by Ty Tagami | Feb 5, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Legislation that seeks to expose librarians to criminal prosecution for loaning the wrong books to children has resurfaced at the Georgia Legislature.
Senate Bill 74 passed the Senate last year, the first half of the biennial legislative session, and now it is advancing through the House.
The senator sponsoring the bill said library books have become a controversial topic in the area he represents, which is between Augusta and Savannah.
Constituents complained, so he investigated and decided that it was wrong to exempt librarians from the law.
“The objective is simple: protect children from harm,” said Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania. He said he knows his legislation is controversial, given the volume of comment on both sides of the issue before it passed the Senate last year. More than a couple dozen spoke again both for and against the measure during public comment about it this week.
“I have a hard time understanding why people oppose protecting children,” he said.
Georgia law makes it a crime to knowingly give minors any material for reading, listening or watching that is deemed to be “harmful” to them in a sexual way.
Librarians are exempted from prosecution for the crime, which is categorized as a “high and aggravated” misdemeanor. Punishment can include up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine. One library director testified that such a reputational stain would also cost a librarian his or her license to work.
Burns’ bill advanced after a close partisan vote from a House subcommittee Tuesday and is set for a hearing by a full House committee Thursday. It could soon get a vote on the House floor.
Burns has tweaked his bill since last year, leaving librarians shielded when they can demonstrate that they tried to have questionable material submitted for review.
Proponents of the measure say they want “pornography” to be inaccessible to children.
“Kids are being exposed to pornography at such an early age,” said Mike Griffin, lobbyist for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. This drives them to commit sexual abuse against peers, he testified Tuesday. “It’s so very important that we deal with limiting this type of access because it’s creating perpetrators.”
Other faith-based advocacy groups back the bill, too.
Lucia Frazier, who described herself as a “simple mom,” said children were being exposed to what she saw as “immoral” books in schools.
“I don’t think the curriculum should even have anatomy,” she said. “There is a level of conservatism that we need to go back towards. I think we’re way out of line.”
One critic of the legislation labeled it “authoritarian.” Retired middle school librarian Susan McWethy said those who favor it want to impose their morality on everyone else, with librarians caught in the middle.
Children need access to reliable information about difficult topics such as addiction, gender dysphoria and sexuality, she said, and it is the responsibility of librarians to provide it.
“But somehow I feel these very topics will be under attack by the censorship police,” she said, “placing librarians in impossible situations — whether to follow their professional expertise or capitulate to others who have narrow agendas and want to foist their ideologies on everyone else.”
The legislation maintains the shield from prosecution when librarians are “not aware” that harmful material was available in their library.
But Mike Cooper, a trustee of the DeKalb County Public Library system, worried that an “overzealous” prosecutor would assert that an accused librarian must have been aware.
How does a librarian defend themselves, he wondered, using the venue — a roomful of lawmakers in the Capitol — to drive his point home.
“Librarians do their best to survey the materials they have,” Cooper said, “but they can’t read every word and every book just as I’m sure you don’t know every word in every piece of legislation approved under the Gold Dome.”
The bill’s supporters said it would be the responsibility of the state to prove an accused librarian was guilty of knowingly distributing harmful material to minors.
But Rep. Esther Panitch, D-Sandy Springs, who voted against the measure, said librarians would have to produce evidence of their ignorance.
She asked Cooper a rhetorical question: “Are you aware of any society where banning books has resulted in anything good?”
This prompted Rep. Rob Leverett, R-Elberton, a member of the same legislative subcommittee, to say that he did not think the legislation said anything about banning books.
“Now admittedly,” he added, “it does require you to undertake a greater qualitative review than I think most librarians are comfortable making.”
by Ty Tagami | Feb 3, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — After six lengthy hearings around the state last year, a special legislative committee studying the elections process has recommended incremental changes to Georgia’s voting system.
The study committee chaired by Rep. Tim Fleming, R-Covington, who is running for Georgia secretary of state, recommended Monday that the state use hand-marked paper ballots during the general elections in November.
But there is a twist: the recommendation by the Republican-led panel says QR codes should be allowed to remain on ballots, which critics contend are a security risk because only the counting machines, not voters themselves, can read them.
“The legislation should require all ballots that contain a QR code of any kind to be hand-counted for the purposes of official tabulation,” the committee’s report says. “Scanner tabulation of QR code ballots is for unofficial results only.”
The committee also recommended that the General Assembly add money to the fiscal year 2027 budget to buy a new voting system.
The group also recommended that the legislature allow the committee to continue meeting through the end of this year.
That did not sit well with Kelvin King, another candidate for secretary of state whose wife, Janelle, is a member of the state election board.
The secretary of state oversees elections. The state election board sets election rules and investigates claims of fraud.
King asserted in statement Tuesday that the current voting machines are insecure. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has defended the system’s integrity. Dominion Voting Systems, the company that makes the machines, won hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements with media outlets, including Fox News, over false claims that the machines led to a rigged 2020 election.
by Ty Tagami | Feb 2, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Legislation to ban cellphones in Georgia public high schools is advancing quickly, with a unanimous vote in favor at a first hearing Monday.
The school day ban outlined in House Bill 1009 would take effect in fall 2027, a year after a similar ban for kindergarten through middle school that lawmakers passed last year.
Although the mandatory lower grades ban does not go into effect until next fall, many schools, including some high schools, have voluntary implemented it ahead of schedule.
“The early data shows us that the bill’s been life changing,” Rep. Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners, said in an interview after a subcommittee passed his bill on for review by the House Education Committee. “Test scores are up, social interaction is up and fights are down. So it’s been a huge success, and we look forward to building on that success with nine through 12.”
The voluntary early implementation in some schools has given researchers such as Julie Gazmararian an opportunity to measure the impact.
The professor of epidemiology at Emory University was involved in a survey released last month that found 71% of responding Georgia parents wanted the K-8 cellphone ban extended to high schools.
The 29% of parents who opposed a high school ban were mostly concerned about being disconnected from their child during a school emergency, said the survey by the Rollins School of Public Health.
Other surveys have found similar support from teachers and even students.
Gazmararian testified in favor of HB 1009 Monday, telling lawmakers about consistent positive effects, such as reports of fewer disciplinary referrals.
Early data suggests reduced tardiness, too, she said in an interview after the hearing.
“We’re seeing in the cafeteria (that) kids are talking more to each other,” Gazmararian said. “And teachers feel like, in the classrooms, students are more engaged and less disruptive.”
by Ty Tagami | Jan 31, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Federal prosecutors have charged another Georgia lawmaker with making false statements to fraudulently obtain thousands of dollars of pandemic unemployment assistance.
Rep. Dexter Sharper, D-Valdosta, was arraigned on Friday on charges of making false statements to obtain $13,825 in unemployment assistance benefits to which he was not entitled, according to U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg of the Northern District of Georgia.
Sharper had filed federal forms during the pandemic asserting that he had one employer, Dexter Sharper Party Rental, and had not worked since March 13, 2020, filing certifications during the next 38 weeks that he had no income, Hertzberg’s office said.
But prosecutors said he was receiving at least $325 a week from the Georgia General Assembly, generating up to $2,231 in income a week from his party rental business, and collecting up to $275 a week for work as a musician.
Sharper is the third Georgia state representative accused of defrauding the COVID-19 unemployment program.
Former Rep. Karen Bennet, D-Stone Mountain, pleaded guilty in federal court to making false statements to fraudulently obtain $13,940 in federal emergency relief, Hertzberg’s office said earlier this month.
And Rep. Sharon Henderson, D-Covington, was charged in December with making false statements to obtain $17,811 in unemployment benefits to which she was not entitled. Henderson pleaded not guilty. Gov. Brian Kemp suspended her from office last week pending the outcome of her case or the end of her term.
by Ty Tagami | Jan 30, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Some lawmakers have been working under Georgia’s Gold Dome long enough to remember when the place reeked of cigarettes.
Although no one openly smokes there today, lawmakers seem to have an abiding aversion to legislation to curb tobacco use, specifically a tax increase.
Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, took his oath of office in 1997. The white-haired pharmacist has personal reasons to abhor cigarettes, and he has been introducing legislation against tobacco since his hair was black.
But some mysterious force has always undermined his efforts.
He and a fellow Republican who chairs the House Public and Community Health committee have been tilting at a tobacco windmill for most of their legislative careers, and they have little to show for it.
After numerous hours invested last spring and summer in a study committee that underscored the dangers of tobacco use, they feel defeated.
“I don’t know why anything related to tobacco has trouble getting through,” said Rep. Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, the public health committee chairwoman who also led the smoking study committee.
It is not as if the risks of smoking are a secret.
The report written by their five-member study committee makes that plain. It starts off by noting that the resolution passed by the full House to establish the committee had recognized that smoking “harms every organ” in the body.
The report then summarized facts gathered during three hearings: cigarette smoke can produce more than 7,000 chemicals, including ammonia, formaldehyde, lead, mercury and uranium-235. It can cause, among other things, cancer, heart and lung disease, type 2 diabetes, eye diseases, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Both Stephens and Cooper have personal motivations, as well.
Stephens’ sister-in-law died last summer, due, he said, to the effects of smoking. For years, she had been confined at home, tethered to an oxygen bottle. He said his father smoked as a teen and got lung concern later in life, which cost $5,000 a month to treat.
Cooper’s half-sister died in her 30s, and the lawmaker always suspected it was due to secondhand smoke exposure from her chain-smoking stepmother.
As a licensed nurse, Cooper said she had witnessed the damage. “I’ve seen lungs blackened over years of smoking,” she said.
Both also spoke of the resulting financial burden for taxpayers.
“You’re going to get sick, usually when you’re older and on Medicare or Medicaid,” Stephens said, “so then the public bears the cost.”
Yet nothing concrete has come of the hours they spent on their study committee. The discussion during the hearings suggested a clear direction: legislation to raise the tax on cigarettes.
Georgia’s cigarette excise tax has not changed since 2003. At 37 cents a pack, it is the second lowest in the nation, behind only Missouri. By comparison, New York charges $5.35 per pack, and Indianna increased its tax by $2 a pack in 2024, lifting it to $2.99.
Stephens was not surprised to learn that the American Lung Association had yet again given Georgia a failing grade. This week, the organization released its 24th annual “State of Tobacco Control” report.
Georgia got an “F” in all five categories related to curbing tobacco use. The association recommended that lawmakers increase the state’s cigarette tax by at least $1.50 per pack. It said studies show that every 10% increase in the price of cigarettes reduces consumption by about 4% among adults and about 7% among youth.
The association said tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death and disease nationally and claims 11,690 Georgia lives each year.
Rep. Michelle Au, D-Johns Creek, was not surprised by the failing grades.
“We’ve been five Fs for a long time,” said Au, a medical doctor and one of two Democrats on Cooper’s study committee.
Dr. Au observed something unusual for a study committee report. “It is denuded of policy recommendations,” she said. “We were told in the process that we could not include policy recommendations.”
She said she asked House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, who had empaneled the study committee, why it was given such instructions.
“And he said (it was) because there were such strong feelings on either side of the issue that he felt that the best approach would be to just present the facts,” Au said. “Of course, I did notice that basically every other study committee does present policy recommendations.”
Indeed, one of the three study committee meetings focused on policy recommendations, she said. “So, it is a conspicuous omission.”
A spokeswoman for Burns’ office said he had instructed the committee to present “the entirety” of the data and testimony gathered by the committee “so that the General Assembly’s future legislative initiatives could be informed and guided by the facts.”
Republicans control both the state Senate and House, so only bills promoted by Republicans tend to become law.
But those two GOP representatives who have been tilting at tobacco for years said they were moving on to other issues this year.
Stephens, who chairs the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee, is instead focusing on bread-and-butter issues for the bustling region he represents. His area is booming due to increased shipping traffic at its ports and the new Hyundai Metaplant, not to mention the visitors flocking to the coast and Georgia’s charming and oldest city, Savannah.
He said he would put his limited time this year into promoting tourism and managing growth “rather than introduce another bill that that won’t go anywhere.”
And Cooper is concerned about recreational use of the drug Kratom and the anesthetic ketamine.
The longtime lawmaker, sworn in the same year as Stephens, has watched a succession of lawmakers parade through the Capitol, including several House speakers. She remembers when smoke wafted through the air and left an awful smell on the faded blue curtains. She also has not forgotten the spittoons and carpet stains.
All that may have faded away, but the resistance to taxing tobacco has endured, Cooper said.
“There just doesn’t seem to be an appetite from members of the legislature for that to move,” she said. “It is the mystery of the century. I would like to know before I die, if we ever find out, what’s causing the resistance to it. They slip through taxes on other stuff.”
