Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for April 5, 2022

President George Washington exercised the veto power for the first time on April 5, 1792.

The bill introduced a new plan for dividing seats in the House of Representatives that would have increased the amount of seats for northern states. After consulting with his politically divided and contentious cabinet, Washington, who came from the southern state of Virginia, ultimately decided that the plan was unconstitutional because, in providing for additional representatives for some states, it would have introduced a number of representatives higher than that proscribed by the Constitution.

The Brown Thrasher was first recognized as the official state bird of Georgia on April 5, 1935 through an Executive Order signed by Governor Eugene Talmadge. Later the designation of official state symbols through executive fiat was challenged and the General Assembly would recognize the Brown Thrasher again as official state bird in 1970.

On April 5, 1962, Governor Ernest Vandiver called a Special Session of the Georgia General Assembly to revise the state’s election code following a decision by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Baker v. Carr.

On April 5, 1968, amid racial tension following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., musician James Brown helped keep the peace in Boston.

On April 5, 1977, Wyche Fowler won a runoff election over John Lewis for the Fifth Congressional District, following the appointment of Andrew Young as Ambassador to the United Nations. Fowler would win election to the United States Senate in 1986, and ironically, lose his seat in a 1992 runoff election to the late Paul Coverdell.

On April 5, 1980, the band that would come to be known as R.E.M. played their first show as Twisted Kites in Athens, Georgia.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

President Joe Biden’s Administration plans to close a training center at the Savannah Air National Guard Base, according to the Associated Press via the Savannah Morning News.

Georgia lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are criticizing President Joe Biden’s proposal to close an Air National Guard training center in Savannah.

Biden’s 2023 proposed budget calls for shutting down the Combat Readiness Training Center at the Savannah Air National Guard Base. The center conducts air-to-air combat training missions for both reservist and active-duty fighter pilots.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter vowed to fight to keep the training center open. Warnock said its closure would mean a loss of roughly 100 jobs. He and Carter both noted Congress recently allocated $24 million for a new maintenance hangar at the center that’s almost finished.

Both lawmakers said it’s the wrong time to undermine U.S. military readiness when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made the world less secure.

From another article in the Savannah Morning News:

“It’s just unbelievable that we’re even considering this at this time,” Carter said. “I mean, here we have a president who says, ‘Show me your budget, and you’ll show me your values.’ Well, obviously, we’re seeing the values of this administration right now.”

“This center is a cost-effective national security asset crucial for regional training and coordination,” Warnock said. “While there’s much in the president’s proposed budget that I believe will help Georgians thrive, this is one of several cuts in the request that deeply troubles me.”

“Russia is aggressively threatening the world order, and the United States must be as strong as possible,” Warnock said in a statement.

Carter agreed, pointing out that the U.S. could “potentially be on the brink of World War III.” Carter still remains hopeful that no American troops will be deployed against Russian forces in Ukraine, but he thinks it is wise to stay ready.

“Hopefully, we don’t need it. But if this teaches us anything, aside from the importance of energy independence to our national security, it teaches us that we need to be prepared in this day and time. And to cut back on combat readiness training centers, I think is the exact opposite.”

Fentanyl overdoses have risen in Georgia, according to Georgia Health News.

Over the last two months, at least 66 emergency room visits in the state involved the use of cocaine, methamphetamines, counterfeit pills or other drugs likely containing fentanyl, a dangerous synthetic opioid that can be up to 100 times more powerful than morphine.

The overdoses have also involved fentanyl contained in crack, heroin, painkillers and marijuana, said the Georgia Department of Public Health.

One area seeing a fentanyl-related overdose uptick is Savannah. Dr. Jay Goldstein, medical director of the emergency department at Memorial Health, said Friday that many habitual drug users who have overdosed reported being surprised at the effect of the substance they took.

“They’re getting a bigger [narcotic] effect than they expected,” Goldstein told GHN. That includes teenagers who are experimenting with drugs, he said.

“I don’t think they believe they’re getting fentanyl,” he added.

“In the crime lab alone, the lab has seen an 80% increase of fentanyl results in the last year,’’ [GBI spokesperson Nelly] Miles said. “We’ve also seen a disturbing trend of samples called ‘purple heroin/purp’ that contains heroin and fentanyl.”

Fentanyl-related overdose deaths have been increasing in Georgia since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Between May 1, 2020 and April 30, 2021, fentanyl-involved overdose deaths jumped more than 100 percent as compared with the previous time period, Public Health said.

Governor Brian Kemp yesterday signed the “Mental Health Parity Act.” From the press release:

Governor Brian P. Kemp, joined by First Lady Marty Kemp and their three daughters, Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan, Speaker David Ralston, members of the House and Senate, and mental health advocates, today signed the Mental Health Parity Act (HB1013) into law.

Please see his remarks from the bill signing ceremony below, and you can watch the full ceremony here.

Good afternoon and thank you all for joining us for this historic day.

Mr. Speaker, Lt. Governor, I want to thank you for those remarks, but especially for all the work that you and your staff put into getting this legislation across the finish line.

I also want to thank the many organizations represented here today – who not only helped to study and secure passage of this bill – but who also provide the services and advocacy that impact lives in a very real and personal way.

We’re also honored to be joined by Attorney General Chris Carr, Insurance Commissioner General John King, Presiding Justice Michael Boggs of the Georgia Supreme Court, members of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities board, including Lasa Joiner, and others.

Today has been a long time coming.

Back in 2019 when we created the Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission, this ultimate outcome was exactly what we had hoped for. In the years since, elected officials, advocates, industry experts, and caring mothers and fathers have met to work hard on what ultimately became this bill.

I want to thank all those who are here with us today, and those who couldn’t be with us, for the diligent work they put in long before this session even began.

With the passage of HB 1013, Speaker Ralston, Spiro Amburn, Lt. Governor Duncan, Macy McFall, and every member of their staffs, Representatives Mary Margaret Oliver and Todd Jones, Senator Brian Strickland, Chairman Kevin Tanner of the Behavioral Health Reform & Innovation Commission, and everyone in the General Assembly have truly made history.

Today, we will fulfill Speaker Ralston’s vision and that of so many others who partnered for this accomplishment to bring hope to the many families across Georgia who have a loved one suffering with some form of mental or behavioral challenge.

Today, we reaffirm to those families and individuals that they matter, that they are cared for, and that their fellow Georgians will not turn a blind eye to their struggle any longer.

Today, we take the next step – a monumental step – toward a Georgia where every person receives the help they need to fight and overcome whatever personal trials they may face.

Today, we make sure that they do not fight alone.

As Galatians 6:2 tells us, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

As I said earlier, countless hours, years of research and policy discussions, and the hopes of tens of thousands of Georgians went into the bill that now sits on that table.

Perhaps the greatest testament to the need for HB 1013, its importance, and its transformational power is the fact that in a time of great political division, this legislation passed with full bipartisan support. That unity is also a testament to the work put in long before this session gaveled in, crafting something that has the support of all parties.

When Georgians come together, both in and beyond the General Assembly, we can do truly great and remarkable things.

I said earlier that Speaker Ralston and the many men and women who worked on this legislation and unanimously voted for its passage made history.

And we’re about to make some more… Let’s sign this bill into law!

From the Capitol Beat News Service via the Gwinnett Daily Post:

House Bill 1013, which the General Assembly passed unanimously, stems from the recommendations of a commission of legal and mental health experts created in 2019.

The legislation, House Speaker David Ralston’s top priority for this year’s session, includes a parity provision requiring insurance companies to cover mental illness the same as physical illness. The parity requirement also applies to Georgia’s Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids programs, and to the State Health Benefit Plan.

The bill also requires care management organizations (CMOs) participating in Georgia Medicaid to dedicate at least 85% of their revenues to patient care. And it establishes a service-cancelable loan program to address a workforce shortage by offering loan forgiveness to several types of mental-health specialists as well as primary-care physicians.

“Failure was not an option,” said Ralston, R-Blue Ridge. “The status quo had to go.”

“Georgia is making a transformational commitment to improving health care,” the speaker said.

“House Bill 1013 is one of the rare moments I will remember for a lifetime,” added Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who helped steer the bill through the Senate as its presiding officer. “The cumulative good this bill will do is immeasurable.”

From the Valdosta Daily Times:

“House Bill 1013 is not a Republican bill, it’s not a Democrat bill. This bill is for 11 million hardworking Georgians,” said Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan on Monday.

The bill, Duncan said, provides mental health parity in areas related to courts, education, health insurance for public officials and social services.  The bill also authorizes the Georgia Student Finance Commission to issue loans to qualified health care professionals in order to increase the amount of workers in the field of mental health, he added.

House Speaker David Ralston led the way on the bill, stating that the approximately 75-page bill was needed to “reset” the state’s mental health care delivery system to yield better results.

“Today is the day I honor the work of the advocacy community…those who have labored in this spot for years, because everyday we have seen the toll this mental health crisis takes on families and communities,” Ralston said before the the signing ceremony. “The state’s budget [for HB 1013] will lift this state out of the basement of mental health care.”

Governor Kemp announced he will appoint Stacey S. Jackson as District Attorney for the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit and Pythias “Pete” Temesgen to a seat on the Muscogee County State Court.

Stacey S. Jackson has been appointed by Governor Brian P. Kemp to serve as District Attorney for the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit. Attorney Stacey S. Jackson is a native of Harris County, GA. Mr. Jackson began his formative education in the Harris County School System. In 1992, he graduated with honors as class Salutatorian from Harris County High School. Mr. Jackson was the recipient of the distinguished full four-year Presidential Scholarship to Albany State College, now known as Albany State University. While at Albany State, he was president of the Chi Epsilon chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., a member of the Student Government Association, and a member of the Alpha Kappa Mu national honors fraternity. Mr. Jackson was also a member of the Albany State baseball team as they won the SIAC Conference Championship in 1994.

After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice in 1996, Mr. Jackson moved on to the University of Dayton School of Law, where he was again awarded a tuition scholarship. While in law school, he was a member of the Black Law Students Association, Criminal Law Alliance, and Phi Delta Phi Honors Legal Fraternity. After earning his Juris Doctorate degree in 1999, Mr. Jackson began his legal career with a clerkship working with Superior Court Judges Douglas C. Pullen and William J. Smith. In 2000, he joined the Office of the District Attorney as an Assistant District Attorney handling an assortment of major felony criminal cases. During his tenure as a prosecutor, several of his cases received national attention, including Mr. Jackson appearing on CBS’ nationally televised series “48 hours”. In 2008, Mr. Jackson joined Richard Hagler, Stephen Hyles and Susan Henderson to form the law firm of Hagler, Hyles, Henderson & Jackson (now Hagler, Jackson and Walters). One of Mr. Jackson’s defense cases has also appeared on the nationally televised show “Fatal Attraction” on channel TV One.

Mr. Jackson is a member of the Columbus Bar Association, the Fountain City Bar Association, Inns of Court – Columbus Chapter, member of the Fountain City Classic Committee, a former board member for the Port of Columbus Naval Museum, a former advisory board member for the Aaron Cohn Regional Youth Detention Center, a former board member at Northern Little League and a member of the Lambda Iota Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. (Foundation Board Member) and a member of the Gamma Psi Boule’ of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. He was a member of the 2012 class of Leadership Georgia and a member of the 2016 class of Republican Leadership of Georgia.

Mr. Jackson is married to Mrs. Mitzi Jackson, an educator, and has two sons, Andrew and Aiden. He and his family attend Cascade Hills Baptist Church in Columbus, GA.

Pete Temesgen has been appointed by Governor Brian P. Kemp to serve on the State Court of Muscogee County. Previously, he was an attorney at Huff Powell Bailey, LLC, where he has practiced since 2017. The firm is recognized for its significant trial work in complex civil litigation. Prior to that, Pete was an assistant district attorney in Columbus, Georgia and a law clerk to the Honorable Benjamin Richardson and Honorable John Allen. Pete earned his law degree from Boston University School of Law and his undergraduate degree from Princeton University. He is a very active member of the Columbus community, serving in leadership roles at the Springer Opera House and the Young Lawyer’s Division of the Columbus Bar Association. He is also the mayoral appointee of the Public Safety Advisory Commission. Previously, he was the president of the Fountain City Bar Association, the local African-American bar. Pete is also a proud member of the Leadership Georgia Class of 2019. Pete and his wife, Natalia, live in Columbus, with their two children, Aria and Paul.

From WTVM:

There is no word as of now on when Jackson will assume the District Attorney’s Office duties.

He expressed, “I am very excited that the governor has trusted me to take on this position, and I am very happy to represent the people of the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit.” He continued saying, “Citizens should expect to see some very positive changes in the DA’s office.”

Also, today, Governor Brian Kemp appointed Pete Temesgen to the Muscogee County State Court. He will fill the vacancy created by the appointment of Ben Richardson to Superior Court judge.

From the Ledger-Enquirer:

Temesgen, now with the law firm Huff, Powell and Bailey will succeed State Court Judge Ben Richardson, who will replace Superior Court Judge Ben Land when Land fills the vacancy on the Georgia Court of Appeals left by Judge Andrew Pinson’s departure.

Kemp appointed Pinson to the Supreme Court of Georgia, filling the vacancy created by the retirement of Chief Justice David E. Nahmias, who will leave the bench at the end of the 2022 court term in July.

Jackson said late Monday that he felt “thankful and grateful” that the governor trusted him to take command of the district attorney’s office, and he hoped to make “positive changes” when he takes office, likely in a few weeks.

Jackson said he will need time to close down his private practice. In his criminal defense work, he has represented clients whose cases still are pending. It would be a conflict of interest for him to handle those cases as district attorney, so they will have to be referred to the state attorney general’s office or the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia, to be assigned to other prosecutors.

Jackson, who grew up in Harris County where his parents were teachers, said he’s honored to serve as the chief prosecutor in the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit that besides Muscogee County includes Harris, Chattahoochee, Talbot, Taylor and Marion.

Yesterday was the close of the 2022 Session of the Georgia General Assembly. From AccessWDUN:

“This House is adjourned Sine Die!” are the words the antsy chamber was ready to hear from House Speaker David Ralston. When it finally came at about 12:15 a.m., it marked the quick finish to a day that took a while to get started.

Legislators successfully ushered through two priorities Gov. Kemp wanted to see passed: limiting “divisive concepts” in Georgia schools and addressing transgender athletes in girls’ sports. At the last minute, House lawmakers amended HB 1084, the so-called CRT bill, to include the creation of a committee to look into whether transgender students should play in high school sports that match their gender identity.

Smyrna Democrat Stacey Evans said the amendment flies in the face of the Republicans’ “parents know what is best for their kids,” mantra that was ever-present this session.

Lawmakers sent a bill to Gov. Kemp’s desk that bars state agencies and local governments from mandating COVID-19 vaccines; this includes public colleges and schools but not hospitals.

A rewritten bill lowering the state’s income tax got final passage. The compromise brings the tax rate down from 5.75% to 4.99% by 2029.

Legislation legalizing raw milk for human consumption is also heading to the Governor after it passed 110 to 55 in the House. The law mandates the product include a label “Warning: This is a raw milk product that is not pasteurized and may increase the risk of foodborne illness.” The legislation would take effect in July 2023 and wouldn’t allow the sale in retail stores.

From the AJC:

Once, midnight was revered as the hard-and-fast deadline for the final day of Georgia’s legislative session.

As the proceedings on Monday – er, Tuesday – proved, that’s not the case anymore. With a number of bills still on the agenda, lawmakers inched past midnight to buy more time to pass proposals.

But that began to change in 2015. When the clock struck midnight in the House, lawmakers and their families and friends celebrated the adjournment by filling the room with scraps of confetti-like paper.

But then-Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle kept the state Senate in session, where lawmakers passed a range of tax breaks that included incentives for Mercedes-Benz’s headquarters and a private Baptist college.

From another AJC story:

But nothing is dead in the General Assembly until it’s dead. And a late compromise was reached to tack the provision to a separate controversial measure limiting how race is discussed in k-12 classrooms.

The new provision doesn’t explicitly ban transgender girls from competing in girls sports. But it allows the Georgia High School Association to make that call.

The General Assembly agreed on a state budget for FY2023, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Reporter Newspapers.

The General Assembly gave final passage Monday night to a $30.2 billion state budget that provides pay raises to state employees and Georgia teachers.

During the final hour of this year’s legislative session, the Georgia House of Representative passed the fiscal 2023 spending plan 160-5. The state Senate had passed the budget unanimously earlier in the day.

The budget, which takes effect July 1, will increase salaries for most state employees by $5,000 and gives state retirees their first cost-of-living adjustment in 14 years. Targeted raises will go to correctional officers in the adult and juveniles prison systems to try to stem huge turnover rates.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery injected a word of warning when he presented the budget on the Senate floor. While strong state tax collections have given lawmakers leeway for the additional spending, there are signs of trouble for the economy, said Tillery, R-Vidalia.

“The storm clouds are on the horizon,” he said. “We need to know that and be honest with our constituents as we approach the next 12 months.”

House Bill 1150, the “Freedom to Farm Act,” passed as the House accepted Senate changes to the legislation, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Albany Herald.

House Bill 1150 will give neighbors bothered by bad smells, dust or noise emanating from a farm two years to file a nuisance suit, up from just one year under the original House bill. After that, any farm operating legally will be protected.

As the bill went through the General Assembly, supporters argued farmers need the certainty legal protection against nuisance suits would give before they invest the huge sums needed to operate a farm.

Opponents said a current state law enacted during the 1980s gives farmers more legal protection than the new legislation.

The final version of the bill also includes a carve-out for confined animal-feeding operations (CAFOs) including large hog farms and chicken operations. Under the bill, if any existing farm adds a CAFO, the two-year statute of limitations for nuisance lawsuits is restarted.

House Bill 1, prohibiting state colleges and universities from limiting student speech, passed on the final day of the session, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Albany Herald.

The Republican-controlled Senate passed House Bill 1 33-18 mostly along party lines. The House approved the bill, introduced on behalf of Gov. Brian Kemp, early last month.

The bill prohibits college officials from limiting what students may say as well as where they may say it, said Sen. Bruce Thompson, R-White, who carried the legislation in the Senate. He cited a series of lawsuits that have been brought against public universities in Georgia by student organizations whose events were relegated to out-of-the-way free-speech zones.

“Students continue to go to school under policies that are counter to the First Amendment,” he said. “What this seeks to do is give colleges the opportunity to make sure they’re not getting sued.”

But Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, said Georgia Republicans were sending a mixed message by backing a bill defending free-speech rights on college campuses while censoring honest discussions of racism in high school history classes. The General Assembly also is considering a bill prohibiting the teaching of certain “divisive concepts” in the schools.

“The majority party is eager to censor left-wing views or speech while trying to bolster right-wing speech,” Parent said.

Georgia will provide nearly a billion dollars in rental support from COVID funds, according to WTOC.

If you are behind on rent or utility payments, Georgia has just launched a new program to help.

Step Up Savannah says a lot of people will qualify for this program. If you received unemployment payments or if your annual household income is at or below $35,000, you could qualify to get some help on those past due payments.

The State of Georgia received $989 million from U.S. Treasury’s Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program to provide relief. The payments will cover up to 18 months on behind rent or utilities, dating back to March 13, 2020 when the pandemic started.

“Now that stimulus payments are over, now that expanded unemployment benefits are over some people are still waiting to receive unemployment benefits because they were so far behind in processing those so this is an important step in the right direction to get families back up on their feet,” said Alicia Johnson the executive director of Step Up Savannah.

Johnson says in Savannah nearly 60 percent of renters are rent burdened and could use this help.

Governor Brian Kemp has endosed State Senator Tyler Harper (R-Ocilla) for Commissioner of Agriculture, according to the Albany Herald.

“My family and I have known Tyler for many years and have seen first-hand his passion for supporting our state’s top industry,” Kemp said. “Tyler is a seventh-generation south Georgia farmer who understands what it’s like for thousands of farm families who work hard every day to feed, clothe, and produce for our state and the world. I know Tyler will come to Atlanta every day ready to fight for them and their way of life and keep Georgia agriculture strong.”

“Marty, the girls, and I are proud to support his campaign to be our next Commissioner of Agriculture.”

“I’m proud to have the endorsement of Gov. Kemp in our race to be Georgia’s next Commissioner of Agriculture,” Harper said in a news release. “The governor has been a fierce advocate for our state’s agriculture industry, ensuring our farmers and producers have every resource they need to be successful. I look forward to continue fighting for our farmers, producers, and consumers — and keep choppin’ as Georgia’s next Agriculture Commissioner.”