by Dave Williams | Apr 4, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – This year’s long-delayed elections for two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) have drawn eight candidates, including the two incumbents.
The three-day qualifying period ended Thursday with District 2 Commissioner Tim Echols and District 3 Commissioner Fitz Johnson, both Republicans, signing up to run for reelection.
Echols will be opposed in a June 17 GOP primary by Lee Muns, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Columbia County Commission in 2018. The winner will face Democrat Alicia Johnson of Augusta in November.
In District 3, Johnson is unopposed on the Republican side. Four Democrats will square off in the June primary for their party’s nomination to challenge the incumbent.
The list includes Daniel Blackman, who was defeated in a bid for the PSC in 2020 and went on to join the Biden administration as Southeast regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, former state Rep. Keisha Waites, clean energy advocate Peter Hubbard, and Robert Jones, who has worked in the energy and telecommunications fields.
Echols and Johnson are currently serving terms that were extended because of a 2022 lawsuit challenging the way members of the PSC are elected in Georgia.
Four Black Fulton County residents argued that electing members of the PSC statewide rather than by district dilutes Black voting strength in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act, making it more difficult for Black voters to elect a candidate of their choice.
A lower federal court agreed and ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, but the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals overturned that decision. The appellate court ruling was allowed to stand when the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to take up the case.
The General Assembly passed legislation last year scheduling the elections for PSC districts 2 and 3 this year.
PSC District 2 stretches from Rockdale and Henry counties in Atlanta’s southern and eastern suburbs southeast all the way through Chatham County. District 3 – the Atlanta district – includes Fulton, DeKalb, and Clayton counties.
by Dave Williams | Apr 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Port of Savannah set a monthly record in March for containerized cargo traffic for the second month in a row, the Georgia Ports Authority reported Thursday.
Savannah handled 534,000 twenty-foot equivalent container units last month, up from February’s record of 479,850 TEUs. The March total also was 17% above the same month last year.
“The rate of growth was due in large part to two factors: cargo coming back from the U.S. West Coast after the completion of labor contract negotiations, and second, customers front-loading orders to avoid new tariffs,” said Griff Lynch, the ports authority’s president and CEO.
Savannah is the fastest growing container port on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts.
Meanwhile, intermodal cargo moving through the Port of Savannah also set an all-time record in March, with 52,645 containers moved by rail. The previous record of 52,446 rail moves was set in January 2021.
The Appalachian Regional Port in Northwest Georgia handled 3,566 containers last month, a huge 47% increase compared to March of last year.
by Dave Williams | Apr 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The General Assembly has given final passage to controversial religious freedom legislation limiting government intrusion into Georgians’ rights to exercise their religious beliefs.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) passed the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives 96-70 Wednesday night mostly along party lines. The measure, which originated in the Senate – sponsored by Sen. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth – cleared that chamber last month strictly along party lines.
The bill closely mirrors a federal RFRA Congress passed in 1993, said Rep. Tyler Paul Smith, R-Bremen, who presented the bill on the House floor. It became necessary when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that the law only applied to the federal government, he said.
Since then, 39 states have adopted RFRA laws that apply to their states as well as local governments, he said.
Smith said Senate Bill 36 is only meant to apply to actions by the government, not those of individual Georgians.
“This is not a license for private citizens to discriminate against private citizens,” he said.
But House Democrats argued the bill is just that: a license to discriminate against marginalized groups including non-Christians and LGBTQ Georgians. Attempts by Democrats to amend the bill in committee to add an anti-discrimination provision were shot down.
“Implementing a state-level RFRA without accompanying civil rights protections positions us to upset the delicate balance between safeguarding religious liberty and preventing discrimination,” said Rep. Inga Willis, D-Atlanta.
Legislative Republicans have led unsuccessful efforts to pass RFRA during past sessions. The closest they came was in 2016 when the General Assembly passed the bill only to have then-Republican Gov. Nathan Deal veto it.
Business groups campaigned actively against RFRA that year, warning the state would lose convention and tourist business if the law went into effect.
Rep. Stacey Evans, D-Atlanta, said other states that have passed RFRA laws have suffered the consequences.
“They have lost business. They have lost tourism. They have lost big games we all like to go to,” she said. “They have lost talent because young people don’t like this stuff.”
But Rep. Trey Kelley, R-Cedartown, said the legislation treats religious freedom the same as other rights enumerated in the Constitution, including the rights to free speech, a free press, and the rights to assembly and to petition the government.
“What this measure simply looks to do is codify the same balancing tests for our exercise of religious freedom that the other four First Amendment rights have,” he said.
Gov. Brian Kemp released a statement following Wednesday night’s vote indicating he will sign the bill.
“I have always maintained that I would support and sign a version of RFRA which mirrors the language and protections provided by federal law since 1993,” he said.
“My commitment to that promise and to the deeply held beliefs of Georgians of faith remains unwavering. I also want to assure those of different views that Georgia remains a welcoming place to live, work, and raise a family.”
by Dave Williams | Apr 2, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Legislation denying gender-affirming care to inmates in Georgia’s prison system gained final passage in the Republican-controlled General Assembly Wednesday after state House Democrats walked out of the chamber in protest.
Senate Bill 185, which the Senate’s GOP majority passed last month mostly along party lines, passed the House 100-2 and now heads to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature. The only two “no” votes came from Democrats Regina Lewis-Ward of McDonough and David Sampson of Albany, who remained inside the House chamber after their Democratic colleagues walked out as a group.
The bill prohibits using state tax dollars to pay for gender-affirming care for state inmates, including sex-change surgery and hormone-replacement therapies.
Before Wednesday’s walkout, Rep. Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners, who presented the bill on the House floor, said his constituents do not support taxpayer-funded gender-affirming care for Georgians who are behind bars in the state’s custody, which essentially would offer better health care to inmates than “law-abiding citizens” receive.
But Rep. Tanya Miller, D-Atlanta, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, accused Republicans of wasting time pushing the bill when only five state inmates have asked for such health care. The time spent debating such a narrow measure on the next-to-last day of this year’s legislative session ignores more pressing needs of concern to all Georgians, including education, health care, and public safety, she said.
“Our constituents sent us here to address serious pressing issues affecting their daily lives,” Miller said. “Yet, instead of addressing real problems, my colleagues in the majority party continue their extreme agenda.”
After the Democrats walked out of the chamber, Republicans criticized the protest as irresponsible.
“For the Democratic Party in the Georgia House to walk out of the House chamber instead of fighting for fiscal responsibility with (Georgians’ tax dollars) is an abomination,” said Rep. Trey Kelley, R-Cedartown.
“Elections have consequences,” added House Majority Whip James Burchett, R-Waycross. “Our folks in the state of Georgia have said this issue is important. Taxpayers do not want to pay for elective surgeries.”
Republicans also argued the bill provides exceptions to allow the state Department of Corrections to pay for “medically necessary” treatments, including for those inmates born with chromosomal abnormalities resulting in ambiguity regarding their biological sex.
Miller countered that the legislation represents an attack on Georgia’s tiny transgender community.
“Stop picking on people,” she urged her House colleagues. “Let transgender people live.”
by Dave Williams | Apr 2, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A leading safety technology solutions company will invest about $10 million in a new manufacturing plant in Smyrna, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday.
Georgia-based Flock Safety’s new facility will create 210 jobs during the next three years.
“In Georgia, we foster a business environment where innovative companies can get off the ground and grow into leaders in their industry while operating in safe communities,” Kemp said. “Flock Safety is a great example of the success that approach has created, and we’re proud to celebrate this milestone with them.”
Flock Safety was founded in Georgia in 2017 and currently supports more than 250 jobs in the state. More than 300 law enforcement agencies and 100 businesses in Georgia have deployed Flock Safety’s technology to reduce crime.
The company launched its Drone as First Responder system last year upon acquiring Aerodome, a leader in rapid response drones for public safety.
“We feel fortunate to have our roots in Georgia, the state that is undisputedly the leader in the American aerospace industry, and are proud to invest further by creating hundreds of advanced manufacturing and aviation jobs locally,” said Garrett Langley, Flock Safety’s founder and CEO. “Drone as First Responder technology stands to transform emergency response, and these made-in-America … drones will have a transformative impact on the local communities we aim to serve.”
The company has begun hiring for jobs at the new plant and expects to begin full operations in 2027. Interested individuals can learn more about working at Flock Safety and apply at www.flocksafety.com/careers.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce team worked on the project in partnership with the city of Smyrna, the Cobb County Economic Development office, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Georgia Power, and SelectCobb, a public-private partnership for economic development.
