by Dave Williams | Apr 23, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Metro Atlanta suffers the third-worst levels of ozone pollution, otherwise known as smog, in the Southeast, according to a study released Wednesday by the American Lung Association.
The group’s annual “State of the Air” report also ranks the Atlanta region fourth-worst in the Southeast for particle pollution, known colloquially as soot.
The new report measured air quality across the country from 2021 through 2023. It found that nearly half of the U.S. population live in areas with unhealthy levels of air pollution.
“Unfortunately, too many people in the Atlanta metro area are living with unhealthy levels of ozone and particle pollution,” said Danna Thompson, advocacy director for the lung association in Georgia. “This air pollution is a threat to human health at every stage of life – increasing the risk of premature birth and low birth-weight babies … causing or worsening lung and heart disease, (and) shortening lives.”
The lung association urged Georgians to support the work of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is being hit with budget cuts by the Trump administration.
“Without EPA staff and programs, Georgians won’t know what’s in the air they’re breathing, and efforts to clean up air pollution will be undone,” Thompson said.
The new report also ranked the Augusta area fourth-worst in the Southeast for soot, although the study also found that part of Georgia to be among the cleanest in the nation for smog.
Smog is worsening in the Savannah area, according to the report, dropping from “A” to “B.”
by Dave Williams | Apr 21, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp signed two tort reform bills Monday that supporters say should reverse a pattern of excessive jury awards they hold responsible for rising liability insurance premiums that are hurting Georgia businesses’ bottom lines.
Overhauling the civil litigation process in Georgia was the Republican governor’s top priority for the recently concluded 2025 General Assembly session.
“These two bills level the playing field in Georgia’s courtrooms and ensure our business environment remains the best in the nation,” Kemp said during a signing ceremony at the state Capitol.
Senate Bill 68, which House Speaker Jon Burns called the most comprehensive lawsuit reform in Georgia in nearly two decades, deals with issues involving trial procedure, including when plaintiff lawyers can argue for non-economic damages, when discovery can begin, and when lawyers on either side can request dismissal of a case.
But the legislation’s most controversial provision put new limits on “premises liability,” which governs when plaintiffs can sue business owners after suffering injuries during the commission of a crime by a third party outside the owner’s control.
To get enough legislative Republicans on board to pass the bill, the House amended the Senate measure to carve out victims of sex trafficking and their lawyers from the bill.
The Republican-backed Senate Bill 68 cleared both legislative chambers largely along party lines, with Democrats arguing it goes so far in shielding businesses from liability that it effectively will deny victims their day in court.
Kemp pushed back on that argument Monday.
“If you are wronged, you deserve to be made whole and can be,” he said. “This legislation protects that very right.”
The second tort reform measure, Senate Bill 69, is much more narrowly drawn and enjoyed bipartisan support, at least in the state Senate. It focuses on a growing number of lawsuits being financed by third parties where financiers who are not a party to a case pay the costs of pursuing litigation in exchange for a portion of any judgement a plaintiff is awarded.
Rather than abolish third-party financing, the bill puts in guardrails to protect plaintiffs entering into such arrangements. It passed the Senate unanimously but drew 42 “no” votes in the 180-member House.
Business groups praised the governor for getting behind tort reform this year, as did the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a a think tank that advocates free-market approaches to public-policy issues.
“These new laws will bring much-needed fairness and transparency to a system that has become costly and unpredictable,” said Kyle Wingfield, the nonprofit’s president and CEO. “Georgia has long been recognized as the best state in the nation to do business, and these reforms will help ensure it remains that way.”
by Dave Williams | Apr 21, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – State Sen. Jason Esteves announced Monday that he will run for governor next year.
The Atlanta Democrat was elected to the Senate in 2022 and is serving his second term under the Gold Dome. Before that, he spent nearly a decade as a member of the Board of Education for Atlanta Public Schools.
Esteves has made education, health care, and housing his top priorities in the Senate.
“As extreme politicians in Georgia push (President Donald) Trump’s reckless agenda and rig the system for special interests, Georgians pay the price,” Esteves said Monday in a prepared statement. “Now more than ever, we need to tackle the high cost of living, improve access to health care, protect women’s reproductive freedom, lower housing costs, and invest in schools across the state.”
Esteves is the first Democrat to enter the 2026 race to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, formed an exploratory committee last month to consider mounting a bid for governor. However, she announced several weeks later that she would suspend her campaign in order to care for husband, who is recovering from cancer surgery.
In the Republican side, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr launched his campaign for governor late last year. Other potential candidates for the GOP nod include Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
by Dave Williams | Apr 18, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Three cities and two local economic development authorities will receive more than $11 million in grants to help finance infrastructure improvements needed to service new housing.
The latest grant recipients through the state’s Rural Workforce Housing Initiative include the cities of Cairo, Hagan, and Swainsboro, the Douglas Coffee County Industrial Authority, and the Augusta Economic Development Authority.
Gov. Brian Kemp launched the program early in 2023. The grants are overseen by the state Department of Community Affairs’ OneGeorgia Authority.
“Georgia is experiencing rapid growth in communities across the state,” Kemp said Thursday. “With that growth comes a need to provide infrastructure for those filling the record-breaking number of jobs.”
Four of the five grants are for $2.5 million each. The city of Cairo will use the money to build road, water, and sewer infrastructure to support 180 new single-family homes on a 45-acre site.
Another $2.5 million grant will go to the city of Swainsboro for road, water, and sewer projects needed for a planned 47-unit subdivision.
The Douglas Coffee County Industrial Authority will build street, drainage, water, and sewer improvements to support 67 new homes on a 36-acre tract. The Augusta Economic Development Authority will build road, water, and sewer projects to support the construction of 55 single-family homes on 11.5 acres.
The fifth grant of just more than $1 million will go to the city of Hagan to help pay for street, drainage, water, and sewer infrastructure needed to build 29 single-family homes on six acres.
In each case, the cities and local utilities will contribute financially toward the various projects.
The General Assembly initially funded the program with $35.7 million, and subsequently added another $84 million in three installments.
“Housing Georgia’s talented workforce is crucial for the state’s continued economic growth and prosperity,” said Christopher Nunn, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. “The OneGeorgia Authority remains committed to helping communities with a vision implement their intentional workforce housing solutions.”
by Dave Williams | Apr 17, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia lawmakers will be focusing this summer and fall on some unfinished business left over from this year’s General Assembly session.
House Speaker Jon Burns Thursday announced the creation of three “blue-ribbon” study committees that will consider further reforms to Georgia’s election procedures and examine the state’s hemp policies and insurance rates.
“During the 2025 legislative session, members of the General Assembly considered a number of bills aimed at providing clarity on these issues that directly impact the lives of our fellow Georgians and the future of our state,” said Burns, R-Newington. “During the interim, these study committees will meet to gather the facts, hear from stakeholders, and determine a path forward for 2026.”
For the first time since 2020, when President Donald Trump claimed without proof that widespread election fraud had occurred in Georgia in that year’s presidential election, Georgia lawmakers did not approve major changes in the state’s election laws this year. The state House and Senate were unable to agree on provisions in a comprehensive election bill, and the measure died when lawmakers adjourned for the year early this month.
Likewise, legislation aimed at banning beverages containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the intoxicating component from hemp, did not make it past the finish line.
The study committee on insurance rates involves an issue the legislature did act on during the recently concluded session. Gov. Brian Kemp is scheduled to sign a comprehensive tort reform bill next week with restrictions on civil litigation aimed at curbing the rise of liability insurance premiums. The panel’s work could lead to recommendations for protecting consumers from predatory pricing to make sure Georgia’s insurance market operates fairly and transparently.
