Voters wait in line at a precinct in Cobb County on May 18, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
Georgia House lawmakers moved legislation Wednesday that would prohibit the Secretary of State and local elections officials from sending out absentee ballot request forms unless a voter asks for one.
The House Governmental Affairs Committee tacked the proposal onto a measure, Senate Bill 463, that aims to curb wait times at polling places by splitting up large precincts into smaller ones and establishing less restrictive rules for signatures to match what is shown on a voter’s ID card.
The bill was also amended Wednesday to allow poll workers to work in precincts outside the county in which they live and raise the age for moving elderly voters to the front of the line at polling places from 70 to 75 years old.
State lawmakers have been mulling ways to avoid a repeat of the June 9 primary election that drew long lines in several counties largely in the Atlanta area and overwhelmed elections workers struggling to process tens of thousands of absentee ballots in some counties.
An amendment to Senate Bill 463 brought in the House committee would prevent elections officials from sending out “unsolicited absentee ballot applications.”
State law allows any registered voter to request an absentee ballot via an application that can be returned by mail or in person to their county registrar’s office. It is silent on whether elections officials can send out those applications on their own initiative.
But as concerns mounted over coronavirus in March, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger took steps to proactively send absentee request forms to all of Georgia’s nearly 7 million registered voters ahead of the primary. That led to more than 1 million votes cast by mail in the primary, smashing previous state records on absentee voting.
The amendment brought Wednesday would eliminate chances of a repeat scenario in which every Georgian receives an absentee application from the state, though Raffensperger has already said he does not plan to issue those forms again for the Aug. 11 primary runoffs.
Republican lawmakers, who control both chambers in the General Assembly, framed the proposal as needed to curb problems seen in processing huge numbers of absentee ballot request forms during the June 9 primary.
“It is in no way an attempt to remove the ability to vote or request in any manner,” said Rep. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, who chairs the committee. “It is just a capacity issue.”
But Democratic lawmakers argued the ban would strip the ability of local elections officials to send out mail-in request forms on their own if they wished to do so, particularly as a tool to reduce in-person voting as fears continue over coronavirus.
“This ties the hands of local governments if they want to do that,” said Rep. Renitta Shannon, D-Decatur. “And all we’ve heard in the last couple days is the counties need to get it together.”
Lawmakers on the committee also approved changes to the bill that call for the Secretary of State’s office to set up an online portal for voters to request absentee ballots.
The bill, sponsored Sen. John Kennedy, R-Macon, passed out of the committee by a party-line vote Wednesday and now heads to the full House for a vote.
The Georgia Senate passed legislation Tuesday allowing restaurants, grocery stores and other businesses licensed to sell alcohol to make home deliveries of beer and wine in Georgia.
Senate passage of House Bill 879, sponsored by Rep. Brett Harrell, comes after many Georgians clamored for alcohol deliveries amid recent stay-at-home orders prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.
It cleared the Senate by a 49-9 vote and now heads back to the state House of Representatives.
Grocery stores would include the upscale Whole Foods, which is owned by Amazon and would be able to utilize the internet sales giant’s online vending platform, Senate lawmakers confirmed at a committee hearing last week.
Liquor stores would also be allowed to make deliveries after Senate lawmakers pushed through an amendment to the bill late Tuesday permitting them to do so. Backers of that change said letting liquor stores join the delivery bunch would help many mom-and-pop businesses keep afloat.
Deliveries could only be made by retailers or third-party vendors who are licensed to drive in Georgia, are at least 21-years-old and have completed training on proper deliveries. Recipients would have to show photo ID and sign off for a delivery when it’s brought to their homes.
Businesses making deliveries would also need to follow any local rules that counties and cities have on alcohol sales, including purchase hours and whether restaurants can serve adult beverages. If the bill is passed into law, local governments could still move to ban alcohol deliveries in their own communities.
The measure by Harrell, R-Snellville, comes as restaurants and other food-service businesses in Georgia continue reeling from the economic fallout of coronavirus, which spurred many restaurants to close or lay off workers.
Karen Bremer, chief executive officer of the Georgia Restaurant Association, said at a hearing last week the state’s restaurant industry had lost more than $4.8 billion in sales over the past 15 weeks and saw more than 300,000 restaurant workers lose their jobs.
She called for passage of the deliveries bill to help restaurants recover.
“I think it’s a great piece of legislation,” Bremer said. “It takes care of a lot of issues.”
Kathy Kuzava, president of the Georgia Food Industry Association, also praised the measure last week. She noted grocery stores have seen their delivery sales increase in recent years but particularly since the pandemic took hold, during which some grocers reported deliveries had doubled.
“You are making a lot of customers and retailers happy in the state,” Kuzava said. “Your constituents will be very, very pleased.”
Not everyone has cheered the bill. The Georgia Baptist Mission Board came out against it on grounds it could increase alcohol consumption in the state.
“This is not the expansion of Coca-Colas and Pepsis,” said Mike Griffin, a lobbyist for the board. “This is a different type of beverage.”
Thousands gathered outside the State Capitol to protest police brutality and racial injustice as lawmakers met for the 2020 legislative session on June 19, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
Georgia lawmakers reached across the aisle Tuesday to pass a contentious hate-crimes bill that aims to protect people in the Peach State from acts of violence or property damage perpetrated because of the victim’s race, sex or gender.
House Bill 426 was pushed through the Senate after stalling there for more than a year, following its passage out of the state House of Representatives in March of 2019. It then gained final passage in the House less than an hour later by an overwhelming vote, 127-38.
Through tears, Rep. Calvin Smyre, the General Assembly’s longest serving member, proclaimed after the vote that co-sponsoring the hate-crimes bill was his finest act as a lawmaker in Georgia.
“I’ve had a lot, a lot, a lot of moments in my career,” said Smyre, D-Columbus, whose tenure spans nearly five decades in the legislature. “But today is my finest.”
The bill designates hate crimes as an enhancement to charges that prosecutors have discretion to bring, not as standalone offenses. It specifies hate crimes as those targeting a victim based on “race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, mental disability or physical disability.”
It would restore hate-crimes protections enacted in Georgia in 2000 that were stripped out of state law in 2004 by the Georgia Supreme Court, which ruled lawmakers did not clearly define a hate crime.
Rep. Chuck Efstration, who sponsored the legislation, reflected on the historic nature of the bill, which if signed by Gov. Brian Kemp would make Georgia no longer one of four states in the U.S. that does not have a hate-crimes law on the books.
“[This bill will] send a strong message that there’s no place for hate in Georgia,” said Efstration, R-Dacula.
Its passage was also hailed by Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, who pressed hard for the bill to move swiftly out of the General Assembly in the wake of the high-profile fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery near Brunswick and nationwide protests against racial injustice.
“There are very few times that members of this legislative body get called upon at a defining moment in our history,” said Ralston, R-Blue Ridge. “But this is a defining moment in Georgia.”
Passage of the bill came after days of tense back-and-forth between Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the Senate over proposed changes, including whether to add police officers to the categories protected from hate crimes.
Sen. Harold Jones II, who led the Democratic side of negotiations in the Senate, framed the bill’s passage as a model for how both sides of the aisle can unite to pass important legislation amid intense disagreements at the state Capitol.
“We many times talk about bipartisan legislation,” said Jones, D-Augusta. “This is it. This is the definition of it.”
Sen. Bill Cowsert, who pushed for changes to the bill on the Republican side, called the bill a needed step toward curbing racism in the state that has lingered long after the end of slavery and segregation.
“We have a long history in Georgia of embedded discrimination,” said Cowsert, R-Athens. “We can’t deny it, we can’t run from it, but we can change it.”
The Senate passed the bill by a 47-6 vote with some Republican lawmakers voting against it.
Ahead of Tuesday’s votes, the bill by Efstration underwent some changes from its original version that boosted penalties to a maximum of two years in prison and limited offenses that could carry a hate-crimes enhancement to felonies and some misdemeanors like assault or theft.
It also was tweaked late Monday to include a proposal from Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan requiring the annual collection of statistics on hate crimes. Those reports would not be subject to public inspection except by defendants and their alleged victims.
Jones said the inclusion of data collection in the final version is “extremely important.” Keeping tight statistics would help local law enforcement agencies pinpoint where hate crimes may be taking place.
“It’s not just something that’s feel-good,” Jones said. “It’s actually something that’s going to allow us to combat hate crimes in a scientific way.”
Left out of the final bill Tuesday was a late move by Republican lawmakers to add police officers and other first responders as protected classes alongside inherent qualities like race and gender.
Those protections were added to the bill last Friday, sparking outrage from Democratic lawmakers and social justice advocates who viewed the move as a slap in the face for black communities and other groups that have historically faced hateful and discriminatory crimes, including from police officers themselves.
Instead, the first-responder protections were tacked onto a separate bill dealing with police peer counselors, House Bill 838. It also passed out of the General Assembly on Tuesday by a largely party-line vote.
The maneuvering marked a compromise between Republicans and Democrats that tempered passions on both sides enough to ease the hate-crimes bill’s passage, though some groups like the American Civil Liberties Union have opposed the first-responder protections.
Ralston, the House speaker, said those protections were pushed by Senate lawmakers and that he “didn’t have a problem” with them being in a separate bill.
Amid lingering concerns, the passage of Estration’s hate-crimes bill marked a breakthrough in pushing forward a high-profile measure that rose to the top of the agenda for many state lawmakers in what remains of the 2020 legislative session.
The bill gained fresh calls for passage following the fatal shooting of Arbery, a 25-year-old black man who was shot dead in February during a chase by two white men. One of those men, Travis McMichael, allegedly called Arbery a racial slur after shooting him with a shotgun, according to recent court testimony.
Renewed energy for passing hate-crimes legislation also came amid intense protests across the country over the deaths of Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Rayshard Brooks that spurred many top state lawmakers, including Ralston, to press for passage.
In the Senate, lawmakers from both parties roundly praised the hate-crimes bill.
Sen. Ed Harbison, D-Columbus, described the bill as “a healing factor” in Georgia that showed how “the spirit of mankind is great.”
“I believe this represents great hope, great belief that we can help each other change and be better for it,” Harbison said Tuesday.
Not everyone in the Senate was on board with the measure. Sen. Bill Heath, R-Bremen, worried lawmakers might be over-complicating the issue in a way that could “catch up a lot of people.”
“They’re going to get their name inscribed in a database with a lot of people they don’t want to be associated with,” Heath said.
But by and large, Senate lawmakers agreed the time is nigh for Georgia to go without a hate-crimes law.
Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, who is in the final days of her last term as a state senator, recounted receiving death threats and finding a cross in her yard after converting to Judaism. She cast the bill as a legacy vote for her and her Senate colleagues.
“We are better than this and we can do better than this,” Unterman said.
Sen. Randy Robertson (R-Cataula) speaks from the Senate floor about protections for first responders from bias-motivated crimes on June 23, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
The General Assembly passed legislation Tuesday aimed at protecting police and other first responders from bias-motivated crimes, marking a compromise between state lawmakers over who should be included in legislation outlawing hate crimes.
The measure, House Bill 838, was overhauled late Monday night to propose punishments for those who commit bias-motivated intimidation against first responders including police officers, firefighters and medics.
That intimidation would have to be motivated because of the victim’s “actual or perceived employment as a first responder,” and would have to involve serious physical injury or property damage.
The bill passed out of both the state Senate and House on Tuesday. It now heads to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his signature.
Adding first-responder protections to the hate-crimes measure, House Bill 426, sparked outrage among Democratic lawmakers and social justice advocates. They viewed the move as a slap in the face for black communities and other groups that have historically faced hateful and discriminatory crimes, including from police officers themselves.
Instead, the first-responder protections were inserted into the separate measure, House Bill 838, which originally dealt with peer counselors for police officers.
With the change, the bill now proposes penalties for persons who target first responders based on their occupation that could carry up to five years of prison time.
It would also create statewide rules on investigating complaints made against police officers and allow officers to sue those who file false complaints.
The changes were brought by Sen. Randy Robertson, R-Cataula, a retired major with the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office. He said the proposals outlined in the bill were “near and dear to my heart” as a law enforcement official.
Despite tense negotiations ahead of Tuesday’s vote, lawmakers held almost no discussion on the bill from the Senate floor.
Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan praised the bill’s passage shortly after Tuesday’s vote, calling it necessary to help distinguish between officers who have violated the public’s trust on the job from those who have carried out their duties properly.
“The vast majority of officers in this state serve us honorably and selflessly,” Duncan said in a statement. “At a time when officers feel under siege, when police fear politically motivated prosecution, when extreme voices are calling to ‘defund the police,’ our state must stand up for those who put their lives on the line for us.”
House Majority Leader Jon Burns, R-Newington, also hailed the measure as an important show up support for first responders.
“These people who put their lives on the line every day deserve protection,” Burn said.
Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union’s Georgia branch opposed the bill, framing it as “dangerous language” that would “affirm the state government’s power for first responders to use violence against its own citizens with impunity.”
The advocacy group also pointed out Georgia law already has punishments on the books for people who attack police officers and other law enforcement officials.
“This legislative action in this moment pours salt in the wounds of the Georgians of all races and backgrounds who are participating daily in protests calling for the reform of policing and expressing their support for black lives,” said Andrea Young, the Georgia ACLU’s executive director.
The compromise measure on police protections comes after influential lawmakers on both sides of the aisle joined with advocacy groups and local business leaders in recent weeks to urge passage of the hate-crimes bill, House Bill 426, sponsored by Rep. Chuck Efstration, R-Dacula.
Efstration’s bill would designate hate crimes as an enhancement to charges that prosecutors would have the discretion to bring. It specifies hate crimes as those targeting a victim based on “race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, mental disability or physical disability.”
The measure sat idle in the Senate for more than a year after passing the House in March of 2019 but picked up steam this month amid nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, is a prominent backer of the bill who has called for the Senate to pass it without changes.
Efstration’s bill also gained fresh calls for passage following the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man who was shot dead in February during a chase by two white men near Brunswick.
Thousands gathered outside the State Capitol to protest police brutality and racial injustice as lawmakers met for the 2020 legislative session on June 19, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
Police officers and first responders may not end up being protected classes in a contentious hate-crimes bill that has raised the blood pressure in the General Assembly in the waning days of the 2020 legislative session.
Lawmakers on the powerful Senate Rules Committee moved Monday night to remove police, firefighters and medics as protected classes in House Bill 426, reversing course roughly 72 hours after those occupations were added.
Sen. Bill Cowsert, who pushed for including first responders as persons protected from hate crimes in Georgia, gave little reason for the move Monday night other than to say Republican and Democratic leadership had “reached a compromise that I think everybody will be pleased with.”
“We think this is something that’s good for Georgia and good for the Senate to take the lead on,” said Cowsert, R-Athens.
The surprise reversal likely paves the way for swift passage of the measure in the coming days after tense negotiations and loud calls from top lawmakers to resist tinkering any further with the proposal.
It also appears poised to regain support from Democratic lawmakers who shunned the inclusion of law enforcement officials as protected under any hate-crimes legislation.
“I believe that we’ll be commending the bill to our caucus,” said Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson, D-Stone Mountain.
But the measure could still run into stiff opposition from Republicans. Several GOP lawmakers in recent days have insisted that the first-responder protections stay put.
And Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan signaled he was not totally behind the reversal, noting that he was given little advance warning about the change before Monday night’s vote.
“I don’t want for a second to convey that I would support this as-is on the floor by not opposing it here in committee,” said Dugan, R-Carrollton. “But I do have some questions and concerns about it.”
Likewise, the first-responder protections likely are not dead in the water. They were added late Monday to a separate measure, House Bill 838, which deals with peer counselors for police officers as well as creating statewide rules on disciplining officers.
Both bills are scheduled for a vote on the Senate floor Tuesday.
In recent weeks, influential lawmakers on both sides of the aisle joined with advocacy groups and local business leaders in urging passage of the hate-crimes bill, sponsored by Rep. Chuck Efstration, R-Dacula.
Efstration’s bill would designate hate crimes as an enhancement to charges that prosecutors would have the discretion to bring. It specifies hate crimes as those targeting a victim based on “race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, mental disability or physical disability.”
The measure sat idle in the Senate for more than a year after passing the House in March of 2019 but picked up steam this month amid nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, is a prominent backer of the bill who has called for the Senate to pass it without changes.
Efstration’s bill also gained fresh calls for passage following the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man who was shot dead in February during a chase by two white men near Brunswick.
In another surprise move, Senate lawmakers also voted late Monday to add several recommendations to Efstration’s bill brought last week by Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, including the addition of annual data collection on hate crimes in Georgia.
Lawmakers also voted to limit offenses covered under the hate-crimes bill only to felonies and a few misdemeanors such as assault and theft. Efstration’s bill originally would apply for every crime in Georgia law.
A measure extending Medicaid benefits up to six months for new mothers in Georgia passed out of the General Assembly late Monday.
House Bill 1114, by Rep. Sharon Cooper, authorizes the state to apply for a federal waiver that would allow Georgia to offer Medicaid coverage to income-eligible women up to six months post-partum. The current Georgia Medicaid program only permits coverage for up to two months.
The bill would also extend Medicaid coverage to lactation specialists for mothers having trouble feeding their babies.
It passed unanimously out of the Senate on Monday night and now heads back to the House for final passage.
Extending coverage for low-income mothers with newborns stemmed from a House study committee on maternal mortality last year that looked at 101 cases of pregnancy-related deaths in Georgia and found 60% could have been prevented with better health care.
Cooper, R-Marietta, who chaired the study committee, has said she considers herself “very much a champion for quality health care for our mothers and babies.”
Passing Cooper’s bill was among the top legislative priorities this year for Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge.
The extended coverage was at risk of not being funded in the state budget starting July 1 amid spending cuts prompted by the coronavirus pandemic and Georgia’s recent economic slowdown.
But the state Senate ultimately elected to keep funding for six months of coverage in place, totaling roughly $379,000 in state and federal funds. The fiscal year 2021 budget is awaiting final approval in the 2020 legislative session, which is scheduled to end Friday.
Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, who carried Cooper’s bill on the Senate floor, said Monday the bill aims to help curb rates of maternal mortality and infant deaths in Georgia.
“Although our budget crisis is affecting all our programs, this bill moves us in a better direction to cover our new moms and babies during a vulnerable period in their lives,” said Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta. “This should pay dividends in the state for years to come.”
