Parent Press: Week 9 of the 2023 Legislative Session
With Crossover Day over, we are fine tuning legislation and navigating the political landscape. There are far more bills to watch than I have time to report on here, so I will focus primarily on the work I am doing for you, my constituents, and all Georgians. As usual, there were some real stinkers that passed the Senate and some good bills. There were also an unprecedented number of bills that were voted down on the floor.
We're in the home stretch to the end of session with Sine Die on March 29. Stay tuned for details about a post-session Town Hall with your legislators.
Crossover Day in the Senate
We had an uncharacteristic number of bills fail on Crossover Day in the State Senate, in part because of divisions within the Senate Republican caucus and the result of new leadership still looking for its footing. We had a preview the week before when 10 Republicans joined every Democrat to vote down the City of Buckhead City. This vote should never have come to the floor, but Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones was a supporter of the movement and wanted to make good on his promise to the pro-secession folks.
A Constitutional Amendment to legalize sports betting in Georgia failed. Democrats were largely supportive of this because we have specific aims if such a program were legalized -- including needs-based college completion grants. Our leverage is stronger on a constitutional amendment as that requires participation from both parties to pass. Republicans largely oppose the needs-based grants. There is also a significant anti-gambling strain emerging from the religious right, among others. This discussion about whether and how to legalize sports betting has been around for a number of years and seems it will continue. The House also failed to bring up legislation that was not a Constitutional Amendment but would have put all of the proceeds into the Georgia Lottery for HOPE and Georgia Pre-K.
In addition to SB 233, the voucher bill (more details below), we passed another stinker: SB 140 to deny gender-affirming care to transgender minors. This is a very nuanced and complex area, of course, and we simply don't have enough science yet to use blunt instruments like statewide legislation for teens with gender dysphoria. My colleagues, Senators Sally Harrell and Kim Jackson, spoke to the issues with passion and compassion, but were unable to move votes. The final vote was 33-23, straight party-line. We will watch closely as the bill moves to the House.
The House passed fewer extremely controversial bills than the Senate did, so perhaps our next few weeks in the Senate will be less contentious. One bill I hope that the House kills is the bill protecting gas-powered leaf blowers. The sunset that I worked to have added to that legislation was removed in committee, so now the legislation is far worse. The bill is now in the House Rules Committee. Please contact House Rules Chairman Richard Smith and the Republican members of the Rules Committee to get this bill tied up.
Click here for the Senate Rules Committee and here for the House Rules Committee.
Keeping Watch
Just because a bill didn't get a vote before Crossover Day doesn't mean the language in the bill can't reappear as an amendment or a substitute to another bill. We are watching the continued attacks on our election system with bills like SB 221 (restricts voter access, including eliminating drop boxes) which could get attached in part or in whole to SB 222 (prohibits private funding to our underfunded county election boards) which did cross over to the House. SB 222 is assigned to the House Governmental Affairs Committee and you can contact Republican committee members to voice your concerns.
Literacy, Education and Opportunity for All
I can’t sound the alarm bell enough about literacy in Georgia. SB 233 was hotly debated on Crossover Day, and I spoke strongly against this reincarnation of school vouchers that would rob our already insufficiently funded public schools of the resources every child in Georgia needs. The bill fails to address proper oversight that would cost taxpayer dollars or appropriate methodology for measuring the impact of the many ways the voucher could be used. I was proud of my colleagues – Senators Esteves, Orrock, Mallow and Sims – who also argued passionately against this dangerous legislation. Unfortunately, the bill passed the Senate and is now headed to the House Education Committee, which hasn’t scheduled a hearing yet. You can read more about the debate here.
“You take out the millions [of dollars]…You don’t work on the issues that matter and then you use little trick bills like this to try to pull money out to say, ‘Well, the schools are so bad, that now we need to give everyone the money to go to private school.’”
Our schools are failing too many of our kids with over 60% of third graders not reading on grade level. Many of these kids struggle with Dyslexia, but they can be taught to read. The first step is to test them so we can identify which students need help. In 2019, the Governor signed SB 48, known as Georgia's first "Dyslexia Law," creating a dyslexia screening mandate that requires every public school system to screen all kindergartners through third grade students for dyslexia or other disorders beginning with the 2024-2025 school year. The mandate was unfunded, however, and I have requested the roughly $8 million dollars we need in this year’s budget to get the ball rolling on making good on our promise.
We have several bills to help improve reading outcomes, and I was pleased to be invited to speak about them on Lawmakers on GPB this week. SB 211 would establish a Georgia Council on Literacy to develop and implement five-year literacy plans for K-Grade 5 students in public schools. HB 538 - "Georgia Early Literacy Act” - would require the State Board of Education to approve high-quality instructional materials to be used for teaching students in K – Grade 3 students. Perhaps more importantly, the bill would require the Department of Education require training for K – Grade 3 teachers to complete training on the science of reading, structured literacy, and foundational literacy skills. Both bills are headed for committee hearings.
To address the needs of early learning before children enter the school system, Rep. Becky Evans introduced HB 537 but the bill never received a vote on the House floor. It’s not over yet, though because we can still try to include this bill by adding it as an amendment or a substitute.
To broaden equitable access to higher education, I introduced SB 52 to require data and analysis of dual enrollment programs. This is the least we should require of all of our programs, but in my experience we are far from rigorous about data collection and analysis across Georgia government. Sometimes, this is because the answers aren't really wanted because it would point to shortcomings in the ways that we currently budget. However, there has been widening bipartisan agreement that we should do a better job on this front. Our $80 million annual investment in dual enrollment should be examined to ensure the way the program is being administered meets our goals of lowering dropout rates and increasing post-secondary completion.
The bill advanced through committee, but I saw an opportunity to "attach" it to a piece of legislation sponsored by Senator Matt Brass, the Rules Chairman. Sen. Brass and I worked together to include my bill with SB 86, his legislation to allow eligible students taking CTAE classes through the dual enrollment program to access to HOPE grant funds. This bill is advancing and SB 86 will be heard this week in the House Committee on Higher Education.
Make it Easy and Fair to Do Business in Georgia
I introduced The Lemonade Stand Act in the Senate and was pleased the bill passed with wide bipartisan support. We are headed for a hearing in the House Committee on Small Business Development on Monday morning at 8am. There is no guarantee that we will get a nod from the House committee and we’ve been working with Chairman Cheokas to address any concerns before the hearing. We may make some small changes to the bill – even seemingly simple legislation requires hours of discussion and negotiation – before the House votes. Making changes means the bill has to come back for a vote in the Senate before the landing on the Governor’s desk.
The media have picked up on this bipartisan bill and many are surprised to know that lemonade stands without appropriate permits and licenses are illegal in Georgia. Parents could face a dilemma of whether to condone their kids flouting the law since the probability of getting caught is slim or not allowing their budding entrepreneurs to operate a lemonade stand at all. SB 55 would solve the problem for everyone and give kids access to an all-American tradition learning opportunity that’s lots of fun. I’ve been working the social media channels to build awareness and support.
I was disappointed that SB 34 was never called for a vote on Crossover Day. I’ve been working hard this week to add a critical piece of this bill – the requirement for third party food delivery services to have written consent from restaurants before offering ordering, pick-up and delivery services – to another bill that passed the House. I feel strongly that we need to support our local restaurants by protecting them from unfair business practices that can harm their reputation and slash their profits. I am working with my Republican colleagues in both chambers to accomplish this goal.
Visitors Are the Best
I was glad to see the scouts in the Capitol this week. These are our future voters and leaders.
