The Parent Press: Updates from the Golden Dome and Town Hall Reminder

The General Assembly is back in full force and the pace is picking up.  Read on for updates about some of the bills being considered.  But first... reminder about my next Town Hall:

Legislative Town Hall and Voting Machine Demo

I will be holding another legislative update this Wednesday, March 4th at 6 PM at the Central DeKalb Senior Center. I'm hosting alongside the Secretary of State's Office, who will be demonstrating how to use the new voting machines. See below for all of the information -- I hope to see many of you there! 

Making it Easy to vote by absentee ballot

Election season is officially underway, which means it’s time to get excited about casting our ballots! I am doing my best to make voting as stress-free and straightforward as possible by introducing SB 409, which would allow voters to automatically receive an absentee ballot each election cycle without having to request one every time a new election comes up. Voting should not be unnecessarily complicated, and absentee ballots are an excellent way to improve voter turnout so that our government is representative of all Georgians. Moreover, this bill goes beyond pure practicality – the cost of handling reapplications for each biennial cycle in our state is estimated to be somewhere between $400,000 and $1.2 million.

 I am cautiously optimistic about this bill. Since rural voters stand to benefit a great deal, along with elderly and disabled voters (who have a harder time making it to polling locations), I think there is good reason to hope for bipartisan support. We got our first Republican co-sponsor, Senator Burt Jones, and I am hopeful that more Republicans will get behind the effort, which really should be divorced from political party. If you want to hear more about the specifics, I encourage you to check out my explanation in this video. I also invite you to write to the other members of the Government Oversight Committee (whose names you can find here) and ask them to hold a bill hearing and a vote next week. When citizens like you get actively involved, it really can make a difference, so thank you!

Guns in Schools and Churches and Courthouses oh my… 

Two disastrous pieces of legislation, SB 357 and SB 224, have passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee in recent days. SB 357 allows gun owners to carry weapons in places of worship throughout the state, including in any schools operated by those religious centers. SB 224 allows guns in churches and courthouses, allows felons and other convicts to obtain a variety of firearms more easily, changes the definition of aggravated assault to make brandishing a weapon no problem, forces local governments to sell confiscated guns on a regular basis etc. etc. Needless to say, these bills are extremely problematic. Does anyone really believe that the solution to the abundance of gun violence in our country is to inject guns into every facet of our lives? Current law already allows individual places of worship to decide on their own whether or not they want parishioners to have weapons on their grounds. I firmly believe there’s a reason most places of worship have chosen not to allow them.

 I will fight tooth and nail to prevent these bills from passing. Given that it’s an election year and that this is good “red meat” for Republicans in their home districts, I wouldn’t be surprised to see either advance. Still, please reach out to the members of the Rules Committee (found here) to try and stop SB 357 and SB 224 from making it to the Senate floor.

Dual Enrollment Data collection

Recently, I introduced SB 400, a piece of legislation that acts as a counterweight to the more concerning HB 444. The main goals of HB 444 (which I opposed) were to cap the number of college credits high school students can earn at 30 and to limit the dual enrollment program to mostly 11th and 12th grade students (with a grandfather clause for students already in the program). One of the main reasons for my opposition to HB 444 was the lack of thorough data that could guide the General Assembly in assessing and changing the program.  

In SB 400, the Georgia Student Finance Commission will be obligated to provide annual data on the dual enrollment program and actively work toward achieving more participation by underrepresented students. I hope that as a result of this we can ensure that no kids are stopped from earning valuable college credit in high school, which can save kids thousands of dollars in college tuition later on. SB 400 had a hearing on the Education and Youth Committee on Thursday and my expectation is that it will come up for a vote next week. In the meantime, if you are passionate about this issue, I encourage you to contact the Chair and members of the Education and Youth Committee in order to share your support of SB 400.

Campus “Free Speech”

SB 318, a bill that focuses on campus free speech, passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. The first part of this bill works to abolish “free speech zones” on college campuses. The other part of the bill prevents universities from restricting speech and forces “public institutions of higher education”to acknowledge student organizations that discriminate.

Specifically, these institutions cannot take away any form of “benefit or privilege” (that other student organizations have) from “religious, political or ideological student organization[s].” My main concern with this bill deals with discrimination on the basis of “religious, political or ideological” practices. This legislation would prohibit a university from enforcing a policy that forbids discrimination in student organization membership. I think it is up to the university to decide what is best for the students instead of a bill that forces the university to act a certain way without knowing the nuances in its own community. Indeed, the University System of Georgia has been testifying against the bill. The institutions should be able to decide what is best for their community because they understand it best. By allowing this form of discrimination, it can also cause a domino effect into other areas of student life.  

As always -- thank you for the opportunity to represent you in the State Senate! It is a great honor.