Parent Press: Week 12 of the 2023 Legislative Session
Sine die, the last day of the legislative session, is always like being caught in a simultaneous snow and hail storm. It’s hard to see what’s coming and going while being pelted by zingers from multiple directions. There’s politics always along with parliamentary procedural rules and the complex laws that govern the legislative process.
I hope to see you at the Town Hall with your legislators on Thursday, April 20 from 6-7:30PM in person at First Baptist Church of Decatur or via livestream. Details are at the end of the newsletter.
Passed and Awaiting Signature
Nothing is final until the Governor signs, so please continue to advocate by calling his office to request a signature for what you support and asking him not to sign the bad bills.
SB 55: One of our bills! Lemonade Stand Act allows kids to sell lemonade, packaged foods, and other non-consumable goods without a permit or license from their municipality as long as they’re on private property without paying taxes if revenues don’t exceed $5K per calendar year. The bill passed both the House and Senate and is now awaiting Governor Kemp’s signature.
SB 222: The Bad Election Bill we knew was coming - the attack on Georgia’s election system. SB 222 passed the Senate the first time on party lines. Democrats oppose this effort to deny much needed funds to county election boards, requiring them to plead for need to the State and local governments for funds to comply with the unfunded mandates of the election law passed in 2020, and the unfunded mandates from 2019's HB 316, which authorized the purchase of the voting machines we are currently using . I attempted to amend the bill with some good stuff like ability for all voters to register for automatic absentee ballots, but could not do this due to parliamentary rules about engrossment. So, I went to the well, again, to decry this effort to punish Democratic counties where the need for the funds most to operate the election system is greatest. This bill cuts off funds to municipalities and counties who can no longer directly accept private foundation funding to help with running elections. With the unfunded mandates from SB 202 from 2020, this bill will overwhelmingly affect urban and Democratic counties that rely on that funding. To raise enough funds to hold elections in these counties, taxes will have to be increased unless the state finally gets a lesson in equity vs. equality when it comes to funding elections. This bill passed the Senate along party lines. As I said, “own the fact that you plan to raise taxes in urban counties - Democratic counties.”
HB 374 (aka, SB 145): A great example of what happens during all the trading, maneuvering and shenanigans that happen in the last hours of the final days of the legislative session. The House amended SB 145, the Leaf Blower bill, with amendments that bore little obvious relationship to the original bill, risking its passing the Senate. This bill, among many other things, would prohibit localities from regulating the gas leaf blowers, an issue important to many in District 42. Gas leaf blowers create environmental and noise pollution in our communities. Local municipalities should be able to decide for themselves if they want to limit this pollution -- air and noise -- where they live, and the state has no place prohibiting them from implementing these regulations. If a local government did take that step (none have) and the voters disagreed, they could vote them out!
I opposed HB 374 on Sine Die and objected to the bill on a parliamentary rule violation that could have made it unconstitutional under our State constitution. However, in a party-line vote, the Republican majority decided to overrule my concern and pass this legislation despite the fact that it should have never even been brought to the floor. In the end, HB 374 passed, but this is not the end of the matter. HOAs can regulate leaf blowers on their properties, and municipalities can still limit them with noise ordinances. Residents can always play a key role too by encouraging their neighbors to do the right thing when choosing landscape services that use battery powered equipment on their property.
SB 20: The “Surprise Billing Consumer Protection Act”seeks to stop surprise healthcare costs by requiring insurers to maintain a network of participating providers, among other provisions. This bill was passed by the Senate and the House.
HB 528: The “Georgia Online Third-Party Delivery Service Transparency Act” was amended to include part of SB 34 which I filed based on study committee recommendations. I am pleased that we were able to pass legislation to protect Georgia’s 20K restaurants by requiring third party delivery services to have written approval from restaurant owners before offering ordering and delivery services for them online. This was a long-time priority of the Georgia Restaurant Association.
Stopped Some Big Stuff
While the majority party rules the legislative process and controls the agenda, they failed on several issues that were important to them. Much contributed to the failure of these efforts, but any legislation not supported by enough of the majority’s own members is an indication of inter-party political wrangling and an inability of party leaders to control.
SB 233 , School Vouchers by another name - “The Georgia Promise Scholarship Act” - was primed to deplete our public schools with a false promise of choice to access private education. The Senate voted on party lines on Crossover Day, but, thankfully, the House stopped this dangerous legislation to gut our already underfunded public schools when enough Republicans from rural districts who would be most severely impacted voted against the measure after days of lobbying by Gov. Kemp and others. Only 1 Democrat, Rep. Mainor, from the intown Atlanta 56th district, advocated vigorously for and voted in favor of the bill. We expect Republicans to return next session with this effort, so stay tuned,
Sports Betting was a big priority for the Lieutenant Governor but he didn’t get his way this session. The legislation required support from our Democratic Caucus because many Republicans are opposed. Democrats were not willing to play the game on this one, especially after losing the battle on the awful transgender bill and heavy-handed treatment by the Republican leadership early in the session (stripping Yours Truly, a member of the leadership team, off of the powerful Rules committee, for example). This issue will certainly return next session.
No Show Bills
The legislative process is complicated to say the least. But, what is easy to explain is that the majority party rules. The Committee on Assignments (which is controlled by the Lieutenant Governor) selects the Chair of the Rules Committee who decides what gets sent to legislators to vote on.
Once a bill has been voted out of a committee and is put on the Rules Consideration Calendar, it can be picked by members of the Rules Committee (as allowed by the Republicans) to be placed on the actual Rules Calendar which sets our agenda for the next legislative day. This committee has 19 Senators, 5 Democrats and 14 Republicans. This is the environment we are dealing with. There is no proportionality for Democrats on committees, and we have no influence over which of our members we put on which committees. The majority caucus carefully chooses which bills will be selected based on whether they’ve got the votes or it's a priority measure.
There is not much those of us in the minority can do to influence this process except have conversations with our counterparts, wait and hope. Any bill that didn't make it to a final vote can come back in 2024 without having to start from scratch.
HB 404, the “Safe At Home Act,” offered hope to tenants in Georgia who are suffering under the weight of rising rents, poor quality as well documented by the AJC and little in the way of rights to hold landlords accountable for maintaining habitable and safe dwellings. The bill passed unanimously in the House, and I was ready to vote YES in the Senate. But the majority didn’t call the bill from the table, leaving all who worked hard on this legislation bitterly disappointed.
HB 144, the Antisemitism bill that had previously been filed as HB 30, was on the table but wasn’t invited to for a vote. This is what happened last year with this legislation. It is hard to know why this bill became a wallflower on Sine die this year. There is no doubt that antisemitic incidents are rising nationally and here in Georgia. While we do have a Hate Crimes law, antisemitism is different from other forms of racism. Many know it when they see it, but too many remain uneducated and insensitive to the signs, symbols and words often use in antisemitic acts. I fully expect we will see a bill in the next session, and, with more time, we just might be able to get it right on the third try.
While the Governor and the majority claimed it was committed to improving access to mental health services, they failed to adopt HB 520, sponsored and passed with bipartisan support in the House, but ran amuck in the Senate. Journalists, legislators and pundits are all weighing in on what happened here. Listen to GPB and WABE.
Dollars for Literacy
The only task the state legislature must accomplish by law is to pass the budget. I am so pleased that we were able to secure $3.5 million to screen K-Grade 3 kids for dyslexia. This is a big win in a state with a terrible literacy rate among school age children.
Advocates and Visitors Are the Best
Seeing these dedicated Moms Demand Action outside the Capitol on the day after the devastating Nashville school shooting was so reassuring.
Seeing our future voters and leaders under the Gold Dome is always a treat. This group from Henderson Mill Elementary School visited on Sine die.
Thank You
My legal externs and intern from Emory made a huge contribution to my team this year. I am so grateful for their work and I hope they learned something too.
Looking Ahead
Join me on Thursday, April 20 at a Town Hall meeting with Reps. Mary Margaret Oliver, Becky Evans, Omari Crawford and Karla Drenner to recap the session and hear about what you want you want your legislators to work on in the interim as we prepare for the 2024 legislative session. You can come in person or join the livestream. Please submit your questions and register to participate virtually.
Send us your questions at https://bit.ly/TownHall4-20Questions
Register for livestream access: https://bit.ly/TownHall4-20LIVE
