ATLANTA – Georgia voters could see local precincts split into more than one location and gain new protections against their absentee ballots being tossed for faulty signatures under a bill that passed the Georgia Senate Thursday.
Senate Bill 463 would allow precincts
that serve more than 2,000 voters or experience wait times of more than one
hour to be split into smaller precincts for the next election cycle. The
Georgia Secretary of State’s office would further be tasked with determining
whether precincts should have more voting machines and booths in subsequent
elections.
The bill would also prohibit absentee
ballots from being rejected if they possess signatures that do not exactly
match the signatures shown on a voter’s identification document like a driver’s
license, voter ID card or employee card.
Sen. John Kennedy, the bill’s sponsor,
said the changes aim to expand voter access in Georgia by reducing precinct
wait times and accepting more absentee ballots. He said the bill would give
voters a better experience at the polls and boost the chances for having their
votes counted.
“It moves things in a positive way,” said
Kennedy, R-Macon.
The bill passed by a 35-19 vote along
party lines. It now heads to the Georgia House of Representatives.
Voting precincts in Georgia and across the
country have experienced lengthy wait times on election day in recent election
cycles, raising alarms among voting rights advocates that long lines could
deter people from voting.
In Georgia, voting rights advocates
called foul after thousands of absentee ballots were rejected in recent
elections for having signatures that did not strictly match a person’s
identification document. The Democratic Party of Georgia sued the Secretary of
State’s office in federal court to change how absentee ballots are handled,
claiming the practice disenfranchises many voters without certain kinds of
identification.
Opponents of the bill, particularly
Democratic lawmakers, worried the proposed changes could end up curbing voter
turnout in areas where precincts have been split. They criticized Kennedy and
Republican lawmakers for the bill’s sudden appearance and sprint to the Senate
floor, having been filed less than two weeks ago.
Several Democratic senators complained
they were unable to propose amendments to the bill after Republicans mustered
enough votes Thursday to “engross” the measure, meaning it could not be altered
on the Senate floor.
“We’re dealing with something that is so
fundamental to what we know as far as voting is concerned,” said Sen. Harold
Jones II, D-Augusta. “Why are we rushing this through?”
Coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Georgia. (Image: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
ATLANTA – A 67-year-old man is the first person to die from coronavirus in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp’s office announced Thursday.
State health officials have announced more than two dozen new
cases in recent days. As of Wednesday night, a total of 31 people had tested
positive for the respiratory virus or were awaiting confirmation by federal
officials of their results.
State officials did not identify the deceased man in a news release issued just after 12:30 p.m. Thursday. He was hospitalized at WellStar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta last Saturday (March 7).
Kemp, in a statement, urged Georgians to wash their hands, to
stay home if sick, and for seniors and people with serious chronic health
issues to prepare to remain at home in the event of a local outbreak.
“As our state continues to address this pandemic, I urge
Georgians to remain calm and support their neighbors and communities,” Kemp
said. “We are in this fight together.”
Kemp is scheduled to hold a press conference at 3 p.m. to
provide more details on coronavirus.
The governor is appropriating $100 million in state funds for
coronavirus prevention and response efforts. Lawmakers have advised the public
to monitor the ongoing legislative session from afar and avoid the Georgia
Capitol in downtown Atlanta.
The Democratic Party of Georgia has called for the session
to adjourned early just as it enters the busiest bill-passing stretch, with
hundreds of people packed into the Capitol building. The party has also
cancelled all of its political events for the foreseeable future as Georgia
enters a hectic 2020 election season.
Many large gatherings like annual St. Patrick’s Day parades have
been cancelled across the state. The NCAA basketball tournament hosted in
Atlanta next week will be played without fans in the stands to watch.
Thousands of children were kept out of schools in the
Atlanta area after a Fulton County Schools district teacher contracted the
virus last week.
State officials have warned the number of confirmed
coronavirus cases should increase as diagnostic testing continues. An isolation
center consisting of trailers for people who cannot quarantine themselves at
home has been set up on a portion of Hard Labor Creek State Park in Morgan
County.
Georgia joined a growing list of states with confirmed
COVID-19 cases earlier this month after a father and his son from Fulton County
tested positive for the virus following the father’s trip to Milan, Italy.
The novel strain of coronavirus is thought to spread largely
by “respiratory droplets” when someone coughs or sneezes after symptoms are
present, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Symptoms appear within two to 14 days of contraction and include fever,
coughing and shortness of breath.
ATLANTA – Hazing at Georgia colleges and universities could draw stiffer penalties in a bill that boosts fines and jail time for students who endanger their peers by forced inebriation, physical threats and violence.
The measure, House Bill 423, stems from the 2017 death of Louisiana State University student Max Gruver, who died from alcohol poisoning after being hazed by members of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
Gruver, a 2017 graduate from Blessed Trinity Catholic High
School in Roswell, was forced to drink liquor for failing to correctly answer fraternity-related
trivia questions. His death led to the arrests of several fraternity members
and a felony negligent homicide conviction of the ringleader.
The bill passed Thursday, dubbed the “Max Gruver Act,” would
make hazing acts that cause serious bodily injury or death a felony under
Georgia law, carrying a prison sentence of between one and five years plus a
maximum $50,000 fine.
Sponsored by Sen. John Albers, the tougher hazing penalties
would apply for students at all Georgia state, technical, and private
universities and colleges.
Albers, R-Roswell, said the proposed would help stave off
future deaths resulting from hazing like what happened to Gruver.
“This bill will ultimately save lives,” Albers said from the
Senate floor Thursday.
The bill unanimously passed out of the Senate Thursday. It
heads to the Georgia House of Representatives.
Beyond felony punishments, the bill would prohibit students
from participating in or being subjected to less severe hazing acts in order to
join a school organization like fraternities and sororities, sports teams or
other clubs.
Those activities could include excessive alcohol consumption,
mental torture or physical harm like whipping, beating and paddling. Violators
would face a misdemeanor charge carrying a maximum one-year prison sentence and
$5,000 fine.
The state Attorney General’s office could further bring charges
against organizations that knew dangerous hazing was happening and ignored it. Students
and others who sound the alarm or helped break up dangerous hazing activities
would be protected from prosecution under the bill, even if they participated
in the hazing.
The bill would also require colleges and universities to track
annually of all violations of state hazing law and school conduct policies and
release those findings in a public report.
Albers reduced some of the hazing penalties after defense
attorney representatives raised objections over punishments for casual alcohol use
and potentially vague language on what would be a criminal act.
Gruver’s parents attended a Senate committee hearing on the
bill earlier this month to show their support for the tougher penalties. His
father, Stephen Gruver, called the bill a good example for other states.
“This is one of the strongest and most comprehensive bills
in the country,” Gruver said. “It’s going to set the bar for states to follow.”
Christian Olvera (right) and Israel Arce (left), both DACA-beneficiary students, pose outside the House Higher Education Committee on March 11, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – A push to let undocumented students pay in-state tuition for publicly funded colleges in Georgia hit a roadblock Wednesday as House lawmakers shelved a hoped-for bill in the legislative session.
In a hearing Wednesday afternoon, House
Higher Education Committee Chairman Chuck Martin declined to call a vote on a
measure that would extend in-state tuition to undocumented Georgia residents
protected from deportation under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA) policy.
The decision effectively ended a bid this year by DACA advocates to ease college tuition hurdles ahead of a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court in the coming months that could decide the residency fate of DACA recipients in the U.S.
Martin, R-Alpharetta, said he wanted to
wait until after the court’s ruling before tampering with Georgia law on
undocumented students.
“You’re here now. You’re just as much a
Georgia guy as I am and I mean that,” Martin said. “That said, the folks in
Washington need to get together and figure this out.”
The measure up for consideration, House Bill 997, called for granting in-state tuition to non-U.S. citizens like DACA recipients to most public colleges so long as they had lived in the country since age 12, were under 30 years old, had lived in Georgia for four years before enrolling in college and obtained a high school or GED diploma here.
It would have applied for most of the 26
schools in the University System of Georgia except for the University of Georgia,
Georgia Tech and Georgia State University, which do not grant admissions to
DACA recipients.
Sponsored by Rep. Kasey Carpenter, the
bill was one of a handful filed in the House this year but was viewed by DACA
advocates as having the best shot at moving forward. Carpenter, R-Dalton, said
DACA recipients in his heavily Latino district and elsewhere already working
toward college degrees ought to get a fairer shake financially before federal
policy on the issue is settled.
“Sometimes, the federal government
doesn’t take care of business and leaves us with no avenue,” Carpenter said.
DACA recipients, called “Dreamers”, were
brought to the U.S. as children with their parents and possess temporary work
authorization permits but are not legal permanent residents. There were about
21,000 Dreamers in Georgia as of June 2019, according to the nonprofit
Migration Policy Institute.
Students who are not U.S. citizens have
been largely barred from qualifying for in-state tuition in Georgia since 2008
— though state law does give universities leeway to allow in-state tuition for
green-card holders, refugees and asylum seekers. In-state tuition tends to be
much lower than out-of-state rates.
Many DACA recipients who grew up in Georgia attend state colleges but must pay out-of-state tuition, which can be triple the cost of in-state tuition. Christian Olvera said he pays about $6,000 per semester currently to attend Dalton State College as a DACA recipient, three times more than the roughly $2,000 he said he would for in-state tuition.
Olvera, whose parents migrated from
Mexico, said he was buoyed by the fact House lawmakers gave Carpenter’s bill a
hearing instead of leaving it to languish in the legislative dustbin. But the
largely symbolic victory was bittersweet.
“Eyes on the prize,” Olvera said after
the hearing. “It’s only right to do that for the sacrifices of the people who
came before us.”
ATLANTA – Georgia House lawmakers pushed long-awaited gambling legislation out the front door Wednesday ahead of a key deadline in this year’s General Assembly session.
Voters statewide would be asked whether casinos, horse
racing and sports betting should be legalized in Georgia via an amendment to
the state’s constitution. Constitutional amendments need two-thirds approval in
both legislative chambers before being put to voters.
A proposal to add that amendment to the Nov. 3 ballot was
quietly heard and passed out of the House Regulated Industries Committee
Wednesday. The amendment and a separate “enabling” bill formally laying out the
ground rules for gambling could head to the House floor for a vote Thursday, the
last day for bills in General Assembly to move out of one chamber in time to be
considered in the other during this year’s legislative session.
“My perception is I have no problem with people having the
right to be heard,” said House Regulated Industries Committee Chairman Alan
Powell, R-Hartwell.
The three-part gambling proposal faces a tough road in the General Assembly. Even if it passes the House, top lawmakers in the Georgia Senate have cast serious doubts the proposal could clear their chamber.
A different bill focused only on legalizing sports betting already stalled in the Senate after being filed late last month by Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson.
Gambling aficionados have long urged the state legislature to give voters the final say in whether they want to partake in gaming forms besides just the Georgia Lottery, which sends millions of dollars each year to the popular HOPE scholarship. Detractors call the activity a moral vice that squanders people’s money and family time.
If passed, money taxed from casinos and
horse racing would go toward state-funded education, while revenues from sports
betting would be reserved for health-care purposes such as potentially expanded
insurance coverage.
A new commission would be set up to
oversee horse racing and casino activities. The lottery would manage sports
betting.
Mike Griffin, the public affairs minister
for the Georgia Baptist Ministry, cautioned lawmakers Wednesday against
potentially exacerbating addiction and other issues religious groups often
attribute to gambling.
“These three being put on there is like a
gambling nuclear bomb going off,” Griffin said. “If we’re not careful, it’ll be
like on Andy Griffith. We’ll end up cutting the oak tree down that was causing
people to come to the town to start with.”
Supporters countered gambling revenues
would provide a needed boost for educational initiatives, like the lottery did
when it was created in 1992.
“This is an opportunity for economic
progress in Georgia,” said Rep. Al Williams, D-Midway. “Everything has a
downside. But I remember the arguments against the lottery, which I can’t find
anymore.”
ATLANTA – Second-chance legislation allowing Georgians to clear minor offenses off their criminal records in the interest of helping them secure jobs and housing is set for a vote in the Georgia Senate Thursday.
Senate Bill 288 would give people with first-time misdemeanor and non-violent felony convictions in Georgia the ability to petition superior courts to have those records shielded from public view. They would have to wait until four years after completing their sentences before filing a petition and would have to keep a clean record during that time.
More than 4.4 million people have a
criminal record of at least an arrest in Georgia, totaling nearly half the
state’s population, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Allowing
many of them to block prospective employees or landlords from seeing minor
crimes for which they have completed sentences should improve the state’s
economic and social environment, according to the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Tonya
Anderson.
“There are millions of Georgians that
cannot get a job or housing and employment,” said Anderson, D-Lithonia.
Anderson’s bill is one of several before the General Assembly that would let more people shield their criminal records than Georgia law currently permits. Law enforcement agencies would still have access to the records.
Her bill would not apply to people with
convictions for certain domestic and nuisance charges like family violence and
stalkers, plus other major offenses like sex crimes, drunk driving and child
molestation.
State law currently requires people with
certain downgraded charges, vacated convictions and cases that have languished
for years to petition a court to restrict access to their records. But only
certain misdemeanor convictions can be shielded such as for alcohol-related
charges, first-time drug possession and crimes committed before age 21.
Originally, Anderson’s bill proposed to
automatically restrict public access to most kinds of criminal convictions and
arrest histories. It would have allowed records of felony charges to be
shielded if 10 years have passed since the sentence was completed, as well as
for overturned convictions and any charges that never led to a conviction.
But Anderson’s bill was swapped out last week in the Senate Judiciary Committee for a measure filed in the Georgia House by Rep. Mandi Ballinger, R-Canton. Several criminal justice groups like the nonprofit Georgia Justice Project and the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers backed the changes even though they did not go as far as Anderson’s original bill.
Brenda Smeeton, the Georgia Justice
Project’s legal director, said at a committee hearing last week the revised
bill mimics the more gradual approach other states have taken in recent years
to enact second-chance laws.
“We think this would be a huge step,”
Smeeton said.
Anderson’s revised bill is scheduled for
a vote on the Senate floor Thursday, the last day for bills in General Assembly
to move out of one chamber in time to be considered in the other during this
year’s legislative session.
