by Ty Tagami | Apr 4, 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.
The House of Representatives voted unanimously Friday to approve the Senate’s changes to House Bill 105 and send the bill to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature.
The measure would 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 after two teachers and two students were killed in a mass shooting at Apalachee High last September, with nine others injured.
The Senate amendment that needed House approval added 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 only two-thirds of their pay, said Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, adding that Kemp had agreed to the amendment to HB 105, which Strickland characterized as one of the governor’s bills.
by Ty Tagami | Apr 3, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – After lengthy debate that plumbed the depths of racism in American history, Georgia’s Senate Democrats were unable to convince their Republican colleagues to drop legislation that would ban preferential treatment in public colleges and schools based on race and other factors.
With this year’s legislative session ending Friday, Republican senators were rushing their measure through. They had commandeered a bill from the House of Representatives that would have given teachers a couple more days of sick time, and they had converted it into a vehicle to financially punish educational institutions that embrace diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI.
The overhauled House Bill 127 then passed the Senate after nearly two hours of debate that started late Wednesday and ended moments after the clocked ticked to midnight.
The 33-21 vote fell along partisan — and racial — lines, sending the bill back to the House for a possible vote on final approval before lawmakers go home for the year.
HB 127 would allow the state to withhold funding from colleges and schools that have policies, procedures, training, programming, recruitment, retention or activities with preferential treatment based on race, color, sex, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity or sexual orientation. Colleges could also lose federal funding that is administered by the state, including for scholarships, loans and grants.
The bill would prohibit colleges endorsing “a particular, widely contested opinion referencing” words such as “allyship,” “cultural appropriation,” “gender ideology,” “heteronormativity,” “unconscious or implicit bias,” “intersectionality” or “racial privilege.” It also targets “Antiracism,” a noun coined by Ibram X. Kendi, author of the book “How to be an Antiracist” that was published during President Donald Trump’s first term.
“If you believe that discrimination in any form is wrong, then this legislation aligns with making sure discrimination does not happen in any form,” said Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania, who authored SB 120, then plucked the language from his stalled bill and pasted it into HB 127.
The debate on the Senate floor had Democrats accusing Republicans of paying homage to Trump, who issued several executive orders against DEI soon after returning to the presidency in January.
The interaction exposed raw emotions, at times breaching the customary decorum of the Senate.
After Burns, who is white, explained his bill, he stood for questions, the first coming from Sen. David Lucas, D-Macon, who is Black.
When Lucas rose to speak, Burns greeted him as “my good friend.”
Lucas responded: “You used to be my friend.”
Lucas noted that they were both old enough to have lived through segregation and the civil rights movement, saying he was “appalled” that Burns had “the unmitigated gall” to bring his measure to the Senate floor.
“I came from the ’60s, and you’re old enough to know what happened back then,” Lucas said, referring to segregated restrooms, water fountains and waiting rooms at train stations, all manifestations of the virulent racism of that time. “And now you have the nerve to come in here with this mess. You’re drinking Trump Kool-Aid.”
Other Republicans did not rise to speak for the measure. But last week, at the Senate committee meeting where Burns presented his version of the confiscated HB 127, Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, said the move was necessary because DEI had morphed into “neo-Marxist” ideology that had “infected” the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech. It “squelches” academic freedom, he had said.
On the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Derek Mallow, D-Savannah, said the opposite of DEI was uniformity, inequity and exclusion, suggesting that this was the intent of HB 127. “Hitler did not want diversity,” he added. “He wanted uniformity.”
Democrats introduced amendments designed to mock what they saw as the core message of HB 127 by clarifying that evolution is scientific fact, that slavery was a major cause of the Civil War and that the Holocaust “occurred.”
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who presides over the Senate, ruled the amendments out of order and dismissed them, causing Democrats to assert that Republicans were afraid to debate them.
An appeal ensued, and Democrats lost that motion, but they tried eight others to keep the clock ticking, saying they would fight against HB 127 until they had exhausted all maneuvers allowed by the Senate’s rules.
They took the Senate on a tour of American racism, from its founding when Black people were enslaved, through the Civil War and the marches for civil rights and up to the murder of Ahmaud Arbery five years ago, and the legislature’s resulting repeal of an antiquated citizen’s arrest law that his white killers had used as justification for apprehending and shooting him.
The Republican majority patiently voted down each motion, until calling the final vote for passage.
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.”
