On March 17, 1762, the first St. Patrick’s Day Parade was held in New York City by Irish serving in the British army; the date commemorates the death of St. Patrick in 461. The first St. Patrick’s Day parade in Savannah, Georgia was held in 1813.
On March 17, 1866, Governor Charles Jones Jenkins signed legislation granting African-Americans the same rights as whites for contracts, suits, inheritance, property, and punishments for violation of the law.
On March 17, 1933, Governor Eugene Talmadge signed a joint resolution of the state legislature to place a plaque on the wall of the Georgia Capitol commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the founding of Georgia.
On March 17, 1943, Governor Ellis Arnall signed legislation creating a commission to revise the 1877 Constitution of Georgia.
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House Bill 1000 by State Rep. Matthew Gambill (R-Cartersville) passed the Senate and would result in tax rebates for individual income tax payers, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Savannah Morning News.
Georgia taxpayers are getting some of their money back.
With a unanimous vote Monday, the state Senate gave final approval to a bill that will distribute tax rebates worth $250 to individuals and $500 to married couples.
Gov. Brian Kemp proposed the rebates, guaranteeing that he’ll sign them into law.
Giving money back to Georgians is part of a bipartisan focus on affordability. The General Assembly’s Republican majority emphasized tax savings, including rebates and pending bills that would reduce income tax rates and curb property tax increases.
“It’s the taxpayers’ money. Give it back to them,” said state Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia. “Gov. Kemp’s policies have been working, and they work on both sides of the aisle.”
The Senate voted 53-0 to approve House Bill 1000 after it passed the House 172-0 earlier this month.
The rebates will cost nearly $1.1 billion, funded by the state government’s $14 billion surplus.
Democrats have mostly opposed deep, long-term income tax cuts, but they supported this partial refund of income taxes paid in 2024 and 2025.
“It’s good, commonsense legislation,” said Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones, D-Augusta. “We were proud to vote for it.”
This will be the fourth time in the last five years that the state government has distributed tax rebates. Last year, the government began sending rebates in the summer months.
Rebates will be sent either by direct deposit or by check based on how Georgians paid their taxes this year.
Everyone who filed income tax returns for the 2024 and 2025 tax years and paid taxes in those years is eligible to receive a refund.
Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia lawmakers have approved a measure that will provide a one-time income tax rebate to residents later this year.
With final passage of HB 1000, eligible taxpayers in Georgia will receive a rebate of up to $500 for joint filers. In the case of a head of household, the rebate will be $375 and single filers or married taxpayers filing separate returns will get back $250.
The governor said the rebate is intended to return surplus tax revenue to residents and provide financial relief to families across the state.
Kemp thanked legislative partners for supporting the measure and said the rebate will help put more money back into the pockets of hardworking Georgians.
Additional details about eligibility and when payments will be issued have not yet been announced.
From Atlanta News First via WALB:
Georgians could soon see money from the state deposited directly into their bank accounts.
Monday, March 16, Governor Brian Kemp approved tax rebate checks for Georgia residents after the passage of HB 1000. The measure provides a one-time income tax rebate aimed at returning money to taxpayers.
Under the plan, single filers will get up to $250, head of households can qualify for up to $375 and joint filers may receive up to $500.
Lt. Governor Burt Jones issued a statement Monday that supports the State Senate’s passage of income tax rebate checks.
“HB 1000 will return over $1 billion to Georgia’s hardworking taxpayers in the coming months. I want to thank Governor Brian Kemp and Speaker Jon Burns for their partnership in cutting taxes and returning billions of dollars to Georgia taxpayers over the past four years.” – Lt. Governor Burt Jones.
State leaders say the rebates are intended to provide financial relief and return surplus funds back to hardworking Georgians.
Kemp also said he is proposing an additional, 20-basis point reduction in the state’s personal and corporate income tax rate, bringing it to 4.99 percent.
Kemp is currently in the last year of his second gubernatorial term and has made no firm announcements regarding his own political future, having rejected national GOP leaders’ call to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff this fall.
From Atlanta News First via WRDW:
Gov. Brian Kemp touted Georgia lawmakers’ success in passing a $500 income tax rebate for joint filers.
“With final passage of HB 1000 today, Georgians will receive another, one-time income tax rebate this year of up to $500 for joint filers,“ Kemp said on social media. ”Grateful for our partners in the legislature for helping us provide relief to hardworking Georgians and return more of their money back to their pockets.”
In his final state of the state address earlier this year, delivered to both Georgia representatives and senators, Kemp proposed a budget that includes another $1 billion tax rebate that, he said, “will return or save the average filer $250 and a married couple up to $500.
“With this rebate, my administration and this General Assembly will have returned over $7.5 billion in surplus revenue to the taxpayers of our state over the last four years,” he said.
Democrats supported the one-time rebates because it’s a “common sense” measure that does not “gut the budget,” said Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones.
“It doesn’t go as far as some of these other bills that have been out there, but we were proud to vote for it and give Georgians an opportunity to kind of take advantage of some of the things we deal with Capitol. So, it helped them, (and) I think it’s good. I think it’s a good day,” Harold said.
The one-time rebate will cost the state nearly $1.1 billion, according to a legislative fiscal note. The rebates were a priority for Kemp, who in his final State of the State speech in January called for the fourth round of one-time rebates under his administration.
Under the bill, married couples filing jointly will receive an income tax rebate up to $500 later this year. Heads of household would get up to $375, while individual filers or married people filing separately would get up to $250.
The measure is the latest example of an election-year tax-cutting binge. In addition to the tax rebate, Kemp has proposed reducing the income tax rate from 5.19% to 4.99% this year.
The Georgia Senate also has passed legislation that would more than quadruple the standard deduction, potentially eliminating the income tax for nearly two-thirds of Georgians. That bill is pending in the House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, the House recently approved a bill that would cap the growth of property tax levies for schools and local governments at 3% or the rate of inflation, whichever is higher. That measure is pending in the Senate.
House Bill 535 by State Rep. Tyler Paul Smith (R-Bremen) was amended in the Senate and passed that chamber, to return to the House, according to the Capitol Beat News Service.
Something unusual happened to an anti-fentanyl bill in the Georgia Senate on Monday.
Republicans and Democrats listened to each other, amended the bill to target fentanyl traffickers instead of addicts, and then voted unanimously to pass it.
In a highly partisan environment, that kind of democratic process is rare. More often, the Republican majority doesn’t entertain Democrats’ frequent criticisms.
This time was different.
“If you’ll just listen a little bit and be willing to hear the other side’s opinion, whether that other side is in your party or not, it doesn’t matter,” Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Republican candidate for governor, said to senators moments before the vote. “But if you’ll just listen and talk through things, some of these things can get worked out without having to posture so much.”
The Senate voted 53-0 to pass the amended House Bill 535, sending it back to the House for consideration in the closing days of this year’s legislative session.
If approved, the legislation would impose minimum sentences of 2 ½ years in prison for possession of more than 4 grams of fentanyl and up to 35 years imprisonment for possession of larger amounts. The proposal would revise a law passed last year that imposed mandatory sentences for fentanyl trafficking.
Before the bill was amended on the Senate floor, it would have required heightened prison sentences for possession of at least 4 grams of any other drugs — such as cocaine, Adderall, Xanax, or marijuana — that were laced with smaller amounts of fentanyl.
Democrats who opposed the original bill said it would target drug possession by users who had no intention of selling fentanyl.
Fentanyl overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18-44, usually in combination with other drugs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The prospects for amending the bill didn’t seem promising when Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, a candidate for lieutenant governor and a persistent critic of Republicans, sought to remove the bill’s language punishing possession of over 4 grams of any drug that contains trace amounts of fentanyl.
“Throwing people in prison for decades and putting them on probation for decades isn’t doing anything to make us safer. It’s just giving us political talking points so we can all say we’re tough on crime,” McLaurin said. “That’s a hard realization to swallow for a lot of people in this building.”
Republicans responded that they didn’t want to punish addicts, but were seeking stronger laws against fentanyl distributors.
After over an hour of debate, the Senate reached a compromise when Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, offered his own amendment. He proposed requiring the mandatory minimum sentences only when the amount of fentanyl is over 4 grams, either alone or in combination with other drugs.
Both the Republican majority and Democratic minority approved that change. The bill distinguishes distributors from users by allowing judges to impose shorter sentences on defendants who aren’t leaders of the criminal conduct, didn’t use a weapon during the crime, or didn’t have a prior felony conviction.
Cowsert, a candidate for attorney general, said elected officials need to be open-minded.
“We get called flip-floppers or whatever if you change your mind,” Cowsert said. “But what we’re pointing out here is that we’re not trying to criminalize somebody that inadvertently buys a Xanax or an Adderall or marijuana that has trace amounts of fentanyl in it that can be deadly.”
Senate Bill 177 by State Sen. Jason Anavitarte (R-Dallas) passed the Senate and would regulate donations from “hostile foreign” entities, according to the Capitol Beat News Service.
Georgia lawmakers have nearly passed legislation that could lead to hefty fines against businesses, colleges and nonprofits when they accept contributions or donations funneled from countries deemed to be foreign adversaries.
The debate fell along party lines before Senate Bill 177 passed the House 98-65 Monday with only two Democrats in favor.
It returns to the Senate for agreement on a few changes.
“All this does is require transparency,” said Joseph Gullett, R-Dallas, who presented the bill on the House floor.
The measure requires recipients of support by agents from hostile nations to register with the state ethics commission.
Among the House amendments was language identifying those hostile nations. The Senate version targeted North Korea, Iran, China and Russia.
The House changed that to whichever countries were designated by the U.S. commerce secretary.
Rep. James Burchett, R-Waycross, the majority whip, said the current countries on that list are those four, plus Cuba and “and the Venezuelan politician Nicolas Maduro.”
Violations could lead to a $10,000 fine, or as much as $200,000 for “willful” or repeat violations.
The only Republican to raise concerns was Rep. Mike Cameron, R-Rossville, who went on to vote for the bill.
He said a company in his district asked questions because it is owned by a former subsidiary of General Electric that was sold to a Chinese conglomerate. He said another major company asked about constitutional issues.
Democrats said they agreed that the countries on Burchett’s list were a risk. But they also offered critiques that have become common with similar legislation in other states.
They said SB 177 could violate constitutional protections for speech, it could conflict with federal law containing similar requirements, and it would add bureaucracy, perhaps discouraging companies from locating in Georgia.
“It creates heavy compliance costs,” said Rep. Long Tran, D-Dunwoody.
Rep. Jasmine Clark, D-Lilburn, noted that House members were issued laptops by the Chinese company Lenovo, and she wondered if Amazon shoppers could be implicated.
Others said exemptions in the registration requirement seemed political.
SB 177 exempts TikTok per a September executive order by President Donald Trump. It also exempts trade associations and advocacy organizations founded before Jan. 2, 1950, leading one Democrat to note that the National Rifle Association, founded in the 19th century, would not have to comply.
Rep. Gabriel Sanchez, D-Smyrna, said the legislation was a distraction.
“If you want to talk about foreign influence, how about the fact that Israel, along with the military industrial complex, just dragged us into an unnecessary war that no one wants and no one voted for,” he said.
Several states have adopted legislation like SB 177 and at least a half dozen more are considering it this year, according to the International Center for Not-For-Profit-Law headquartered in Washington, D.C.
The group noted that such legislation had been rejected or allowed to die in more than a dozen states.
Some of the concerns raised in the past include lack of foreign policy expertise at the state level, and a patchwork of schemes among the states that could undermine U.S. foreign policy and complicate compliance for organizations.
“It is still unclear how states will enforce these types of laws,” the organization said in an analysis last summer, “but for now they create a regulatory minefield for nonprofits and others.”
SB 177 now returns to the Senate for agreement to the House changes. Should the Senate agree, the bill would head to the desk of Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature. He vetoed a similar Senate bill in 2024 involving foreign adversary political contributions, noting they were already prohibited under federal law.
Several legislative measures to address mental health are being considered, according to WJBF via WSAV.
As the legislative session enters its final stretch, Georgia lawmakers are advancing several major proposals aimed at improving mental health care across the state, from expanding hospital capacity, to addressing a shortage of licensed social workers.
One of the biggest investments comes through House Bill 973, part of the amended 2026 state budget. The proposal includes roughly $400 million to build a new 300-bed state mental health hospital in Atlanta, along with $27 million in additional funding for Georgia R9egional Hospital.
Supporters said the investment is needed to relieve pressure on local jails and emergency rooms, which often serve as default treatment centers for people in crisis.
[State Senator] Ben Watson, a Republican from Savannah, said law enforcement officials have long raised concerns about the lack of treatment beds.
“Sheriffs have been complaining about having people break the law, but they’re really in jail for mental health reasons,” Watson said. “A hospital setting is where they should be receiving care.”
Lawmakers are also trying to expand the behavioral health workforce. Senate Bill 485 would allow social work students in their final semester to take their licensing exams early, helping them enter the workforce sooner after graduation.
[State Rep.] Mark Newton, a Republican from Augusta, said the state must invest in training more counselors to meet growing demand.
“To be able to train and help with the school costs for behavioral health counselors is something our state needs to meet the needs of so many families across Georgia,” Newton said.
Other legislation focuses on expanding care options for vulnerable families. House Bill 1238 and Senate Bill 428 seek federal Medicaid waivers that would allow reimbursement for services aimed at children with complex needs and adults at risk of hospitalization.
Lawmakers said the waivers would help fund “respite care,” providing families short-term support when they feel they have few options between caring for a loved one at home and hospitalization.
Meanwhile, a separate bill focused on mental health services for veterans and first responders has passed the House and is awaiting debate in the Senate.
With only days remaining in the session, lawmakers said expanding mental health access remains a top priority.
House Bill 689 by State Rep. Kasey Carpenter (R-Dalton) would create a program to attempt to address homelessness, according to Georgia Recorder.
Lawmakers have been looking at ways to respond to rising homelessness in Georgia, with $50 million added to this year’s budget for what are being called homelessness response grants.
But another proposal under consideration this year is focused on preventing vulnerable Georgians from losing their housing in the first place.
House Bill 689, sponsored by Dalton Republican state Rep. Kasey Carpenter, would create a homelessness prevention program. The bill would create flexible local grants that would be given to and matched by local governments and nonprofits to meet the needs of their community.
Carpenter’s bill would create the framework for a program that would be funded later through the state housing trust fund.
Advocates are hoping the funding will be on par with a pandemic-era federal aid program that provided rental assistance through the state Department of Community Affairs. Other than that pilot program, there are no other statewide emergency rental assistance programs comparable to meet the needs of Georgians, housing advocate Elizabeth Appley said.
“We know that the need is enormous, homelessness is growing,” Appley said. “Family homelessness grew at an unprecedented level in the past year.”
The bill allows for loan distributions, as little as a few hundred dollars, to families facing rental payment shortages. The goal is to help Georgians stay in their homes and keep their jobs, Carpenter said.
Homelessness prevention means avoiding the public costs of homelessness by addressing housing issues on the front end. The cost to state and local governments of eviction, including emergency shelter, medical and child care costs, exceeds the cost of providing short-term loans to prevent eviction in the first place, Appley said.
“An ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure,” said Audrea Rease, executive director of housing organization Star-C.
More than one-third of Georgia’s families rent their homes, and more than half of those renters are what is considered cost-burdened, meaning they spend over 30% of their total income on rent. When a financial emergency comes, such as a surprise medical bill or an unexpected car repair, most of these Georgians would not have the savings to handle the financial stress, leading to eviction. About 700,000 Georgia residents fall into this category, said state Rep. Lisa Campbell, a Kennessaw Democrat and co-sponsor of the homelessness prevention bill.
“When financial emergencies arise, it can have devastating impacts on housing stability with dire consequences that can be avoided with proactive programs like this,” Campbell said.
Supporters of the bill also highlight Georgia children, who are the most vulnerable when it comes to housing instability, Darlene Lynch of the Georgia Healthy Housing Coalition said. The Georgia Healthy Housing Coalition is made up of several organizations that advocate for safe and healthy housing policy.
Stable housing is foundational for a child’s education and health, said Lynch, who is the legal and policy director at the children’s advocacy group Georgia Appleseed. Homeless children graduate at an average of 68%, compared to 87% for housed students, according to Georgia Appleseed.
Akiem Williams, education and neighborhood advocate for the Atlanta Regional Collaborative for Health Improvement, grew up witnessing unstable housing firsthand.
“I watched my mom struggle to pay the bills with a low-income job in a low-income community,” Williams said.
Having to worry about where to spend the night, moving to different friends’ and relatives’ houses placed more obstacles in his education pathway than for his peers with stable housing, he said.
“If you have a home, you can focus on other needs,” Williams said. “This bill is a major victory for stability. It’s money available to build a community.”
Some lawmakers, however, oppose the bill. Rep. Noelle Kahaian, a Locust Grove Republican, called the bill “redundant,” arguing that existing housing nonprofits already address these issues. Rep. Charlice Byrd, a Woodstock Republican, questioned whether taxpayer funds should be used for homelessness prevention at all.
“The state’s paying for the consequences [of homelessness] whether we like it or not,” Carpenter said. “We want to make sure locals have skin in the game.”
Housing advocates across Georgia have backed the bill, saying it represents a step toward stabilizing families in their homes.
“This bill is a sign to parents to know that the state is behind them and supporting them,” Williams said.
House Bill 689 passed the state House last month with a 148-11 vote and is now awaiting action in the Senate. The 2026 legislative session is set to end on April 2.
Valdosta City Council voted to set a November 3, 2026 Special Election to fill the District 4 vacancy, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.
The seat was left vacant March 9, after former Councilman Eric Howard qualified for the upcoming election for State District 177 to replace former Rep. Dexter Sharper.
Qualifiers for the city election will run from Aug. 17-21. The election will be held on Nov. 3, the general election day.
The Muscogee County Medical Society will host an online debate among candidates for Mayor of Columbus on March 27, 2026, according to WTVM.
Bob Norton will be sworn in to the Gainesville City Council Ward 1 seat after being the only candidate to qualify for a Special Election, according to AccessWDUN.
The swearing-in will take place at the next Gainesville City Council meeting on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture opened applications for Hurricane Helene recovery funding from a federal block grant, according to Atlanta News First via WALB.
Georgia began taking applications Monday for a $531 million federal block grant aimed at helping farmers, ranchers and foresters recover from Hurricane Helene, a storm that tore through southern and east-central Georgia in 2024 and left long-term damage across the timber belt.
The application period runs six weeks, closing at midnight April 27, according to the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Agriculture Commissioner Tyler J. Harper urged producers to apply early, saying applications are being reviewed as they come in.
More than 150 people had applied as of 2 p.m. Monday, according to the agency.
The grant is designed to cover losses that typically fall outside standard U.S. Department of Agriculture disaster programs, including damage tied to timber, infrastructure, poultry, cattle, milk production, pecans, blueberries, citrus, nursery crops, plasticulture and bare-ground practices, state officials said.
“It’s really been the most difficult times of my 30-year career,” said Zach Johnson, a timber producer with the Beasley group in Hazlehurst.
Johnson said many landowners lost decades of growth in a single night.
“These stands were 30-plus years old. People were planning on those … it’s kind of like their retirement,” he said.
Timberland owners face a separate challenge, he said: “Farmers at least can have crop insurance. There’s no such thing in forestry. When you lose a stand, you lose it all.”
The University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry estimates that about 1.5 million acres of timber were damaged or destroyed statewide.
U.S. Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, both Democrats, said they pressed federal agencies to release the funding and criticized the pace of delivery.
Warnock called the opening of the program “welcome news” for producers who “have been forced to wait far too long for this desperately needed relief.”
Ossoff said he was glad farmers were getting “the help they’ve long deserved.”
Harper said the program took time to build because it was designed to fill gaps left by traditional relief programs and required careful review. He said a government shutdown last fall also slowed coordination with federal officials.
“This program won’t make producers whole, but it helps blunt the loss they received during those storms and helps them get back on their feet,” Harper said.
The aid could influence whether landowners replant timber or convert land to other uses. Johnson said he has watched timberland shrink as development expands.
“I’m seeing so much urbanization and seeing lands disappear every day,” he said. “And we desperately need these folks to put trees back in the ground.”
Applicants are advised to gather documentation, including photos, receipts and other records that support claimed losses. State officials said payments are expected after the application window closes and reviews are completed.
More information, including eligibility requirements and guidance documents, is available at the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s website.
Augusta City Commissioners are considering revisions to strengthen their “Ban the Box” rules, according to WRDW.
Community members and city leaders are calling for changes to Augusta’s ban the box policy, which currently delays questions about criminal history until after a job offer is made for city positions.
The policy, adopted in 2018, was designed to give applicants with criminal records a fairer shot at city employment. But some say it does not go far enough.
District 1 Commissioner Jordan Johnson said the current policy falls short of providing equal opportunity.
“If someone doesn’t qualify for a job because of whatever, there should be opportunities in other lanes that they can apply for, and we have to make sure to give those opportunities,” Johnson said. “It’s not a guaranteed hire, but again, those opportunities should be there. Folks should know what’s afforded to them and that doesn’t exist in the current policy.”
Johnson added that thousands of people in the community are looking for jobs and that the city wants to ensure everyone has a fair shot.
“We wanna make sure that everyone has an equal opportunity to participate in having a fair shot at a decent quality of life,” Johnson said.
Among the proposed changes is whether justice-impacted individuals should be treated as a protected class in city hiring.
Members of Barred Business, an Atlanta-based group that advocates for people impacted by the justice system, also addressed city leaders.
Jacquelyn Rose, executive administrator of Barred Business, said the group came to Augusta with a specific ask.
“We came out here today to get Augusta to make justice-impacted people a protected class,” Rose said.
Bridgette Simpson, executive director of Barred Business, and Morgan Boyd, CSRA regional manager for Barred Business, were also among those who spoke to city leaders.








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