by Ty Tagami | Aug 27, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — A generation of children are reaping what the technology industry sowed when it merged smartphones with social media, and the results have spurred calls for regulation.
That is what motivated state senators on Wednesday to hold the first of a series of hearings about the impact of social media and artificial intelligence on children and what to do about it.
The bipartisan committee was authorized by Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Republican running for governor. He backed a new law that sought to limit social media companies’ access to children, but it is tied up in court.
So children remain targets for social media platforms and application designers, said several experts and lawmakers who spoke at the hearing at the Capitol.
The committee is jointly helmed by a Democrat and a Republican. The Democratic co-chair, Sen. Sally Harrell, D-Atlanta, opened the meeting with an anecdote about raising her own kids as “guinea pigs” in the new technology environment, and how they had become glued to their devices.
It disrupted family dinners and caused them to lose interest in going outdoors and reading books, she said. But the impact she saw was comparatively minor: three people testified Wednesday that their children committed suicide because of social media.
Sharon Winkler said her son left a note explaining why he had taken his own life: he had gone to an online platform for solace after a breakup with his girlfriend but was instead met with bullying.
“We have to hold these technology companies accountable,” Winkler said.
The question is how.
Georgia’s General Assembly has already tried. The Protecting Georgia’s Children on Social Media Act sailed into law with broad bipartisan support last year. It was a top priority for Jones, but tech companies sued and have stopped the measure for now.
A federal judge for the Northern District of Georgia ruled in June that the industry-backed plaintiff in the case was likely to prevail on claims that the law violates the First Amendment’s speech protections.
The plaintiff, a group called NetChoice, represents a who’s who of social media companies, including Instagram, YouTube and X. The group contended the law went too far by requiring everyone to prove their age and identity to access their platforms, forcing adults to turn over personal information.
The law required companies to “make commercially reasonable efforts” verify users are at least 16 — or obtain parent consent. It also regulated advertising to children.
Experts who testified Wednesday said rulings by other courts suggest a path forward, with several saying states have the authority to require companies to set privacy defaults at the strictest level rather than making them wide open from the start. Parents generally are too busy or lack the knowhow to fiddle with such settings, they said.
Winkler was among many who testified that tech companies face no significant regulatory limits on application and platform designs that addict children, even toddlers. The lawmakers were given copies of the 2024 book, “The Anxious Generation,” by psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who dissects such designs and the resulting impact.
The committee will meet several more times through the rest of this year before formally recommending new legislation. Harrell said the next meeting, on Sept. 17, will offer a detailed look at age-verification laws and explore regulatory approaches to “manipulative” algorithms.
Her co-chair, Sen. Shawn Still, R-Johns Creek, said the issue was non-partisan, which makes some kind of legislation likely.
“It’s a societal issue,” he said, “and we’ve got to solve this together.”
by Ty Tagami | Aug 27, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — When Georgia lawmakers asked what they could do to make the lives of educators a little easier, they got a predictable response: stop telling us what to do, especially if you will not pay for it.
The first hearing Tuesday of a House study committee on reducing mandates for public school administrators revealed concerns about an old law that mandates high-stakes testing, an even older state funding formula that has not kept up with costs, and two new laws.
The Early Literacy Act passed two years ago is an unfunded mandate that has forced school districts to cut back in key areas to pay for teacher retraining and new curriculum, said Mack Bullard, the superintendent in Twiggs County.
Technology does not get upgraded, he said. Fine arts, clubs and sports that keep students connected to school get cut. Safety improvements and facility repairs get skipped. And teachers do not get paid a competitive salary, leading to attrition.
“Every dollar we redirect to cover an unfunded mandate is a dollar that we take away from another essential service,” Bullard told the panel, which convened in Warner Robins for a livestreamed meeting.
There were also complaints about Georgia’s Quality Basic Education funding formula from the 1980s. It pays an average $18.75 per day for substitute teachers in Houston County, said Chris Brown, the deputy superintendent there. The $17,452 per year for secretaries does not cover their health insurance, which exceeds $22,000 annually, let alone their pay, he added.
Brown also pointed to the 2024 law giving students a $6,500 annual voucher if they leave a public school to attend a private one.
Those private schools do not have to face the same accountability measures as public schools, Brown said.
Rep. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, leads the committee. He said the concerns deserve further discussion. He said the next hearing will be Sept. 29.
by Ty Tagami | Aug 26, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
FLOVILLA — Lt. Gov. Burt Jones held his first gubernatorial campaign event Tuesday at a state park south of Atlanta, touting his endorsement by President Donald Trump, his record in the Senate of promoting conservative legislation and his background as a businessman.
The evening event at Indian Springs State Park in Butts County featured several Republican state senators, and a former senator — Brandon Beach. Trump plucked him from Georgia earlier this year and made him U.S. Treasurer.
Beach made it abundantly clear that Trump had endorsed Jones, whom he described as a job creator.
Jones “loves Georgia, he loves his family, he loves and respects law enforcement, but what he really loves is capitalism,” Beach said, which elicited whoops and cheering. “He wants you, your kids and your grandkids to pursue the American dream.”
Jones, who lives in Jackson with his wife Jan and their two teenaged children, said state government would have a business-oriented “Chick-fil-A type” service mentality under his leadership.
He said he started businesses inside his family’s Jones Petroleum company after college, before entering politics. He used that background to knock his competition, saying he was the only candidate who had risked money to make money and who had signed employee paychecks.
“They have all been at the government trough their entire careers,” he said.
Jones is campaigning for the GOP nomination against Chris Carr, the state attorney general, who is running on a tough-on-crime agenda.
Carr has aligned himself with Trump’s MAGA base and with traditional GOP orthodoxy, threatening the administration of then-President Joe Biden against any COVID vaccine mandate, joining other attorneys general from Republican-led states in challenging a Biden administration rule governing coal and gas plant emissions and siding with Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in a State Election Board dispute between Republicans and Democrats.
But Jones holds an ace card with the recent Trump endorsement, which seemed likely given Jones’ persistent support of the president and his assertions about election fraud. Jones was investigated for a possible criminal violation after he joined Beach and others as “alternate electors” after Trump’s 2020 loss, but a special investigator exonerated Jones.
Jones is also pursuing a traditional Republican line in vowing to eliminate Georgia’s income tax. He created a study committee that featured testimony this month from longtime GOP anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist.
Whoever wins the Republican primary next year will go on to face the Democratic nominee in the November election.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is running on a record of managing the city during the pandemic and is pitching Medicaid expansion. State Sen. Jason Esteves of Atlanta, a former Atlanta school board member, has made education, health care and housing top priorities. And former Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond, the only Democrat in the race who has won statewide, is campaigning on his relationships with lawmakers from both parties as a former state representative, saying he also wants to expand Medicaid.
The Georgia Democratic Party issued a statement ahead of the event accusing Jones’ leadership of putting rural hospitals in financial jeopardy due to high insurance rates and a tax code “that rewards billionaires, big corporations, and whoever the latest lobbyist was to buy somebody a steak and a bourbon. … In Burt Jones’ Georgia, it’s Donald Trump and his billionaire friends first, Georgia families last.”
Jones countered at his event that bureaucratic rules make it difficult to open new hospitals, and he said he has worked against those rules as lieutenant governor.
Successful election campaigns cost money, and the Republicans came out of the gate with a major lead. Carr and Jones raised about $3 million apiece — three times what Bottoms and Esteves each raised as of the last reporting period in early July. (Thurmond had not entered the race yet.)
But Jones has a tremendous legal advantage that allows him to pull in unlimited funds, and he loaned himself another $10 million. Carr has made an issue of Jones’ use of his “leadership committee,” a special entity enjoyed by a handful of incumbents and primary winners under a 2021 state law.
As attorney general, Carr does not get a leadership committee, though he would if he were to win the Republican nomination. He recently sued Jones in federal court over the committee after losing a similar complaint to the State Ethics Commission.
by Ty Tagami | Aug 25, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — An Army captain faces up to a decade in prison after pleading guilty to the theft of expensive equipment from Fort Stewart.
Jacob Suenkel, 32, of Richmond Hill, admitted in court that he stole skid-steer loaders, trailers, generators, a tractor and other valuable equipment from late 2024 through May, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia said Monday.
Suenkel then marketed the items for sale on social media, prosecutors said. The Richmond Hill Police Department assisted with the investigation.
“Suenkel betrayed not only the U.S. Army, but also the trust placed in him by the American people,” said Ryan O’Connor, special agent in charge of the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division for the Southeast.
In addition to prison for theft and sale of government property, Suenkel’s sentence could include a quarter-million-dollar fine. He agreed to a discharge with an adverse characterization of service, which will result in a loss of veterans’ benefits.
Fort Stewart was the site of a mass shooting earlier this month, when Sgt. Quornelius Radford, 28, allegedly opened fire with a personal handgun. No one was killed but five were injured before nearby soldiers tackled and subdued him.
by Ty Tagami | Aug 25, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The list of candidates who want to be Georgia’s next attorney general keeps growing, with another Democrat entering the race.
State Rep. Tanya F. Miller of Atlanta announced her candidacy outside the Gold Dome Monday.
The former chief senior district attorney in Fulton County, now in private practice, said she will focus her campaign on crimes of exploitation, such as predatory lending and human trafficking.
“For too long, this office has prioritized Washington, D.C., politics over the wellbeing of Georgia’s 159 counties. As your attorney general, my priority will be putting you and your family first,” Miller said.
She is among a growing field of candidates vying for an open seat currently held by Republican Chris Carr, who is running for governor.
Miller’s speech targeted Carr and President Donald Trump more than her competitors — two Republican lawmakers and a former Democratic lawmaker.
Last month, former House Minority Leader Bob Trammell became the first Democrat to announce his candidacy. Miller must face him in next year’s primary election. If she wins, she will be up against a Republican in the general election.
Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, a lawyer who chairs the state Senate’s Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee, was the first to enter the race. He was followed by Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, a lawyer who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Cowsert had reported raising the most money as of the last campaign finance reporting deadline in early July, collecting $531,000 against Strickland’s $435,000. Both Miller and Trammell have registered their intent to raise money but neither has filed a contribution report yet.
Cowsert chairs a committee that has been investigating Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. The state Senate granted his committee authority to expand the scope to include groups founded by former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
Cowsert also sponsored legislation to give his committee subpoena powers. It passed the Senate and the House of Representatives after bitter partisan debate, with one leading Democrat labeling it “authoritarianism.” Gov. Brian Kemp then signed it into law.
Strickland was the chief co-sponsor of legislation that sought tax credits for parents of young children, but the legislation did not pass. Lawmakers instead approved a general tax credit of between $250 and $500, which Kemp also signed.
Trammell grew up in Luthersville in Meriwether County and served as county attorney there. He was also the top Democrat in the state House, as minority leader from 2017 until 2021.
Miller was sworn in to the state House in 2023 and was elected chair of the House Democratic Caucus last year. She said she has taken on child abusers, rapists, murders, insurance companies and “greedy” corporations and “slumlords.”
“I will be guided by law, not politics, by principle, not polls, and by the people, not the powerful few,” she said.
