Parent Press 2020
The 2020 Session of the Georgia General Assembly kicked off today. While some think this could be a short Session (as legislators want to get back to their districts and campaign), I guarantee that it will be eventful. Read on to learn more about some of the issues I expect we will be discussing these next few months!
The State Budget
State revenues have been shaky over the past year, with collections hundreds of millions of dollars short of projections. Because of this, Gov. Kemp has ordered state agencies to prepare budgets with 4% and 6% cuts. Key legislative leaders, such as the Speaker of the House, David Ralston, and the budget chairs in both chambers (Representative Terry England and Senator Jack Hill) have been a lukewarm on the idea of these cuts, and there remains skepticism about some of the Governor's other priorities, such as providing the rest of a $5,000 pay raise for teachers. Needless to say, the budget hearings next week are sure to be interesting.
Why the shortfall? As the federal government was passing President Trump's tax cuts in 2017, Republicans in the General Assembly heard that experts were predicting additional state revenue because fewer people would itemize their deductions. As a result, they rushed to pass a tax cut, even though Gov. Deal warned they should wait to see the actual economic effects. He eventually acceded to the tax cut, but true to his initial trepidation, the additional state revenues did not come to pass. The cut was a 0.25% cut to the top income tax rate, and in the legislation it was promised we would consider another 0.25% cut this year.
Clearly, with iffy state revenues and additional desired spending such as Gov. Kemp's proposal to give an additional pay raise to teachers and do a (very) limited Medicaid expansion, we should not pass the second tax cut this year. Sadly, I have seen my colleagues make worse decisions, so I expect that there will be a lot of discussion about and support for an additional tax cut. I voted "No" on the first tax cut and will be fighting this one too.
Gambling
The notion of presenting a Constitutional amendment to permit gambling has been kicked around seriously for several years now, and some legislators believe it is time to let the people vote. The falling state revenues are clearly giving this discussion more traction than in the past couple of years. There are different gambling proposals that could be encompassed in the Constitutional amendment. This includes casinos, sometimes referred to as destination resorts, of an undetermined number around the state, sports betting, and/or horse racing. A new trick in the discussion may be the notion of presenting the Constitutional amendment to the voters as an up- or-down vote on permitting gambling without specifying what type of gambling may ensue. Do you support allowing gambling in Georgia and if so, what type? I'd like to know your thoughts.
Vouchers
During the 2019 Session, Republicans in the Senate pushed a bill to allow families to obtain the state portion of their child's education tax dollars and spend it on private school tuition or other qualified expenses as set out in the legislation. A rather open-ended list of categories of people who could take advantage of the program helped sink the bill, which was voted down on the Senate floor, with many rural Republican legislators joining the Democratic caucus in opposition. (There are not very many private school or charter school options in rural Georgia.) A more restrictive bill resurfaced in the Education committee, on which I serve, that further restricted the categories of people who could take advantage of the vouchers. There remained a lot of resistance to the legislation in some quarters of the Republican Senate caucus, so despite passing the Education Committee, the bill never passed the Senate. However, the Lieutenant Governor, Geoff Duncan, and the Governor both appear to be fans of this proposal and I expect that they will be twisting Republican arms to get it to pass again this year.
I am against this proposal. We just finished restoring the education austerity cuts that were implemented beginning during Gov. Sonny Perdue's tenure that deepened further during the Great Recession. Our schools have a long way to go to improve education for all of Georgia's kids, and recent reports highlight a dearth of funding, especially in rural areas. The state budget, as described above, is in a shortfall this year. It is questionable, for example, whether we can pay for the additional promised teacher pay raise this year, which is an initiative I support. We don't have money to fritter away on an ideological wish-list item such as this that ends up helping families who already have some means and does nothing to improve our schools.
Tort Reform
For the first time in a number of years, it seems that there will be a concerted effort to enact some tort reform. Several high-profile, high-dollar verdicts from juries in recent years have renewed pushes to try to cap damages and attorneys' fees, among other proposals. A Senate study committee convened over the summer to consider "Reducing the Cost of Doing Business in Georgia." The report it issued was a list of tort reform recommendations. The plaintiffs' bar has been strong politically in Georgia, and some past reforms were struck down by the Georgia Supreme Court as in violation of the Georgia Constitution, but some groups think the time is ripe to push the issue again.
As an attorney, I have always been somewhat skeptical of proposals that artificially hamstring judges and juries or make it more difficult to hold wrongdoers to account. I have also been skeptical that limiting damages or lawsuits brings down the cost of health care, mostly because the evidence seems to suggest that that isn't the case. Still, I want to evaluate the discussion fairly, and there will be more to come on this issue.
Health Care
Many of you know that Georgia has now submitted its proposal for a very limited Medicaid expansion to the federal government to see if the Trump administration will grant a waiver. This expansion would require a variety of hurdles to be met (such as working or participating in other qualified activities a certain number of hours per month) prior to gaining coverage and also would only cover people up to 100% of the poverty level, in contrast to what was envisioned in the Affordable Care Act, which is 138% of poverty.
I continue to believe that it does not make sense to cover a fraction of eligible people at higher cost than a full Medicaid expansion. I am sure we will talk some about health care this Session, but most of the discussion may wait until the Trump administration approves or denies the Kemp proposal. Another issue this year is that even the limited expansion will require some appropriation of state dollars, which presents a problem as state revenues miss projections. I regret once again that Georgia missed its opportunity to expand Medicaid soon after the Affordable Care Act was passed when the federal government was shouldering 100% of the cost for the first few years. Now, we are debating too little too late, but it is better than not having the debate at all.
DeKalb Ethics
With the failure of the voter referendum revising the DeKalb Ethics Act, the DeKalb Delegation is back to the drawing board in fixing the appointment process that was ruled unconstitutional. Senator Emanuel Jones, the sponsor of last year's SB 7 and the Senate Delegation Chair, and Representative Karla Drenner, the House Delegation Chair, have decided to form a working committee of legislators to discuss a solution. Sen. Jones has appointed me and Sen. Tonya Anderson from the Senate. I continue to hope it won't be difficult to pass a bill limited to fixing the appointment process, with other concerns left for the Charter Review Commission (which is beginning its work at the end of this month) to grapple with. More to come on this topic.
Transgender Issues and "Religious Freedom"
A case in Texas where a divorced couple disagrees about how to approach their child who wants to live life as a different gender than at birth has right-wing circles stirred up. It seems we will have legislation in both the House and Senate as a response to the Texas case and others. The legislation seeks to make performing gender reassignment medical procedures on minors a felony. (It's unclear whether or how often such surgeries are performed. I need to do more research on this topic, but given its hot button nature, wanted to give you a heads' up we may be grappling with it.)
In addition, legislation has been proposed that would make young transgender athletes compete as the gender identified at birth.
The perennial discussion about the need (or lack thereof) of legislation addressing religious liberty could also return this Session. Gov. Kemp has stated that he would like to see some changes in state law that would make it easier for children in foster care to be adopted. While a laudable goal, it opens the door for add-on provisions permitting discrimination by adoption agencies on the basis of the characteristics (typically religious preference and/or LGBTQ status) of those seeking to adopt.
As is the typical practice, particularly in an election year, some of my colleagues are casting about for red-hot social issues to gin up their bases and curry favor in an election year. I would prefer we leave transgender individuals alone and focus on our schools, infrastructure, and economic development, as Georgians largely want us to.
As always -- thank you for the opportunity to represent you in the State Senate! It is a great honor.