by Ty Tagami | Feb 19, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — A fixture in the leadership of Georgia’s House of Representatives will step down when her term ends this year, declining to run for re-election after nearly a quarter century in office.
Rep. Jan Jones, R-Milton was first elected to the House in 2002. In 2010, her fellow representatives voted to make her the speaker pro-tempore then re-elected her to that post every term after. It made her second in command and the most powerful woman in a legislative body that has 180 members when all seats are occupied.
House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, said he and his wife count Jones as a friend, and he described her as an accomplished leader.
“Jan’s 16-year tenure in House leadership reflects the abiding faith and admiration her colleagues have for her,” Burns said in a statement Thursday. “She will close her career in the General Assembly with a long record of accomplishments but also a long list of great friends, including me and Dayle.”
Jones served as speaker pro tem under both Burns and former Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, who died in 2022. She served briefly as speaker after his death, until the House selected Burns for that role in 2023.
Jones developed a reputation as a detail-oriented tactician who could get key bills passed into law. She said in a statement that she will miss her colleagues and the work, adding that she was “incredibly proud” of educational policies enacted during her tenure.
Under Gov. Brian Kemp, the General Assembly restored recessionary cutbacks to public school funding and raised teacher pay. Jones also led on expanded access to pre-kindergarten, bolstering charter schools and putting more tax dollars into private school education.
Jones shepherded Senate Bill 233, The Georgia Promise Scholarship Act, through the House in 2024. It established $6,500 a year in direct state funding for each K-12 student who switches from a low-performing public school to a private school or home school.
The measure established what is commonly known as a voucher program. It faced concerted opposition from public school advocates who were concerned about the shift of state funding from public to private education.
It was so controversial that it failed on the House floor in 2023, when some Republicans allied with the vast majority of Democrats who opposed it. But Jones rallied and got the measured passed in a close vote the next year.
Jones was known as an advocate for “parent choice” in education, a position that she said had been good for the economy and would inform her legacy.
“Conservative leadership has given Georgia the best business climate in the country,” she said, “and these investments in our workforce will keep us at the top for years to come.”
by Ty Tagami | Feb 18, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — A Republican activist and former employee of a family-run financial firm accused of bilking mostly conservative investors out of millions of dollars could face criminal prosecution after the Georgia Secretary of State’s office referred his case to a local prosecutor Wednesday.
Edwin Brant Frost V, former chairman of the Coweta County Republican Party, was also fined $500,000 by the state agency in connection with his alleged actions at First Liberty Building & Loan.
Frost is the son of the firm’s founder, Edwin Brant Frost IV.
“First Liberty misappropriated investors’ funds by failing to use investor funds as it represented to investors,” said the order issued by an assistant commissioner for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
The agency referred its investigative file for potential prosecution to the Coweta County district attorney and sent it to the Georgia Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire, where Frost V holds an insurance agent license, according to the order.
Frost V’s lawyer, Christopher J. Huber, said his client denies the allegations.
“The Secretary of State did not provide him an opportunity to address his baseless accusations before rushing to judgment and to the press,” Huber said by email.
The Coweta district attorney’s office had no immediate comment. The insurance commissioner’s office did not immediately respond to queries about the case.
Frost V is accused of interacting with investors without the required registrations as a broker dealer agent and as an investment adviser representative. The secretary of state’s order also said he failed to disclose risk to investors and made unsuitable recommendations while personally profiting by investing in loan agreements that he then solicited to investors.
The order said he received $47,000 in bonuses and $88,000 in commissions and was receiving $4,000 a month from First Liberty by November 2023.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused First Liberty of operating a Ponzi scheme with investor funds, saying in a lawsuit last year that the company and Frost IV had raised at least $140 million from about 300 investors, funneling at least $5 million to the family and more than $570,000 to political contributions.
Raffensperger, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, last year called on recipients to return campaign contributions from First Liberty and the Frost family.
by Ty Tagami | Feb 17, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers are again targeting corporate landlords in a bid to address housing costs during an election year when voters are concerned about affordability.
“I have a grave fear that we are becoming a nation of renters and not homeowners,” said Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, who is running for lieutenant governor.
Regular home buyers do not have the deep pockets to compete with institutional investors when trying to buy a home, he said. His solution is Senate Bill 463, which would cap corporate ownership at 500 single-family rental homes.
A Senate committee passed his measure Tuesday despite industry opposition.
SB 463 would allow tenants and other aggrieved parties to sue if they found that a corporation was in violation of the ownership limit. Dolezal said that would skirt constitutional challenges against state overreach with direct enforcement.
But Austin Hackney, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Georgia, still questioned whether that would pass legal muster.
The use of lawsuits rather than state enforcement is “walking a constitutional tightrope” rarely seen in legislation, Hackney said, adding it “is a strong indicator that that the right to private property is on the chopping block here.”
A critic representing Realtors said they oppose the bill because it would affect “mom and pop” Georgia landlords who had amassed “generational wealth” through real estate.
Current owners of more than 500 homes would be held harmless by the legislation.
The bill also targets foreign owners because, Dolezal said, “we are trying to prevent foreign entities from buying American homes that we believe should be for American families to own.”
The measure now moves to the full Senate. The House already has similar legislation.
House Bill 555 sought to limit companies from having an ownership interest in more than 2,000 single-family residences or 10 multifamily residences in Georgia. A House committee approved it last March despite constitutional concerns. It has not had another hearing.
The issue has become bipartisan.
Lawmakers passed a more limited measure into law last year that was led by a Democrat. House Bill 399, by Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, required out-of-state investors, such as hedge funds, to have a local broker and property manager for their Georgia rental properties.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat who is fending off a Republican challenge for his seat, launched a public inquiry last spring into the way corporate landlords treat tenants.
by Ty Tagami | Feb 17, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Georgia’s main electric power monopoly filed requests with state regulators Tuesday to set new billing rates for customers that will recover the cost of storm-related repairs and adjust for changes in fuel prices.
The company said its new rate requests will “protect customers from future fuel price volatility” by locking in prices for future supply while also reducing bills. The company burns coal and natural gas to make electricity that it transmits to customers.
Hurricane Helene lashed Georgia in late 2024, causing major losses for agriculture and other sectors. Georgia Power said nearly $800 million of the $912 million in storm damage it wants to bill customers for over the next four years was caused by Helene.
Georgia Power is allowed to pass on recovery and fuel costs to customers, but it must have permission from the Georgia Public Service Commission, the elected body that regulates utilities.
So the company filed documents with the agency that make the case for adjusting its billing rates. It said favorable fuel costs would benefit customers.
“If approved, expected fuel savings will be more than enough to offset storm costs resulting in a 1 percent rate decrease for the average retail customer, and savings of approximately $1.32 per month for the typical residential customer using an average of 1,000 kWh per month,” Georgia Power said in a statement.
by Ty Tagami | Feb 17, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — A Republican incumbent on the Georgia Public Service Commission announced Tuesday that she will not stand for reelection, just months after two Democrats ejected two GOP incumbents with decisive electoral victories.
Tricia Pridemore, appointed in 2018 and up for reelection this year, announced on social media that she was considering a run for Congress rather than for another term on the agency that regulates monopoly utilities such as Georgia Power.
“This decision comes after deep reflection and with profound gratitude for the honor of serving our great state,” she said in her statement.
Pridemore voted in December with the rest of the five-member PSC to approve a controversial 10 gigawatt expansion for Georgia Power, mostly to serve anticipated demand from data centers.
Among the other four members who voted with Pridemore were Republicans Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson. The pair had lost their seats in November to Democrats Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard, who powered their way to upset victories by channeling frustration over the cost of living.
Both Republicans had voted in recent years to approve a series of utility rate increases that hit voters’ in the pocketbook.
When the two new Democrats succeeded the two outgoing Republicans last month, the GOP was left with a one-vote margin. Pridemore’s decision to stand down, leaves the future balance of power uncertain.
The commissioners must live within their PSC district, but they each stand for election statewide.
Pridemore said she was considering a run for the northwest metro Atlanta U.S. House seat held by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, a Republican who recently announced that he will not be running for reelection.
