Parent Press Week 5 of the 2025 Legislative Session
This week, the State Senate remained the place for bullying bills and messaging bills from some of my Republican colleagues. As I've shared, many of them are in a race to out-right-wing each other due to planned statewide races next year. Some also just seem to be on a cruelty kick in the aftermath of Trump's election. Hence, the bills giving gifts to the gun lobby (read on below) and the multiple bills targeting transgender Georgians (this week's would eliminate all gender-affirming care for state employees by eliminating such care in the State Health Benefit Plan). We also passed an illogical messaging bill attacking immigrants.
Democrats are trying to file bills to make us safer and more financially secure, but Republicans decide which bills are heard in the committees and which bills come to the floor for a vote. Every session we see hundreds of bills filed and many never see the light of day because the Republican trifecta’s priorities don’t align with these bills and the priorities my Democratic colleagues would like to advance.
Getting through the dam holding back Democratic bills are the bills Republicans file and disguise with seemingly "do-good" policies. This keeps us on our toes, speaking from the well to let the public know what lies behind what Republicans are masking.
SB47: A Sales Tax Giveaway and Gun
I love giving and receiving gifts, but I don't like seeing my money gifted to the gun lobby, the gun manufacturers, and gun owners. SB47 is exactly that -- an 11 day tax holiday for guns and ammo and everything else weapons-related, under the guise of supporting hunters. I raised the question of whether kayakers and bikers, among other outdoor sport enthusiasts, should also get a tax holiday. There was not a good answer for that, probably because this bill was filed in order to pander to the gun industry and some gun extremists and to muddy the waters on bills that are attempting to advance gun safety, by including gun safes as eligible for the exemption. But the legislation would do a lot more harm than good. This bill gives your tax dollars to those who perpetuate the gun culture plaguing our communities, and no Democrats voted for it.
If we want to help Georgians financially to make ends meet, why did we allow the tax exemption on school supplies sunset, and why, for example, do we tax essentials like menstrual products? Why would we offer this gift to the gun lobby while refusing to acknowledge the harm done by this industry when more than 200 children who die by firearms, the leading cause of childhood mortality, in Georgia every year?
What's next? SB47 will go to the House where we can only hope it will fail. Meanwhile, SB49 - to require that guns be locked in the presence of minors - has not been scheduled for a hearing or a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee to which it has been assigned. YOU can contact Republican legislators on the Senate Judiciary Committee to ask them to put SB49 on the schedule to be heard. If you come to the Capitol to lobby, stop by my office to get a sticker like the one I am wearing below.
Torts - What, Why and You
Tort "reform" is Governor Kemp's number 1 priority to limit the amount of damages plaintiffs can claim against individuals or companies who have wronged and harmed them. Republicans are selling that SB68 and SB69 are good for business in Georgia AND that Georgians will save money through lower insurance premiums. The Governor is putting a lot of eggs in this political basket, threatening to call for a Special Session in the summer if the legislature doesn't get the job done by April.
Even John King, the Insurance Commissioner, admitted that he couldn't promise that premiums would go down if SB68 were the law. As the Georgia Recorder reported: "In his testimony, King acknowledged that the legislation may not lead to a reduction in insurance rates soon, but argued that they could help reduce further increases in rates." I believe SB68 will not stem the tide on rising rates because the number and amount of damages have many complex factors underpinning them -- including that ordinary people, who have seen their wages lag far behind executives, are angry at insurance companies and other companies.
This is an area of law that I am quite familiar with, and as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I had the opportunity to question the Senator John Kennedy, who presented SB68 and SB69, as well as the many lobbyists who came to testify. As an attorney, my instinct is to balance the interests of the public and insurance companies. The Governor may think that this legislation will be transformative, but unless more of the very many factors underpinning our legal system shift, I don't think this bill will end up helping most Georgians. Senate Democrats are willing to be reasonable and engage in this conversation with the Governor, but we have not been given a seat at the table. Meanwhile, some of the bill is objectively bad, as it would allow bad actor businesses to not keep their properties safe (or even encourage crime like sex trafficking) with far less legal liability than they face today. Last year, when the DeKalb County commission voted to require working cameras at gas stations for crime prevention, one powerful business hired a lobbyist that got the Republicans to pass a law during the final days of session to eliminate that ability for ALL local governments in Georgia. When we have businesses acting like that, and Republicans unwilling to hold them in check, it makes me and my colleagues feel like we are the only ones standing in the breach thinking about the safety of the public.
Stay tuned on this one.
Death By A Thousand Cuts
With a promise to trim the federal budget, the many Republican cuts to the federal workforce are troubling on so many levels. There are legal issues, of course, and many lawsuits are making their way through the judicial system. I, like you, am concerned about our national security and ability to operate our government agencies that serve each of us every day.
I am especially concerned about job cuts at the CDC. Many of my constituents have served and are working now to protect us from disease and environmental harm. These scientists and experts deserve our utmost respect and support. Meanwhile, the state has not indicated any plans to take up any of the slack that cuts to staff and programs will surely create.
As the AJC reported, Governor Kemp is not concerned. Rather, he's cheering the move to cut jobs.
"The Trump administration’s plans to slash about 10% of the workforce of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention drew condemnation from Democrats and health experts while forcing Republicans onto the defensive.
Pressed on the cuts of about 1,300 CDC employees during his weekend trip to the Munich Security Conference, Gov. Brian Kemp told Politico that the federal government can learn from Georgia’s example.
“I know they have some layoffs at the CDC and other things, but government can stand a little rightsizing,” he said, adding that GOP governors in Georgia over the years have pushed to limit the growth of the state government workforce."
We should all be aware that these cuts being sold as a way to save tax dollars is more of the same smoke and mirrors we're seeing. With reduced expenses by firing, threatening to fire and offering early retirement to many federal workers will come expensive private contracts to do the work that the relatively low-paid government employees used to do. The billionaires and oligarchs will win big on this score.
Property Taxes and HB581
Taxes are necessary to fund our municipal, county, state and federal government. Everyone wants to control costs, but capping annual property value increases as HB581 allows will impact revenue growth and county financial stability.
Public hearings are being held in several counties, and many have already occurred. You can read more about plans of various cities and counties to opt in or out of HB581 in Decaturish. Clayton County is holding a public hearing on Tuesday, February 18 at 6pm at the Board of Commissioners Board Room at 112 Smith St., Jonesboro, GA 30236.
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