by Ty Tagami | Aug 14, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
MADISON — A judge in Morgan County could set a precedent by forcing Georgia property owners who sued to halt development of a massive state-backed auto factory near their properties to pay for the other side’s legal costs.
The case involves the proposed Rivian electric automobile plant on a rural stretch near Social Circle off Interstate 20. Lawyers for Georgia and for a related quasi-governmental entity made their half-million-dollar demand in the local superior court Wednesday.
A half dozen local landowners sued the county in a bid to force compliance with local zoning.
They have been fighting a losing battle, in no small part due to the state’s unparalleled power as an entity that enjoys “sovereign immunity” from local ordinances, including zoning requirements.
The state bypassed the agricultural zoning for the 2,000-acre property by purchasing it, then leasing it to the Joint Development Authority for Morgan and nearby counties, which in turn leased it to Rivian.
Opponents of the plant say the state and authority are trying to silence dissent by going after the landowners’ pocketbooks for $344,000 in legal costs. Plant proponents say the state and the authority are trying to protect taxpayer dollars from frivolous lawsuits.
Near the end of the three-hour hearing, Morgan Superior Court Judge Stephen Bradley could not say when he would rule, let alone how. But he was sure of one thing: a ruling against the defendants would set a precedent in Georgia.
“I found no cases in which the state, as sovereign, obtained payment from citizens” for opposing a state action, he said.
Georgia law allows defendants, in this case the state and the authority, to recover legal fees from plaintiffs who file frivolous lawsuits. This suit was clearly frivolous because the state is not subject to local zoning and the plaintiffs knew that all along, said Charles E. Peeler, a lawyer contracted to represent the state.
“The motive is to delay, harass and stop the project,” he said.
Judge Bradley issued an initial ruling against the landowners several years ago, declining their request for a temporary restraining order on development of the Rivian project because, in his view, they had low odds of winning. The state Court of Appeals did not overrule him on that, and the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
But John A. Christy, who is representing the landowners in their lawsuit, said it remains an open question whether sovereign immunity applies when the state leases land to a developer. He told the judge that he had ruled that there was a “low probability of success,” not “no probability.”
Christy said the state was trying to “weaponize” the law that allows defendants to recoup attorney fees in frivolous cases, and he said a ruling against his clients would have “a chilling effect” on others considering a court fight against the state.
Bradley must rule not only on whether the plaintiffs must pay but also on how much.
The hearing featured attorneys for the state and for the authority taking the witness stand to explain their fees.
Peeler said his firm offered the state a “significant discount” by charging $625 an hour, which is nearly half his own hourly rate and well below the $1,400 an hour billed by another member of his firm who once served on the Georgia Supreme Court.
The state also got a good deal from recent hires at his firm, he said. A 2024 University of Georgia law school graduate and a 2023 Emory law grad both bill at more than $625 an hour, he said, eliciting a gasp from a woman seated near the front of the courtroom. “Lord have mercy,” she said.
Although Bradley did not indicate how he would rule, he did push back against an attorney for the authority, who had said the case was obviously frivolous from the start.
“I don’t know if I completely agree with you,” Bradley said, observing that the authority joined the lawsuit as a defendant for a reason. “If the result was so obvious, why did the JDA bother to intervene?”
Blake McCormack, chairman of the Morgan County Commission, said after the hearing that it would be a “travesty” if the judge made the plaintiffs pay; it would mean the “state used their tax dollars to fight against them,” he said.
He was shocked by the attorneys’ hourly fees.
“I’m not sure there are rocket scientists that deserve $1,400 per hour,” McCormack said. “That is crazy.”
An agent for the authority shared a statement by its board that ran in a local newspaper. “Citizens have the right to voice concerns,” the opinion piece said, “but when the legal system is weaponized to block a perfectly legal project, that is not a legitimate exercise of that right.”
Meanwhile, the Rivian project has been delayed.
The company paused development last year, then in January announced it had secured a $6 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy. Rivian said construction will begin in 2026, with its R2 and R3 models rolling out of the plant in 2028.
by Ty Tagami | Aug 12, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — A fifth state lawmaker has joined the campaign to become Georgia’s next lieutenant governor, with Rep. David Clark, R-Buford, announcing his candidacy Tuesday.
“I’ve been tested in combat and in the Capitol,” the Green Beret, who served in Afghanistan, says in an online ad, which begins with a voiceover about “a world on fire” that needs warriors, not politicians.
Clark’s announcement came one day after state Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, announced his own candidacy, becoming the third Republican state senator who has declared an intent to succeed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who is running for governor.
Clark and Tillery hit similar talking points in their announcements, from cutting taxes and illegal immigration to transgender issues. Two previously announced senators, both former members of the chamber’s Republican leadership — Sens. John F. Kennedy of Macon and Steve Gooch of Dahlonega — are also running on platforms aimed to appeal to President Donald Trump’s MAGA base.
Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, is also campaigning to be Georgia’s next lieutenant governor, the officer who presides over the Senate and fills in for the governor when absent. McLaurin, the lone Democratic lawmaker in the race, was a near-daily critic of Trump and his economic policies and defiance of court orders when the General Assembly met this year.
by Ty Tagami | Aug 11, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — President Donald Trump has endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’ bid to become Georgia’s next governor, siding with his long-time ally ahead of Jones’ fight next year for the Republican nomination against state Attorney General Chris Carr.
In a post on his social media platform Monday, Trump credited Jones as an early supporter who had worked “tirelessly” to help his presidential campaigns, and he said Jones had his “complete and total” endorsement.
Jones’ campaign heralded the message.
“From day one, I’ve fought to advance President Trump’s America First agenda right here in Georgia — and I’ve taken plenty of arrows from the radical left for doing it,” Jones said. “But just like President Trump, I don’t back down.”
The endorsement will likely give Jones an edge against Carr in the GOP primary where the president’s MAGA base has repeatedly proven influential. Trump won 85% of the vote in his own 2024 Georgia primary.
Jones also has a big lead in fundraising thanks to a special carve-out in state law for a handful of incumbents like himself.
He and Carr reported raising about $3 million from donors during the last campaign finance filing deadline in July, but Jones pulled far ahead by loaning his campaign another $10 million. As lieutenant governor, Jones can raise unlimited sums through a “leadership committee” allowed under a 2021 law.
That law gives no such advantage to the attorney general, and Carr sued last week in federal court over the way Jones had used his committee. The State Ethics Commission dismissed a similar complaint by Carr last month.
Several prominent Democrats have entered the race. The Democratic primary so far features former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, state Sen. Jason Esteves, and former DeKalb County CEO and state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond.
by Ty Tagami | Aug 11, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Another ranking Republican state senator has joined the wide open race to succeed Republican Burt Jones as lieutenant governor.
Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced his candidacy Monday. He touted his experience as a leader in crafting the state budget each year since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tillery will be campaigning in next year’s GOP primary against two former members of Senate leadership.
Sen. John F. Kennedy, R-Macon, stepped aside as president pro tempore of the Senate in June to run for lieutenant governor. The president pro tem presides over the Senate in the absence of the lieutenant governor, who is elected statewide.
Kennedy outranked Sen. Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, who entered the race in May and vacated the role of Senate majority leader.
The three share similar views on big political topics, from immigration to transgender issues to cutting taxes. Tillery will try to separate himself from his colleagues based on his opposition to one issue: “debanking,” something that President Donald Trump also has also opposed.
Trump signed an executive order last week against federal regulators promoting “policies and practices that allow financial institutions to deny or restrict services based on political beliefs, religious beliefs” and lawful activities.
Tillery carried Senate Bill 57 to prohibit debanking during this year’s legislative session. Most Republican senators, including Kennedy, voted against it, and it did not pass.
But Gooch voted for it.
Voters may have a hard time parsing these candidates based on policy.
“I know in the end, Georgians vote for the person they trust,” said Tillery, who flew to several cities around the state to kick off his campaign in person Monday.
Other Republican candidates include Jerry Timbs II of Griffin, who ran for Henry County Commission in 2016, and Takosha Swan of Conyers, who was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp to the board of the state Department of Veterans Service in 2019 after running unsuccessfully for the state House of Representatives.
Neither reported raising significant campaign funds — Swan with $1,500 and Timbs with no money as of the last campaign reporting deadline July 8.
They lag far behind the three GOP leaders — Gooch with $1 million, Kennedy with $819,000, and Tillery with $759,000.
State Sen. Josh McLaurin from Sandy Springs has raised the most among Democrats. He reported netting $118,000, far behind the Republicans but well ahead of the other Democrat, Richard N. Wright, with $20,000.
by Ty Tagami | Aug 8, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The closure of schools during COVID-19 caused a massive downshift in attendance as nearly one in four Georgia students simply stopped attending class, double the rate before the pandemic.
Fewer students are routinely cutting class now, but one in five were still deemed “chronically absent” last school year, meaning they missed 10% or more of the school year, typically 180 days.
The problem has caught the attention of state lawmakers.
“That’s 360,000 school children in our public school systems in Georgia that are chronically absent, meaning they are missing 18 days or more of the school year,” said Sen. John F. Kennedy, R-Macon. “They’re not going to learn to read. If they don’t learn to read, they’re not going to be literate. They’re not going to graduate, and they don’t have a chance at the Georgia Dream and the American Dream.”
Kennedy is leading a study committee on this “quiet crisis,” as he called it. That illustrates just how serious the Senate thinks it is. Kennedy was until recently the highest ranking senator but stepped down as president pro tempore to run next year for lieutenant governor, the statewide officer who presides over the Senate.
And the Georgia House of Representatives has its own study committee on the issue.
Many states and school leaders de-emphasized attendance during the worst of the pandemic. By the 2020-21 school year, 31 states and the District of Columbia had reinstated daily attendance-taking, but Georgia was not among them.
The state required attendance to be taken but not on a daily basis, the non-profit initiative Attendance Works reported in 2021.
Hedy Chang, the group’s executive director, testified to Kennedy’s fact-finding committee Thursday about how students are affected by chronic absence.
“They’re less likely to read by the end of the third grade, have lower achievement, even disciplinary issues in middle school,” she said. “They’re more likely to drop out, but it’s not just the academics that are affected; it’s educational engagement, social emotional development, executive functioning.”
Chang said these students affect other students when they are present, creating distractions and making it harder for teachers to keep kids on track. And absenteeism appears to be contagious, she said, with more students missing class by the end of a school year if they start class with students who were chronically absent.
There is a wealth of data about the impact of missing school, starting with academic performance.
In 2024, nearly half of Georgia students who took a Georgia Milestones test in English and math scored at least proficient, but only one in four chronically absent students made that mark in English and just one in five in math.
Chronically absent students are at greater risk of dropping out, which leads to unemployment, lower lifetime earnings, and even a shorter life.
A landmark study published last year found that completing a dozen years of school — about the equivalent of finishing high school — was associated with a 24.5% reduction in mortality risk compared with no education. That translates to a reduced mortality risk of 1.9% per year of education, said the Norway-based study published in The Lancet.
Likely reasons for better health outcomes were higher earnings, better health care, more health knowledge and other “social and psychological resources.”
Lawmakers were given multiple reasons for the increase in absenteeism.
Students are tired because they are working a job to help the family or are effectively raising younger siblings, in some cases because a parent died or was incapacitated during the pandemic. They are falling ill and lack health care. They cannot see or hear well and lack resources for health screenings.
Often students just lack necessities, said Carol Lewis, president and CEO of the group Communities in Schools, a non-profit with the mission of keeping kids in school.
“In one of our communities, it was something as simple as clean clothes, hygiene products, and you can almost track it to the time of the month,” Lewis told the House study committee at its first meeting last month. She added that many kids are still traumatized by the death of a family member during the pandemic.
Garry McGiboney, a former official with the Georgia Department of Education who volunteered his time to lead a statewide attendance study group, said bullying and other contributors to poor school “climate” discourage attendance.
“If students want to be at the school, they will find a way to get to the school,” McGiboney told the Senate committee. “If they want to be at school, it’s because they feel engaged. They feel like somebody cares about them.”
To some, all of this sounds like excuses.
Absenteeism results from “pure unadulterated failure to perform parental duties,” said O. Wayne Ellerbee, a Valdosta lawyer who served four decades as a Lowndes County juvenile court judge. It was a big problem when he became a judge in the mid-1970s, he said, so he implemented a simple solution: he required parents to appear in court after their child had three absences.
“They’d have a 12-, 13-year-old kid and they’d say, ‘Well, judge, I can’t keep up with them 24 hours a day.’ And I said, ‘Well, why in the hell did you have them?’ They would look at me like I was crazy, but they soon learned and soon adapted,” said the former judge, who is not part of the legislative study process but has read about it.
Ellerbee, who retired from the bench in 2012, said that when some of those kids grew up, they relayed to him what their parents had told them: “You got to go to school cause I ain’t going to court.”
He also blamed the schools. Kids who skip can be disruptive when they do attend, and that can be a burden on teachers and administrators, he said. “So they’re not too unhappy when the bad ones don’t come to school.”
But that’s old-school thinking to everyone who has testified so far at the House and Senate hearings.
“We started off using the hammer, which definitely did not work,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods told senators Thursday. Instead, educators should focus on building positive relationships with students, so they can learn why they are skipping school, he said.
“We don’t want to just mask the symptom,” Woods said. “We have to address the real root of the problem.”
That approach appealed to Steven Teske, the former chief juvenile court judge in Clayton County. Teske, who retired from the bench four years ago, led an interagency task force to address absenteeism for nearly two decades.
“I wanted to stop the traditional stuff where there were limited resources, you were put on a diversion plan to go to school, telling kids who aren’t going to school to go to school, which is stupid,” said Teske, who moved to Arizona and has not testified in these hearings. “We know there are issues much deeper that are driving these kids to not go to school. They really don’t give a damn about what an adult is telling them.”
Teske avoided punishing absent kids and their parents, but he said “restorative justice” wasn’t enough. He said he was impressed by an approach that seemed to be effective at one high-poverty high school in Clayton: feeding the kids after classes ended.
“I was just so amazed about the passion of these teachers that were staying there and helping the kids with their homework and feeding them,” he said. “I mean, bringing in Chick-fil-As and stuff like that. Kids didn’t want to go home.”
People who did testify said the state should expect to spend money to address absenteeism. Georgia schools need more social workers, more nurses and other interventions, such as screenings for vision and hearing, lawmakers were told.
Dan Sims, the Bibb County School District superintendent, shared an anecdote with senators that crystallized the challenge. He visited a single mom of four whose fifth grade son, a “cherished” student, had gotten into trouble with the law.
During his 15 minutes with her, one child came down the stairs asking for food, another had a question about the next day and another interrupted the conversation, too, all before the boy, who was outside playing, had returned home.
“I sat and watched her face and the stress that was in her body in that moment,” he said. “And she even mentioned to me, ‘Dr. Sims, it’s just me.’ “
