Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for March 28, 2025

The British Parliament enacted The Coercive Acts on March 28, 1774.

The Coercive Acts were a series of four acts established by the British government. The aim of the legislation was to restore order in Massachusetts and punish Bostonians for their Tea Party, in which members of the revolutionary-minded Sons of Liberty boarded three British tea ships in Boston Harbor and dumped 342 crates of tea—nearly $1 million worth in today’s money—into the water to protest the Tea Act.

Passed in response to the Americans’ disobedience, the Coercive Acts included:

The Boston Port Act, which closed the port of Boston until damages from the Boston Tea Party were paid.

The Massachusetts Government Act, which restricted Massachusetts; democratic town meetings and turned the governor’s council into an appointed body.

The Administration of Justice Act, which made British officials immune to criminal prosecution in Massachusetts.

The Quartering Act, which required colonists to house and quarter British troops on demand, including in their private homes as a last resort.

Thomas Jefferson was elected as a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress on March 27, 1775.

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.

Colonel James Fannin, a Georgia native and Colonel in the Texas Regular Army and more than 300 other members of the Georgia battalion were executed on March 27, 1836 after surrendering to Santa Anna’s Mexican Army. Fannin County, Georgia is named after Col Fannin.

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

On March 30, 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was formally adopted after sufficient number of the states ratified it.

With the adoption of the 15th Amendment in 1870, a politically mobilized African-American community joined with white allies in the Southern states to elect the Republican Party to power, which brought about radical changes across the South. By late 1870, all the former Confederate states had been readmitted to the Union, and most were controlled by the Republican Party, thanks to the support of African-American voters.

In the same year, Hiram Rhoades Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Mississippi, became the first African American ever to sit in Congress. Although African-American Republicans never obtained political office in proportion to their overwhelming electoral majority, Revels and a dozen other African-American men served in Congress during Reconstruction, more than 600 served in state legislatures, and many more held local offices. However, in the late 1870s, the Southern Republican Party vanished with the end of Reconstruction, and Southern state governments effectively nullified the 14th and 15th Amendments, stripping Southern African Americans of the right to vote. It would be nearly a century before the nation would again attempt to establish equal rights for African Americans in the South.

Robert E. Lee arrived in Augusta on March 30, 1870.

On March 27, 1912, the first Japanese cherry trees were planted on the northern bank of the Potomac River near the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC.

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 30, 1937, Georgia Governor E.D. Rivers signed legislation authorizing non-profit Electric Membership Corporations to electrify rural Georgia.

On March 27, 1941, Governor Eugene Talmadge signed legislation outlawing the handling of venomous snakes in such a way as to endanger another person or to encourage another person to handle a snake in such a way as to endanger them. The legislation resulted from a six-year old handling a venomous snake during a church service in Adel, Georgia, during which she was bitten and died. Under that act you could still handle snakes yourself as long as you didn’t endanger someone else.

On March 30, 1945, President F.D. Roosevelt arrived for his final visit to Warm Spring, Georgia.

On March 27, 1947, Governor Melvin Thompson signed legislation that made Georgia a “Right to Work State,” meaning that employees cannot generally be forced to join a union or pay dues in order to take a job. On the same day, gambling on sporting events was outlawed by another bill signed by Gov. Thompson.

Governor Ernest Vandiver signed legislation authorizing the construction of monuments to Georgians killed in battle at the Antietam and Gettysburg battlefields on March 28, 1961.

Identical 15 1/2-foot-tall monuments of Georgia blue granite were sculpted by Harry Sellers of Marietta Memorials. At the top of the shaft is the word “GEORGIA” over the state seal. Lower on the shaft is the inscription, “Georgia Confederate Soldiers, We sleep here in obedience; When duty called, we came; When Country called, we died.”

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.

Georgia’s first “Sunshine Law” requiring open meetings of most state boards and commissions, was signed by Governor Jimmy Carter on March 28, 1972.

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

A nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania overheated on March 28, 1979 and within days radiation levels had risen in a four county area. It was the most serious accident in commercial nuclear history in the United States.

On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot.

The president had just finished addressing a labor meeting at the Washington Hilton Hotel and was walking with his entourage to his limousine when Hinckley, standing among a group of reporters, fired six shots at the president, hitting Reagan and three of his attendants. White House Press Secretary James Brady was shot in the head and critically wounded, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy was shot in the side, and District of Columbia policeman Thomas Delahanty was shot in the neck. After firing the shots, Hinckley was overpowered and pinned against a wall, and President Reagan, apparently unaware that he’d been shot, was shoved into his limousine by a Secret Service agent and rushed to the hospital.

The president was shot in the left lung, and the .22 caliber bullet just missed his heart. In an impressive feat for a 70-year-old man with a collapsed lung, he walked into George Washington University Hospital under his own power. As he was treated and prepared for surgery, he was in good spirits and quipped to his wife, Nancy, “Honey, I forgot to duck,” and to his surgeons, “Please tell me you’re Republicans.” Reagan’s surgery lasted two hours, and he was listed in stable and good condition afterward.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Albany voters will go to the polls in a Special Election for Commission Ward 2 on June 17, 2025, according to WALB.

Voting will take place on June 17th, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Qualifying events for candidates will be held at the Government Center on April 2nd and 3rd, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a final qualifying session on April 4th from 9 a.m. to noon.

The last day to register to vote for this election is May 19th.

Under the Gold Dome

Friday, March 28 . . . . . . . . . . . . convene for legislative day 37

Monday, March 31 . . . . . . . . . . .convene for legislative day 38
Tuesday, April 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .committee work day
Wednesday, April 2 . . . . . . . . . . convene for legislative day 39
Thursday, April 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .committee work day
Friday, April 4 . . . . . . .(Sine Die) convene for legislative day 40

TBD Senate Rules: Upon Adj 450 CAP
7:30 AM Cancelled –Senate Public Safety  450 CAP
8 AM HOUSE INSURANCE 406 CLOB
8 AM Senate Finance 450 CAP
8:30 AM HOUSE TECH & INFRA INNOV 515 CLOB
9 AM HOUSE RULES 341 CAP
9 AM HOUSE INFORMATION & AUDITS 506 CLOB
9:30 AM HOUSE FLOOR SESSION (LD37) House Chamber
10 AM Senate Floor Session (LD 37) Senate Chamber
1 PM HOUSE JUDICIARY (Upon Adj) 132 CAP
1 PM Cancelled – Senate Agriculture 307 CLOB

Selected legislation likely to be voted on today from the Senate Rules Calendar

HB 68 General appropriations; State Fiscal Year July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026 (Substitute) (APPROP-19th) Burns-159th

HB 85 Superior Court Judicial Compensation Reform Act; enact (JUDY-50th) Leverett-123rd

On the FY 2026 State Budget, House Bill 68, from State Affairs:

Senators advanced a $37 billion state budget Thursday adding $141 million to fund private school vouchers and curbing deficit spending for expensive construction projects.

The latest version of the fiscal year 2026 budget — which funds schools, Medicaid, road repairs, prisons, mental health treatments and other state services — cuts money for several programs to support up to 21,000 families applying for school vouchers.

File under: other budget changes, Governor Brian Kemp could become tied for highest-paid Governor in the nation, according to Georgia Recorder.

The Senate voted 45-10 to approve a revised House Bill 86 that would increase the governor’s annual salary from $182,000 to $250,000 for next year. Several state court judges will receive higher salaries under the legislation, while the attorney general, state school superintendent, secretary of state, and agricultural, insurance, and labor commissioners will receive annual salaries of $200,000.

Now that the bill has been amended by the Senate, the changes must be adopted by the House before the session concludes on April 4.

According to data collected by the Council of State Governments on gubernatorial salaries for 2022, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s pay raise will move him from 10th highest earning to tied for first with Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York.

Sen. John Albers, a Roswell Republican, said the new salaries will provide uniformity among several executive officers while also addressing disparities, such as the governor earning less than the Atlanta mayor’s $236,000 salary. The bill would set the other salaries at $200,000, based on 80% of the governor’s salary.

“This simply sets the governor’s salary at $250,000 which I believe is appropriate, but then it falls in line with our constitutional officers and the speaker of the House,” Albers said.

Senate Bill 69 by State Senate President Pro Tem John F. Kennedy (R-Macon), the second bill in Governor Brian Kemp’s tort reform package, passed the House on a 98-69 vote, according to the Moultrie Observer.

Gov. Brian Kemp pushed two tort reform bills through the General Assembly this session. Senate Bill 68 passed through both houses on March 21. Now, its companion, Senate Bill 69, has made it through. Both are waiting for Kemp’s signature.

Sen. Sam Watson, R-Moultrie, was one of 27 senators that co-sponsored the bill.

“The “Georgia Courts Access and Consumer Protection Act, SB 69, is a bill to amend code relating to banking and finance, and depositions and discovery under the ‘Georgia Civil Practice Act,’ respectively, so as to regulate third-party litigation financing practices in this state.”

Rep. James Burchett, who presented the tort reform bill in the House, said, “SB 69 seeks to fill a hole in the code.” He added that nowhere in the Georgia Code were there any provisions that outlined regulations on litigation financing. He also said the bill sought to put some guardrails and regulation on the third-party litigation financing industry.

Sen. John F. Kennedy, author of the bill, explained, when presenting it to the House Rules Subcommittee,

“Third party litigation funding refers to a contingency arrangement between a non-party financier and a party or a potential party to a lawsuit, in exchange for a property interest in the judgement of a case that has an expectation of a return.”

From the Associated Press via WJBF:

The second part of Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s top priority to limit lawsuits and large verdicts won approval Thursday from the House. The full package, also called tort reform, is set to hit his desk in the coming weeks.

The bill, which seeks to limit predatory activity from third parties and foreign adversaries who invest in litigation, got overwhelming approval in the Senate and bipartisan support in the House, passing 98-69. But those moves come as lawmakers grapple with the fallout from political disputes over the first half of the proposal.

Senate Bill 69 requires third-party entities that invest in litigation to register with the Department of Banking and Finance and bans foreign adversaries and governments from investing in litigation, among other reforms. It also limits how much the funders of litigation can influence civil litigation proceedings and the people involved.

“What this bill does is puts regulation and parameters around an industry that is, frankly, wide open at this point,” House Republican Majority Whip Rep. James Burchett said Thursday.

The first part of the package, Senate Bill 68, won narrow final approval in the House last week and contains a series of changes that will overhaul Georgia’s litigation landscape, including limiting when property and business owners can be held accountable for injuries on their property.

Kemp said businesses are struggling to keep up with the costs of frivolous lawsuits and that insurance rates would stabilize with a balanced legal landscape, although the evidence for that assertion is uncertain.

Kemp promised the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, a top ally, that he would take action to limit lawsuits in 2023.

Senate Bill 68, which passed this year, generated an uproar from lawyers and survivors of sexual abuse, human trafficking and violence who said the bill would stop them and wronged Georgians from getting justice in court. Still, the bill picked up support from one Senate Democrat and three House Democrats.

Before the Senate vote on the first part of his proposal, Kemp threatened Republican detractors that he would fund primary opponents against them.

Senate Bill 9 by State Sen. John “The TerminAItor” Albers (R-Alpharetta), the “Ensuring Accountability for Illegal AI Activities Act,” passed the State House and would limit the use of AI-generated imagery in politics, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Savannah Morning News.

Legislation cracking down on the deceptive use of artificial intelligence in political campaigns cleared the Georgia House of Representatives Thursday.

As introduced in the state Senate, the bill focused on obscene AI-generated images of children. But the version of Senate Bill 9 the House passed 152-12 instead criminalizes using AI in audio or video productions in campaign ads leading up to elections that fail to include a disclaimer indicating the material is not real.

“It’s not deceptive if you put a label on it that it’s AI-generated,” said Rep. Brad Thomas, R-Holly Springs, who carried the Senate bill in the House and has been a leader in legislative efforts to put some regulatory guardrails around emerging AI technology.

Under Senate Bill 9, false AI-generated images used in political campaigns would not be considered criminal unless they are disseminated with the knowledge that they are false and are published within 90 days of a primary or general election.

The bill also doesn’t apply to forms of constitutionally protected speech such as satire or parody.

Rep. Charlice Byrd, R-Woodstock, opposed the measure as a violation of the First Amendment’s free speech rights.

“Who decides what’s deceptive?” Byrd argued. “This isn’t freedom. It’s Soviet-style control.”

But Rep. Todd Jones, R-South Forsyth, chairman of the House Committee on Technology & Infrastructure Innovation, said the bill strikes a blow for election integrity.

“The most important thing we can do for our constituents is ensure when they go into that (ballot) box … we have given them accurate information,” he said.

Rep. Long Tran, D-Dunwoody, said it’s particularly important to prevent the dissemination of false AI-generated images during the runup to elections.

“We are in an arms race in election season,” he said. “Those with the best technology can generate AI with the most realistic renderings.”

A first violation of the legislation is a misdemeanor, while the measure treats the second and subsequent violations as felonies.

The bill now moves back to the Senate to decide whether to accept the House version of the legislation.

The Senate Special Committee on Investigations on Wednesday set a deadline for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) to testify, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Savannah Morning News.

The state Senate committee investigating Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ role in prosecuting President Donald Trump for interfering in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election is giving her until May 10 to testify before the panel.

The Senate Special Committee on Investigations’ Republican majority voted 5-2 along party lines Wednesday to set that deadline for Willis to comply with a subpoena to appear as a witness. If she fails to appear, the committee plans to ask a judge to set a deadline for her to testify.

The committee initially subpoenaed Willis last spring, but she argued the subpoena was unlawful and went to court to block it. A Fulton Superior Court judge upheld the legality of the subpoena in December.

“This has been going on for a year now,” Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, the committee’s vice chairman, said Wednesday. “The district attorney has thumbed her nose at the committee. … We may need to escalate to the next step.”

Josh Belinfante, a lawyer hired by the panel, told committee members Willis’ lawyer – former Gov. Roy Barnes – has said she wouldn’t be available to testify until late next month or early in May, citing her travel and trial schedule. While lawyers for the two sides agreed March 10 that she would submit documents the commission requested, Belinfante said he has yet to receive them.

Barnes argued during a court hearing in December that Senate Republicans were conducting a vendetta to punish Willis for prosecuting Trump. A Fulton grand jury indicted Trump – then a former president – in August of 2023 on charges of participating in a conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia that saw Democrat Joe Biden capture Georgia’s 16 electoral votes on his way to turning then-incumbent Trump out of the White House.

Barnes further asserted that the committee lacked the authority to subpoena Willis, a power he said rests only with the full General Assembly. He also contended the subpoenas did not serve any legitimate legislative purpose.

Belinfante countered that investigating Willis’ handling of the election interference case might show existing state laws governing the hiring and compensation of district attorneys in Georgia are inadequate and need changing.

On Thursday, the same Committee voted to investigate political organizations connected to former State Rep. Stacey Abrams (D-Atlanta), according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Savannah Morning News.

The Georgia Senate’s Republican majority voted along party lines Thursday to investigate groups founded by former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams after they agreed to pay the largest campaign finance fine in state history.

The New Georgia Project and a separate fundraising arm, the New Georgia Action Fund, agreed to pay $300,000 for failing to disclose $4.2 million in contributions and $3.2 million in spending during the 2018 election cycle on behalf of Abrams’ unsuccessful bid for governor.

A special committee of the Georgia Senate that has been investigating Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will now be empowered to expand its work to include Abrams.

The committee can administer oaths, call witnesses, require production of documents and issue subpoenas.

Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, the chairman of that committee, said the expanded mission is needed “to keep the dark money out of our political campaigns.”

Democrats have called the committee political grandstanding.

The Senate should be focused on access to affordable medical care and public education instead of “wasting” taxpayer dollars on this investigation, said Sen. Jason Esteves, D-Atlanta.

“When I read bills like this, all I can do is shake my head because this is a glaring example of hypocrisy in this building,” he said. “Do as I say, not as I do.”

Senate Resolution 292 to expand the authority of the Special Committee on Investigations passed 33-21 along party lines.

The committee was created last year in the wake of Republican anger over Willis’ criminal case against President Donald Trump and others who helped his effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

From the AJC:

The resolution approved Thursday would also allow the committee to investigate a $2 billion federal grant to a group of nonprofits, including one for which Abrams served as a senior counsel.

Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, chairs the investigations committee. He said the investigation is not an attack on Abrams but an exploration of “dark money” in campaigns.

“She just so happened to be connected to these organizations that admittedly spent money to support her campaign and other statewide Democratic candidates,” Cowsert said.

Democrats said the investigation is politically motivated.

“We have already spent precious time investigating people for headlines and clicks, all while providing taxpayers with little benefit,” said Sen. Jason Esteves, D-Atlanta.

The Senate resolution does not require approval in the House or a signature from Gov. Brian Kemp.

Republicans in Congress also are investigating the New Georgia Project. And the Trump administration has blasted Abrams’ involvement in a non-profit group that received part of a $2 billion federal energy efficiency grant. Abrams and others involved in the grant say she had little to do with it and received none of the money.

SR 92 says existing state laws “are inadequate to address various legal and fiscal issues raised by the alleged and admitted conduct of multiple organizations with connections to Stacey Abrams.” It directs the committee to investigate the matters and report its findings.

Abrams has accused Republicans of “unfounded attacks and baseless investigations that waste taxpayer dollars.”

House Bill 268 by State Rep. Holt Persinger (R-Winder) passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in amended form with a “Do Pass” recommendation, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Valdosta Daily Times.

A sweeping school safety bill in reaction to the mass shooting at Apalachee High School last fall cleared a Senate committee Thursday, keeping it in play just ahead of the deadline for final passage this year.

The Georgia House of Representatives had already approved House Bill 268 with broad bipartisan support. Now, the measure, a priority for House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, is eligible for a vote by the full Senate before this legislative session ends next week.

The Senate Judiciary Committee amended the bill Thursday evening, trimming it to 57 pages from the plump 65 that had come from the House in early March.

It still covers a lot of the same ground though, maintaining the focus on the early identification of potentially harmful students and intervening with mental health services.

School shooters are “really sociopathic-type personalities most of the time,” said Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, who shepherded HB 268 through the Senate and said he worked with the House on the amendments.

Cowsert’s team sanded away a couple of features that had drawn the most criticism.

The first involved a database that would have served as a repository of information about students who seemed suspicious. One state official said it might contain records on 1% of Georgia’s 1.7 million public school students. Parents and their advocates feared such data would be inaccurate, prejudicial and stigmatizing — and follow students into adulthood, with potentially harmful consequences.

Given the trajectory of brain development into early adulthood, teens tend toward reckless behavior, they noted, and sometimes say inappropriate things they don’t really mean.

The committee deleted the database idea and also struck a provision requiring school systems to establish threat assessment teams. Some schools already have them, but a mandate was deemed to be too complex and cumbersome, Cowsert said.

Other major elements of the House bill remain.

Schools would have to maintain student records on behavior that sends up red flags, from regularly skipping school to disciplinary infractions and police encounters (police would have to inform the schools when they apprehend their students), and they’d have a short deadline to share those records when a student transfers to a different school.

“That will help the new administration know what to do when a new kid comes there,” Cowsert said.

School districts would also have to maintain an around-the-clock anonymous tip line staffed with trained people who can field reports about students who might be planning a violent act.

The help would come in the form of specially trained student advocates. Each school system would get up to three state-funded positions, one for every 18,000 students.

There would also be annual behavioral training for teachers and students about recognizing mental health warning signs such as contemplating suicide.

Finally, HB 268 would treat teens sternly if they threaten violence on campus, sending them into adult courts if they are charged with attempted murder or terroristic threats.

That means a conviction for a bomb threat would tag a child aged 13-17 with a misdemeanor on their permanent record, with a felony punishable by up to five years in prison for a second offense.

“Zero tolerance,” is how Cowsert characterized the approach, prompting questions from Sen. Elena Parent of Atlanta, the chair of the Senate’s Democratic Caucus.

But she also said she had received many pleased emails about the bill, and the committee then passed it unanimously, less than a day ahead of the deadline to keep it in play.

HB 268 now goes to the Senate Rules Committee, which will decide whether and when to put it to a vote of the full Senate. If it passes there, the House would need to agree to the changes for it to become law.

Senate Bill 36 by State Sen. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth), the latest iteration of the “Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration Act” passed out of the House Judiciary Committee with a “Do Pass” recommendaiton, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Savannah Morning News.

Legislation seeking to give Georgians more leverage to invoke religion when disagreeing with government requirements is primed for final passage after clearing a committee Wednesday.

Senate Bill 36 passed the House Judiciary Committee 9-6 after amendments washed away prior changes, restoring the bill to the version that the Senate approved in early March.

The main sponsor, Sen. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, said the measure shields people against state intrusion into their religious beliefs and practices. Critics, including the lone Republican on the committee who voted with all Democrats against passage, said SB 36 would allow people to use religion to discriminate against others, for instance by allowing landlords, adoption agencies, restaurants and other businesses to refuse service to gay people.

During a lengthy hearing last week, 29 people spoke for and against the measure. At least one religious figure opposed SB 36 but most speakers who represented a church favored the bill, saying their faith needs legal protection.

“People of faith are being censored, facing demands to violate their conscience,” said Bishop Garland Hunt, executive pastor at The Father’s House, a non-denominational church.

Opponents noted that most states that have adopted a religious freedom law also have a counter-balancing non-discrimination law that prohibits using religious beliefs to refuse service to LGBTQ+ people.

Setzler resisted attempts to add such language to SB 36. An amendment proposed by Rep. Deborah Silcox, R-Sandy Springs, last week sought to balance religious rights “against discrimination on any ground prohibited by federal, state or local law.”

Although Georgia lacks a statewide non-discrimination law, 18 communities have such local ordinances, and Silcox wanted to give those local laws legal weight against religious rights.

Republicans voted down her amendment.

After the committee passed the bill Wednesday, Jeff Graham, executive director of Georgia Equality, said the committee’s vote against the Silcox amendment showed that “the true intent of this legislation is weaponizing religion.”

SB 36 now goes to the House Rules Committee ahead of a possible final vote by the full House.

House Bill 397 by State Rep. Tim Fleming (R-Covington) would rework election rules yet again, according to Georgia Recorder.

A Georgia GOP-controlled Senate panel Thursday greenlighted a revised version of a wide-ranging bill packed with controversial provisions that no longer include plans to hand voter challenge complaints to state election officials and enforce new ballot counting methods.

House Bill 397, which still contains several controversial rule changes, passed the Senate Ethics Committee Thursday night with four Democratic senators voting against it.

The bill has been criticized for limiting voters’ ability to drop off absentee ballots on the final weekend before Election Day and other proposed changes to election law.

The bill’s sponsor, Covington Republican Rep. Tim Fleming, said he also decided to remove a new election night ballot counting rule after local election supervisors testified Wednesday that a tight Election Day counting deadline would place unfair burdens on election staffers and present chain of custody challenges.

The bill still aims to ban the state from participating in third-party voter list sharing databases like the Electronic Registration Information Center, known as ERIC. Georgia secretary of state officials are asking legislators to maintain what they say has been a successful partnership that allows Georgia to share updated voter rolls with 24 other states.

Under HB 397, the Georgia elections board would evaluate the procedures and policies for withdrawing from ERIC and provide recommendations to the legislative committees.

Fleming’s updated bill would delay the state’s transition from the multi-state voter database. It now proposes July 1, 2027 as the implementation date for Georgia to transition to another system. It allows for additional time to find a new way during legislative sessions in 2026 and 2027 and following next year’s general election, Fleming said.

The revised bill would still give the controversial State Election Board new rulemaking authority and independence. However, it no longer would hand appeals to voter eligibility challenges to the board. The appeals are currently resolved in Superior Courts.

Ethics committee Chairman Sam Watson, a Moultrie Republican, credited Fleming and HB 397’s co-sponsor Rep. Victor Anderson for incorporating some key recommendations into the election bill.

“They listened to a lot of concerns that we heard last night for two hours and they took those concerns back and now they’ve got a good bill that I think we can move forward with,” Watson said.

From the AJC:

Republican Georgia lawmakers advanced two election bills Thursday, setting up final votes on banning absentee ballot drop-off the weekend before Election Day, prohibiting last-minute State Election Board rules and withdrawing the state from a voter registration accuracy organization.

GOP legislators backed away from one of their most contentious proposals, which would have required a hand count of ballots on election night. The provision no longer appears in either bill following opposition from county election directors.

To become law, the bills would have to pass both chambers before the Georgia General Assembly adjourns April 4.

“We’re not giving everybody everything they’ve asked for,” said House Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Victor Anderson, a Republican from Cornelia. “We’ve done so much with elections over the last four years. The provisions we call for in this bill are fairly common sense and justified.”

State Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, a Democrat from Decatur, said Republicans keep changing election laws for political purposes, as they have every year since Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.

Both measures, House Bill 397 and Senate Bill 175, call for Georgia to quit a 24-state partnership called the Electronic Registration Information Center, which exchanges voter information between states to identify outdated registrations.

Click here to view Senate Bill 175 by State Sen. Randy Robertson (R-Cataula).

Senate Bill 30 by State Sen. Ben Watson (R-Isle of Hope) passed out of the House Public & Community Health Committee in amended form, and would limit the use of puberty blocking drugs, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Savannah Morning News.

Parents of children who are questioning their gender would still have access in Georgia to medicine that prevents the onset of puberty under a new version of state legislation that had sought to ban all access.

The version of Senate Bill 30 that passed the Georgia Senate in early March would have threatened the medical licenses of doctors and hospitals administering puberty blockers.

Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, the bill’s chief sponsor, said the prohibition was needed because of long-term repercussions, such as bone density loss. He pointed to some European countries that have banned access.

But a fellow Republican in the House of Representatives said Wednesday that the Senate’s bill went too far, and she reined it in with what she called a compromise. Rep. Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, chairs the House Public and Community Health Committee, where the bill was sent by House leadership. Her amendment preserves access to puberty blockers but makes them harder to obtain.

The committee hearing featured medical specialists who testified for and against a ban, with one pediatric endocrinologist saying that delaying puberty is harmful and another dismissing the consequences of puberty blockers.

“Physiologically these bodies are male, and they are female,” said Dr. Quentin Van Meter, who testified to the committee via Watson’s phone. “There’s nothing that we can do that can change that at any cellular level and so puberty blockers are inappropriate for the use in these kids before the age of consent,” he said.

Delaying puberty reduces bone density and can cause problems with “mental capabilities,” he said without elaborating.

Dr. Shirley Hao said she was speaking for the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and that the organization opposes banning puberty blockers.

“Treatment of gender dysphoria and gender affirming care is supported by nearly every major medical and mental health organization in the United States,” she said, “including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Endocrine Society, just to name a few.”

Hao said studies have shown that bone density can be addressed by the later use of hormone therapy and by increased vitamin D intake, calcium supplementation and physical activity.

Several who spoke at the hearing noted a disconnect between Georgia Republicans’ goal of safeguarding parental rights and how Watson and other proponents of SB 30 want to deny those rights when it comes to puberty blockers.

Cooper appeared to agree with the critique.

“I think a lot of us are just having some trouble about that sort of dictatorial writ,” she said, before outlining how her amendments would alter SB 30 by allowing continued access to puberty blockers but making them “really hard to get.”

Parents would have to get two behavioral health specialists — either two psychiatrists, or a psychiatrist and a psychologist — to determine that their child has gender dysphoria. Then they would have to see a board-certified pediatric endocrinologist.

These sorts of specialists are rare, Cooper noted.

“A parent is going to have to really want and understand and believe their child has this dysphoria because a lot of them are probably going to have to drive 100 or 150 miles to get to that kind of doctor,” she said.

Cooper’s amendment didn’t placate Democrats. All eight Democrats present voted against the bill, after their caucus vice chair, Rep. Spencer Frye from Athens, railed against SB 30 as a “disgusting” waste of time.

But the committee passed the bill with the support of eight Republicans.

The House Rules Committee will now decide whether to put it to a vote of the full House. If it were to pass there, the Senate would have to agree to Wednesday’s amendments for it to become law.

State Rep. Rick Townsend (R-SSI), who has been working on Kratom bills, opposes House Bill 757, which  , according to The Brunswick News.

State Rep. Rick Townsend is speaking against a bill that one Atlanta attorney called a Trojan horse for kratom, a herbal extract that acts as a stimulant in products sold in stores that Townsend successfully pushed to regulate in Georgia.

Authored by state Rep. Trey Kelley, R-Cedartown, House Bill 757 would require makers of kratom products to register with the Georgia Department of Agriculture annually. The department would require a certificate of analysis confirming, among other things, that kratom products sold in the state are not adulterated with any dangerous substance.

The measure would put kratom under the Department of Agriculture like “hemp and cannabis,” Kelley said.

Townsend, R-St. Simons Island, spoke out against HB 757 during the hearing before the House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee in Atlanta Wednesday.

“It weakens the penalties for the bad actors and doesn’t provide additional funding to the Department of Agriculture for enforcement,” he told The News following the hearing.

Kelley asked the committee to only air his bill, not vote on it. Waiting a year will give him time to tweak the legislation.

Kratom, which can be purchased by Georgians 21 years of age or older, comes from a plant grown in Southeast Asia. Among its qualities is pain relief, though health officials warn it can be addictive and dangerous depending on its strength and additives.

Townsend, having passed HB 181 which placed kratom under stricter state guidelines, views HB 757 as surrendering ground on a dangerous substance he initially sought to ban in Georgia.

“Right now, you can still buy it…but we got rid of the bad actors,” he said.

Under Townsend’s bill, producers are required to identify the contents and their concentration in the kratom products they sell. Retailers must store the products behind the counter and limit sales to persons 21 and older. Breaking the law can result in fines.

“They got to know what they’re putting in their bodies,” Townsend said.

House Bill 739 by State Rep. Sam Park (D-Lawrenceville) passed the Senate and would create a referendum to annex property into the City of Lawrenceville, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

About 19,000 people who live on the outskirts of Lawrenceville are just one signature away from voting next spring on whether they want to join the city.

The Georgia Senate unanimously passed House Bill 739 on Thursday. It sets up a May 2026 referendum on a major Lawrenceville annexation proposal. The city’s plan, if approved by voters, would make Lawrenceville the largest city in Gwinnett County and the 20th largest city in the state starting on Jan. 1, 2027.

The bill already passed in the Georgia House of Representatives so it just needs to signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp.

The unanimous votes in both chambers are unsurprising, as HB 739 was local legislation and voted on as a package of local bills on the local consent calendar.

State Rep. Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain) spoke more about his firing after casting a vote against tort reform, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.

On Tuesday, he told the Ledger-Enquirer he got a text Friday afternoon, asking him to join a Zoom meeting with the executive committee of the chamber. During the call, they expressed their disappointment over with his opposition to Gov. Brian Kemp’s controversial tort reform bill, Senate Bill 68, which limits civil lawsuits against businesses. The Georgia House of Representatives barely passed the bill with a 91-82 vote that day.

“Just to put it minor, I was shocked,” Smith said in his interview Wednesday with the Ledger-Enquirer. “I guess I’m still kind of shocked.”

Smith said he will not pursue legal action against the chamber regarding his firing. He emphasized his focus is on the next chapter in his career.

“I’m just trying to comprehend what all’s going on, trying to get my life going in the right direction and to support my family,” Smith said “That’s not in the picture. I’m just trying to do my due diligence and get my next job, and that’s what’s important.”

“All of these [government] positions are part-time,” Smith said. “You can’t make a living as a county commissioner, as a city council person and even as a state rep. We are part time-legislators, or what they call citizen legislators. We come here, we serve, then we go home where our job is and how we support our families.”

When asked whether he had any comments for the chamber, Smith said, “I wish you all the best.”

“Local positions really give you an eye-opening experience of what’s going on in the community,” Smith said. “It was interesting.”

Smith started his political career as a Harris County Commissioner in 1987, serving in that position for three years. After his term, he went into the private sector in a business venture with his dad. During his time away from politics, the previous state representative retired. Smith decided to run for the seat representing portions of Harris, Muscogee and Troup counties and won his election in 1992.

From another story in the Ledger-Enquirer:

“The gist of it was my vote on the tort reform was not representative of what the chamber stood for,” he told the Ledger-Enquirer on Monday. “Therefore, they wanted to part ways.”

Despite being on opposite sides of the political aisle, two of the Columbus area’s state representatives, Rep. Teddy Reese (D-Columbus) and Rep. Carolyn Hugley (D-Columbus), comforted Smith during his emotional thank-you address Tuesday morning in the House. They shared their thoughts with the Ledger-Enquirer about Smith and the sudden firing.

Reese said he has a great fondness for Smith, describing the Columbus area delegation as “very close.”

“When our colleagues hurt, all of us really hurt,” Reese said. “I felt my brother needed somebody up there with him and to let him know that we do love him.”

Reese expressed he felt the firing from the Harris County Chamber of Commerce was “political retribution” for his opposing vote on Kemp’s tort reform bill.

“I think the consensus is that the Harris County Chamber board was dead wrong for what they did.” Reese said. “It wasn’t necessary.”

In response to questions about the firing, Theresa Garcia Robertson, chairwoman of the Harris County chamber board, said in an email Tuesday to the Ledger-Enquirer, “We do not comment on personnel matters. What we can tell you is that we hold Vance in high regard personally and appreciate his service to our community and his district.”

Robertson is the wife of state Sen. Randy Robertson (R-Cataula), who voted in favor of the tort reform and is listed as one of the bill’s sponsors. Sen. Robertson did not reply to requests for comment before publication of this article.

Reese emphasized he thinks the firing sends a wrong message for politics in the Columbus area, calling the firing an “attack” on a “loyal” member of the Republican Party.

“We don’t play that kind of politics,” Reese said. “It was very, very disturbing to see other people that associate themselves with the Republican Party do this to one of their loyal members who served this body for a long time.”

Hugley also expressed fondness and respect for Smith during a phone conversation with the Ledger-Enquirer. Smith introduced her to his wife and family and had many personal conversations with her, Hugley said.

“He and I have been friends for a long time,” she said. “We first came to the Capitol in 1993 together, and we used to be seat mates.”

Hugley said she was “surprised” at the firing.

“Vance is a hard worker,” she said, and he’s always been a strong advocate for Harris County.”

From Atlanta News First via WRDW:

“Looking at this bill, will this bill entice companies to come back to Georgia? Will it ease the fears of companies that are here in Georgia to that they’ll stay in Georgia?” he asked, but said to this day, he hasn’t heard from anyone from the insurance side.

“I said, ‘Well, you know, if we can make this a better bill, I think I’ll vote no now so we can work on that bill some more,’” Smith said.

Garcia Robertson, who fired Smith, is the wife of one of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Randy Robertson. Some have asked Smith if he believes losing his position was also party retaliation for his vote.

“I honestly will not speculate,” he said. “We’ve got legislation to do. I’ve got to work ‘til April the 4th midnight, passing bills that are meaningful to my area of the state and in, actually to the whole state. So I’ve got to concentrate on that.”

Smith said he helped start the Harris County Chamber of Commerce in the early 1990s and had been CEO for almost three years.

This is his 24th year as a Georgia lawmaker.

House Majority Whip James Burchett, who also co-sponsored SB 68,addressed Smith’s firing in a release.

“Numerous members have suffered threats to their livelihoods and independence because of their votes on Senate Bill 68,” he wrote. “We should hold legislators accountable for their votes at the ballot box – not by taking aim at their ability to support their families.”

The United States Department of Justice under the Trump Administration has dismissed a lawsuit against Houston County’s at-large Commission districts, according to 13WMAZ.

The U.S. Department of Justice under President Donald Trump has dropped its lawsuit against Houston County, which argued the county’s at-large commission races violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

And all it took was one sentence: “Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(i), the United States respectfully gives notice that it dismisses United States v. Houston County, No. 5:25-cv-25.”

However, the court battle is not over after two Houston County residents joined the lawsuit earlier this month.

The suit argues that the county-wide system for county commission elections dilutes the power of Black voters and violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965. Despite around 31% of the county’s population being Black, the county has no Black county commissioners, the lawsuit said.

Since Reconstruction, the lawsuit also says the county has only had one Black commissioner. The DOJ, at the time, argued that was a product of at large voting. Each candidate is voted on by all county residents rather than geographic districts.

Section 2 of the U.S. Voting Rights Act bans policies and procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, limiting minorities’ access to the representation, according to the DOJ’s website. That has, in the past, led to injunctions ordering communities move to geographic districts.

“The current method of election the Houston County Board of Commissioners dilutes the voting strength of Black citizens,” the lawsuit said at the time.

Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Jones and her office settled a lawsuit by a former ADA, according to the Savannah Morning News.

A settlement agreement has been reached between former Chatham County Assistant District Attorney Skye Musson, who filed a federal lawsuit in early April 2022 alleging gender discrimination in the DA’s office, and Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Jones, according to court documents obtained by the Savannah Morning News.

Musson claimed that gender discrimination was a reason that she was passed over for the lead attorney position that went to what she described was a less qualified male attorney, among other claims made in the civil lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.

The attorneys ultimately settled for $345,000 total — $344,900 in Jones’ official capacity as District Attorney and $100 in Jones’ individual capacity, according to a March 5 email sent by Musson’s attorney, Anita Bala of Buckley Bala Milson Mew LLP.

In a phone call, Jones’ attorney, Mark Tate of the Tate Law Group, said the judgement is against the State of Georgia because district attorneys, in their official duties, are acting on behalf of the state, so Musson’s lawyer will be pursuing the state to satisfy the judgement.

“This was an unfortunate situation at the time, shortly after the district attorney first being elected and taking office,” said Tate. “There’s a lot of upheaval and turmoil when something like that happens, when the sitting DA is voted out. That doesn’t happen very often. So, I think there was some growing pains in the office.”

Musson previously requested the Court sanction Jones for failing to appear at a deposition in April 2023 and for “making false representations to this Court regarding her availability for this deposition.”

At the time, Jones claimed that the reason she was not able to attend the deposition was because she was serving as a prosecuting attorney in a rape case in Chatham County Superior Court, as previously reported by SMN. Jones also failed to show up to multiple hearings in the rape case. The rape case ultimately ended in a mistrial.

In late October 2023, U.S. District Judge R. Stan Baker sanctioned Jones, issuing an order in which he called her attempts to evade the April 2023 deposition “utter nonsense built on fabrications,” according to previous reporting by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Baker ruled Jones in default in the case, the AJC reported.

In late November 2023, Tate filed a notice of appeal in federal court, requesting the court set aside past orders that denied her emergency motions to reschedule her deposition, as previously reported by SMN. At the time, Jones said that her obligations as Chatham DA outweighed her obligations to attend the civil hearing. Tate also said that the Superior Court judge refused to reschedule the criminal hearing and that the federal judge’s sanctions were politically motivated.

I’m not saying that the Senate Special Committee on Investigations should take up this issue, but I am concerned about a District Attorney’s office settling a case in a way that makes the state liable for misconduct while minimizing the expense to the District Attorney personally.

The Chatham County District Attorney’s Office is hosting a free clinic on criminal record expungement, according to WSAV.

This expungement clinic offers a great opportunity for anyone ready to move past their mistakes. Under Georgia’s 2020 “Second Chance law,” over 1.5 million people are eligible to have their records sealed potentially changing lives.

Later Friday morning the Chatham County District Attorney’s Office will host a free expungement clinic. The clinic offers eligible residents the chance to remove minor offenses like traffic violations and nonviolent misdemeanors from their criminal records.

While serious crimes like felonies and domestic violence are not eligible, Georgia’s “Second chance law” gives many a chance to clear their records.

“I want to assure all citizens and the public that the things that we expect to stay on people’s criminal history is that of felony convictions, all convictions having to do with domestic violence, sexual assaults, child molestation and those things can absolutely not be expunged,” shared Shalena Cook Jones, the District Attorney of Chatham County.

Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller offered a $100 bounty for speed camera tickets generated outside permissible times, according to 13WMAZ.

Macon Mayor Lester Miller has promised to pay $100 per school zone citation issued outside of permitted hours in Macon-Bibb County, he announced in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

He called his commitment a “personal challenge” to people who have spoken out about the speed cameras ticketing drivers outside of regulated school hours.

“I will use the $1000 contribution that I received, and disclosed in 2023 from an employee of the school safety camera company,” he wrote. “I will also personally match the amount up to $1000. This offer does not include citations that have been dismissed.”

13WMAZ reported that Miller had $1,000 donated to his campaign funds by Altumint Vice President Thomas Bouchard. Altumint is one of the companies behind school zone speed cameras in Macon-Bibb County.

Miller said the donation doesn’t affect his political decisions, and he said it won’t impact the way he legislates school cameras.

“I think I collected about a million dollars over eight years running for mayor,” Lester Miller said in a taping of 13WMAZ’s Central Georgia focus. “It’s not unusual to have events that people have to pay money to come to, so it doesn’t surprise me at all. But that’s just a small amount out of a million dollars.”

To have your citation review, Miller says to deliver or mail copies of the citation to City Hall located at 700 Poplar Street Macon, Georgia.

Ask and you shall receive. Or not. From a subsequent story by 13WMAZ:

Miller told 13WMAZ on Thursday he received 18 ticket submissions since his post went viral. He says each ticket submitted so far was issued during the school day, so drivers have not received a reimbursement.

“There’s a lot of people getting interviews saying they got a ticket on Saturday, they got one in the summer, they got one late at night. That’s simply not true,” Miller said. “It’s not me calling someone a liar. That’s factual. I’ve reviewed the reports…so if you go back to 3 years ago when we started this program, you’ll notice that no one gets a ticket after hours. You can file an open records request on that.”

State HB 348 allows counties to install flashing lights in speed zones, however, they are not required.

“I think the public understanding for the last 50 plus years about speed zones in school zones is you observe a speed zone when the lights are flashing,” [admitted speeder Mark] Gentry said. “That’s your indicator that ‘Hey be careful, slow down,’ not slow down for the entire day.”

According to Mayor Miller, the cameras remain on through the entire school day. That’s defined as one hour before the first bell through one hour after the last. All tickets issued between those hours are valid.

Miller says the county does not plan to implement any changes to their camera system until a GA Senate subcommittee makes a decision on HB 225 or HB 651.

House Bill 225 aims to reverse the 2018 legislation that allowed cameras to be placed in school zones, while House Bill 651 proposes limiting the hours the cameras can be used and mandating that half of the fines collected go toward school safety improvements.

“The best solution in my opinion, based on what I have reviewed and based on what maybe some bills up there, is to do two hours at arrival, two hours at dismissal, and only get citations when the lights are on,” Miller told 13WMAZ on Thursday. “That will clear up any of this middle of time and all that stuff. So if you see a light on, you know that’s the only time you can get tickets.”

Miller County Schools announced new weapon detection systems, according to WALB.

Candler County Sheriff John Miles’s proposal to fold Metter Police into his department was rebuffed, according to WTOC.

Candler County Sheriff John Miles pitched the idea to a few city council members unofficially.

“Contract all services with the City of Metter and do it at a significant cost savings and we think provide better services to the city residents and the county residents,” said Sheriff Miles.

By doing so, Sheriff Miles says taxpayers in both Candler and Metter, could save upwards of half a million dollars each year.

“So, essentially the Metter Police Department would be reduced to a one man show. Now, certainly anyone that works at the police station will have the opportunity to apply with the sheriff’s office,” said Sheriff Miles.

This idea from Sheriff Miles was met with opposition from city officials.

“We are just in the position of not wanting to gamble with this,” said Mayor Ed Boyd.

Whitfield County Commissioners voted to build a new county administration building, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen.

County commissioners voted 4-1 at their latest meeting to seek a request for proposals for a design-build agreement for a new four-floor county building to house those offices.

Board Chairman Jevin Jensen, who typically votes only when there is a tie, voted against the proposal.

Both Jensen and Commissioner Barry Robbins expressed concern about the need for a fourth floor.

“We will not even occupy all of three floors,” Robbins said.

But other commissioners said the fourth floor is needed for future growth.

“Once we building this, there’s no adding on,” said Commissioner Greg Jones.

Derrick Brown will serve as Albany’s Assistant City Manager for Utility Administration, according to the Albany Herald.