by Ty Tagami | Mar 26, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Legislation that raised alarms about public access to police videos passed through a House committee Thursday with amendments that eased access for members of two Georgia media associations.
Senate Bill 482 started out as a way to restrict the free flow of mugshots online, where unscrupulous operators are reportedly violating a state law that requires removal upon request, free of charge when the person depicted was not convicted.
Along the way, the bill morphed into a broader restriction on the release of police body-worn camera footage and other law enforcement videos.
Free speech advocates worried that videos showing police misconduct could be withheld from the public if the legislation were to become law.
On Thursday, the House committee charged with vetting the bill exempted certain media organizations from many of the bill’s provisions: “bona fide credentialed” members of the Georgia Association of Broadcasters and of the Georgia Press Association, which has 139 newspaper members and operates Capitol Beat.
Everyone else, except those depicted or their next of kin, would have to go in person with a notarized document to obtain a mugshot or video.
And no one except next of kin and association members would have access to state recordings depicting death.
No one would be exempt from a core requirement: that they be able to identify either a person depicted or, in the case of a video, alternative information about the time, location or officer who recorded it.
Police would be authorized to redact images in videos of people the requester cannot identify, except for law enforcement personnel.
Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, said he introduced the legislation because of the harmful invasion of privacy by a rogue mugshot industry.
He said the video component was hastily added in a Senate committee and, in retrospect, was not properly vetted. He said he opted to include videos because police should not be compelled to release them to be exploited “for some kind of sick entertainment.”
During a hearing earlier this week, one public commenter challenged the notion of a video industry profiting from grief. That prompted Rep. Terry Cummings, D-Mableton, to describe a video of a friend’s husband, decapitated in a motorcycle crash, circulating on YouTube. She said the person who posted it demanded money to take it down.
On Thursday, Sarah Hunt-Blackwell, with the ACLU of Georgia, said the new restrictions combined with a prohibition in another bill would “completely gut” public scrutiny of police activity through video.
The other bill she referenced, Senate Bill 268, would require the observing public to remain 25 feet away from police and other first responders doing their duty.
“We understand the sensitivities around exploiting people’s most vulnerable moments,” she said, “but placing an almost impenetrable shield around observance of law enforcement actions is not the solution.”
Lobbyists for the two media associations asked for the media exemption on access to videos depicting death.
Both Cummings and Rep. Bill Werkheiser, R-Glennville, asked why those associations were singled out to decide which media organizations get access, and Strickland said it was because they are known to the state and have a credentialing process.
Their members are known entities that would be subject to enforcement of Georgia law governing use of the material, he said, adding that nothing would prevent the General Assembly amending that provision later “if these two groups are being too exclusive.”
Another amendment expanded the definition of next of kin, giving courts more latitude to decide if a familial relationship exists.
The bill then passed the committee unanimously. Should the House approve it, the Senate would have to agree to the changes before it could become law.
by Ty Tagami | Mar 25, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The Georgia Senate wants to nearly double the tax breaks that go to donors who give to a program that pays for private school scholarships.
The tax credit program for elementary, middle and high school scholarships has been capped at $120 million a year since 2023.
House Bill 328 would lift that to $225 million.
The Republican-led measure faced the same criticism from Democrats as had similar measures in the past: that the program diverts money from public schools, that it favors the wealthy and that there is minimal accountability.
The Qualified Education Expense Tax Credit was enacted in 2008 with a $50 million cap. It gives taxpayers all their money back, subject to certain maximums, when they donate to a student scholarship organization.
The organizations then hand out scholarships that cannot exceed the average spent on public school students statewide.
HB 328 would exempt students with certain learning disabilities from the scholarship maximum. It would also exempt them and students from military families from the requirement that they attend their local public school before entering the program.
The scholarships are only available to students zoned to attend a school performing in the bottom quartile on various state measures.
Democrats argued that the current average scholarship amount of $4,800 would cover only a half to a third of private school tuition. This effectively excludes students from lower-income households who cannot cover the difference while diverting money from their schools, said Sen. RaShaun Kemp, D-Atlanta.
“So, the question is, who does this work for? The answer,” he said, “is it works for families who can already afford to send their child to these schools.”
Republicans countered that many families needed the taxpayer help to give their children an opportunity they might not otherwise be able to afford.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Republican, said he knew plenty of families who had used the program to send their children to private schools where they thrived.
Sen. Shawn Still, R-Suwanee, observed how much this debate resembled those in the past. “I think we all already know how we’re voting on this,” he said.
And he was right: the measure was approved 30-20 in a party-line vote, with Republicans on the winning side.
HB 328 must now return to the House, which can decide whether to accept or reject the changes.
When the House approved the measure, it increased the cap a lot less, to $140 million. Both chambers agreed that business donors should be able to count scholarship contributions against their state insurance premium tax liability, though each set different caps on that amount, as well.
by Mark Niesse | Mar 25, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Now that the government isn’t making pennies anymore, Georgia lawmakers are planning to round cash transactions to the nearest nickel.
The penny proposal makes sense, said Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome.
“It’s pretty simple,” Hufstetler said. “You round up or down to the nearest 5 or 10. It all evens out.”
The Georgia Senate voted 50-0 to approve the legislation Wednesday, sending it to the House for a potential final vote.
If the bill passes, Georgia businesses would be required to round down transactions that end in a 1, 2, 6, or 7. Prices that end in a 3, 4, 8, or 9 would be rounded up. And items with costs that end exactly in a 0 or 5 would stay the same.
The proposal applies to in-person purchases made with cash. Transactions with credit cards wouldn’t need to be rounded.
The debate prompted senators to crack a few jokes.
“Is a penny earned a penny saved still valid?” asked Sen. Carden Summers, R-Cordele.
“Is it not true that this legislation isn’t worth a dime?” asked Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania.
The Trump administration decided last year to stop producing new pennies, which are worth less than they cost to make.
With pennies gradually disappearing from circulation, Georgia is one of several states across the country considering legislation to round transactions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Customers would still be able to pay with exact change if they wish, according to House Bill 1112.
The House previously passed a different version of the bill that rounded transactions differently. Now the House needs to decide whether to agree to the Senate’s proposal or seek further revisions.
by Mark Niesse | Mar 25, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — When police pull over someone with autism, those stops can quickly escalate into confrontations because of miscommunications and stress.
The General Assembly gave final approval Wednesday to a bill designed to alert police so they handle those situations better.
The legislation, which is now heading to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk, would create a specialty license plate for people with autism or developmental disabilities. It also calls for police to receive training in effective communication and using alternatives to handcuffs.
A star of the Netflix show “Love on the Spectrum,” Connor Tomlinson, urged representatives to support the bill before they voted unanimously to approve it.
“Today … we usher in a new beginning for Georgia as we try to make this state safer for the autistic and neurodiverse,” Tomlinson said in the House.
The bill is called “Rio’s Law,” named after a boy with autism whose mother, Layla Luna, advocated for a similar law that passed in South Carolina after a difficult traffic stop.
“This is a tool for law enforcement. It allows responders to approach a vehicle with situational awareness before escalation into a sensory overload with an individual with autism,” said Rep. Eddie Lumsden, R-Armuchee.
Under Senate Bill 433, the autism license plate would include a symbol to represent autism. It would be issued only to Georgians whom medical practitioners swear have autism or a developmental disability.
by Ty Tagami | Mar 25, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Georgia state employees would enjoy more consistent cost of living increases under the state Senate’s version of the budget for next year.
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved its amendments to the Fiscal Year 2027 budget that starts in July, adding $100 million to the state employee retirement system.
That was among the biggest changes from the state House’s version of the $38.5 billion budget.
“I believe this is one of the best line items that you see,” said Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Democrats agreed with that and other parts of the Senate budget, contributing their votes for unanimous passage of House Bill 974.
“I think it’s a breakthrough decision and one of the most important things in the budget,” Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta, said of the pension funding.
Gov. Brian Kemp capped expenditures at $38.5 billion, so the Senate had to cut elsewhere to pay for the pension increase. Among their targets was online education at public colleges and universities, where they extracted $125 million from the higher education funding formula.
Online programs should cost less to operate, Tillery said, so the Senate budget funds them at a slightly lower ratio than in-person classes. Each 1.1 hour of online class time would earn the equivalent of an hour in person.
Another big change by the Senate also affects education.
The Senate overhauled the funding method for a signature initiative of both chambers this legislative session: teaching the state’s youngest students how to read.
The Senate agreed with the House’s plan to pay for about 1,300 literacy coaches in schools with kindergarten through third grade classrooms.
But the Senate opted to pay for the program with a grant of $70 million.
The House had wanted to pay for it by building it into the K-12 education funding formula that guides the recurring annual budgeting for schools. Tillery said the House budget had allocated less than half the necessary money because it assumed it would take more than a year to hire all the coaches.
The Senate also found $11 million by deleting the House plan to hire more staffers to confirm food stamp enrollees are eligible. Georgia has one of the highest “error” rates in the country. That can mean loss of federal funding, so lawmakers hope to get it down.
Tillery said the Senate would accept an offer from Equifax to do the work for free.
The budget must now get a vote on the Senate floor, before heading back to the House for consideration of the amendments.
by Ty Tagami | Mar 24, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — A state-funded college scholarship based on financial need rather than academic merit took another step toward becoming a reality in Georgia on Tuesday when a Senate committee approved the bipartisan measure.
House Bill 1413 passed the Senate Higher Education Committee unanimously after three other bills were merged with it. The idea was to give them all a better chance of passage in the hectic, waning days of this year’s legislative session, with one vote on the Senate and House floors required rather than four.
The measure would place the Georgia Student Finance Authority in control of the fund, with $325 million in seed money already allocated in the amended budget for the current fiscal year.
“I want you to know how important the DREAM scholarship is for our state. And I want you to know how excited I am for the DREAM scholarship to be implementable,” committee chairman Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania, said after the vote.
The measure advanced after many hearings this year and last year where experts testified about a relatively high dropout rate among students from low-income households. These students often must hold a job to get through college, which takes time away from their academic study. When their grade point average falls below the threshold for the merit-based HOPE scholarship, many quit school.
One major change was the deletion of medical school scholarships that were expected to cost $30,000 a year per student. Good idea, said Burns, but he said it was the wrong time to chisel it into law.
The new omnibus bill folds in three others.
House Bill 419 would allow opioid antagonists in certain college buildings and shield those who administer the life-saving drug from liability. House bill 1113 would clarify that part-time college students who are employees cannot participate in the state pension plan. And House Bill 962 would increase the individual cap on Georgia’s 529 college savings plan to $550,000, up from the current $235,000.
The measure can now go to the Senate floor for an up or down vote.
The House passed the measure 165-2 in early March. But due to the Senate changes, the bill would have to return there.
All this would have to happen before lawmakers gavel out for a final time this year on April 2 or in the wee hours after.
