Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for February 3, 2023

John and Charles Wesley arrived at Tybee Roads, at the mouth of the Savannah River on February 5, 1736, along with James Oglethorpe and 254 other colonists.

On February 5, 1777, Georgia’s first Constitution was adopted in Savannah, creating the first eight counties. Happy birthday to Wilkes, Richmond, Burke, Effingham, Chatham, Liberty, Glynn, and Camden counties.

The 1777 Constitution was progressive for the time, outlawing primogeniture and entail, English common law doctrines that controlled inheritance of land.

Primogeniture ensured that the eldest son in a family inherited the largest portion of his father’s property upon the father’s death. The practice of entail, guaranteeing that a landed estate remain in the hands of only one male heir, was frequently practiced in conjunction with primogeniture. (Virginia abolished entail in 1776, but permitted primogeniture to persist until 1785.)

Georgians restructured inheritance laws in Article LI of the state’s constitution by abolishing entail in all forms and proclaiming that any person who died without a will would have his or her estate divided equally among their children; the widow shall have a child’s share, or her dower at her option.

On February 4, 1789, George Washington was unanimously elected by the Electoral College as the first President of the United States; Washington’s runner-up John Adams served as Vice President. Washington would repeat the feat four years later on February 4, 1793.

On February 4, 1801, John Marshall took office as Chief Justice of the United States. Marshall continued to hold the post of Secretary of State until March 4th. In one of American history’s rich ironies, Marshall, who served at the same time in the judicial and legislative branches of the federal government, would write the Court’s opinion in Marbury v. Madison, establishing the supremacy of the Supreme Court in matters of applying the Constitution through judicial review and establishing the doctrine of separation of powers. Marshall would serve during the terms of six Presidents.

The first recorded reference to Groundhog Day was in 1841; the first Punxsutawney observance was in 1870.

The first recorded reference to Groundhog Day was in 1841; the first Punxsutawney observance was in 1870.

Atlanta City Council met for the first time on February 2, 1848.

On February 4, 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress convened in Montgomery, Alabama, where it would draft a Constitution for the Confederate States of America, beginning with a near-verbatim copy of the United States Constitution.

On February 2, 1870, the Georgia General Assembly ratified the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states, “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

On February 3, 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified by Iowa, reaching the Constitutional threshold, and prohibiting racial discrimination in voting.

On February 3, 1887, Congress adopted the Electoral Count Act to clarify how Congress was to count electoral votes.

Electoral vote counting is the oldest activity of the national government and among the oldest questions of constitutional law. It was Congress’s first task when a quorum appeared in the nation’s new legislature on April 6, 1789. It has happened every four years since then. Yet, electoral vote counting remains one of the least understood aspects of our constitutional order.

The Electoral Count Act of 1887 (ECA) lies at the heart of this confusion. In enacting the ECA, Congress drew on lessons learned from its twenty-five previous electoral counts; it sorted through innumerable proposals floated before and after the disastrous presidential election of 1876; and it thrashed out the ECA’s specific provisions over fourteen years of sustained debate. Still, the law invites misinterpretation. The ECA is turgid and repetitious. Its central provisions seem contradictory. Many of its substantive rules are set out in a single sentence that is 275 words long. Proponents of the law admitted it was “not perfect.” Contemporary commentators were less charitable. John Burgess, a leading political scientist in the late nineteenth century, pronounced the law unwise, incomplete, premised on contradictory principles, and expressed in language that was “very confused, almost unintelligible.” At least he thought the law was constitutional; others did not.

Over the nearly 120 years since the ECA’s adoption, the criticisms faded, only to be renewed whenever there was a close presidential election. Our ability to misunderstand the ECA has grown over time. During the 2000 presidential election dispute, politicians, lawyers, commentators, and Supreme Court justices seemed prone to misstate or misinterpret the provisions of the law, even those provisions which were clear to the generation that wrote them. The Supreme Court, for example, mistakenly believed that the Supreme Court of Florida’s erroneous construction of its election code would deny Florida’s electors the ECA’s “safe harbor” protection; Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s hasty submission of his state’s Certificate of Ascertainment was untimely under the Act; and Democratic members of Congress framed their objections to accepting Florida’s electoral vote on the wrong grounds. Even Al Gore, the presidential candidate contesting the election’s outcome, misread the federal deadline for seating Florida’s electors.

Only the United States Congress could so obfuscate a matter as seemingly simple as counting that its Act remained undecipherable for more than one hundred years.

The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified by Delaware on February 3, 1913, giving the Amendment the requisite Constitutional supermajority of three-fourths of the states. The text of the Amendment reads, in its entirety,

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

President Woodrow Wilson died on February 3, 1924 in Washington, DC. Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia (pronounced Stan-ton) and spent most of his youth to age 14 in Augusta, Georgia. Wilson started practicing law in Atlanta, Georgia in 1882, leaving the next year to pursue a Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University. His wife, Ellen Louise Axson, was from Savannah, and they married in Rome, Ga in 1885.

On February 2, 1932, Al Capone was sent to federal prison in Atlanta.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced his “court packing” plan on February 5, 1937. After the United States Supreme Court found some of his “New Deal” legislation unconstitutional, Roosevelt’s proposal would have encouraged the retirement of justices older than 70 and for those who did not retire, appoint an assistant Justice with full voting rights on decisions by the Court.

On February 5, 1945, Governor Ellis Arnall signed legislation abolishing the poll tax, making Georgia the first Southern state to do so.

Georgia’s 1877 constitution authorized the tax, which limited voter participation among both poor blacks and whites. But most whites got around the provision through exemptions for those whose ancestors fought in the Civil War or who could vote before the war.

In 1937, the U.S. Supreme court upheld Georgia’s poll tax as constitutional. But in 1942, Georgia voters chose Ellis Arnall for governor and the progressive Arnall ushered in a wave of reforms, including abolishing Georgia’s poll tax.

Nigel Tufnel, of the band Spinal Tap, was born on February 5, 1948.

On February 3, 1959, a chartered Beechcraft Bonanza carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson crashed near Mason City, Iowa, killing all aboard.

Jimi Hendrix recorded Purple Haze on this date in 1967.

On February 5, 1974, “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe,” by Barry White reached #1 on the charts.

On February 4, 1976, the Georgia Senate approved a resolution previously passed by the State House proposing a Constitutional Amendment to allow Governors of Georgia to serve two consecutive terms and voters approved in November 1976. Then-Governor George Busbee won reelection in November 1978, and since then Democrat Roy Barnes is the only Georgia Governor to not win reelection.

Def Leppard’s “Pyromania” began a 92-week run on the best-seller charts on February 5, 1983. Rock on.

On February 2, 1988, the Georgia Senate ratified the 22d Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provides that pay raises for Members of Congress shall not go into effect until the next term.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Senate Bill 11 by Sen. John Albers (R-Roswell), the “Georgia Fights Terrorism Act,” was the first legislation passed by the senior chamber, according to a press release.

[On Wednesday], Senate Bill 11, sponsored by Sen. John Albers (R – Roswell), passed with bipartisan support in the Senate Chamber. SB 11 is the first piece of legislation to pass out of the Senate in the 2023 Legislative Session. Also known as the “Georgia Fights Terrorism Act,” SB 11 would provide independent and concurrent jurisdiction to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) for crimes related to terrorism.

“Georgia has some of the strongest terrorism laws in the nation,” said Sen. Albers. “The safety and security of our citizens is of the utmost importance and with this legislation, we are able to continue to protect the well-being of all Georgians in the face of terrorism. The Senate body stands behind Georgia’s law enforcement agencies and the GBI and I am pleased to see this legislation make it across the finish line with bipartisan support.”

SB 11 passed through the Senate Committee on Public Safety by substitute on January 26, 2023. SB 11 was then heard on the Senate Floor on Wednesday, February 1, 2023 and passed by substitute with a vote of 49 to 3. SB 11 is now headed to the House where it will undergo a similar process.

From the Capitol Beat News Service via the Statesboro Herald:

The bill would allow the GBI to open investigations of terrorism independently instead of solely at the request of government agencies or officials, as is typically the case now.

“This bill simply allows the Georgia Bureau of Investigation the ability to proactively, either independently or with our other agencies, both local and federal, go after and investigate crimes related to terrorism, nuclear, biological, chemical, cyber and domestic,” said Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, the bill’s chief sponsor.

Under the bill, the GBI could open such investigations if the agency’s director finds that doing so “would not compromise the successful completion of cases.”

Senate Bill 1 by Sen. Greg Dolezal (R-Forsyth County) passed out of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee, according to the Associated Press via the Statesboro Herald.

Some Georgia senators want to permanently block schools and most state and local government agencies from requiring people to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

In 2022, lawmakers put a one-year ban into law, part of a broad conservative nationwide backlash against mandates meant to prevent the spread of the respiratory illness. But that ban expires on June 30 in Georgia if lawmakers don’t act.

Wednesday, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted 7-2 to advance Senate Bill 1, which makes the ban permanent, to the full Senate.

“I don’t think it’s the role of the government to determine medical decisions for its citizens, as it comes to this vaccine,” Dolezal said.

The measure bars state agencies, local governments, schools and colleges from requiring proof of vaccination. But because governments and schools can’t require proof, they can’t enforce mandates.

The Georgia chapters of both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Physicians are opposing the measure, saying it will hurt Georgia’s ability to fight continuing COVID-19 infections, encourage the erosion of other existing vaccine requirements, particularly for public school and college students, and hurt Georgia’s ability to fight future pandemics.

Committee Chairman Ben Watson, a Savannah Republican and medical doctor, drew a distinction between COVID-19 and other diseases that students are required to be vaccinated against to attend public schools and many colleges. He acknowledged the vaccine is effective in preventing death and hospitalization, but he said it can’t prevent people from getting COVID-19. He likened it to the flu vaccine, which also may not prevent influenza, saying flu shots aren’t required to attend school.

The State House passed an Amended Budget for FY 2023, according to the Associated Press via the Statesboro Herald.

The Georgia House on Thursday approved money for a $1 billion property tax break and $1 billion income tax break as part of a plan to amend this year’s budget to spend another $2.4 billion in projected revenue.

The Republican-controlled House voted 170-1 on Thursday to approve House Bill 18, sending it to the Senate for more debate.

Gov. Brian Kemp now calls for spending $32.6 billion in state tax money in the budget ending June 30, up 7.3% from what the Republican originally projected last year. Including federal and other money, total spending would rise to $61.6 billion.

Most additional money would fund a second $1 billion round of state income tax rebates, which would give taxpayers between $250 and $500 back. It would also pay for the property tax rebates, which Kemp says would give the typical homeowner about $500. Both breaks need separate legislative approval.

House members rejected Kemp’s plan to provide $25 million in grants to school systems to help children make up for missed learning, instead adding that money to what Kemp already proposes spending on school security grants. Shifting that and some other cash into security grants would provide $60,000 per school.

The budget also shifts $1.1 billion from the state’s $6.6 billion in surplus cash to the state Department of Transportation. That money will replenish road-building accounts after the state suspended gasoline and diesel taxes for 10 months.

From the Capitol Beat News Service:

The mid-year budget, which covers state spending through June 30, sailed through the House 170-1 and now moves to the Georgia Senate. With the state sitting atop a $6.6 billion revenue surplus, the mid-year budget would increase spending by 7.8% over the fiscal 2023 budget the General Assembly adopted last spring.

House lawmakers also approved Kemp’s request to fully fund Georgia’s Quality Basic Education k-12 student formula (QBE), at $12.4 billion the largest single expenditure in the budget. After years of falling short of the mark, the state has been able to afford full funding of the QBE for the last several years.

The spending plan provides $73.1 million to the Technical College System of Georgia’s Quick Start program to build training facilities in Bryan and Newton counties to train workers for two electric-vehicle manufacturing plants being built near Covington and Savannah.

The state Department of Human Services would receive $137.4 million for the additional staffing that will be necessary to accomplish “the great unwinding” of Medicaid in April, when the federal government will relax pandemic-era regulations that prevented states from disenrolling people from Medicaid. Georgia will need to re-examine the eligibility of more than 2 million current Medicaid enrollees.

A couple of House lawmakers questioned how the $1 billion property tax rebate would affect the coffers of local governments, which rely heavily on property taxes.

Hatchett said the tax relief would be funded out of state surplus revenue.

“The state is funding that discount,” he said. “There is no effect on cities and counties.”

More on the property tax relief component of the budget from the AJC:

If given final approval, homeowners would receive an extra one-time exemption on the value of their homes at tax time, a move that Kemp said last month would save those Georgians, on average, about $500.

Kemp proposed a $20,000 exemption on the taxable value of homes. The state constitution allows only up to an $18,000 exemption, so homeowners may get a little less than $500, on average.

The Capitol Beat News Service profiles Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones’s priorities.

Newly elected Lt. Gov. Burt Jones says he is “laser focused” on the well-being of Georgians.

“I saw an opportunity to lower our state income tax to put more money back into the pockets of hardworking Georgians, empower parents and teachers, and to make our communities safer.”

He called addressing gang violence in Georgia “a top priority for my office.” This week, he announced his strong support for a bill that would institute mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted of gang recruitment.

Jones also wants to fix Georgia’s workforce challenges. He is backing a Senate bill that would make it easier for state agencies to hire people who do not hold college degrees.

He called addressing gang violence in Georgia “a top priority for my office.” This week, he announced his strong support for a bill that would institute mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted of gang recruitment.

“I believe in allowing … robust and open debate,” Jones said. “I’m not going to shut down the conversation if a senator brings an issue forward because they have legitimate issues that may address the needs of their district or constituency.”

“Right now, I’m solely focused on being a really good lieutenant governor for the people of Georgia,” Jones said. “I am laser focused on the future and doing all that I can to ensure our state continues to move in the right direction.”

House Bill 200 by State Rep. Joseph Gullett (R-Cobb) would allow municipalities to choose “Instant Runoff Voting” for some elections, according to the Capitol Beat News Service.

“This legislation promotes local control,” said Gullett. “If passed, it gives cities the option to avoid the cost of expensive runoff elections while maintaining the principle of majority rule.”

“Cities that don’t want it, don’t have to do it, and cities that try it and don’t like it, can go back to their original system. This bill provides flexibility and options, not mandates.”

Runoffs have drawn a number of critics in Georgia in recent years, including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whose department oversees elections.

Besides the expense of holding an additional election, Raffensperger argued Georgians who vote in general elections in early November don’t want their Thanksgiving holidays interrupted by runoff campaigns and having to go back to the polls a second time.

Under an instant runoff voting system, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate wins more than half of the first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated.

At that point, voters who selected the defeated candidate as their top choice have those votes added to the totals of their next choice. The process continues until a candidate has amassed more than half of the votes.

The instant runoff measure, House Bill 200, has picked up bipartisan support. Its House cosponsors include Republican Reps. Clay Pirkle of Ashburn and Victor Anderson of Cornelia, and Democratic Reps. Stacey Evans of Atlanta and Mary Margaret Oliver of Decatur.

From the AJC:

The bipartisan proposal wouldn’t end runoffs in statewide elections in Georgia, the only state in the nation that requires runoffs after both primary and general elections in which no candidate wins a majority.

“This is a starting point as a test if cities want to do it,” said state Rep. Joseph Gullett, a Republican from Dallas who introduced House Bill 200 on Wednesday. “If they’re successful at it, we’ll have an idea what this could look like in the state of Georgia. If it’s a terrible process, we’ll know that, too.”

Several cities have proposed ranked-choice voting for municipal elections, including Atlanta and Woodstock, Gullett said.

Georgia already uses ranked-choice voting, also known as instant runoffs, for members of the military and overseas voters, according to the state’s election law passed in 2021.

Senate Bill 57 by State Rep. Billy Hickman, (R-Statesboro), called the “Georgia Sports Betting Integrity Act,” would legalize some online sports betting, according to Atlanta News First via WTOC.

The bill’s authors represent a diverse mixture of lawmakers from several distinctly different regions: Republicans Billy Hickman (Statesboro), Clint Dixon (Gwinnett), and Brandon Beach (Alpharetta); and Democrats Ed Harbison (Columbus) and Freddie Powell Sims (Dawson).

“We’ve been talking about sports betting for years and it’s time we do it,” said Beach. He said the fact that it’s mobile betting means it will not require a constitutional amendment, meaning it won’t need to go to the voters to pass it.

“All of it is going to be done through your phone, mobile phone, or through a kiosk at the venue,” said Beach.

The online sports betting bill sets the tax rate at 20 percent.

Beach said the money would go to the Georgia Lottery, just as it would when you buy a lottery ticket here in Georgia. “It’s going to go to the lottery and they are going to continue to fund HOPE scholarship and Pre-K, so it’s going to the Georgia lottery and so there is nothing in this bill that says money has to be earmarked for healthcare or anything else,” he said.

Two State House bills aim to curb prosecutorial discretion, according to the Associated Press via WRDW.

Both House Bill 229 and House Bill 231 are aimed at district attorneys or county solicitors general who refuse to prosecute entire categories of crimes. For example, some Georgia prosecutors are declining to bring any charges for low-level marijuana possession.

It’s part of Kemp’s broader tough-on-crime push, along with Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and others, although opponents say it’s unwise for lawmakers to tie a prosecutor’s hands.

House Bill 231, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Gullett, a Dallas Republican, would create a Prosecuting Attorneys Oversight Commission, similar to the existing Judicial Qualifications Commission, which can investigate misconduct by judges and recommend punishments including removal to the state Supreme Court.

“Voters across the state are begging legislators to address corrupt prosecutors,” Gullett said in a statement Thursday, adding that his motives are not partisan. “While most district attorneys and solicitor generals are hard-working public servants seeking justice for victims, others have sullied and called into question the integrity of our criminal justice system through their unethical behavior.”

Similarly, House Bill 229, sponsored by Republican Rep. Houston Gaines of Athens, says a district attorney must “review every individual case for which probable cause for prosecution exists, and make a prosecutorial decision available under the law based on the facts and circumstances of each individual case,” adding that refusing to do so would violate a district attorney’s oath of office.

Violating an oath of office is a crime in Georgia, punishable by one to five years in prison.

Those provisions clearly take aim at prosecutors refusing to prosecute marijuana possession misdemeanors. Among them are Deborah Gonzalez, district attorney for Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties.

Gaines’ bill also would make district attorneys and solicitors general the easiest-to-recall elected officials in Georgia. Failing to make case-by-case prosecution decisions would be grounds for recall, and only 2% of registered voters in a county or judicial circuit would be required to force a recall election. Now, 30% of registered voters have to sign a recall petition for prosecutors and other officials not elected statewide.

Sen. Elena Parent, an Atlanta Democrat who sits on the Judiciary Committee, said people unhappy with district attorneys or solicitors general should seek to defeat them at the next election.

“It just seems like not a good idea to remove all of that discretion from a prosecutor’s office,” she said.

She also said Republicans should quit micromanaging local elected officials. “No one elected them to be district attorney,” Parent said.

Glynn County state legislators will oppose gun restrictions proposed by Atlanta Democrats, according to The Brunswick News.

State Reps. Michelle Au, D-Johns Creek, and Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, introduced four measures this week to stem crime and violence.

House Bill 44 would require private gun sales and transfers to be subject to background checks; HB 45 would require a three-day waiting period for firearm purchases; HB 135 would make gun owners responsible if their firearms were available to be obtained and used by a minor to make a threat of violence or cause the death or injury of an individual; HB 161, the Pediatric Health Safe Storage Act, would require firearms that may be accessible to minors to be stored securely.

“Gun violence is the No. 1 cause of death for children and teens,” Oliver said. “Every gun owner has a duty to ensure his or her gun is not wrongly used by others.”

The four bills get a thumbs down from Glynn legislators, who note Republicans are addressing crime and violence.

“We already hold gun owners responsible for their actions related to guns,” Rep. Buddy DeLoach said. “I do not support a waiting period, and I do not support any further restrictions on private sales.”

“I do not believe the House Republican Caucus will support any of these measures,” DeLoach said.

Georgia Department of Natural Resources workers freed an endangered Right Whale from fishing gear, according to the AJC.

There are fewer than 350 North Atlantic Right Whales left, making them one of the rarest large whale species on the planet. The whales travel from their feeding grounds near Canada and the Northeast to the coastal waters off Georgia and other Southeastern states each year in winter to calve.

On January 20, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission survey plane spotted a 15-year-old adult male named “Nimbus” draped in fishing rope as it swam 13 miles off the shore of Jekyll Island. A team from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) responded and found the whale dragging an estimated 375 feet of synthetic rope behind it from its mouth, according to an agency incident report.

Responders were able to free the whale from all but one 13-foot segment of rope. DNR officials said they were confident Nimbus would eventually shed the remaining line on his own.

The news of the rescue comes near the midpoint of the whales’ calving season, which typically lasts from mid-November to mid-April.

So far this season, 11 new calves have been spotted, compared to 15 in the entire 2021-2022 calving season. A 12th calf was found dead last month beneath a pier in Morehead City, North Carolina.

One of my fondest wishes is to see Right Whales off the Georgia coast and photograph them. Anyone know how to make that happen?