Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for February 15, 2023

On February 15, 1796, Georgia Governor Jared Irwin and legislators gathered with a crowd for the burning of the “Yazoo Act.”

On February 15, 1898, the battleship U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana harbor, Cuba.

On February 15, 1952 Gov. Herman Talmadge signed a joint resolution directing the purchase of Stone Mountain for development as a Confederate Memorial.

On February 15, 2011, Georgia Congressman John Lewis was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work in the civil rights movement.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Under the Gold Dome Today

TBD Senate Rules: Upon Adjournment – 450 CAP
8:00 AM HOUSE AGRICULTURE & CONS AFF – 606 CLOB
8:00 AM HOUSE SMALL BUS DEV – 506 CLOB
8:00 AM HOUSE Ways & Means Sales Tax Sub – 403 CAP
8:00 AM Senate Natl Resources & Envt – 450 CAP
8:15 AM HOUSE Ways & Means Public Fin & Policy Sub – 403 CAP
9:00 AM HOUSE RULES – 341 CAP
10:00 AM HOUSE FLOOR SESSION (LD 19) – House Chamber
10:00 AM Senate Floor Session (LD 19) – Senate Chamber
1:00 PM HOUSE HOUSE HIGHER ED – 606 CLOB
1:00 PM HOUSE PUBLIC SAFETY & HOMELAND SECURITY – 506 CLOB
1:00 PM HOUSE Appropriations Health Sub – 406 CLOB
1:00 PM Senate Transportation – Mezz 1 CAP
1:00 PM Senate Public Safety – 450 CAP
1:30 PM HOUSE Judiciary Non-Civil Hong Sub – 132 CAP
2:00 PM HOUSE RETIREMENT – 341 CAP
2:00 PM HOUSE DEFENSE & VETERANS AFF – 515 CLOB
2:00 PM HOUSE STATE PROPERTIES – 403 CAP
2:00 PM Senate Insurance & Labor – Mezz 1 CAP
2:00 PM Senate Higher Education – 307 CLOB
3:00 PM CANCELED HOUSE TECH & INFRASTRUCTURE INNOV – 406 CLOB
3:00 PM HOUSE GOVTAL AFFAIRS – 606 CLOB
3:00 PM HOUSE INDUSTRY & LABOR – 506 CLOB
3:00 PM Senate Health & Human Svcs – 450 CAP
4:00 PM Senate Finance – Mezz 1 CAP

Fulton Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney decided that parts of the report by the “Special Grand Jury” investigating the 2020 Presidential election will be released to the public and some withheld, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Gwinnett Daily Post.

In an eight-page order, Fulton Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney declared that the nature of the special grand jury investigation raised due process issues for those among Trump and his associates who might be indicted following the conclusion of the probe.

“There were no lawyers advocating for any targets of the investigation,” McBurney wrote. “Potential future defendants were not able to present evidence outside the scope of what the district attorney asked them.

“They could not call their own witnesses who might rebut what other state’s witnesses had said and they had no ability to present mitigating evidence. Put differently, there was very limited due process in this process for those who might now be named as indictment worthy in the final report.”

Willis will use the special purpose grand jury’s findings to inform her decision whether to empanel a grand jury to consider whether to indict the former president and/or any of his associates on criminal charges.

Lawyers for a coalition of media outlets filed a motion asking for the entire final report to be released. A hearing was held last month, during which Willis sought to keep the report private in order not to jeopardize the rights of potential future defendants to a fair trial.

While McBurney’s ruling Monday will keep most of the report under wraps for now, the judge ruled that three portions of the document may be released later this week.

“These three portions include the introduction and conclusion to the final report, as well as Section VIII, in which the special purpose grand jury discusses its concern that some witnesses may have lied under oath during their testimony to the grand jury,” he wrote.

“Because the grand jury does not identify those witnesses, that conclusion may be publicly disclosed at this time.”

McBurney ruled that the material he is allowing to be made public will be released on Thursday.

The Georgia Senate passed Senate Bill 4 by Senator Bo Hatchett (R-Cornelia), according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Albany Herald.

The state Senate has passed legislation that would impose mandatory minimum sentences for those found guilty of gang recruitment activities in Georgia.

The bill would require judges to impose prison sentences of at least five years on those convicted of recruiting gang members. It would prevent those sentenced with the crime from having their sentences suspended or serving them through probation.

The legislation would require tougher penalties for those who recruit someone under age 17 or someone with a disability to a gang, requiring at least a 10-year sentence.

“Building on his promises, the governor, partnering with the attorney general and the lieutenant governor … seeks to continue to crack down on criminal street gangs by giving prosecutors the tools to go after known gang members,” Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia, the bill’s chief sponsor and one of Kemp’s Senate floor leaders, said. “Although efforts to combat criminal street gang activities have had a tremendous impact throughout the state of Georgia, more must be done to keep our children away from a life of crime.”

Democrats opposed the bill. Sen. Harold Jones II, D-Augusta, a former solicitor general in Richmond County, argued it could have the unintended consequence of reducing sentences for those guilty of serious crimes and putting tough penalties on those convicted of relatively minor crimes.

Almost all Senate Republicans voted for the bill, which passed 31-22. However, GOP Sen. Colton Moore, R-Trenton, crossed party lines to vote against it.

“We have far too many plea bargains in this state, and this will only increase the amount,” Moore said just after the Senate vote. “Plea bargains allow the innocent to get improper justice and the guilty to get less than deserved. This is not the way to solve street gang crimes.”

The bill will now move to the state House of Representatives for consideration.

The Senate passed Senate Bill 69 by Sen. Ben Watson (R-Savannah) to honor U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Augusta Chronicle.

The state Senate on Tuesday approved a proposal to place a statue of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on the grounds of the state Capitol.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah. Watson represents the part of the Savannah area, Pin Point, where Thomas is from.

“Clarence Thomas … has lived a life marked by tremendous achievement,” Watson said. “[He] deserves a place of honor and recognition on Capitol grounds, a place where future generations of Georgians can … gain inspiration and belief that their lofty dreams are attainable, too, in America, regardless of the circumstances in which they are born.”

“I don’t expect people of non-color to get the sensitivity that we feel about a person of color whose policies and practices and decisions and votes … we’ve rallied [to] fight against,” said Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur.

“Justice Thomas’ decisions have certainly sparked outrage [among] women and not just women of color, but all women,” Jones added. “And certainly, when we look at the LGBTQ+ community, his votes and positions he’s taken have raised outrage in that community as well.”

Despite the opposition, the bill passed easily by a 32-20 party-line vote. It will now move to the Georgia House of Representatives for consideration.

The House Insurance Committee recommended passage of HB 85 by State Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Cobb County), according to the Georgia Recorder.

Now, [Savannah resident Jaymie Knox is] part of a push to require health insurance plans to cover comprehensive biomarker testing for Georgians who may not have access to it today. She recently traveled to Atlanta to make the case for a bill sponsored by Marietta Republican state Rep. Sharon Cooper, who chairs the House Public Health Committee.

The longtime lawmaker argues that her bill would ease patient suffering and save valuable time and money if ineffective or unnecessary treatments are avoided. The testing is also used when diagnosing autoimmune diseases.

Proponents say that access to biomarker testing is uneven in Georgia.

“Many of the places in the state are doing it,” Cooper told a House panel recently. “Our Medicaid system already does it. But the carriers in Georgia – about 54% of them – were using this. All Georgians have – not a right – but should be afforded this new and innovative approach to getting the right medicine to the right person.”

Cooper batted away proposed amendments from a lobbyist who represents the state’s commercial health insurers that would have limited the bill to cancer diagnoses and to situations where the testing was deemed “medically necessary.”

“Our concern is does this broadly written bill open the door for things that are not supported by medical or clinical evidence to be performed on a patient?” said Jesse Weathington, president and CEO of the Georgia Association of Health Plans. “We want the right person to get the right care at the right time. We probably disagree about exactly how that needs to be.”

Proponents say requiring robust coverage of biomarker testing could increase monthly premiums by as little as 8 cents or as much as 51 cents per person, according to an analysis commissioned by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.

The projected increase does not factor in potential savings due to more effective care, said Julie Vojtech, the nonprofit’s government relations director in Georgia.

“That is such a tiny increase. Who wouldn’t pay an additional 50 cents per month on your premiums if it might bring back the person you loved?” she said. “If I could have my dad, my best friend back by paying a mere 50 cents a month, who wouldn’t do that?”

A State House Appropriations Subcommittee recommended passage of a state tax rebate, according to the AJC.

A House Ways and Means subcommittee voted unanimously for the proposal, which would grant many single-filing Georgians $250 rebates and couples filing jointly $500.

In total, the rebate would send $1 billion back to Georgians. The rebates would go out this spring if they win final approval.

Senate Bill 88 by Sen. Carden Summers (R-Cordele) would restrict some discussion of gender-related issues in schools, according to the AJC.

The prohibitions in Senate Bill 88 would apply equally to public and private schools and in many cases to other places that oversee children, such as camps.

Teachers and others overseeing children under 16 would be prohibited from providing sex education without parent consent, a major shift for schools that must by law offer sex ed. They also could not discuss sexual orientation or gender identity “other than the child’s biological sex” absent consent.

SB 88 threatens loss of tax-exempt status for nonprofit organizations and withholding of funding for public schools.

Sen. Carden Summers, R-Cordele, the bill’s primary sponsor, said the legislation would require that parents be told what their children are learning, though he said he’s working on an amendment in cases of suspected abuse at home.

“We want to protect parents, we want to protect the teachers, we want to protect anybody — campers, church, wherever,” he said at a hearing in the Senate Education and Youth committee Tuesday. “This is simply a bill that gives some protections and allows people in charge to know what is being taught to their children and the curriculums that they’re dealing with.”

State House Speaker Jon Burns (R-Newington) praised the “Safe at Home Act,” HB 404 by State Rep. Kasey Carpenter (R-Dalton), according to the AJC.

The Safe at Home Act would require landlords to provide rental homes that are “fit for human habitation” and increase protections for tenants who are facing eviction because they failed to pay their rent on time. Current state law does not specify what conditions make a home habitable, and tenants must continue to pay rent even if their rental is unsafe to live in.

House Speaker Jon Burns credited The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Dangerous Dwellings series for prompting the proposal, House Bill 404. The 18-month investigation found that Georgia’s lack of tenant protections and basic condition standards allow dangerous apartment complexes to flourish in metro Atlanta.

The bill would also give landlords the power to expedite eviction for tenants charged or convicted of certain serious crimes, or who have committed a crime that threatens the health and safety of others on the property. The AJC found hundreds of apartment complexes are plagued by violent crime, and tenants said that some landlords turn a blind eye to gang members and drug dealers. However, the investigation found that frequently the crimes are committed by those who don’t live at the complex.

House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration, R-Dacula, backs the bill, as does State Rep. Sharon Cooper, chairman of the Public Health committee. The Marietta Republican successfully pushed in 2019 for the first legislation to increase tenant protections in decades.

More on the competing approaches to legalizing online sports betting from the Associated Press via AccessWDUN.

The House and Senate are taking different approaches, with Watkinsville Republican Rep. Marcus on Monday introducing House Bill 380, which would allow sports betting only. Meanwhile, a Senate committee on Tuesday held a hearing on Senate Bill 57, which would explicitly include horse racing as part of sports gambling. That bill, sponsored by Sen. Billy Hickman, a Statesboro Republican, would also authorize three horse racing tracks with betting statewide.

A committee could vote on the House bill this week, while Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee Chairman Brandon Beach, an Alpharetta Republican, promises a vote on the Senate bill next week.

Both bills claim their plans would be legal under the state constitution because they would not violate a bar on casinos or pari-mutuel betting.

Former state Supreme Court Justice Harold Melton wrote an opinion for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce earlier this year backing the view.

Avoiding a constitutional amendment is key because they need a two-thirds vote in both chambers of the General Assembly to pass, and then a majority of voters in a statewide election. Republicans don’t have a two-thirds supermajority in either chamber and some Republicans refuse to support gambling on moral grounds, necessitating Democratic support. A bill needs only a majority of both chambers and the signature of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.

Kemp has been signaling a willingness to legalize sports betting. House Speaker Jon Burns, a Newington Republican, has expressed doubts about proceeding on some forms of gambling without a constitutional amendment, while Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones supports legalization and says he doesn’t believe an amendment is necessary.

The Senate bill has many similar features when it comes to sports betting. Unlike the House bill, though, it would not allow betting operators to deduct credit for free bets given to gamblers.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr (R-Cobb County) joined an amicus brief arguing against , according to WABE.

A federal court is considering the lawsuit by an anti-abortion group seeking to block approval of the drug that was granted by the United States Food and Drug Administration in 2000.

Today, more than half of all abortions in the country are medication abortions.

Recently, the FDA ended a restriction on obtaining the medication at retail pharmacies that complete a certification process. The rule change would likely not supersede laws in states with abortion bans.

The abortion medication has also been available by mail.

In their legal brief, Attorney General Chris Carr and 21 other Republican state AGs argue the FDA’s approval of mifepristone goes against the public interest.

They also say it threatens to undermine state enforcement of abortion laws.

DeKalb County Board of Ethics Chair Alex Joseph resigned, according to the AJC.

In a text message to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Alex Joseph wrote that she was proud of what was accomplished under her leadership but had “serious concerns” about the “culture” of the board tasked with providing oversight of county officials and employees.

“Specifically,” Joseph wrote, “I am concerned that the board seems determined to conduct business in closed door meetings. In my opinion, all discussions should take place on the record. The ethics board should be a model of transparent, accessible government.”

A representative from DeKalb’s ethics office referred inquiries to the board’s attorney, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The board — which was reconstituted in 2021 after more than two years in legal and legislative limbo — has long been a destination for disarray.

Man, I like that phrase, “a destination for disarray.”

The Georgia Ports Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signed an agreement covering planned improvements for the Brunswick shipping channel, according to WSAV.

The port authority’s chief executive, Griff Lynch, signed an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers on Monday to widen and deepen portions of the shipping channel to make room for larger cargo ships to reach the Port of Brunswick.

The agreement allows the Army Corps to begin design and engineering work on the project, with an eye toward the actual expansion beginning as soon as December 2024, The Brunswick News reported.

The port authority is also investing $247 million to upgrade Brunswick’s docks and storage areas to double the port’s 700,000-vehicle capacity. Brunswick will also need to handle more breakbulk cargo such as lumber, steel and paper that port officials plan to divert from the Port of Savannah so that it can handle almost exclusively retail goods and other cargo packed in shipping containers.

The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office loves their FLOCK camera system, according to 13WMAZ.

This is how the Flock cameras work. It takes a simple, high-definition picture of your license plate, and that’s it. However, Major Brad King says they have been invaluable to their investigations.

“There’s no way we could hire enough deputies to see what these cameras are seeing,” says King.

He says they’ve installed 20 cameras in the past year. In addition, he says they have access to 44 other Flock cameras in the county– owned by the Milledgeville Police, Department of Corrections, and several other entities– but the camera’s reach goes much further.

“There is a network among law enforcement officers that literally spans the entire United States. Here from my desk, I’ve got access to over 4000 cameras, as far as Houston, Texas,” he explains.

King says they’ve only been fully using them since November. However, he says Baldwin has used them to catch carjackers, kidnappers, and wanted persons. It has also helped solve homicides in other states.

“We assisted other agencies in North Carolina, and without the cameras, we would’ve never known that particular vehicle was going through Baldwin County,” King says.

It’s helped solve their homicides, like the February 2nd killing of Syee Havior– an 18-year-old killed in a home invasion.

“We were able to identify one of our offenders and the vehicle in less than an hour. I can promise you without those cameras, we would not be where we are today with that investigation.”

“There’s some people that aren’t so happy with the cameras, but the bottom line is– they’re working. There’s some people who aren’t real happy with the cameras. The bottom line is, they’re working, they’re helping us do your job, which is protecting your property and the lives of the citizens in this county,” King says.

King says they’re leasing each camera for $25,000 a year.

He says 15 of them equal the cost of hiring and training one deputy.

Crisp County is among counties eligible for federal assistance after severe weather in January, according to WALB.

Crisp County is the only county in southwest Georgia that is able to claim public assistance. Public assistance can go towards debris removal and emergency work on a public facility or infrastructure that is damaged or destroyed, according to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA).

From the Albany Herald:

The state’s Major Disaster Declaration for the Jan. 12 severe storms, straight-line winds and tornadoes has been amended. Pike County residents are now able to apply for Individual Assistance, while Crisp County is now eligible for Public Assistance.

Individual Assistance may include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the hurricane.

Public Assistance is available to state and local government entities and qualified not-for-profit organizations. It will provide financial aid for debris removal and emergency work.