by Ty Tagami | Feb 19, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The implementation of new state laws could be delayed under new legislation working its way through the Georgia Senate.
State agencies interpret new laws by adopting rules that implement them. The “Red Tape Rollback” would require the state to produce an analysis of any rule that could cost the public or local governments at least $1 million to comply with during the first five years.
Lawmakers then could call for a review of the rule. The state agency that wrote the rule would be unable to implement it without legislative approval.
Senate Bill 28 would also empower lawmakers to call for a review of the impact of any proposed legislation on businesses with 300 or fewer employees. And the bill calls for periodic reviews of existing rules.
“We’re trying to get agencies and rule makers to think about the cost of complying with the rules and finding ways when possible to minimize that cost,” Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, the chief sponsor of the bill, told members of a Senate committee Wednesday.
Democrats said the proposal was a vastly expanded version of a similar bill they supported last year. Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, said it basically says Republicans don’t trust state agencies. If the measure were to become law, it would undermine regulatory oversight, he said.
“One person’s red tape is another person’s due process,” McLaurin said.
Sen. Sheikh Rahman, D-Lawrenceville, noted that Republicans have largely been in control of state government for two decades, so this bill seeks to roll back their own rules.
Dolezal agreed, saying “administrative state” growth has occurred under both GOP and Democratic rule.
The bill passed the GOP-controlled Senate committee in a 7-4 vote Wednesday and now heads to the Senate Rules Committee and then possibly to the full Senate.
by Dave Williams | Feb 19, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Legislation that would make it easier for defendants in death penalty cases to establish intellectual disability as a defense cleared a Georgia House committee Wednesday.
“Georgia is the only state in our nation that is executing those with intellectual disabilities,” Rep. Bill Werkheiser, R-Glennville, chief sponsor of House Bill 123, told members of the House Judiciary Committee (Non-Civil).
Werkheiser’s bill would make two changes to the state law governing death penalty cases involving defendants claiming they suffer from an intellectual disability, defined as having an IQ below 70.
First, the burden of proof to establish such a claim would be eased from proving an intellectual disability “beyond a reasonable doubt” to proving it “by a preponderance of the evidence.”
“That is an impossible hurdle,” Werkheiser said of the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard.
Second, the legislation would remove the determination of whether a defendant in a capital case has an intellectual disability from the guilt phase of the trial. Instead, that determination would take place following a pre-trial hearing.
Werkheiser said having those two phases of a death penalty case considered at the same time – including details surrounding the crime – could inflame a jury against a defendant.
“The facts of a crime and the question of intellectual disability are completely separate questions,” added Michael Admirand, a staff attorney with the Southern Center for Human Rights. “(If) you separate those two decisions, you lower the risk that someone with an intellectual disability will be executed.”
Charlotte Dunsmore, director of public policy for the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, said the bill wouldn’t affect many death penalty cases because less than 1% of the population has been diagnosed with an intellectual disability.
However, there have been instances where Georgia has executed someone with an intellectual disability. Last year, the state put to death Willie Pye, convicted in the 1996 kidnapping, robbery, rape, and murder of his ex-girlfriend in Spalding County. Pye had an IQ of 68.
“(House Bill 123) will bring Georgia in line with other state’s standards of evidence for determining that an individual has an intellectual disability,” Dunsmore said.
Randy McGinley, district attorney for the Alcovy Judicial Circuit – which includes Newton and Walton counties – told the committee he opposes the bill because the Georgia Supreme Court has upheld the current law.
“The Georgia law is constitutional,” he said. “It works fine. It works well.”
McGinley went on to specify that he does not oppose changing the standard of proof to establish a defendant in a capital case has an intellectual disability. However, he argued that changing the process by allowing pre-trial hearings in such cases would make the death penalty very difficult for prosecutors to seek.
Under the bill, which now heads to the House Rules Committee to schedule a floor vote, motions to hold a pre-trial hearing to determine whether a defendant has an intellectual disability would be subject to the court.
by Ty Tagami | Feb 19, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Georgia Senate unanimously backed a bill Wednesday that would give parents of young children a bigger tax break.
The goal of Senate Bill 89 is to help more parents stay in the workforce, said the chief sponsor, Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough.
Child-care centers charge $11,000 a year on average to watch infants, he said. The cost has been rising and is forcing some parents to quit jobs because it makes more financial sense to stay home with their children, said Strickland, who has two young children.
“It’s more expensive to have a kid than to pay for college,” Strickland said. “Families shouldn’t have to choose between having a career and being a parent.”
Only one of Strickland’s kids, ages 5 and 7, would qualify for the tax credit, which would apply only to children ages 6 and under.
The legislation would increase by a third a state tax credit that is indexed to the federal child and dependent care tax credit.
It also would give a break to child-care facilities, increasing a tax credit against operating costs to 90% from the current 75%.
SB 89 passed 49-0 and heads to the state House of Representatives.
by Dave Williams | Feb 19, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate confirmed former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., Wednesday as director of the federal Small Business Administration, the Associated Press reported.
The 52-46 vote will put Loeffler in charge of an agency that oversees federal loans and grants to small businesses and provides counseling to entrepreneurs trying to start one.
Gov. Brian Kemp appointed the wealthy Atlanta businesswoman to the Senate in January 2020 to fill the unexpired term of retired Sen. Johnny Isakson, who died late the following year. Loeffler ran for a full term later in 2020 but lost to Democrat Raphael Warnock in a runoff at the beginning of 2021.
Loeffler is married to Jeff Sprecher, chairman and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange. She also was CEO of Atlanta-based Bakkt, a Bitcoin-focused subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange, and was formerly a co-owner of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream.
A staunch loyalist to President Donald Trump, Loeffler backed his unsuccessful legal efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia that saw Trump lose his bid for a second consecutive term to Democrat Joe Biden. At the time she joined a call for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to resign amid unproven Republican claims of election fraud.
After the 2020 election cycle, Loeffler founded the organization Greater Georgia to recruit Republican candidates and register GOP voters.
Loeffler becomes the second Georgian to join Trump’s second term Cabinet. The Senate recently confirmed former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, to head the Veterans Administration. Another Georgian, former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, is headed overseas to become U.S. ambassador to China.
by Dave Williams | Feb 19, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Legislation doubling the acreage Georgia farmers can set aside for conservation in exchange for a property tax break easily cleared the state Senate Wednesday.
Senators voted 51-1 in favor of a constitutional amendment that would let Georgia voters decide in a statewide referendum next year whether to let farmers set aside up to 4,000 acres of farmland as conservation property, up from the current limit of 2,000 acres.
Expanding Georgia’s Conservation Use Valuation Assessment (CUVA) program was among the recommendations issued last fall by a Senate study committee that held a series of hearings to consider ways to preserve farmland. Georgia has lost about 2.6 million acres of farmland during the last 50 years to residential and commercial development.
CUVA was launched way back in 1991, Sen. Sam Watson, R-Moultrie, the constitutional amendment’s chief sponsor, said Wednesday on the Senate floor.
“Agriculture has changed,” Watson said. “Our family farms are getting much larger today.”
The Senate also passed a separate “enabling” bill accompanying the constitutional amendment by the same 51-1 margin. The enabling measure sets the voter referendum to coincide with the November 2026 general election and specifies that the measure would take effect on Jan. 1, 2027, if the referendum passes.
Both the constitutional amendment and enabling bill now move to the Georgia House.
by Dave Williams | Feb 19, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – One of the world’s leading battery manufacturers will establish its new Global Headquarters for Research and Development in Atlanta, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday.
Duracell will invest $56 million in the project, which will create 110 jobs.
The company has a manufacturing facility in LaGrange that has been in operation since 1980 and a logistics and distribution plant in Fairburn that opened in 2020.
“Georgia has set itself apart as a leader in attracting innovative companies with our research institutions, world-class logistics network, and pro-business environment,” Kemp said. “We are excited to welcome Duracell’s R&D headquarters to Atlanta and continue building on this great relationship.”
“We’re excited about the opportunities the move to Atlanta will bring, and we’re confident this new chapter will strengthen our position as a global leader in the industry,” added Liben Hailu, Duracell’s chief technology officer. “This move is a significant milestone for Duracell as we continue to drive innovation in battery technology for many years to come.”
The new headquarters will be adjacent to Georgia Tech’s Midtown Atlanta campus at Science Square, an 18-acre multi-phase development centered on innovation and featuring more than 1.8 million square feet of lab and office space.
The state Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce team worked on the project in partnership with Invest Atlanta, Select Fulton, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Georgia Power, and the University System of Georgia.
