ATLANTA – State Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler announced Tuesday she will not seek reelection this year.
Butler, D-Stone Mountain, was elected to the upper legislative chamber in 1998. She has been the Senate’s Democratic leader since the beginning of the 2021 legislative session, when she succeeded former Sen. Steve Henson of DeKalb County to become the first Black woman to lead either party’s caucus in the Senate.
“I’ve had an extraordinary journey at this Capitol,” Butler told her Senate colleagues Tuesday.
Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who presides over the state Senate, praised Butler for keeping an even keel when debating issues before the General Assembly, demonstrating an ability to disagree without being disagreeable.
“It’s been a pleasure to work with you,” Jones told Butler after her announcement. “You’ve been a fantastic friend … and a great leader for your caucus.”
ATLANTA – A proposed constitutional amendment calling for a statewide referendum on whether to legalize sports betting in Georgia cleared the state Senate Tuesday.
Senate Resolution 579 passed 41-12, garnering three more votes than the minimum two-thirds majority required to approve constitutional amendments in the General Assembly. Combined with an enabling bill specifying how sports betting would operate that the Senate passed earlier this month, Tuesday’s vote marked the most progress legalized gambling has made in a years-long effort in the legislature.
Under the legislation, sports betting would be overseen by the Georgia Lottery Corporation through a newly created gaming commission.
The enabling bill calls for the awarding of 16 licenses to online sports betting providers. Five would go to Atlanta’s professional sports teams: the Braves, Falcons, Hawks, Dream, and Atlanta United. The Augusta National Golf Club, the Professional Golf Association (PGA), and the Atlanta Motor Speedway would receive one license each.
Seven licenses would be open to sports betting providers through an application process overseen by lottery officials. The lottery corporation also would receive one license.
The vast majority of the tax revenue derived from sports betting – 80% – would go toward education with an emphasis on Georgia’s pre-kindergarten program. Another 15% would fund an education program on the dangers of problem gambling, and the final 5% would be used to promote major sporting events in Georgia.
During years of debate in the General Assembly over legalized gambling, a key issue of contention has been whether a constitutional amendment is necessary or whether it can be done through general law.
Georgia voters deserve the right to decide whether to bring sports betting to the Peach State, Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, Senate Resolution 579’s chief sponsor, said during Tuesday’s floor debate.
“It’s politically appropriate to let the people vote,” he said.
“I trust the people of Georgia to make the right decision,” added Sen. Carden Summers, R-Cordele, one of the resolution’s cosponsors.
After some senators questioned the proposed sports marketing fund Tuesday, Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, said the state should contribute to a promotional effort that now is largely handled by the private sector.
“We’ve depended on the business community. … (But) you can only go to that well so much,” said Beach, another of the resolution’s cosponsors. “We need those funds if we want to be competitive.”
Sen. Marty Harbin, R-Tyrone, who has consistently opposed legalized gambling, said the projected $125 million sports betting would generate for Georgia’s economy each year is minuscule compared to the $16 billion budget surplus the state has built up during the last three years.
“We have the money,” Harbin said. “We don’t need this.”
Both the enabling bill and the constitutional amendment are now in the Georgia House of Representatives’ court. Since the Senate has been leading the legalized gambling push in recent years, the fate of sports betting remains uncertain as the General Assembly heads into the final weeks of the 2024 session.
ATLANTA – The General Assembly gave final passage Monday to a $37.9 billion midyear budget loaded with $5.5 billion in new spending.
The midyear budget, which covers state spending through June 30, provided an additional $5 billion in spending when it emerged from the state House and Senate.
But the joint House-Senate conference committee that worked out the final version of the plan added $392 million to fund major renovations at the state Capitol complex both to improve security and enhance public access. Gov. Brian Kemp revised his fiscal 2024 revenue estimate upward to accommodate what promises to be a multi-year project.
“A lot has changed since this building opened in 1889,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin, told his House colleagues before they approved the midyear budget 169-2. “We’re bursting at the seams.”
Hatchett said the hallways at the Capitol have grown increasingly crowded during legislative sessions in recent years, and public access – particularly to committee meeting rooms inside the Capitol and Coverdell Legislative Office Building across the street – has become an issue.
“We should be open,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, said before the upper chamber approved the midyear budget 52-1. “People should have access and be able to participate in their government.”
Other than the Capitol complex renovation, House and Senate conferees made few changes to the spending plan Gov. Brian Kemp presented to the General Assembly last month. The midyear budget is highlighted by a $300 million appropriation for $1,000 one-time pay supplements for Georgia’s public school teachers and state and university system employees.
As usual, the midyear budget includes an adjustment to account for school enrollment growth – in this case, $102 million. Lawmakers also restored $66 million the legislature had cut from the university system’s fiscal 2024 budget last spring.
The Georgia Department of Transportation received a big boost in funding, including $593 million for capital projects in the agency’s pipeline and $500 million for projects aimed at improving the movement of freight through the Peach State.
The Georgia Environmental Finance Authority received $250 million to pay for water and sewer projects across the state.
For the first time in memory, capital projects will be paid for out of cash rather than bonds thanks for a bulging budget surplus the state has built up during the last three years. Projects on the list include $436 million for a new state prison in Washington County, $178 million for a new dental school at Georgia Southern University’s Armstrong campus in Savannah, and $50 million for a new medical school at the University of Georgia in Athens.
The midyear budget also includes $37.5 million to renovate the Atlanta Farmers Market in Clayton County and $3.1 million to design a new medical examiner’s office in Macon.
The conferees added a few items to the spending plan, including $10 million in federal funds that will go toward a character education program in the public schools and $4 million to benefit retired state troopers who were injured in the line of duty.
The midyear budget’s final step will be Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his signature.
ATLANTA – The state Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation Monday aimed at protecting teenagers from cyberbullying and other negative effects of social media.
The “Protecting Georgia’s Children on Social Media Act” was a top priority of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who presides over the Senate.
“Social media can be a very useful tool, however there are instances in which we must rein in Big Tech in order to protect the health and safety of our children,” Jones said following the 51-1 vote. “This legislation is a tremendous step forward in our effort to combat cyberbullying and protect Georgia’s children.”
Numerous studies have found overuse of social media to pose a significant danger to young people, particularly girls, increasing their risk of suicide.
Senate Bill 351 would require social media companies to take concrete steps to verify the age of their users. Existing rules requiring schools to monitor bullying would be updated to reflect the realities of modern technology.
The legislation also would require the state Department of Education to develop and periodically update programs to educate students to use social media safely and require local school systems to adopt, implement, and enforce social media policies and submit them to the Georgia Board of Education for review. Districts that fail to comply would be subject to losing state funds.
The bill’s chief sponsor is Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus.
Anavitarte’s bill now moves to the Georgia House of Representatives.
ATLANTA – Legislation guaranteeing Georgians the right to hunt and fish in the state’s navigable rivers and streams cleared the Georgia House Monday.
House Bill 1172, which passed 107-60, is a follow-up to a bill the General Assembly passed on the final day of last year’s legislative session. Senate Bill 115 was quickly introduced and enacted after a property owner along the Upper Flint River filed a lawsuit seeking to ban public fishing along his stretch of the river.
After the measure took effect last summer, some waterfront property owners expressed concerns over a provision that declared Georgia citizens’ right to use the state’s waterways under the “public trust doctrine.”
While House Bill 1172 removed that provision, the legislation retains its underlying purpose of ensuring Georgians’ right to hunt and fish in navigable waterways, House Majority Whip James Burchett, R-Waycross, the bill’s chief sponsor, said before Monday’s vote.
“We’re balancing private property rights with the right to hunt, fish, and pass,” he said.
The bill’s opponents argued that removing the public trust doctrine from the measure would strip away legal protections for people who want to hunt and fish.
“I reject the false narrative that the Flint River is a private waterway,” said Rep. David Jenkins, R-Grantville.
Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, urged lawmakers not to act on the bill because a second lawsuit filed by a private property owner remains pending.
But Rep. Al Williams, D-Midway, who served on a legislative study committee that examined the fishing rights issue last fall, said last year’s Senate Bill 115 left unclear whether property owners along navigable waterways would be protected from recreational boaters trespassing and leaving trash behind.
“How would you like to own a home on a beautiful stream, and every morning when you get up you have to clean up?” he said. “You would want your property preserved if you lived on a navigable stream.”
One of the concerns the bill’s opponents have raised is how to determine which of Georgia’s waterways are navigable and which are not. Hoping to resolve that issue, Burchett has introduced separate legislation specifying 64 waterways that are presumed to be navigable.
Meanwhile, House Bill 1172 is now headed to the Georgia Senate.
