by Ty Tagami | Jan 22, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp announced a state of emergency for all Georgia counties Thursday ahead of a winter storm expected to dump snow and sleet onto the northern third of the state starting Saturday, potentially encasing the land in a layer of ice.
In an online briefing from Belgium Thursday, where he was traveling to promote trade, Kemp outlined state preparations for a wintry mix that could slicken roads and pull down power lines, darkening homes for days if temperatures remain as cold as predicted.
The governor said he had called up 500 National Guardsmen for deployment, if necessary. State agriculture and forestry crews are prepared with chainsaws to clear the way for power crews.
His main message: hunker down for the weekend.
“If you can just stay off the roads, that would be a big favor to us,” he said, noting that state police, utility crews and salt trucks need open roads to do their work.
The latter will begin brining roadways late Friday night or early Saturday morning. The governor placed the danger zone north of Interstate 20.
The National Weather Service has a winter storm watch in place in an east-west line just north of the Atlanta suburbs, dipping south as it moves to the east side of Georgia to take in Athens. The forecast calls for “heavy” mixed precipitation of up to two inches of snow and sleet, with ice accumulations of a quarter to three quarters of an inch.
Major potential impacts include travel disruptions and power outages as ice weighs down power lines and tree limbs that can break and fall on them.
Kemp said a drop in expected temperature of just a degree or two could push the danger line southward.
Josh Lamb, director of the state emergency management agency, advised filling cars with gas and emergency supplies, including snacks and blankets, and to drive cautiously on bridges and overpasses, which tend to ice up faster. But he also encouraged people to stay off the roads.
Lamb said Georgians should prepare their homes by covering pipes, cleaning gutters and stocking a three-day supply of food and water.
Prepare a way to keep cellphones charged while devising a communications backup plan for family members, he said. “Take precautions, don’t panic, and please stay informed and stay off the roads.”
by Mark Niesse | Jan 21, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Georgia legislators and the state’s elections chief lacked a plan Wednesday to stop using computer QR codes for counting ballots before a July 1 deadline.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told a budget committee that the General Assembly hasn’t provided any money to upgrade Georgia’s voting system, which displays candidates on touchscreens and then prints paper ballots with QR codes containing voters’ choices.
But a state law passed two years ago mandates that QR codes can’t be used to count ballots in elections after July 1, 2026.
Critics of Georgia’s election system say voters can’t verify their votes from unreadable QR codes, which are used for the official vote count.
Lawmakers haven’t yet introduced a bill that would spend money or outline an alternative to the state’s current election technology.
Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, suggested that every vote could be counted by hand this November — usually over 4 million ballots in midterm elections.
“If we were able to count all of them, would you not just be able to certify the hand count there and that suffice to meet the Senate bill’s request of not counting the QR code?” Tillery asked Raffensperger.
Raffensperger responded that each ballot can include 16 or 20 races, making it expensive and time-consuming to count each of them by hand. He said he would look into the taxpayer cost of that kind of hand count.
Gov. Brian Kemp’s proposed budget includes $5 million for a statewide hand recount of two races in November, but his spending plan didn’t include money to remove QR codes.
“The General Assembly has not funded a single dollar to upgrade the system. If you do fund that system, we could talk about alternatives,” Raffensperger said.
Raffensperger supported verifying ballots by using text-recognition software to check the results read from QR codes, a method first used after the 2024 election. The text-recognition audit found a nearly identical match to the election night count that relied on QR codes.
Kemp’s budget proposal also includes $1.8 million for a similar kind of vote check after the general election in November.
Hand-counts usually have more discrepancies than machine counts because they rely on humans, but they are another method of verifying results without depending on technology that could be manipulated or misprogrammed.
State representatives studied options for removing QR codes during meetings across the state last year, but they haven’t issued any recommendations. They’re still evaluating how to move forward, said House Governmental Affairs Chair Victor Anderson, R-Cornelia.
“The study committee and the House Governmental Affairs Committee are diligently evaluating legislative options to ensure compliance with the Legislature’s will and to guarantee that Georgia has the most accurate, trustworthy and secure elections possible,” Anderson said.
Lawmakers have until the end of this year’s legislative session in early April to pass a bill to stop using QR codes. Without a new law, voters can’t use Georgia’s current touchscreen voting system for elections later this year.
Several election security organizations are asking legislators to switch to paper ballots filled out by hand. But Raffensperger and election officials say Georgia’s current voting system is safe and accurate.
by Ty Tagami | Jan 21, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Former state Rep. Karen Bennett, D-Stone Mountain, pleaded guilty in federal court to making false statements to fraudulently obtain $13,940 in federal emergency relief funds during the COVID-19 pandemic, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
“Bennett was elected to represent her fellow citizens and took a solemn oath to promote the best interests and prosperity of the State of Georgia,” Theodore S. Hertzberg, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, said in a statement. “Instead, she violated that oath and, during an unprecedented emergency, lied to line her own pockets with taxpayer money intended to help community members in need.”
Bennett submitted weekly certifications for benefits from March through August 2020, claiming she earned only $300 per week from the General Assembly and none from her employer, Metro Therapy Providers, Inc., asserting the company would not let her return to the office.
But prosecutors said she was sole owner of Metro Therapy, doing administrative work from home even before the pandemic and that the business continued to function and generate revenue for her when she was claiming the unemployment funds.
Bennett also concealed a $905 weekly paycheck from her employment at a church, Hertzberg’s office said.
Bennett, 70, resigned from her state House seat at the end of last year, several days before she was charged. Georgia election officials on Wednesday announced a March 10 special election to select a successor.
In another case, state Rep. Sharon Henderson, D-Covington, pleaded not guilty Dec. 8 to theft of government funds, also in connection with COVID-19 relief funding. She was also released on a $10,000 bond and remains in office as Gov. Brian Kemp convenes a panel to assess her fitness to serve.
by Mark Niesse | Jan 21, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — A Democrat received the most votes in a special election for an open Middle Georgia state Senate seat on Tuesday but failed to avoid a runoff as five other candidates split the Republican vote.
LeMario Brown, a Democrat and former Fort Valley councilman, advanced to the runoff against Steven McNeel, a Republican and trial attorney, according to unofficial results.
They’re running to replace former state Sen. John F. Kennedy, a Republican who resigned to run for lieutenant governor.
The Feb. 17 runoff, required in Georgia because no candidate won a majority of votes, will fill one of four vacant seats in the General Assembly, which began its annual legislative session last week.
Brown was the only Democrat in the race for Senate District 18, which includes Crawford, Monroe, Peach and Upson counties along with parts of Bibb and Houston counties. He gained 37% of the vote while the remaining 63% was divided among the five Republican competitors.
“LeMario’s performance is yet another testament to the momentum that Democrats are building as working Georgians across the state grow tired of 22 years of failed Republican leadership,” said Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey.
Georgia Republican Party Chair Josh McKoon said Democrats failed to make significant gains in the Republican-leaning district.
“Democrats threw everything they had at this race — pouring in money from California and New York and even calling in national figures like Sen. Mark Kelly — but in the end, they still couldn’t close the deal,” McKoon said. “Republicans stepped up, overcame the noise, and now we’re heading into the runoff ready for the final round.”
Special elections will also be held to fill other vacant seats in the General Assembly.
Former state Rep. Karen Bennett, D-Stone Mountain, resigned days before she was charged with fraudulently obtaining unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic, former state Rep. Lynn Heffner, D-Augusta, moved out of her district after her home was damaged by Hurricane Helene, and former Republican Sen. Colton Moore, R-Trenton, stepped down last week to run for Congress.
Special elections for the state House seats are scheduled for March 10. An election date for the state Senate seat hasn’t yet been set.
by Ty Tagami | Jan 20, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Georgians now have another way to give away money and get it all back when they support private school students in Georgia after Gov. Brian Kemp signed onto a federal tax credit program.
The credit, established under President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year, gives federal taxpayers up to $1,700 back for each dollar they give to authorized K-12 scholarship-granting organizations.
Kemp announced at the state Capitol Tuesday that he had signed the necessary IRS form to opt Georgia into the federal program.
“That’s probably the happiest I’ve ever been signing an IRS document,” he quipped.
His action means people and companies will “be able to donate more of their hard-earned dollars” toward private education in Georgia, said Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Republican running for governor, who attended Kemp’s press conference.
Critics contend that such programs divert government funding available to support public education.
But House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, called Kemp’s decision a step towards “educational choice and freedom for students and families” and said “more resources will flow directly to students who need them the most.”
The federal program is limited to families earning under 300% of an area median income. The median income in metro Atlanta was about $82,000, according to U.S. Census data through 2023, which would have placed the qualifying threshold at under $246,000 in annual earnings.
The federal tax credits will augment a state tax credit program.
The Georgia Qualified Education Expense Tax Credit gives individuals up to $2,500 back on their state taxes for every dollar they contribute to an authorized student scholarship organization. The organizations then award scholarships to students.
Married couples can get up to $5,000 in state tax credits. Companies can contribute significantly more and get the money back in tax credits.
The total state credits are capped at $100 million per year. They cost the state $88.8 million in fiscal year 2025, according to a recent report by state auditors.
“The credit merely shifted education expenditures from public to private schools, with no impact on the state economy,” the auditors said in a summary.
The state and federal tax credit programs are not the only government-backed support for students who want to attend a Georgia private school.
State lawmakers established a direct taxpayer funded program called the Georgia Promise Scholarship in 2024, and students first started receiving money last fall.
Enrollment was far below anticipation, with about 7,700 students participating, Christopher Green, president of the Georgia Student Finance Commission, said at a budget hearing Tuesday.
His agency, which oversees the state tax credit program, traditionally referred to as a voucher, is slashing the budget request for the scholarships in the amended fiscal year 2026 budget.
Last year, the General Assembly and Kemp earmarked $141 million for the vouchers in the fiscal year 2026 budget, but Kemp now wants to return $86 million of that allocation to the general fund because demand amounted to only $55 million.
