by Ty Tagami | Oct 29, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The stalemate in Washington could cause gnawing hunger for more than a million Georgians starting Saturday, when federal funding for low-income food subsidies, informally referred to as food stamps, runs out.
The administration of President Donald Trump has said the government shutdown will cut off money for the program that feeds an estimated 1.4 million Georgians, many of them children.
With Gov. Brian Kemp saying he has no plans to intervene, the only backstop for empty bellies will be private philanthropy, likely to be stretched thin.
Kemp, a Republican, has resisted calls by Democrats to use the state’s more than $14 billion in reserves to offset the disruption of the federal program, which enables recipients to use government debit cards to buy groceries.
The two parties have been waging a public perception war, hoping voters will attribute the pain caused by the budget impasse to the other side.
The fighting had been focused on the federal government and on members of Congress, but now Democrats are trying to localize the brinksmanship.
State Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes, D-Duluth, said she was not politicizing the issue when she held a press conference at the Georgia Capitol Wednesday to demand that Kemp call a state of emergency and deploy the state’s financial reserves to feed the poor.
“Food is not optional. This is not about politics. This is about children eating dinner,” Parkes said, before introducing her former colleague, Jason Esteves.
Esteves, who resigned from the Senate last month to focus on his Democratic campaign for governor, then reiterated Parkes’ demand.
First, he introduced himself.
“My name is Jason Esteves and I’m running to be the next governor of the state of Georgia,” he said, “because Georgians deserve better leadership than they’re getting at this critical moment.”
Esteves noted that many recipients in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are low-income workers, such as cooks and cashiers, nursing aides and farm hands.
Kemp has not changed his position from late last week, when news of the disappearing SNAP funding became public. A spokesman said the governor was “continuing to echo” a Tweet from his office on Friday, when Kemp called the federal logjam a “Schumer shutdown.”
It was a reference to Sen. Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat and minority leader of the Senate who has orchestrated numerous votes to defeat a continuing resolution that would temporarily fund the federal government — and restore SNAP funding.
Republicans have been pointing to Democrats’ votes against that resolution as the reason for the lengthening shutdown.
Democrats say they would approve the resolution if Republicans would vote to renew expiring tax credits for Americans who get their health insurance through the market established by the Affordable Care Act.
Premiums are expected to skyrocket next year. Georgians are beginning to realize the personal impact with open enrollment set to begin Saturday, the same day that SNAP funding ends.
Parkes brought a food pantry CFO to speak with her at the Capitol. Alicia Rivera, of Feeding GA Families, said the East Point-based organization with 31 satellite locations across the state had seen 25% to 50% more food requests by families.
Rivera expects Thanksgiving to be difficult.
Parkes also brought Rachel Kent, an unemployed, college-educated single mother on SNAP.
Kent blasted Trump, Kemp and Republicans generally, saying people born with “sliver spoons in their mouths” cannot comprehend how dire things will soon be.
Kent said afterward that she was invited to speak after contacting Parkes’ office because she was offended by depictions of SNAP recipients on social media.
“Not everybody on food stamps is fat and lazy,” she said. “I can’t get a job. I’m trying to. It’s been hard.”
Kent predicted that America could soon resemble the country during the Great Depression in 1929, with people “starving in the streets, protesting.”
by Ty Tagami | Oct 28, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Voters in the Lawrenceville area will fill an empty seat in the Georgia House of Representatives Tuesday, in the first of several elections to address recent vacancies in the General Assembly.
The election to replace Shelly Hutchinson, the Democratic state representative from Snellville who resigned in September, features three candidates.
Two are Democrats: Muhammad Akbar Ali, a graphic designer from Lawrenceville; and Marqus A. Cole, an attorney from Snellville.
Jamie Parker, a realtor in Gwinnett County, is the only Republican in the contest.
Ali raised more than $40,000 for his campaign, according to a report filed with the state Monday. That far surpassed the $5,300 Parker reported raising in a filing Monday. Cole reported in September that his campaign had brought in $4,200, all from himself. That was the most recent report available from him.
Ali’s donors included several Democrats in office, including U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson. The minority leader in the state House, Rep. Carolyn Hugley, D-Columbus, also gave him money, along with a couple other state lawmakers in Gwinnett County.
Hutchinson, who previously held the seat, also gave Ali money from her own campaign funds.
Two weeks later, voters in west Atlanta and Smyrna will pick a successor for former state Sen. Jason Esteves, who resigned last month to run for the Democratic nomination for governor.
Four Democrats, one Republican and an independent are competing in that Nov. 18 special election.
Some of the Democrats have held office before. Roger Bruce is a former state representative, and Dr. Jaha V. Howard, a dentist, served on the Cobb County school board.
A campaign finance report was available for only one of the candidates. Republican Joshua Tolbert reported raising more than $13,000, nearly all from $3,300 donations by three entrepreneurs in Alabama and Florida.
Also in the race are independent Corenza Morris and Democrats Erica Denise Solomon and John Daryl Williams.
Three weeks after that election, voters in Cherokee County will select a successor for Mandi Ballinger, a Canton Republican who died earlier this month.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Tuesday afternoon that the special election to fill her vacant seat in the House will be held Dec. 9.
Not yet scheduled is the election to select a successor for Rep. Marcus Wiedower, R-Watkinsville, who announced his resignationTuesday morning.
by Ty Tagami | Oct 28, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Another Georgia lawmaker is stepping down, bringing to four the number of vacancies in the House and Senate.
Rep. Marcus Wiedower, R-Watkinsville, announced Tuesday that he is resigning after six years in the House because the company he works for is growing rapidly. The expansion will require more travel and would take him away from the Capitol during the legislative session, he said in a statement.
“While I’m stepping away from elected office, I look forward to remaining actively involved in our community and continuing to help tackle Georgia’s most pressing challenges, especially attainable housing through my work at Hillpointe,” he said.
The real estate development and investment management firm, headquartered in Winter Park, Fla., was operating in one state six years ago, when Wiedower joined the company as the lone external affairs employee, Wiedower said. It has since expanded to 13 states, and he said he now oversees dozens of employees, consultants and contractors.
Wiedower served as chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government, among other assignments.
House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, said a special election will be called to elect a successor for House District 121 in Clarke and Oconee counties. Voters must also appoint a successor for Shelly Hutchinson, a Democrat from Snellville, who resigned from House District 106 in September, and for Mandi Ballinger, a Canton Republican who died earlier this month, leaving House District 23 unrepresented.
The Senate also has a vacancy after Atlanta Democrat Jason Esteves resigned from Senate District 35 last month to focus on his campaign for governor.
Voters just filled another Senate vacancy, electing Jason Dickerson to succeed Republican Brandon Beach in District 21 after Beach left office to become U.S. Treasurer. Dickerson, R-Canton, swore his oath of office Oct. 14.
by Ty Tagami | Oct 27, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — People who take a train from the suburbs to downtown Atlanta for a ball game or a concert will soon encounter new fare gates updated for the smartphone era.
MARTA announced Monday that it is installing new contactless fare equipment. New MARTA cards will also be tappable, and the target will be clearer than with the old gates, the agency said. Also coming, a new smartphone app for payment, which should make it easier for occasional riders to use a mobile wallet.
Regional partners, including CobbLinc and Ride Gwinnett, will also be adopting the “Better Breeze” fare collection system in coming months.
New equipment is already being installed, but MARTA said it will not be ready to transition customers from the current 19-year-old Breeze system until spring.
The refresh is part of the transit system’s plans to accommodate soccer fans during next year’s World Cup matches in Atlanta.
Fare prices will remain unchanged, at $2.50 per ride.
“It’s great to keep fares unchanged for years, but not an entire fare collection system,” said MARTA Interim General Manager and CEO Jonathan Hunt.
In coming years, travelers should also be able to drive to MARTA — and anywhere else in Georgia — without a traditional wallet or purse. State lawmakers passed House Bill 296 last winter. It will allow drivers to present a digital license when stopped by police.
The law, which took effect in July, gives police until July 2027 to acquire the necessary equipment (basically, a government-authorized smartphone) to scan a digital license on a phone.
by Ty Tagami | Oct 24, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Doctors gave Jennifer Conforti’s little girl powerful drugs to help her live with profound autism.
Abby, who is 15 now, was 3 when she was taking benzodiazepines to help with her reactions, such as biting the skin off her arm, Conforti said. The drugs were not helping, she said, and after Abby had to be restrained at school, Conforti decided to break the law.
She figured out how to source marijuana and break it down into a concentrate in her kitchen, she told lawmakers at the Georgia Capitol last month.
A decade ago, lawmakers passed a medical cannabis law that lets patients on a state registry obtain low-THC oil.
That helped, said Conforti, but she testified that patients need a product with higher levels of THC — the intoxicating psychoactive agent in marijuana — and in more forms than oil, for instance, vape products or the flower from the plant itself.
“People are still breaking the law to get the type of medicine that they need for the people they want to help,” she said.
But lawmakers have also heard from medical experts who spoke of the dangers of using THC, including an increased risk of psychosis, heart attack and pancreatitis.
It has also been associated with a higher risk of suicide and death, said Dr. Elizabeth McCord, who is trained in internal medicine and psychiatry. She teaches at a public safety net hospital in Atlanta that she disclosed to a reporter but said she didn’t want broadcast publicly during her testimony Friday, the last of four legislative hearings about medical marijuana and hemp products.
Marijuana use can reduce brain volume and permanently reduce IQ in children, she said.
There is not much research on the effects because of the challenges of studying users of a Schedule 1 drug, especially children, McCord said. Because of that, she told the lawmakers, “The word ‘medical’ cannabis is really misleading.”
Members of the legislative study committee have been squeezed by impassioned people on both sides of the debate, from those who want freer access to those who want something close to prohibition, at least for children.
Absent clear and compelling research, the lawmakers will have to chart a path forward based on anecdotes and tangential data, such as testimony from a poison control official about the explosion of childhood visits to the emergency room after Congress legalized intoxicating hemp products in 2018.
The legislative panel has been gathering information since the summer and concluded its hearings Friday.
House Speaker Jon Burns empaneled the Blue Ribbon committee after pandemonium broke out around the issue of THC regulation during the legislative session last winter.
The Senate had rejected a measure to increase the legal limit for THC in medical cannabis and had pushed back with an attempted crackdown on the consumable hemp industry, even trying to ban hemp beverages.
Members of the House meanwhile had talked of expanding sales locations for hemp beverages and of the benefits of medical cannabis.
Lack of an extensive body of research is only part of the problem. The other is the complexity surrounding two different yet essentially identical products under different regulatory schemes: THC from hemp and THC from marijuana.
Hemp is a close cousin of marijuana. The latter is still illegal at the federal level, but in 2018 Congress allowed hemp consumable products containing 0.3% THC by “dry weight,” a measure that has caused some confusion.
The prospect for profit drove innovation and now there are ample hemp-derived products on the market, from gummies to vape liquids. They are widely available, including at gas stations.
This has led to general confusion about the difference between the two categories.
Micah Gravley, a former Republican member of the state House who helped pass Georgia’s medical cannabis law, testified last month that a woman with cancer could not get on the state cannabis registry because her condition was not yet end stage.
“Well, can I just go to the Shell station down the road,” he said she asked him. “I saw that they had some stuff and I could use that, couldn’t I?”
He said a parent of a child who could benefit from marijuana would still find it easier to buy illegal product on the street than obtain “pharmaceutical grade lab-tested safe medical cannabis” from one of the six licensed providers in Georgia.
Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, is a member of the committee who was sympathetic with Gravley.
“We know that the doctors can’t prescribe because the doctors are absolutely petrified to deal with it,” Powell said. “They might step across the line with DEA or some of their pharmaceutical licensing because it’s still illegal” at the federal level.
Meanwhile, the less constrained hemp products industry has been engineering intoxicating products with an expanding menu of ingredients.
The state Department of Agriculture enforces compliance with legal limits, but local law enforcement and justice officials have testified about obtaining products from gas stations and hiring private labs to test them, finding routine violations.
Gregg Raduka, founder of Georgians for Responsible Marijuana Policy, noted that many new derivatives from hemp plants are not even regulated. He held up a bottle of gummies on Friday that he said he bought at a vape shop in Woodstock.
He noted that the state only regulates “Delta-9” THC per the 2018 federal law, then he read the ingredients on the label: “D8, D9, D11 THC, THCP — which preliminary research shows is at least five times as strong as Delta-9 THC — THD, THCB, THCX.”
At a prior hearing in September, Gaylord Lopez, executive director of the Georgia Poison Center, said his agency had received 1,900 calls since 2022 about children eating hemp edible products, many of them winding up in a hospital emergency room.
He complained about “loopholes being exploited by dorm room chemists” and of a proliferation of intoxicating products causing problems in the health care industry.
“My 10-year-old niece could walk into a gas station and buy these products,” he said. “It’s just heartbreaking.”
Yet, on Friday, the panel heard from another mother who vouched for the healing power of THC. Corey Lowe said her daughter, now 24, suffers from seizures. She was diagnosed with an incurable mitochondrial disease and Lowe said doctors told her she would not live past adolescence. Lowe obtained a nasal cannabis spray with high levels of THC that she said provided instant relief from the seizures. She credits marijuana with extending her daughter’s life.
“Medicine is why we still have her today,” she said, adding that both of her parents have advanced cancer and have benefitted from marijuana use too. “It’s because of the whole plant, full plant medicine,” she said, asking for expanded legal access to marijuana.
Rep. Mark Newton, R-Augusta, is the chairman of the study committee. A medical doctor, he said members of the panel want to consider options besides THC oil in the medical cannabis program.
But he wrapped up the final hearing by noting the challenge of crafting legislation that could satisfy a majority at the Capitol.
