ATLANTA — Before she was ousted by President Donald Trump, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem got grilled by a Georgia congresswoman about the way her agency had treated a Loganville man with severe disabilities.
Double amputee Rodney Taylor had been in federal custody for over a year, since agents swarmed the family vehicle and seized him in January 2025.
The husband and father of two was brought to America from Liberia at age 2 for medical treatment. He was born with a deformed left foot, a missing right foot, and three fingers missing from his right hand. He had lived without both legs since they were amputated when he was a child.
Mildred Pierre, wife of Rodney Taylor, at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta on Jan. 13, 2026 (Ty Tagami/Capitol Beat)
Taylor, 47, received a criminal conviction as a teenager, which led to his detention by the federal agents. But Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, said at Noem’s hearing Wednesday that former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue had pardoned him and that Taylor had a Green Card application pending. She also said he had been held at the Stewart Detention Center in squalid conditions.
Under the care of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Taylor lost 20 pounds, so his prosthetic legs no longer fit, McBath said. The agency made him drag himself to the shower, in less than sanitary conditions, she added.
“Rodney must crawl through that muck and squalor of feces and bodily fluids to enter and exit the shower,” she said. “This is despicable. It’s inhumane torture that no person should have to endure.”
Noem said she was unaware of his case but promised to research it and get back to McBath and Taylor’s wife within two weeks.
That probably will not happen now that Trump has removed Noem.
Taylor is married to a U.S. citizen, Mildred Pierre, and they have two young children.
Pierre went to the Georgia Capitol in January in hopes of drawing attention to her husband’s plight. She said then that she feared for his health. She said he had elevated blood pressure due to the conditions in detention.
“I’m scared they’re going to send him home in a box,” she said.
Taylor is a barber and was the main breadwinner, she said. His conviction for burglary was long behind him and he was a family man when his life was upended, she said.
The kids were 4 and 6 when federal agents surrounded the family vehicle two houses down the street from their home, boxing them in with unmarked vehicles and emerging with ballistic vests and no identification, she said.
“It was scary because they all had their guns and my kids were in the car,” she said. The children were crying and inconsolable, she said.
She said they get to visit him in detention on occasion but that they are separated by glass and talk over a telecommunications system.
ATLANTA — Bryce Berry could not understand why his student was misbehaving.
The youth excelled on his assignments, but he disrupted the classroom. Eventually, the student explained that he could not see the board. Thus enlightened, Berry arranged an eye exam and a free pair of glasses.
Problem solved. A life changed.
“I think about how many other students across Georgia are being mislabeled or mis-disciplined or left behind simply because no one caught something as basic as vision or a hearing issue,” said Berry, a middle school math teacher who joined the Georgia House of Representatives last year.
Rep. Berry, D-Atlanta, told that story during a floor debate in the Georgia House of Representatives on Wednesday.
It was a rare moment of bipartisan solidarity, a meeting of the minds on a root cause of academic under-achievement.
Rep. Leesa Hagan, R-Lyons, had brought a bill to the House that would require annual vision and hearing screenings at school, from pre-kindergarten through third grade.
Currently, the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) requires parents to submit a form when their child enters school for the first time, confirming that all the necessary screenings, including for eyes and ears, have occurred.
House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, said there may not be universal compliance.
“I think part of the problem is, in some areas of our state, they may have a form, they may not have a form,” he said, “but children are not being screened.”
And eyes change over time, so children, especially little ones, may have worsening vision that goes unnoticed in the years after they enter a school.
Rep. Angie O’Steen, R-Ambrose, shared a story about her own daughter.
“Her vision problem didn’t show up until second grade,” the former school nurse said. “She could not see. She could not read. So thankfully, this bill will address that.”
House Bill 1402, which passed 172-1 on Wednesday, would both mandate the screenings and grant each school system $15,000 to acquire the necessary equipment.
“What we understand from DPH and from some of the schools that we’ve talked to is there’s a need to do it at the school to make sure every student is screened,” Hagan said. “It doesn’t take a lot of time, but it’s worth it if to identify any issues that are hindering their learning.”
The legislation would require that parents be informed ahead of the screenings, so they have an opportunity to opt out.
The measure also would require school systems to notify parents if their child is not reading on grade level by the end of third grade. In that way, it dovetails with a priority in the House and Senate to improve literacy rates.
Last month, the House passed House Bill 1193, sending it to the Senate. The vote was 170-2 — another display of bipartisanship. That legislation would give school districts the funding to hire about 1,300 literacy coaches, with the intent of sending each of them into schools with K-3 classrooms.
ATLANTA — Women could get birth control drugs directly from pharmacies without needing a doctor’s prescription, according to a bill that cleared the Georgia House on Wednesday.
The proposal would expand availability of contraceptives in Georgia, where state law bans abortions once a doctor can detect fetal cardiac activity, which typically occurs around six weeks after conception and before many women know they’re pregnant.
Supporters said the bill would especially help women in rural areas without an obstetrician. Of Georgia’s 159 counties, 83 lack an OB-GYN.
“This will make it easier for women to access birth control. There are pharmacies in every county in Georgia,” said Rebecca Stone, a clinical professor at the University of Georgia’s College of Pharmacy. “It’s an important medication. We use birth control for other medical conditions,” including irregular cycles, bleeding problems, and skin conditions.
The House passed the legislation 162-4. It now advances to the state Senate.
The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Beth Camp, R-Concord, said abstinence is the only guaranteed way to prevent pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, but she said pharmacists are qualified to dispense birth control medications.
“This is not a morality bill. This is a medication bill that allows further access,” Camp said. “Oftentimes, the only healthcare provider in an area is going to be a pharmacist.”
Pharmacists in 36 other states are already able to dispense contraceptives, Camp said.
House Bill 1138 would permit any licensed Georgia pharmacist to dispense contraceptives to patients who are at least 18 years old, or to minors with a previous prescription from a doctor. Pharmacists wouldn’t be required to dispense birth control if they don’t want to.
In addition, the legislation requires health insurance policies and Medicaid to provide at least a three-month supply of birth control.
“This is a big step for Georgians to be able to access not just pills, but injectables” such as progesterone shots, said Staci Fox, president and CEO for the liberal-leaning Georgia Budget & Policy Institute. “When we look at a state with a severe abortion ban, more access to contraceptives is better.”
ATLANTA — The Georgia House of Representatives passed legislation that would void any lawsuit settlements that seek to silence victims of childhood sexual abuse.
The bill, called Trey’s Law, is named for Trey Carlock, a child who was sexually abused at a Missouri camp. He settled a lawsuit against the camp, but a nondisclosure agreement prevented him from talking about what happened to him.
He died by suicide in 2019.
His sister, Elizabeth Phillips, testified last month at a hearing under the Gold Dome that the silence killed him. She said no one was held to account for her brother’s abuse.
Nondisclosure agreements force victims to choose between compensation and disclosure, said Rep. Soo Hong, R-Lawrenceville, explaining why she introduced House Bill 1187.
“This bill will free survivors to share their stories,” she said Wednesday, before lawmakers approved her bill 174-0, and sent it to the Senate.
HB 1187 would render any lawsuit settlement or employment agreement that requires secrecy about childhood sexual abuse unenforceable.
“This bill will free survivors to share their stories,” Hong said. “It will help uncover patterns of institutional silence and negligence, and it will deter future abuse by removing the tools used to hide misconduct.”
ATLANTA — Accident victims who have insurance would be able to worry a little less about the cost of an ambulance ride under legislation approved by the Georgia House Wednesday.
House Bill 961 would require that insurers bill their customers the same whether or not the ambulance was in network.
“If I have a heart attack, I’m not going to negotiate,” said Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, the bill’s chief sponsor. “Get me to the hospital quick!”
He said he was moved to introduce the measure after a constituent complained about a $4,500 charge for a 10-mile ambulance ride.
Rep. Don Parsons, R-Marietta, said the Legislature ought to investigate the underlying costs. Powell said he understood why ambulances charge as much as they do. The vehicles are not cheap, and neither are the skilled medics, he said.
So, he focused on the insurance companies.
HB 961, should it pass the Senate, would also establish minimum reimbursement rates for out-of-network ambulance providers, either by contract or by setting them at 300% of Medicare reimbursement rates.
Powell was not the only House member concerned about surprise insurance bills for ambulance rides: the House voted 174-1 to send his legislation to the Senate.
