ATLANTA — Legislation that seeks to expose librarians to criminal prosecution for loaning the wrong books to children has resurfaced at the Georgia Legislature.
Senate Bill 74 passed the Senate last year, the first half of the biennial legislative session, and now it is advancing through the House.
The senator sponsoring the bill said library books have become a controversial topic in the area he represents, which is between Augusta and Savannah.
Constituents complained, so he investigated and decided that it was wrong to exempt librarians from the law.
“The objective is simple: protect children from harm,” said Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania. He said he knows his legislation is controversial, given the volume of comment on both sides of the issue before it passed the Senate last year. More than a couple dozen spoke again both for and against the measure during public comment about it this week.
“I have a hard time understanding why people oppose protecting children,” he said.
Georgia law makes it a crime to knowingly give minors any material for reading, listening or watching that is deemed to be “harmful” to them in a sexual way.
Librarians are exempted from prosecution for the crime, which is categorized as a “high and aggravated” misdemeanor. Punishment can include up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine. One library director testified that such a reputational stain would also cost a librarian his or her license to work.
Burns’ bill advanced after a close partisan vote from a House subcommittee Tuesday and is set for a hearing by a full House committee Thursday. It could soon get a vote on the House floor.
Burns has tweaked his bill since last year, leaving librarians shielded when they can demonstrate that they tried to have questionable material submitted for review.
Proponents of the measure say they want “pornography” to be inaccessible to children.
“Kids are being exposed to pornography at such an early age,” said Mike Griffin, lobbyist for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. This drives them to commit sexual abuse against peers, he testified Tuesday. “It’s so very important that we deal with limiting this type of access because it’s creating perpetrators.”
Other faith-based advocacy groups back the bill, too.
Lucia Frazier, who described herself as a “simple mom,” said children were being exposed to what she saw as “immoral” books in schools.
“I don’t think the curriculum should even have anatomy,” she said. “There is a level of conservatism that we need to go back towards. I think we’re way out of line.”
One critic of the legislation labeled it “authoritarian.” Retired middle school librarian Susan McWethy said those who favor it want to impose their morality on everyone else, with librarians caught in the middle.
Children need access to reliable information about difficult topics such as addiction, gender dysphoria and sexuality, she said, and it is the responsibility of librarians to provide it.
“But somehow I feel these very topics will be under attack by the censorship police,” she said, “placing librarians in impossible situations — whether to follow their professional expertise or capitulate to others who have narrow agendas and want to foist their ideologies on everyone else.”
The legislation maintains the shield from prosecution when librarians are “not aware” that harmful material was available in their library.
But Mike Cooper, a trustee of the DeKalb County Public Library system, worried that an “overzealous” prosecutor would assert that an accused librarian must have been aware.
How does a librarian defend themselves, he wondered, using the venue — a roomful of lawmakers in the Capitol — to drive his point home.
“Librarians do their best to survey the materials they have,” Cooper said, “but they can’t read every word and every book just as I’m sure you don’t know every word in every piece of legislation approved under the Gold Dome.”
The bill’s supporters said it would be the responsibility of the state to prove an accused librarian was guilty of knowingly distributing harmful material to minors.
But Rep. Esther Panitch, D-Sandy Springs, who voted against the measure, said librarians would have to produce evidence of their ignorance.
She asked Cooper a rhetorical question: “Are you aware of any society where banning books has resulted in anything good?”
This prompted Rep. Rob Leverett, R-Elberton, a member of the same legislative subcommittee, to say that he did not think the legislation said anything about banning books.
“Now admittedly,” he added, “it does require you to undertake a greater qualitative review than I think most librarians are comfortable making.”
ATLANTA — Billionaire Republican health care executive Rick Jackson’s entry into the Georgia governor’s race this week could shake up a contest that has so far been dominated by three statewide GOP officeholders.
Jackson, 71, pitched himself as an outsider and loyalist to President Donald Trump who can challenge Attorney General Chris Carr, Lt. Gov Burt Jones and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for Georgia’s top job.
“I don’t need this job for money or power. It’s not about me,” Jackson said in his introductory campaign video. “No more free rides for people who refuse to work. If you want to sit on your butt, binge watch Netflix and scarf down Cheetos, do it with your own money.”
Rick Jackson is a Republican contender for Georgia governor in 2026 (Photo credit: rickjackson.com)
Jackson, the founder of Jackson Healthcare, says he plans to spend tens of millions of dollars of his own money on his candidacy, ensuring he can make himself more of a household name before this May’s Republican primary.
His run for office could split the field and increase the likelihood of a runoff, which would be held in June if none of the candidates wins a majority in May.
If elected, Jackson said he would prioritize deportations, cutting taxes, and banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
The winner of the Republican field will advance to the November election. The Democratic contenders for governor include former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Rev. Olu Brown, former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, former state Sen. Jason Esteves, state Rep. Derrick Jackson, state Rep. Ruwa Romman, and former DeKalb County CEO Mike Thurmond.
ATLANTA — Georgia homeowners’ property values couldn’t rise faster than the inflation rate, putting a brake on annual property tax increases, according to a bill that passed the state Senate on Tuesday.
Property taxes pay for most local services, including schools.
The bill would eliminate a part of state law that allowed school systems and local governments to continue levying taxes on property values that increase more than the inflation rate. Property taxes are based on assessed home values and local tax rates.
About 71% of Georgia’s 180 school systems opted out of the cap last year, along with 29% of city and county governments. Voters approved the tax limit in 2024.
If the bill is approved, homeowners whose properties rise in value would save money on their taxes, while local school systems and governments would lose that tax revenue.
“We had seen property taxes being increased on homeowners by double digits,” said state Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, who sponsored Senate Bill 382. “We’ve heard from homeowners who say they can’t afford a massive increase in their own taxes.”
Opponents of the bill said it reduces education funding and falls short of providing real relief to struggling families.
State Sen. Derek Mallow, D-Savannah, said state legislators should raise the minimum wage, eliminate tax breaks for big businesses and help the homeless.
“If we truly wanted to help the least of these among us, we have the power through a budget to appropriate it and do something about it if we were serious about it. Now the question becomes, where does our moral compass actually lie?” Mallow said.
The bill cleared the Senate on a 31-19 vote, with one Democrat, state Sen. Jaha Howard, D-Smyrna, crossing party lines to vote with Republicans in the majority. SB 382 will next be considered by the state House.
ATLANTA — After six lengthy hearings around the state last year, a special legislative committee studying the elections process has recommended incremental changes to Georgia’s voting system.
The study committee chaired by Rep. Tim Fleming, R-Covington, who is running for Georgia secretary of state, recommended Monday that the state use hand-marked paper ballots during the general elections in November.
But there is a twist: the recommendation by the Republican-led panel says QR codes should be allowed to remain on ballots, which critics contend are a security risk because only the counting machines, not voters themselves, can read them.
“The legislation should require all ballots that contain a QR code of any kind to be hand-counted for the purposes of official tabulation,” the committee’s report says. “Scanner tabulation of QR code ballots is for unofficial results only.”
The committee also recommended that the General Assembly add money to the fiscal year 2027 budget to buy a new voting system.
The group also recommended that the legislature allow the committee to continue meeting through the end of this year.
That did not sit well with Kelvin King, another candidate for secretary of state whose wife, Janelle, is a member of the state election board.
The secretary of state oversees elections. The state election board sets election rules and investigates claims of fraud.
King asserted in statement Tuesday that the current voting machines are insecure. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has defended the system’s integrity. Dominion Voting Systems, the company that makes the machines, won hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements with media outlets, including Fox News, over false claims that the machines led to a rigged 2020 election.
ATLANTA — It could soon become a serious crime in Georgia to use AI apps to create obscene, computer-generated images of real people.
State senators considered a proposal Monday to create the crime of “virtual peeping” by using artificial intelligence to virtually undress people.
The technology would have been viewed as science fiction several years ago but now it has become a “nightmare” for victims whose privacy is violated, said state Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia, the sponsor of Senate Bill 398.
“You shouldn’t have to be afraid to post an image of yourself online. You shouldn’t be afraid to have a picture of yourself in a yearbook and have that photograph used in the ways that people are using them now,” Hatchett said. “There needs to be some protections in the law, and I think they need to be harsh punishments.”
Under the bill, using AI to generate an obscene image of an adult without their consent would be a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Obscene AI images of minors would come with imprisonment up to 20 years and a $100,000 fine.
Several people told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee Monday they support the intent of the bill, but they were concerned it could be too broad.
“Sixteen-year-old boys are dumb. You have a tool that will very easily create a naked image, and you’re telling a 16-year-old boy whose brain is barely fully formed, certainly not their frontal lobe, that they cannot do that thing,” said Cindy Battles, policy director for The Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, a civil rights group. “I don’t think a 16-year-old child should be charged with a felony for having an image that they created using AI.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia told senators the bill should be revised to target harmful images while protecting satire, political commentary, artistic expression and parody.
“This is what we ought to be doing with our time because technology is getting beyond our criminal justice system,” said Minority Leader Harold Jones II, D-Augusta.
Legislators said they will continue working on the bill, and it didn’t receive a vote Monday. Hatchett said he plans to present a new version of the bill next week.
