Parent Press Week 8 and 9 of the 2025 Legislative Session

With Crossover Day in the rear view mirror, we are speeding down the road to Sine Die, the last day of the 2025 Legislative Session. 

In The News

To hear my take on key issues like tort reform, gun safety, the status of women and children in Georgia and healthcare, watch my interview on 11 Alive (or click on the image below).

Colors Matter At The Capitol

Activists often use color to identify their cause - red for Moms Demand Action, orange for gun violence and pink for Planned Parenthood. Last week, color took on a new meaning in the Senate chamber when Republicans denied the longest serving member of the General Assembly (FIFTY YEARS between the two chambers) - Senator David Lucas - his Motion to Suspend Senate Rules so that he could have 2 local bills for Macon-Bibb first read and assigned to committee. Doing this means the bills move through the process one day more quickly. Suspension of the rules takes 2/3 of the Senate, meaning we Democrats can block Republicans from being able to succeed on such a motion, but we never do so unless the bills are highly controversial, because it's ineffectual long term and would serve to create animosity in the chamber. What was most galling about this situation was that the privilege of suspending the rules had just been given to Senator Colton Moore, a junior member of the Senate who is a Republican but was kicked out of the Republican Caucus for agitating the base against his colleagues. No one in the Senate, not Democrats or Republicans, objected to his motion. In Senator Lucas' case, however, the Republicans whipped votes against him during a reconsideration vote on his motion, and tempers flared.

Following this painful display of what appeared to be partisan tribalism run amok and abuse of the majority's power to control the Senate, I took to the well on HB 167, a non-controversial but hardly critical bill to provide for fluorescent pink hunting outer garments. (It does make one wonder why so many important issues have gone unaddressed this session while we rush through a bill on hunting gear). I used my time to make a long speech about the importance of fluorescent pink hunting gear. The purpose was to make a point that we in the minority Caucus actually do have the ability to waste a lot of Republicans' time by objecting to everything we can and lining up long speeches. We tend not to do this, for a couple of reasons, and the Republicans get so used to having everything their way most of the time that they get drunk on power and show their colors through actions like the one they took against Sen. Lucas . By the time my speech ended, the objecting Senator had asked Lucas to make his motion again and it was ultimately passed unanimously.

I won't deny that using some humor was helpful in dealing with the anger I felt at watching my Republican colleagues humiliate a long-time legislator they have a times worked with quite well. You can watch my performance extolling the importance and benefits of offering an alternative color to the traditional fluorescent orange for hunters HERE or by clicking on the image below. And, you can read the media's take on it in the Georgia Recorder.

Valarie Wilson's Decades of Service

Many of you know and have admired Valarie Wilson for years.  I was honored to recognize her and highlight her many contributions and achievements at the Women's Legislative Caucus Yellow Rose Ceremony. Valarie has decades of service to our community. After serving as the first Executive Director of the Atlanta Beltline Partnership, she was elected to the board of City Schools of Decatur. As Chair, she helped turn around the district's finances. She joined the board of the Georgia School Boards Association (GSBA) in 2009 and was its president in 2012-2013. Since 2015, she has served as GSBA's Executive Director.  She was the Democratic Party's 2014 nominee for State School Superintendent -- how much better off our public schools would be if she had prevailed! But she remains an important voice on education in our state in her current role.