New Year’s day.
They address shortages in accounting and dentistry, and they increase homeowner protections. They update campaign finance and vehicle licensing requirements. One adds a new look for car tags.
House Bill 148, The Public Accountancy Act of 2025, was brought by Rep. John Carson, R-Marietta, a certified public accountant trying to address a shortage of accountants. It updates a licensing framework established nearly three decades ago by offering new paths to becoming a certified public account. It also lets accounting firms do some work in Georgia without having an office in the state.
House Bill 551 by Rep. Jason Ridley, R-Chatsworth, updates rules for owning and operating a motor vehicle, adding numerous new requirements around the issuance of temporary operating permits and setting standards for a new electronic system for issuing them. It also lets permitted property owners install an immobilization device on trespassing vehicles rather than just having them towed.
House Bill 567 by Rep. Katie Dempsey, R-Rome, address regional shortages in dentistry, authorizing licensed dentists to practice online, with regulation by the Geogia Board of Dentistry. It also permits coverage of teledentistry by dental benefits plans. “Geography should not be a barrier to dental care,” Kristen Morgan, the Georgia Dental Association executive director, said in May when Gov. Brian Kemp signed the bill into law.
Senate Bill 35 by Sen. Larry Walker, III, R-Perry, gives homeowners more time to prepare for loss of insurance. It doubles the minimum notice period for nonrenewal of certain residential policies to 60 days, from 30.
Senate Bill 112 by Sen. Clint Dixon, R-Buford, requires that manufacturer warranties of residential HVAC systems transfer to home buyers. It also requires that warranties take effect on the date a system is installed by a licensed contractor and prohibits requiring product registration as a condition of warranty.
Senate Bill 199 by Sen. Sam Watson, R-Moultrie, prohibits the State Ethics Commission initiating investigations of candidates within 60 days of their election. It also requires that local elected officials file mandatory financial disclosures with the Commission rather than locally. And it requires that political action committees maintain bank accounts with detailed reporting when they contribute to candidates in the state. It also establishes uniform reporting dates for campaigns for all levels of office and requires redaction of home addresses from any records the Commission makes available to the public.
Last but not least is America First: Senate Bill 291. The act, by Sen. Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, establishes a special license plate featuring the American flag and the words “America First.” Funds raised from the sale of this plate will go to the state general fund. Gooch pushed the bill through as Senate majority leader, a post he left after the legislative session to run for lieutenant governor.
by Ty Tagami | Dec 26, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — A federal inmate awaiting trial for murder slipped from the DeKalb County Jail but was swiftly captured in South Florida with two other escapees, federal authorities said Friday.
Stevenson Charles, 24, and Yusuf Minor, 31, made initial appearances in federal court in Fort Lauderdale Tuesday. Naod Yohannes, 25, is scheduled for an initial appearance Monday.
The trio were discovered missing during a security check at the DeKalb jail Monday. They allegedly made their way to Florida by forcing a rideshare driver to take them there, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“This was a dangerous, violent felon serving a life sentence who escaped custody, kidnapped an innocent victim, crossed state lines, and brought that threat into our community,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida, said in a statement Friday.
Federal agents coordinated with local law enforcement in Florida, locating Charles driving the kidnapping victim’s vehicle Monday. They captured Charles after a pursuit that ended on foot. They found a firearm along the path of the pursuit, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in South Florida.
Charles was serving a life sentence for carjacking, kidnapping and robbery when he was transferred to Georgia custody on Dec. 5 for trial on charges related to a 2022 murder and armed robbery, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
by Ty Tagami | Dec 26, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — An Atlanta Housing Authority administrator who oversaw a subsidy program for low-income renters, known as Section 8, has been charged with fraudulently obtaining some of that money for herself while also securing thousands of dollars in federal emergency and disaster loans for a business she owned.
Tracy Denise Jones, 61, of Atlanta, pleaded not guilty to three federal charges alleging she defrauded the government in connection with the Section 8 and COVID-19 relief programs.
Jones’ lawyer could not be reached for comment. She was senior vice president of her agency’s Housing Choice Voucher Program, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Northern District of Georgia charged Jones on Dec. 19 in an alleged conspiracy that involved the mother of her two grandchildren.
The mother, identified by the initials M.D., lived in Jones’ Fayetteville property, her rent subsidized by Section 8, according to a criminal information filing by prosecutors in U.S. District Court.
As a Fayetteville resident, M.D. did not qualify for a subsidy from the agency, which calls itself Atlanta Housing, the filing said. But, it said, Jones and M.D. submitted documents claiming M.D. was an Atlantan relocating to Fayetteville for her safety as a victim of domestic violence.
The criminal charges said Jones collected more than $36,000 in Section 8 funding for the property over more than three years.
The Department of Justice said Atlanta Housing staff are “generally” prohibited from receiving Section 8 payments for their properties and that Section 8 landlords are “typically” prohibited from leasing to family.
The criminal information filing said Jones submitted affidavits to an Atlanta Housing internal investigation saying she had deeded the property to a business owned by someone else, but the charging documents said that person was “fake.”
The court filing also said Jones applied for and received about $27,000 in disaster relief and COVID-19 loans for that same business.
Despite her assertions in some documents that she did not own the Fayetteville property, Jones claimed it as hers when she applied for a new mortgage, the court document said.
Atlanta Housing is among the largest such agencies in the country, serving 43,000 people in 27,000 low-income households, according to the court filing.
As a Section 8 supervisor, Jones was entrusted with “vast sums” of money for Atlanta’s neediest residents, Theodore S. Hertzberg, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, said in a statement.
“But Jones allegedly exploited a variety of assistance programs and chose to line her own pockets using an alternate identity, multiple business entities, a false affidavit, and a cadre of associates willing to lie on her behalf,” he said.
After her plea of not guilty, a federal magistrate judge released Jones on an unsecured $10,000 bond.
