ATLANTA – Georgia Commissioner of Labor Bruce Thompson announced Friday he has been diagnosed with an advanced stage of pancreatic cancer that has spread to his liver.
Thompson vowed to remain in office while he fights the disease.
“While we wait on a final prognosis for chemotherapy, I can assure you I will continue to be who I have always been – a fighter,” he wrote in a news release.
“I will continue to fulfill my duties as labor commissioner throughout this time and will work with my highly professional and qualified staff to ensure Georgia citizens are served with uninterrupted excellence.”
Thompson, a Republican from Cartersville, was elected labor commissioner in 2022. Before that, he served five terms as a state senator in a district that included Bartow and Cherokee counties and parts of Cobb County.
At various times, he chaired the Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee, the Science and Technology Committee and the Veterans, Military and Homeland Security Committee.
Thompson asked that Georgians remember him and his staff in their prayers.
ATLANTA – A Fulton County Superior Court judge ruled Friday that Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis may continue prosecuting the election interference case against former President Donald Trump.
However, Willis may remain only if Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to handle the case , steps down, Judge Scott McAfee declared in a 23-page ruling Friday morning. Wade handed in his resignation from the case several hours later.
McAfee found that a romantic relationship between Willis and Wade did not constitute an actual conflict of interest, as lawyers for Trump and seven of his codefendants alleged. But the judge ruled the relationship responsible for an “appearance of impropriety.”
“Whether this case ends in convictions, acquittals, or something in between, the result should be one that instills confidence in the process,” McAfee wrote toward the end of the ruling.
“A reasonable observer unburdened by partisan blinders should believe the law was impartially applied, that those accused of crimes had a fair opportunity to present their defenses, and that any verdict was based on our criminal justice system’s best efforts at ascertaining the truth. Any distractions that detract from these goals … should be proportionally addressed.”
Willis’ romantic relationship with Wade was made public in a motion filed in January by a lawyer for Michael Roman, a Trump campaign official charged with the former president and 18 others with participating in a conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
The motion sought to disqualify Willis from the case because of the relationship and alleged financial benefits she received from Wade, including several trips they took together.
Willis acknowledged the relationship but argued it did not constitute grounds for her removal. At an evidentiary hearing before McAfee two weeks ago, both Willis and Wade testified she reimbursed him with cash to pay for her share of the trips.
In Friday’s ruling, McAfee found the defendants failed to meet their burden of proof of an actual conflict of interest. But he wrote that the appearance of a conflict was enough to infect “the current structure of the prosecution team.” In doing so, he gave Willis two options.
“The District Attorney may choose to step aside, along with the whole of her office, and refer the prosecution to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council for reassignment,” McAfee wrote.
“Alternatively … Wade can withdraw, allowing the District Attorney, the Defendants, and the public to move forward without his presence or remuneration distracting from and potentially compromising the merits of this case.”
Friday’s ruling came two days after McAfee dismissed six of the 41 counts against Trump and several co-defendants. The judge declared the charges legally defective, including the count accusing Trump of pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the 11,780 additional votes he needed to carry Georgia over Democrat Joe Biden.
ATLANTA – The state Senate passed legislation Thursday making significant reforms to Georgia’s Certificate of Need (CON) law governing hospital construction and medical services, over the objections of some Democrats who called for Medicaid expansion.
Senate supporters said the bill, which passed 43-11, represents middle ground between doing nothing to improve access to quality health care – especially in rural Georgia – and repealing the CON law entirely.
“We are trying to help rural health care in areas that are getting insufficient medical treatment,” said Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, chairman of the Senate Regulated Industries Committee. “We call them health-care deserts.”
The Georgia House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the bill last month, sending it over to the Senate.
The measure would exempt proposals to build hospitals in rural counties from having to obtain a CON from the state Department of Community Health – often a cumbersome, multi-year process – if they plan to have a full-time emergency room, accept psychiatric and substance-abuse patients, participate in Medicaid, provide indigent care, and agree to feature a training component.
The bill also includes provisions aimed at helping specific hospital projects. A provision allowing rural hospitals that have been closed to reopen without a CON would allow the reopening of a closed hospital in Cuthbert, Cowsert said.
Another provision exempting a proposed hospital in southern Fulton County from having to get a CON would pave the way for a facility to replace the Atlanta Medical Center, which closed its doors in 2022. The new hospital would serve as a teaching facility for the Morehouse School of Medicine, Cowsert said.
The legislation also would exempt new obstetrics practices as well as birthing centers from the CON law and would raise the state’s rural hospital tax credit from an annual cap of $75 million to $100 million.
Some Democrats who supported the bill said they did so only as a first step toward expanding Georgia’s Medicaid program through the Affordable Care Act, as 40 other states have done.
“Without Medicaid expansion, we’re depriving a lot of these new facilities of customers and, quite frankly, of income,” said Sen. Harold Jones, D-Augusta.
“CON reform is needed,” added Sen. Jason Esteves, D-Atlanta, who voted against the bill Thursday. “[But] CON reform alone will not solve our health-care issues in Georgia.”
But Cowsert urged his Senate colleagues not to “let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” He said a state commission the bill would create to examine how Georgia can improve health-care access would include Medicaid expansion on its agenda.
The Senate amended the House version of the bill to guarantee Democrats two seats on the commission.
“It you want to make progress on health care in Georgia, this is the vehicle to do it,” Cowsert said.
The bill now moves back to the House to consider the changes made by the Senate. It could end up in a joint House-Senate conference committee to work out a final version of the legislation during the waning days of this year’s General Assembly session.
ATLANTA – A controversial private-school vouchers bill squeaked through the Georgia House of Representatives Thursday.
The bill, which would provide vouchers worth up to $6,500 to help students in low-performing public schools transfer to a private school, passed the Republican-controlled House 91-82, the minimum number of votes needed to win passage in the 180-member chamber.
The legislation next must return to the state Senate, which passed it last year, because House Republican leaders have made a number of changes to the measure.
Some of the House changes are aimed at limiting the voucher program’s financial impact on the state’s general fund budget. It prohibits spending more than 1% of Georgia’s Quality Basic Education (QBE) fund on vouchers, a cap that is currently set at $140 million a year.
In a bid to steer the vouchers to low- and middle-income Georgians, only students in families earning no more than 400% of the federal poverty limit – currently $120,000 a year for a family of four -would qualify for the program. The cap would be increased only if the General Assembly puts more money into vouchers.
“What you have before you is a responsible piece of legislation that will enhance the educational options we give children,” House Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones, R-Milton, told her House colleagues. “I have rarely encountered regular citizens who wanted fewer options.”
House Democrats argued that private-school vouchers aren’t the way to help the 90% of Georgia students attending public schools they said are underfunded despite the state having fully funded the QBE for six of the last seven years.
“Fully funded does not equal sufficiently funded,” said Rep. Saira Draper, D-Atlanta.
“Vouchers are simply the defunding of public education,” added Rep. Miriam Paris, D-Macon. “Our focus should be to strengthen public schools.”
Rep. Debbie Buckner, D-Junction City, said vouchers would not help students in rural Georgia because there aren’t many private schools in rural counties. That was the reason a group of rural House Republicans cited in defeating the bill on the House floor last year.
But Jones said 79% of Georgia students live within 10 miles of a private school.
Rep. Todd Jones, R-South Forsyth, pushed back on the notion that offering private-school vouchers would cripple public schools financially. He said Georgia’s public schools have $6 billion in reserves.
“To suggest there’s not enough cash to make targeted investments is intellectually dishonest,” he said.
The House version of the bill also includes a number of provisions unrelated to vouchers. It would codify all teacher pay raises lawmakers have approved since 2019, Gov. Brian Kemp’s first year in office, which have increased teacher salaries by $6,500 per year.
In a move to increase enrollment in pre-kindergarten classes, the legislation also would let public schools use state capital construction funds to build new pre-k facilities.
The bill would take effect during the 2025-26 school year and expire at the end of June 2035.
ATLANTA – Republicans in the General Assembly Wednesday revived a private-school vouchers bill that failed on the final days of last year’s legislative session.
The House Education Committee passed Senate Bill 233, which would provide vouchers of up to $6,500 for students attending low-performing public schools.
Gov. Brian Kemp endorsed the legislation during his State of the State address to the General Assembly in January, and House Speaker Jon Burns urged committee members at the beginning of Wednesday’s meeting to approve it.
“We will not let our children continue to be trapped in failing schools,” said Burns, R-Newington.
The state Senate’s Republican majority passed the vouchers bill last year during the waning weeks of the legislative session, voting along party lines. But the measure fell short in the House when 16 Republicans joined Democrats opposed to diverting funds from public schools in voting against it.
Burns said those GOP opponents have provided feedback since last year that has led to changes to improve the bill.
For one thing, only parents earning 400% or less of the federal poverty limit would qualify for private-school vouchers for their children, said House Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones, R-Milton. Currently, that amounts to an annual income of $120,000 or less for a family of four, she said.
Also, the $6,500 limit on vouchers would be reduced in any year the state’s Quality Basic Education (QBE) student funding formula isn’t fully funded. The state has fully funded the QBE for six of the last seven years.
An additional change aimed at funding accountability would cap the vouchers program at 1% of the total QBE budget, Jones said.
“Georgia has a long history of offering state education funding to students in private institutions,” she said. “This is one more iteration of offering our students in Georgia choices.”
Jones said several other proposed changes to the vouchers bill incorporate other areas of education policy. The legislation would codify in state law several teacher pay raises lawmakers have included in state budgets since 2019, Kemp’s first year in office.
The measure also would let public schools use capital projects funding to pay for construction, renovation and improvements to pre-kindergarten facilities, a move aimed at increasing enrollment in pre-k classes.
Another new provision would extend a state income tax credit supporting public schools due to expire in 2026 through 2029. It also would add another $10 million to the tax credit’s current $5 million annual cap, with the additional funding only to be used to benefit students attending low-performing schools.
House Democrats still didn’t appear to be impressed with the legislation, despite the changes. The committee defeated two amendments proposed by Democrats on the panel, who subsequently voted against passing the bill.
The measure now moves to the House Rules Committee to schedule a floor vote.
ATLANTA – A Fulton County Superior Court judge Wednesday dismissed six counts of a 41-count indictment charging former President Donald Trump and multiple co-defendants with interfering in Georgia’s 2020 president election.
Judge Scott McAfee declared the six charges legally defective – including a count charging Trump in the infamous January 2021 phone call urging Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the 11,780 additional votes he needed to carry the Peach State over Democrat Joe Biden.
However, the nine-page ruling did not address a motion to disqualify Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis from the case because of an alleged conflict of interest stemming from a romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she hired to pursue the charges.
Two of the other five counts McAfee quashed charge Trump directly, including a count accusing him of asking then-Georgia House Speaker David Ralston to unlawfully appoint an alternate slate of presidential electors during a special session of the General Assembly.
Another count the judge dismissed charged then-Trump personal lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Trump campaign lawyer Ray Smith with soliciting members of the Georgia House of Representatives to unlawfully appoint “fake” electors.
Then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was charged along with Trump in the phone call to Raffensperger. Two counts list only “multiple defendants.”
In each instance, McAfee declared the counts defective because of a lack of detail.
“As written, these six counts contain all the essential elements of the crimes but fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their commission, i.e., the underlying felony solicited,” the judge wrote.
“They do not give the defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently, as the defendants could have violated the Constitutions and thus the statute in dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways.”
The dismissal of the three counts against Trump mean he still faces 88 criminal indictments in Georgia, Washington, D.C., Florida and New York.
McAfee has indicated he expects to rule on the motion to disqualify Willis by the end of this week.
