by Ty Tagami | Apr 2, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia’s Senate Republicans passed multiple changes to state election law Wednesday after rushing amendments into a bill from the House of Representatives.
The overhauled House Bill 397 would remove the State Election Board from oversight by the elected secretary of state, giving the board custody of investigative reports and communications between the secretary and local election superintendents.
The Senate passed the bill 33-23, voting along party lines.
The 22-page bill would also prohibit dropping off absentee ballots after the advance voting period, which Democrats said would suppress voter turnout.
“We want segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever,” said Sen. Randal Mangham, D-Stone Mountain.
Republicans countered that the measure was needed to further secure elections, noting the large turnout last year.
“This protects the integrity of our elections,” said Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania.
Fellow Republican Sen. Rick Williams of Milledgeville said the measure was necessary to prevent “popup” voting sites like he said had occurred in Cobb County.
The measure has many other provisions, such as changing where poll watchers have access on election night, amending the timing for special elections and withdrawing the state from a multistate partnership that helps maintain voter list accuracy.
This all prompted Sen. Jason Esteves, D-Atlanta, to call it a “Frankenstein whack-a-mole” bill.
Because HB 397 was amended by the Senate, it must return to the House for final passage.
by Ty Tagami | Apr 2, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The families of teachers killed in mass shootings and other violent acts at school would get double the money under legislation that has passed both chambers of the Georgia General Assembly but still awaits final approval after some changes.
House Bill 105 passed the state Senate unanimously on Wednesday after unanimous passage by the Georgia House of Representatives. However, an amendment by the Senate means it must return to the House for final approval.
The bill seeks to double to $150,000 the compensation to loved ones when teachers and other public school employees are killed “in the line of duty.”
This would put indemnification for teachers in parity with that of police officers killed on the job.
It’s an acknowledgement of the growing risk of violence in schools.
“This is in response to the tragedy at Apalachee High School,” said Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia, who presented the bill on the Senate floor.
Two teachers and two students were killed in the mass shooting at Apalachee High last September, with nine others injured.
The amendment that needs House approval adds a requirement that the State Board of Workers’ Compensation inform injured police officers when they are eligible to apply to a fund that covers the difference between full pay and workers compensation while recovering.
Workers’ comp covers two-thirds of their pay, said Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough. He said Gov. Brian Kemp agreed to the amendment to HB 105, which Strickland characterized as one of the governor’s bills.
by Ty Tagami | Apr 1, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Proponents of religious freedom gathered in the Georgia Capitol Tuesday to pressure the state House of Representatives to vote on a measure that would limit government intrusion into actions based on religious beliefs.
Opponents say religious rights are not under attack and that Senate Bill 36 would make it legal to discriminate against people under the banner of faith.
Proponents say religious freedom has been seriously infringed in other states and could be a problem in the future in Georgia. They have cited two cases in this state — one involving a student who wanted to hand out religious literature on a college campus and another involving a college counselor who was disciplined for asserting that her religious rights were compromised by having to advise LGBTQ students.
The Senate passed SB 36 along party lines in March. A committee of the House of Representatives then passed it, over the opposition of Democrats and one Republican.
The legislation has not come up for a vote on the floor of the House, and the 2025 legislative session ends Friday.
“It’s time to move, now,” W. Thomas Hammond, Jr., executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, said Tuesday, with supporters arrayed behind him on the marble steps of the state Capitol.
The bill is being sponsored by Sen. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, who said Georgia should join 39 other states with a Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
“We’re the only Republican-led state in the nation that does not have this protection,” Setzler said after Hammond spoke.
Critics of SB 36, including fellow Republican Rep. Deborah Silcox from Sandy Springs, have noted that Georgia is one of a few states lacking a comprehensive civil rights law that protects against discrimination in public spaces, workplaces or housing.
The federal Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Many states have expanded civil rights protections to also prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or both.
Eighteen cities and counties in Georgia have non-discrimination ordinances. Silcox and Democrats said SB 36 would pre-empt such local laws, and they pushed for language in Setzler’s bill they said would counterbalance religious interest.
Setzler opposed the amendment, saying SB 36 would not override local non-discrimination ordinances and that establishing a statewide non-discrimination law was a separate policy discussion.
Setzler explained Tuesday that he also opposed the amendment because the non-discrimination language was a “Trojan horse” that would “exempt” the religious protections in SB 36. If someone were to raise a non-discrimination claim, he said, the religious freedom protections wouldn’t apply if Silcox’s language had been added.
SB 36 seeks to prohibit government intrusion into the exercise of religion except in cases involving a “compelling government interest.”
Silcox’s amendment would have added that the government’s interest includes “protecting persons against discrimination on any ground prohibited by federal, state or local law.”
On Tuesday, Rep. Stacey Evans, D-Atlanta, refuted Setzler’s assertion. In an interview after he spoke, Evans, who had voted for the Silcox amendment, said religious freedom protections can co-exist with protections against discrimination against LGBTQ+ people.
“If Senator Setzler was not interested in using this RFRA bill to discriminate against Georgians,” she said, “he would have no problem with an anti-discrimination amendment to the bill.”
At this point, it is up to the House Rules Committee to decide whether to put SB 36 to a vote of the whole House. Should the committee withhold the bill when the House gavels to order on Wednesday and Friday, it would remain in play when lawmakers return next year, but it would be sidelined for the remainder of this year.
Asked for comment about the pressure campaign to bring SB 36 to a vote, a spokesperson for House Speaker Jon Burns, a Republican from Newington, texted this statement:
“There are several issues that the House will consider over the next two legislative days, and as always, we’ll focus on prioritizing policies that matter most to our fellow Georgians.”
by Ty Tagami | Apr 1, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Legislation that would regulate an alternative method for disposal of the dead is on its way to Gov. Brian Kemp.
The Georgia House of Representatives on Monday adopted Senate Bill 241 by a vote of 157-4. The Senate had already approved the bill in a near unanimous vote in early March.
SB 241 was brought to the legislature by Sen. Rick Williams, R-Milledgeville, who is in the funeral home business.
“It’s just human composting,” he explained in a hearing about the measure several weeks ago, a hearing that was ripe with quips about the “Breaking Bad” bill and a 1950s song called “Dry Bones.”
But Williams said his measure was important for community safety and for the dignity of the deceased. He referenced a recent case in Colorado where remains were not properly disposed of, creating a health hazard.
Williams said properly composted corpses produced safe and hygienic soil that could be returned to families to use as they choose, including in the garden.
by Ty Tagami | Mar 31, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Georgia legislature threw its support behind legislation that would make it easier for defendants in death penalty cases to avoid execution by proving that they have an intellectual disability.
The House of Represenatives approved House Bill 123 by a vote of 150-3, minutes after the Senate passed it 53-1. The bill, which now goes to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature, would reduce the burden of proof for intellectual disability to a “preponderance” of the evidence rather than the current standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” It would also establish a pre-trial hearing process where the determination could be made rather than requiring it to be made during the guilt phase of a trial.
A convicted defendant could still be sentenced to life in prison. But the Senate amended the bill by adding “without possibility of parole.”
The House had approved the measure by a unanimous vote in early March but had to vote again Monday after the Senate made changes.
