A health care provider provides an influenza vaccine to a patient. (Photo credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Lauren Bishop)
ATLANTA – Georgia’s “tripledemic” — the simultaneous outbreaks of flu, COVID, and respiratory synctical virus (RSV) — is on the decline, state epidemiologist Cherie Drenzek said Wednesday.
The flu season started early and peaked in October both nationally and in Georgia, Drenzek told members of the Georgia Board of Public Health during its first meeting since November. Hospitalizations are down by about 60% since last week in metro Atlanta, the sole region where DPH tracks the data.
Despite the decline in the amount of flu activity, severe outcomes including death are higher nationally than in past years. So far this flu season, 97 children have died from the flu nationwide, including six just this past week. Drenzek said older adults and young children are the most likely to experience severe outcomes such as hospitalization and death.
The pattern for RSV, which typically causes cold-like symptoms but can be serious in young children, has been similar to the pattern for flu. The RSV season began early and peaked in October, Drenzek said.
There is also good news when it comes to COVID-19. The level of hospitalizations for elderly Georgians is about one-fifth of what it was at this time last year, Drenzek said. Deaths have also decreased.
The decline in severe outcomes indicates COVID vaccines and boosters are working, Drenzek said. Though the risk has decreased, many are still vulnerable to COVID, with more than 3,000 people still dying of COVID each week in the United States.
“Flu vaccine and bivalent [COVID] boosters remain critical for those at risk,” Drenzek said.
In legislative news, the state Department of Public Health is supporting a bill before the General Assembly that would prohibit vaping in any designated smoke-free area, said Megan Andrews, the agency’s assistant commissioner for policy. The goal is to bring vaping rules on par with other smoking rules.
The Georgia Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee has approved the bill. The full Senate is expected to vote on it Wednesday.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The state Senate Tuesday approved a proposal to place a statue of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on the grounds of the state Capitol.
The bill was sponsored by Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah. Watson represents the part of the Savannah area, Pin Point, where Thomas is from.
“Clarence Thomas … has lived a life marked by tremendous achievement,” Watson said. “[He] deserves a place of honor and recognition on Capitol grounds, a place where future generations of Georgians can … gain inspiration and belief that their lofty dreams are attainable, too, in America, regardless of the circumstances in which they are born.”
The statue would be funded by private donations, Watson noted.
The bill drew criticism from Democrats, who pointed out that Thomas is a controversial figure.
Thomas’ confirmation hearings for the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991 were marred by sexual harassment allegations leveled by Anita Hill, a lawyer who had formerly worked under Thomas. His conservative approach to many policy issues, including against affirmative action, has also drawn the ire of many Black Americans.
“I don’t expect people of non-color to get the sensitivity that we feel about a person of color whose policies and practices and decisions and votes … we’ve rallied [to] fight against,” said Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur.
“Justice Thomas’ decisions have certainly sparked outrage [among] women and not just women of color, but all women,” Jones added. “And certainly, when we look at the LGBTQ+ community, his votes and positions he’s taken have raised outrage in that community as well.”
Democrats also said Thomas’ wife, Ginni, has been accused of encouraging the “stop-the-steal” movement to overturn former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election defeat.
“At minimum, this bill should be tabled until such time that Justice Thomas and his wife are cleared of collaboration in this dark chapter in our history,” said Sen. Nikki Merritt, D-Grayson. “This is not the type of shame we want to enshrine on Capitol grounds.”
Despite the opposition, the bill passed easily by a 32-20 party-line vote. It will now move to the Georgia House of Representatives for consideration.
The state Senate passed a similar bill last year, but it failed to reach the floor of the House.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The state Senate passed legislation Monday that would impose mandatory minimum sentences for those found guilty of gang recruitment activities in Georgia.
The bill would require judges to impose prison sentences of at least five years on those convicted of recruiting gang members. It would prevent those sentenced with the crime from having their sentences suspended or serving them through probation.
The legislation would require tougher penalties for those who recruit someone under age 17 or someone with a disability to a gang, requiring at least a 10-year sentence.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has made cracking down on gangs an important part of his legislative agenda this year.
“Building on his promises, the governor, partnering with the attorney general and the lieutenant governor … seeks to continue to crack down on criminal street gangs by giving prosecutors the tools to go after known gang members,” said Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia, the bill’s chief sponsor and one of Kemp’s Senate floor leaders.
“Although efforts to combat criminal street gang activities have had a tremendous impact throughout the state of Georgia, more must be done to keep our children away from a life of crime.”
The bill would allow judges to avoid mandatory minimum sentences in some circumstances. Judges could impose reduced or suspended sentences if an accused person provides “substantial assistance” to help identify or convict another person of gang recruitment – in other words, a plea bargain.
Democrats opposed the bill. Sen. Harold Jones II, D-Augusta, a former solicitor general in Richmond County, argued it could have the unintended consequence of reducing sentences for those guilty of serious crimes and putting tough penalties on those convicted of relatively minor crimes.
A low-level gang member is unlikely to have useful information that help would lead to the identification or conviction of a senior gang member, Jones said.
“The person who doesn’t know anything … they go to jail five years [because] they can’t tell on anybody. … They have nothing to offer,” he said.
On the flip side, someone who has committed a serious crime might have a great deal of information that could help convict someone else, thereby garnering a hardened criminal a reduced sentence, Jones said.
“What we’re going to be doing is unleashing persons who probably are more culpable,” he said.
Jones also suggested lawmakers should trust judges and prosecutors to make good decisions.
Almost all Senate Republicans voted for the bill, which passed 31-22. However, GOP Sen. Colton Moore, R-Trenton, crossed party lines to vote against it.
“We have far too many plea bargains in this state, and this will only increase the amount,” Moore told Capitol Beat just after Monday’s vote. “Plea bargains allow the innocent to get improper justice and the guilty to get less than deserved. This is not the way to solve street gang crimes.”
The bill will now move to the state House of Representatives for consideration.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A Georgia Senate committee unanimously approved a bill Monday that would codify a ban on the use of TikTok on state-owned devices.
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, would codify Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s directive last year aimed at TikTok, a highly popular video hosting service that runs user-submitted videos.
“The original impetus was going back to national security concerns and the [Chinese Community Party] having access to state government data,” Anavitarte told members of the Senate Veterans, Military and Homeland Security Committee.
TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, Byte Dance, and there is concern that its ties to the Chinese government could expose sensitive state data to a foreign government.
More than 30 states have similar bans in place, Anavitarte said.
The TikTok ban would not apply to personal devices, just those purchased by the state. The bill would also make exceptions for law enforcement, cybersecurity research and development, and judicial and legislative proceedings.
The bill would extend to other platforms owned by “scrutinized companies,” those operated by or operating in a country that is considered a foreign adversary. These would likely include WeChat, which is owned by Tencent Holdings, another Chinese company, and Telegram, which was founded in Russia but is now headquartered in Dubai.
After Kemp sent his memo last year, the University System of Georgia directed its 26 colleges and universities to prohibit the use of TikTok, WeChat and Telegram on state-owned devices, including mobile phones and laptops, according to a December statement issued by Assistant Vice Chancellor Kristina Torres.
However, Anavitarte said Monday the intention of his bill is not to ban TikTok on university campuses.
The new legislation would also require the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency to create and post on its website a list of foreign adversaries, as defined by federal regulations.
The bill will now head to the Senate floor for a vote.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Students from the Georgia Youth Justice Coalition outside the state Capitol. (Photo courtesy Georgia Youth Justice Coalition)
ATLANTA – The General Assembly is unlikely to change Georgia’s education funding formula this session, legislators have told Capitol Beat.
A state Senate study committee chaired by Sen. Mike Dugan, R-Carrollton, met several times last fall to consider changes to the state’s complicated education funding method, which was established in 1985. The formula provides funds to local school districts based on how many students are enrolled, using a host of additional factors to determine amounts.
After listening to testimony from educators, experts and others from across the state, Dugan said he has identified four priority areas he’d like to see updated in the funding formula. The formula should be changed to provide for more school counselors and psychologists, add funding for technology and create a mechanism to provide additional funding for schools serving students living in poverty, he said.
Dugan said legislators will likely introduce bills aimed at these areas later this session, but he does not expect the General Assembly to fully debate or vote on the bills until 2024.
“I’d rather not be haphazard with something that affects the lives of so many,” Dugan said. “Once it hits, it’s going to suck a lot of air out of the room.”
A plan to create a “poverty index” or “opportunity weight” to help school districts address the additional challenges of educating students in poverty has drawn support from across the political spectrum. But it’s not yet clear what shape Georgia’s opportunity weight will take.
“The poverty weight is a compelling necessity,” said state Sen. Nan Orrock, D- Atlanta, who was the sole Democrat on the Senate study committee. “We heard testimony from a number of sources … that we are in a big minority [among states] in not having that opportunity funding.”
Orrock noted that with a record budget surplus, there is plenty of funding for the state’s education system.
“Georgia already devotes money to trying to improve outcomes for students who live in poverty, but it isn’t as direct or clear as it might be,” said Kyle Wingfield, president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a think tank that advocates free-market approaches to public policy. “It would be a good idea for the state, under a student-centered budgeting reform, to fund low-income students in a direct way.”
“But absent a broader reform, lawmakers may be asked simply to increase funding overall without much of a plan or explanation for how that is going to improve outcomes for those students.”
“We appreciate that the conversation has begun,” said Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Educators. “The discussions of the resources needed by our students living in poverty, the need for more school counselors, psychologists and social workers [and] the relief educators need from administrative tasks …. must continue and move us toward actions to address these needs.”
One bill would, if passed, address the poverty weight this session. House Bill 3, sponsored by Rep. Sandra Scott, D-Rex, would provide an additional 25% in funding for each student living in poverty.
“In our opinion, it’s surgical and good stewardship, said David Schaeffer, vice president at the left-leaning Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. The bill has also drawn the support of the Georgia Youth Justice Coalition, a group of high school and college students from across the state.
However, it’s unlikely that the Democratic-sponsored bill will garner sufficient support to pass in a Republican-controlled legislature.
Another funding challenge school districts will soon face is a dramatic increase in the cost of employee health insurance. That’s because the State Health Benefit Plan (SHBP) has increased the cost of health insurance for each employee from $945 to $1,580 per month, about a 67% increase.
The state will pick up that tab for certified school employees, including teachers, administrators, counselors and media specialists. But local districts themselves typically cover that cost for non-certified, or classified, employees, including custodians, bus drivers and school nutrition workers. There are about 96,000 such workers across Georgia.
The dramatic increase, which is set to start in 2024, would pose a heavy burden for local school districts, Schaeffer said.
To help them cope with the increase, the state House of Representatives’ budget proposal includes a three-year phase-in, in which the state would help cover the increase for the first three years.
There are some bright spots for teachers and students coming out of this year’s budget. The state is fully funding the existing education formula.
“That’s good news,” Schaeffer said, noting the full funding will help schools maintain their buildings and attract and retain teachers.
The fiscal 2024 budget also includes $27 million to provide one counselor for every 450 students. However, that would still mean Georgia has a lower-than-recommended student-to-counselor ratio. The proposed budget also includes an additional $5.9 million for student transportation costs and $23 million in bond funding to buy school buses.
Gov. Brian Kemp has also proposed $2,000 pay raises for state employees, including teachers, which is likely to be approved. The increase would take effect in September and comes after a $2,000 raise last year.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
