Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for March 29, 2023

Charles Wesley, hymnist, and brother of Methodist founder John Wesley, died on March 29, 1788 in London, England. Charles Wesley served as Secretary to James Oglethorpe and as a Chaplain at Fort Frederica on St Simons Island. This past Sunday, his hymns were played in churches across the globe, including Christ the Lord Is Risen Today and Rejoice, the Lord Is King.

On March 29, 1865, Federal troops under General Ulysses S. Grant began the Appomattox campaign.

On March 29, 1937, Georgia Governor E.D. Rivers signed legislation imposing the first state tax on distilled spirits in Georgia.

If made in another state and imported into Georgia, distilled spirits were taxed at 80 cents per gallon and alcohol at $1.60 per gallon – or at fractional amounts for smaller containers. If made in Georgia, distilled spirits were taxed at 40 cents per gallon and alcohol at 80 cents per gallon.

Note: GeorgiaInfo says Governor Talmadge signed the legislation, but Talmadge left office in January 1937. It was Gov. Rivers who signed the bill.

On March 29, 1971, U.S. Army Lieutenant William L. Calley was found guilty by Court Martial at Fort Benning, Georgia, of massacring Vietnamese civilians at My Lai.

The unit had been conducting a search-and-destroy mission to locate the 48th Viet Cong (VC) Local Force Battalion. The unit entered Son My village but found only women, children, and old men. Frustrated by unanswered losses due to snipers and mines, the soldiers took out their anger on the villagers, indiscriminately shooting people as they ran from their huts. The soldiers rounded up the survivors and led them to a nearby ditch where they were shot.

Calley was charged with six specifications of premeditated murder. During the trial, Chief Army prosecutor Capt. Aubrey Daniel charged that Calley ordered Sgt. Daniel Mitchell to “finish off the rest” of the villagers. The prosecution stressed that all the killings were committed despite the fact that Calley’s platoon had met no resistance and that he and his men had not been fired on.

Calley was found guilty of personally murdering 22 civilians and sentenced to life imprisonment, but his sentence was reduced to 20 years by the Court of Military Appeals and further reduced later to 10 years by the Secretary of the Army. Proclaimed by much of the public as a “scapegoat,” Calley was paroled in 1974 after having served about a third of his 10-year sentence.

On March 29, 1973, the last American troops left Vietnam, ending United States engagement in the war.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Yesterday, the Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments on whether Georgia’s “Heartbeat Bill,” anti-abortion legislation is constitutional, according to the Associated Press via the Statesboro Herald.

A lower court judge last year ruled that the law enacted in 2019 was not valid because it was it was “unequivocally unconstitutional” at the time for governments to ban abortions before viability based on U.S. Supreme Court precedent in Roe v. Wade and another ruling.

Therefore, he wrote, the measure did not become law when it was enacted and could not be law even after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that precedent last year.

During oral arguments Tuesday before the Georgia Supreme Court on the state of Georgia’s appeal challenging the lower court ruling, state solicitor-general Stephen Petrany noted that the U.S. Supreme Court last year ruled that Roe v. Wade was an incorrect interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.

Because the Georgia abortion law “would be valid if enacted today under the exact same federal Constitution, it was valid when it was enacted,” he argued.

Even if the state high court doesn’t agree with that, Petrany argued, the U.S. Supreme Court has made very clear “that its decisions must apply retroactively, that lower courts and state courts cannot simply decline to apply its decisions.”

Georgia’s abortion measure was signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2019 and took effect in July after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. It prohibits most abortions once there is a “detectable human heartbeat.”

[Judge McBurney’s] ruling immediately halted enforcement of the law statewide and allowed abortions to resume past the cutoff point established in the law. But the Georgia Supreme Court granted a request from the state to put McBurney’s ruling on hold while its appeal moved forward, again halting most abortions after about six weeks into a pregnancy.

From the Capitol Beat News Service:

[L]awyers for the groups challenging the law countered that the law was void when the state legislature passed it and therefore should be deemed invalid, despite the subsequent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

“When the legislature passes a law that is in violation of the Constitution, it is an overstep of their authority to do so,” Julia Stone argued.

“This is not a case where there was gray area … in 2019,” Stone added. “For 50 years, the rule was states could not ban abortions before the point of viability, and when the General Assembly passed HB 481 and sought to ban abortions … [that] had been perfectly clear for 50 years. [The state legislature] directly conflicted with that precedent.”

At a post-hearing press conference in front of the Supreme Court, Stone noted that if the law is struck down, Georgia lawmakers could enact another abortion ban but would have to do so in the new legal and political environment created by the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The Supreme Court is likely to issue a decision in the case by this summer. The South Carolina Supreme Court in January found that state’s similar abortion law unconstitutional under state law.

From the Georgia Recorder:

The panel will issue a decision “as soon as possible,” said Chief Justice Michael P. Boggs.

“The entire theory of the case from the plaintiff’s perspective is that the LIFE Act was void in 2019 because of federal judicial decisions,” said Stephen Petrany, solicitor general with the Georgia Attorney General’s Office. “And so the notion that somehow Dobbs does not undo that – it would be incoherent.”

The state is arguing that the 2023 ruling did not change the U.S. Constitution but rather offered a different interpretation of the text that should be applied retroactively. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling now famously called the 1973 decision “egregiously wrong from the start.”

“Dobbs expressly says the prior precedent was wrong and – whether anybody agrees with that – it says that, and it’s the last word on it,” Justice Charlie Bethel said during Tuesday’s proceeding.

Justice Sarah Warren more pointedly poked at the plaintiffs’ position.

“When you have judicial precedent that is applied retroactively, I do not think you can artificially separate them as you have tried to do here,” Warren said.

While arguments were being heard inside, a small group of protesters sounded off their disdain for the six-week abortion ban outside the Nathan Deal Judicial Center in downtown Atlanta. They held signs bearing messages like “right to abortion is not negotiable” and chanted phrases like “my body, my choice” and “repeal the ban.”

“There are 125 years of Georgia Supreme Court precedent that says you look at the constitutionality of the statute at the moment of its enactment. So when you do that here, it’s a pretty straightforward application,” [Stone] told reporters after the hearing.

Under the Gold Dome Today – Legislative Day 40

9:00 AM HOUSE RULES COMMITTEE – 341 CAP
10:00 AM HOUSE FLOOR SESSION (LD 40 SINE DIE) – House Chamber
10:00 AM Senate Floor Session (LD 40) – Senate Chamber

It’s “Sink or Swim” time for Georgia legislation to pass in this Session of the General Assembly. From 13WMAZ:

Wednesday is the 40th day of the current legislative session —  better known as Sine Die.

It’s the last day for the Georgia House of Representative and state Senate to pass legislation and send the bills on to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk.

There are several bills that could be voted on before the work ends. Some of the key legislation includes:

The FY2024 budget

Both the House and Senate agree on much of the 2024 fiscal year budget, which takes effect July 1.

However, Senators made changes last week that would cut $88 million from the state’s college and university teaching budget, $18 million university system health insurance increase and roughly $3.7 million from Georgia Public Broadcasting.

The difference will have to be sorted out before Kemp can sign off on the spending plan.

Sports betting

Senators used HB 237, a bill to name the Southeast Georgia Soap Box Derby the state’s official soap box derby, and tacked language to it, reviving efforts to legalize sports betting in the state.

It seems unlikely to pass as multiple betting bills have failed this session.

Mental health

HB 520, a reform package that aims to hire more mental health workers and provide better collaboration between mental health providers and the criminal justice system, has not been approved by the state Senate.

Senators rewrote portions of the bill last week, but the Senate Health and Human Services Committee didn’t take a vote, the Associated Press reports.

It’s the second phrase of legislation champion by former House speaker, the late David Ralston.

Legislation to reform the procedures of the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission is caught in legislative limbo between the chambers, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Albany Herald.

The state Senate voted 53-3 in favor of legislation the House passed earlier this month, but with a series of substantive changes that will force it to return to the House before it can gain final passage.

The state commission that runs the program was created back in 2019. But it took the agency until last year to award the first two licenses to companies to grow marijuana in Georgia and convert the leafy crop to low-THC cannabis oil for patients suffering from a range of diseases.

“It took us years and year for the commission to get organized, get its rules together … and award licenses,” Senate Regulated Industries Committee Chairman Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, told his Senate colleagues Monday. “All that time, the frustration has boiled.”

The awarding of licenses hasn’t ended the difficulty in getting the program off the ground. Four additional licenses beyond the first two are being held up by lawsuits filed by nine companies that lost bids for those licenses and are challenging the procurement process as legally flawed.

As passed by the House, the bill sought to move the program forward by expanding the number of licenses from six to 15, which would have allowed the nine protesters to compete for licenses if they agreed to drop their lawsuits.

Senators became convinced that expanding the number of licenses isn’t necessary at this time because each of the two companies already licensed have given assurances they can supply enough cannabis oil to treat 300,000 patients, while the state’s registry of patients eligible for the drug numbers fewer than 30,000.

The Senate version of the bill includes triggers for increasing the number of licenses the state awards as the number of patients on the registry grows.

“It takes a little bit of the politics out of it and gets it into a common-sense bracket,” said Sen. Matt Brass, R-Newnan, who chaired a legislative study committee on medical cannabis in 2018.

Senate Bill 62 by Sen. Carden Summers (R-Cordele) will require local governments to enforce their existing laws against urban camping, according to the Capitol Beat News Service.

Georgia cities and counties must enforce local ordinances prohibiting homeless people from camping and sleeping in public arenas under legislation that has gained final passage in the General Assembly.

The Republican-controlled state Senate passed the bill Monday night, voting 32-24 primarily along party lines, and sent it on to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature. The Senate vote came a few hours after the Georgia House of Representatives passed the bill 99-76.

“We know that street camps are dangerous for homeless people themselves,” Rep. Katie Dempsey, R-Rome, who carried Senate Bill 62 in the House, told her legislative colleagues. “The cities that have allowed it have seen an increase in the number of homeless deaths.”

“Bills like this criminalize homelessness,” said Rep. Jasmine Clark, D-Lilburn. “We need bills that address the root causes of homelessness.”

Democrats also accused Republicans of stomping on the concept of local control.

But Dempsey and other GOP lawmakers said the provision requiring local governments to enforce their ordinances against public camping and sleeping only applies if they have such ordinances.

“We want to ensure that cities in this state don’t become more like Los Angeles and Austin, Texas,” added House Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman John LaHood, R-Valdosta, referring to those cities’ problems with homeless encampments.

Senate Bill 222 by Sen. Max Burns (R-Sylvania) would ban “Zuckerbucks” from elections, and is in legislative limbo today, according to the Associated Press via AccessWDUN.

Georgia’s DeKalb County could keep its $2 million in private grant money to help run elections, under a bill nearing final passage. But the next Georgia local government official who accepts an outside election grant might end up a convicted felon.

That’s the message majority Republicans sent Monday as the Georgia House voted 100-69 along party lines to approve Senate Bill 222. The measure would make it illegal for local government to accept any funding for elections from outside groups except the state or federal governments. The bill goes back to the Senate for more debate because the House made changes.

“It’s not a new idea that there’s people out there who want to illegally influence the outcome of our elections,” said House Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman John LaHood, a Valdosta Republican. “That’s been going on since Moby Dick was a minnow, and it’s going to continue.”

Republican lawmakers originally wrote the bill to force the county to give the money back. House members removed the refund provision, which could have been attacked as an illegal after-the-fact law. But Democrats Monday pushed back on claims that DeKalb had done anything illegal.

From the Capitol Beat News Service:

The legislation stems from complaints from Republicans in Georgia and other states about private donations flowing into elections offices in Democratic counties, notably a $350 million contribution by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to the nonprofit Center for Technology and Civic Life during the 2020 election.

“It’s common sense for us to make sure we’re banning private money from public elections,” said Rep. Houston Gaines, R-Athens, who carried the bill in the House.

Because of changes the House made to the bill, it now heads back to the Senate, which must act on it before the General Assembly adjourns for the year on Wednesday night if it is to become law.

House Bill 703 by State Rep. Anne Allen Westbrook (D-Savannah) term-limits Savannah Board of Aldermen members, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Under the bill the eight members on council would be limited to serving three consecutive terms or twelve years total in a seat.

The bill’s passage comes after Savannah’s city council approved the same measure in February by a 7-2 vote.

That measure required state approval since it required a change in the City’s Charter.

The bill’s sponsor State Representative Anne Allen Westbrook says since the council voted to impose these limits themselves it was important to help get state approval.

“My jobs as one of the representatives in the City of Savannah here in the state house is to carry those wishes to the state and help that enabling legislation get passed. So that’s what that bill does,” Anne Allen Westbrook said.

The new term limits would apply to everyone council except the mayor since that position is already limited to two consecutive terms in office.

Local legislation affecting Gwinnett County also passed, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

The Senate State and Local Governmental Operations Committee approved two bills dealing with Gwinnett school tax homestead exemptions and one bill that is part of an effort to raise the salary for the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners chair.

That moves the bills ahead for approval by the full Senate, which — as of early Tuesday afternoon — had not yet released its calendars of bills that will be taken up by the chamber on Wednesday, which is Sine Die Day, otherwise known as the hectic last day of the legislative session.

The homestead exemptions bills would call for referendums in 2024 on two measures. House Bill 711 would double the existing homestead exemption for school taxes in Gwinnett County, increasing it to $8,000. House Bill 748 would create a new additional $2,000 homestead exemption for public servants.

Meanwhile, House Bill 777, which has bipartisan support from Gwinnett legislators, would increase the salary for the county commission chair to the same salary that Gwinnett County’s sheriff earns, including his base salary and local supplements.

That would mean a raise of more than $100,000 for the commission chair.

The United States Food and Drug Administration approved over the counter sales of Narcan, according to the Associated Press via AccessWDUN.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved selling naloxone without a prescription, setting the overdose-reversing drug on course to become the first opioid treatment drug to be sold over the counter.

Speaking Monday on WDUN’s Newsroom, Jordan Hussey, executive director of J’s Place Recovery Center in Gainesville, said the move was a huge deal.

“When I first started working at Jay’s place, you had to have a standing order [for Narcan],” Hussey said. “But pharmacies weren’t sure if they could give it to us or not. It’s huge because it’s the only thing that is helping. It’s the only thing that’s going to prevent these individuals from dying.”

The approved branded nasal spray from Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Emergent BioSolutions is the best-known form of naloxone.

It can reverse overdoses of opioids, including street drugs such as heroin and fentanyl and prescription versions including oxycodone.

Making naloxone available more widely is seen as a key strategy to control the nationwide overdose crisis, which has been linked to more than 100,000 U.S. deaths a year. The majority of those deaths are tied to opioids, primarily potent synthetic versions such as fentanyl that can take multiple doses of naloxone to reverse.

Gwinnett County is augmenting its SkyNet Flock safety camera program, according to AccessWDUN.

According to a press release from Gwinnett County Government, the commission approved the purchase of 97 new Flock cameras at a cost of $279,600.

The Flock cameras record passing vehicles’ tag numbers and categorize each vehicle by its build, make and color. The cameras then notify the police in real time if a car is stolen, a person is wanted or someone is missing.

Gwinnett County Police have recovered 585 stolen cars and 526 wanted persons using the Flock cameras since 2020.

The county currently has access to 772 Flock cameras. Most of the current cameras are owned by homeowners associations and community improvement districts.

Hall County’s WeGo transit on demand app is tripping over its own success, according to the Gainesville Times.

WeGo, a rideshare transportation system and smartphone application operated by Hall Area Transit, has seen services stall as demand continues to exceed the number of transit buses on the road.

Users of the app climbed 55% in February compared to last year, according to Phillippa Lewis Moss, director of Gainesville-Hall County Community Services and general manager of Hall Area Transit.

“The demand has exceeded supply – the program is very, very popular,” Moss said. “We typically have 14 on the road, and sometimes we have fewer because we have … preventive maintenance requirements … so there are times we may be down 4-6 vehicles.”

Some residents who rely on the app – like Jerri Webb, a 65-year-old retiree – have recently been left without access to affordable transportation due to the rising demand – oftentimes receiving a notification that reads, “We are experiencing high demand and all of our seats are full. Please try booking again in a few minutes.”

Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools are working to improve reading scores, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Faced with stark evidence that nearly two-thirds of elementary school students in Savannah-Chatham County public schools (SCCPSS) are not reading at grade level, the district’s literacy task force made recommendations on how to improve reading and writing skills for the community’s youngest learners. The task force report was presented to the SCCPSS Board of Education during its annual retreat on March 24.

Hiring district-level literacy specialists, dedicating 120 minutes a day to literacy instruction (in all grade levels), new textbooks and resources, and a renewed emphasis on teacher trainings were some the top recommendations from the task force’s draft presentation. The formal report will be presented at the April 12 School Board meeting, where the public will be able to comment on the recommendations.

The recommendations are anchored by five areas: parent and community partnerships, teacher preparation, professional development, instructional strategies, and selection of educational materials.

During the 2021-2022 school year, SCCPSS reported that only 34% of elementary school students were reading at or above grade level, the measure of literacy for students in grades 3-8.

And according to district-level data, 49% of elementary school students ranked as the lowest-level learners on state-mandated English end-of-grade exams.

The Gwinnett County Board of Education voted to extend the contract of Superintendent Calvin Watts, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

Gwinnett County Public Schools Superintendent Calvin Watts will remain in charge of Georgia’s largest school system through at least the end of June 2025, the county’s school board decided Tuesday night.

The school board voted 4-1 to give Watts a two-year extension on his contract, which had previously been set to expire this summer. Board Chairwoman Tarece Johnson cast the lone vote against extending Watts’ contract.

Dougherty County Commissioners toured the morgue, according to the Albany Herald.

For the five commissioners — Gloria Gaines, Russell Gray, Clinton Johnson, Anthony Jones and Ed Newsome — the tour was intended to give them a look at conditions at the morgue, located at the Phoebe North facility on Palmyra Road.

There wasn’t much to see in the space the county rents from the hospital — a small room containing a table formerly used for autopsies, a metal rolling cadaver storage unit and a gurney that Dougherty County Emergency Medical Services personnel had rolled in. A metal door opens into a freezer used to store bodies.

The county has planned to build a new morgue facility, and has set aside $400,000 in sales tax funds for that purpose. But they got a bit of sticker shock last year when the lowest option for construction of the facility came in at $414,000. That estimate was the lowest of three that would keep the coroner’s office and personnel in the Dougherty County Judicial Building and provide a stand-alone morgue.

The fourth option is a morgue that includes administrative space, room for records and a conference room; that came with an estimated cost of $1.2 million.

Rome City Commissioners and Floyd County Commissioners named members to the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax Committee, according to the Rome News Tribune.

The SPLOST Citizens Committee — which is comprised of six members from Floyd County, four from the Rome and one from Cave Spring — will decide which proposals will make it onto the ballot in November.

The 11 member committee, chaired by attorney Bob Berry, is comprised six appointees from the county, four from the city and one from Cave Spring.

The appointments come in the final days for residents SPLOST proposals to go before voters in November. The deadline to submit proposals is Friday. Applications are available online at FloydCountyGa.gov/2023splostapp.

I deduct two points for improper use of the word “comprise.”

Columbus Police Chief Freddie Blackmon‘s future with the department remains in limbo, according to WTVM.

On Tuesday, dozens of people filled city council chambers. Many of them had plenty to say concerning Columbus Police Chief Freddie Blackmon and the recent severance package he was offered just one day after he presented the council with a strategic plan.

The council has taken no action, and it is unclear what will happen regarding the chief and his position. However, he has until April 5 to accept the severance package.