On March 26, 1734, the British House of Commons voted for spending £10,000 to subsidize the Georgia colony, down from £26,000 the previous year.
On March 26, 1920, This Side of Paradise, the debut novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald was published. The author was 23 years old.
On March 26, 1982, a groundbreaking ceremony was held in Washington, DC for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; the design approved a couple weeks earlier was by 21-year old Yale architecture student Maya Lin.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections, according to USA Today via the Savannah Morning News.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that looks to force sweeping changes on how elections are conducted across the nation including establishing new voter identification requirements to prove U.S. citizenship to vote in federal elections.
Non-U.S. citizens are already not allowed to vote in federal elections. But under the order, the national mail voter registration form will require that applicants provide either a U.S. passport, a REAL ID driver’s license or state-issued card compliant with REAL standards, or a “valid Federal or State government-issued photo identification.”
The order directs states and local election officials to record and verify the documents proving U.S. citizenship and threatens to withhold federal election-related funds from states that do not comply.
The directive also takes aim at mail-in voting ‒ a practice Trump has long criticized ‒ by instructing his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to “take all necessary steps” to ensure states don’t count absentee ballots that arrive after Election Day.
Trump’s order seeks to dramatically shift authority over elections to the executive branch of the federal government. Although the federal government provides technical assistance and funding, federal elections are run entirely at the county level, overseen by secretaries of state.
“This country is so sick because of the the fake elections and the bad elections, and we’re going to straighten it out one way or the other,” Trump said before signing the order. “It’s an honor to sign this one.”
From the Associated Press via WTOC:
There are also concerns that married women who have changed their names will encounter trouble when trying to register because their birth certificates list their maiden names. Such hiccups happened in recent town elections in New Hampshire, which has a new state law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.
Trump’s order directs federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration and the State Department to share with election officials federal data that could help them identify noncitizens on their rolls.
It also says the attorney general should “prioritize enforcement of federal election integrity laws” in states that don’t share information about suspected election crimes with the federal government.
The order aims to require votes to be “cast and received” by Election Day and says federal funding should be conditional on state compliance. Currently, 18 states and Puerto Rico accept mailed ballots received after Election Day as long they are postmarked on or before that date, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Trump’s order is likely to face legal challenges, given that the Constitution gives authority over elections to the states. While Congress has the power to regulate voting — and has done so to pass such laws as the Voting Rights Act — the Constitution makes clear that states have primary authority to set the “times, places and manner” for elections.
Trump’s order calls on the Election Assistance Commission to amend voting system guidelines to protect election integrity, including guidance that voting systems should not use a ballot that uses a barcode or QR code in the vote counting process. It said the commission should condition the funding it distributes to states on those new guidelines.
Virtually all in-person voters in Georgia, as well as voters in several other states, use voting machines with a large touchscreen to record their votes. The machines then print a paper ballot with a human-readable summary of the voter’s selections and a QR code, a type of barcode, that is read by a scanner to count the votes.
It is not entirely clear how the executive order would affect Georgia and the other jurisdictions that use these machines. Representatives for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger did not immediately respond Tuesday evening to messages seeking comment. Raffensperger issued a statement thanking Trump for the executive order, calling it a “great first step for election integrity reform nationwide.”
Under the Gold Dome
Wednesday, March 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . committee work day
Thursday, March 27 . . . . . . . . . .convene for legislative day 36
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
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
8 AM HOUSE AGRICULTURE & CONS AFF 606 CLOB
8 AM HOUSE WAYS & MEANS 406 CLOB
8 AM Senate Special Committee on Investigations 450 CAP
9 AM HOUSE JUDICIARY CIVIL 132 CAP
9 AM Senate Reg Ind & Util 450 CAP
10 AM HOUSE INSURANCE 506 CLOB
10 AM HOUSE PUBLIC & COMM HEALTH 515 CLOB
10 AM HOUSE BUDGET & FISC AFF OVRST 606 CLOB
10 AM HOUSE HEALTH 406 CLOB
11 AM Senate Judiciary 307 CLOB
11 AM Senate State & Local Govtal Ops MEZZ 1
12 PM HOUSE JUDICIARY NON-CIVIL 132 CAP
12 PM HOUSE REGULATED IND 515 CLOB
1 PM HOUSE PUBLIC SAFETY & HOME SEC 506 CLOB
1 PM HOUSE HIGHER EDUCATION 606 CLOB
1 PM Senate Transportation MEZZ 1
1 PM Cancelled – Senate Public Safety 450 CAP
2 PM HOUSE RULES 341 CAP
2 PM Senate Agriculture & Cons Aff 307 CLOB
3 PM HOUSE TECH & INFRA INNOV 406 CLOB
3 PM Senate Finance MEZZ 1
4 PM Cancelled – Senate Health & Human Svcs 450 CAP
5 PM Senate Ethics 307 CLOB
Senate Bill 69 by State Sen. John F. Kennedy (R-Macon), the second piece of Governor Kemp’s tort reform package, passed out of the House Rules Subcommittee on Lawsuit Reform yesterday, and then passed out of the full House Rules Committee. The bill will be available in the House Rules Committee on Thursday to be added to the House Rules Calendar.
Governor Brian Kemp and First Lady Marty Kemp joined the festivities when an Army veteran received a mortgage-free house, according to WSAV.
Retired U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Tyler Welty is now an official Ludowici resident. Welty served in the Army for over two decades and said he was overwhelmed by the support.
“I was just completely taken by surprise. This is one of the biggest moments of mine and my families lives, and we just can’t believe that this is our house,” Welty said.
It’s all thanks to the Military Warriors’ support foundation’s Homes4WoundedHeroes
program.Governor Kemp and First Lady Marty Kemp joined the celebration with other community leaders to celebrate Welty’s new chapter.
“Well, it’s just a great day for Tyler and his family and to be part of this for Marty and I as huge supporters our active-duty military in this state, but certainly our veterans, I mean we wouldn’t have the freedom’s we got without guys like this,” Kemp said. “And so just incredible. I told the crowd earlier that we get to see a lot and go to a lot of cool events, but this is probably one of the coolest.”
In addition to receiving the home, Welty will receive three years of family and financial mentoring through the Homes4WoundedHeroes program.
It sounds like a great charity, and if you want to donate or get involved online, I won’t receive anything but a little satisfaction.
Senate Bill 214 by State Senator Max Burns (R-Sylvania) would move most Georgia voters to hand-filled paper ballots, according to the AJC.
Roughly two-thirds of voters nationwide already use paper ballots filled out by hand, according to the election technology organization Verified Voting.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for elections with paper ballots, fueling his supporters’ efforts to replace the Georgia voting system in use when he narrowly lost the 2020 election.
Critics of Georgia’s voting system say it inserts a computer between voters and their ballots and obscures votes in computer-readable QR codes, leaving voters uncertain as to whether their ballot will be counted accurately.
But those who oppose switching voting systems say the touchscreens are reliable, easy to use and produce a paper ballot for audits and recounts.
“Adding more rules will never satisfy those who are convinced our elections are not secure and our elections are not accurate,” said Michael Beach, an assistant poll manager from DeKalb County. “There will always be conspiracy theories coming back up about the next system if we don’t stop pandering to them.”
Under the bill, hand-marked paper ballots would become Georgia’s primary voting method, with touchscreens still available for voters with disabilities.
Ballots would be printed on demand at early voting locations to accommodate different races and districts, but they could be preprinted in smaller election day precincts where most voters receive the same ballot.
The cost of switching voting systems wasn’t immediately clear. It would cost millions of dollars to buy on-demand ballot printers for each of Georgia’s 2,600 voting locations.
Georgia spent more than $100 million in 2019 for its current voting equipment.
“It’s outlived its useful life,” said state Sen. Max Burns, a Republican from Sylvania and the sponsor of Senate Bill 214. “This legislation charts a path to move away from an electronic environment that people have concerns about.”
State Sen. Jason Esteves, a Democrat from Atlanta, said he’s concerned voters wouldn’t trust a replacement voting system either.“I don’t want to be here in two, three, five years from now with conspiracies about ballot on demand,” Esteves said.
House Bill 92 by State Rep. Shaw Blackmon (R-Bonaire) passed the Senate with amendments and would extend the deadline for local governments to opt out of HB 581’s expanded property tax homestead exemption, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Savannah Morning News.
Legislation giving Georgia cities, counties and school districts until April 30 to decide whether to opt out of offering a property tax break voters approved last fall cleared the state Senate Tuesday.
Georgians passed a constitutional amendment last November prohibiting local governments and school districts from raising residential property assessments in a given year by more than the annual rate of inflation, even if a home’s market value has gone up more.
Supporters argued the constitutional change would offer homeowners more certainty in their property tax liability year to year. But the legislation prompted concerns among local government and school district officials anxious to protect a key revenue source funding their operations.
Last year’s measure gave those local governments the ability to opt out of the measure if they filed an opt-out resolution with the Georgia secretary of state’s office by March 1 and held at least three public hearings. This year’s House Bill 92, which the Senate passed 52-2 on Tuesday, extends that deadline to the end of next month.
The House passed the bill last month with just one “no” vote. But it went through a series of changes when it got to the Senate.
Offering a carrot to entice school districts to offer property owners the tax break rather than opt out, the Senate version of the bill exempts funds spent on school construction from taxation in districts that agree to provide the tax relief. It also limits the tax exemption to primary residential properties of no more than five acres.
Local governments and school systems that choose to opt out of the tax exemption this year would be given an opportunity to opt back in annually through 2029.
House Bill 92 moves back to the House next to weigh in on the changes made by the Senate.
Senate Bill 244 by State Sen. Brandon Beach (R-U.S. Treasury) fell in the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee when Democratic members walked leaving no quorum, according ot the AJC.
Georgia House Democrats blocked a committee vote Tuesday that could clear the way for President Donald Trump and other defendants in the Fulton County election interference case to receive reimbursement for attorney fees.
A group of Democrats walked out of the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee hours into a marathon meeting, temporarily denying the quorum needed for a vote.
“We don’t have a quorum right now,” said Republican state Rep. Tyler Paul Smith, the committee’s chair, “so we’re going to come back to this.”
The measure is expected to receive another vote within days, but the maneuver was a rare show of force for Democrats to flex what little power they have in the Republican-controlled Legislature.The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Brandon Beach, is an Alpharetta Republican who was recently tapped by Trump to serve as United States treasurer.
Beach has made it clear his proposal was inspired by charges that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis leveled against Trump and other codefendants accused of trying to overturn his 2020 defeat in Georgia.
The overhaul would allow criminal defendants to recover attorneys fees if they successfully argue that a prosecutor should be disqualified for misconduct and the case is dismissed.
House Bill 268 by State Rep. Holt Persinger (R-Winder) passed the House and was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Valdosta Daily Times.
Legislation designed to avert another school shooting like the one that left four dead at Apalachee High School last fall got a hearing in a Senate subcommittee Monday, where many expressed concerns about a database that would be built to track children deemed to be suspicious.
House Bill 268 passed the Georgia House of Representatives with wide bipartisan support earlier this month. The priority for House Speaker Jon Burns, a Republican from Newington, comes to the Senate as the House encounters several school safety bills that were passed by the Senate.
The bills share some things in common, such as heightened criminality for students who make threats of bodily harm.
But HB 268 is unique in its breadth. The 65-page measure would make it a felony to threaten someone with death at a school. It would add behavioral health coordinators to school staff. And it would require school systems to create threat assessment teams, calling for better information sharing among school administrators, law enforcement and mental health counselors when a student could pose a threat to themselves or others.
The measure also would require the timely transfer of pertinent information when students transfer between schools. The 14-year-old student at Apalachee High who was arrested for the murders, Colt Gray, had just transferred from another school. It would also establish a statewide information-sharing database to track students whose behavior has raised suspicion.
It’s this last part, a multimillion-dollar behavioral threat assessment management system, to be called the School and Student Safety Database or S3 Database, that has generated the most concern.
“Big Brother surveillance of our children,” is how Sen. Shawn Still, R-Johns Creek, characterized the messages he has been getting from constituents about the bill.
Still and Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, asked most of the questions during Monday’s meeting of the subcommittee, which heard from more than a dozen speakers over more than two hours, but took no action on SB 268.
Teacher advocates praised the measure, welcoming the support that additional counselors could provide.
Others were critical of the S3 database, worrying that it would archive dumb things kids do, creating a record that could haunt them into adulthood. They feared the data would be hacked.
It “criminalizes student speech,” said Rhonda Thomas of Truth in Education, a Christian advocacy group focused on parental rights. “It’s guilty before proven innocent.”
Mazie Lynn Causey, from the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, was concerned about enhanced penalties for threats made on campus, an idea that she said was more punitive in a measure now in the House, Senate Bill 61.
Terroristic threats can be predicated on reckless conduct, she said.
“And of course children are going to act impulsively,” she said. “They can’t really help it. Their brains are not fully developed.”
Officials from the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMHSA) minimized the impact the S3 database would have on children if they didn’t intend to do harm.
It’s meant to be preventative, they said, leading school and police personnel to intervene before a student acts.
It would be built with top security protocols to make hacking unlikely, they said. Only select personnel — school administrators, mental health specialists and police — would have access to the information. The system would likely cost more than $10 million a year, with GEMHSA recommending that data be maintained until former students reach age 25.
Senate Bill 27 by State Sen. John Albers (R-Alpharetta) passed the Senate and would criminalize “doxxing” elected officials, according to Georgia Recorder.
Senate Bill 27, which is sponsored by Sen. John Albers, a Roswell Republican, would make it a crime to distribute someone’s personal information – such as their home address – in a way that could cause more than $500 in economic losses or leave the victim scared of being stalked or hurt.
“It’s really a contemporary and pernicious form of harassment just using the power of the internet,” Albers said. “It’s a gross violation of people’s privacy, often resulting in emotional distress, reputational damages, and in some cases, it has resulted in physical harm and death.
“While we can continue to digitize our lives, we have to address this issue,” he said.
The first offense would be a misdemeanor, but repeat offenders would be charged with a felony. More serious cases where the offender intends to cause harm could result in a felony that could land someone in prison for up to five years.
“I want to make sure we understand there’s absolutely no curbing any free speech,” Albers said, pointing to exceptions included in the bill.
But critics of the bill were not convinced. The Georgia First Amendment Foundation and individual attorneys spoke out against the bill during a House committee hearing Tuesday.
Sarah Brewerton-Palmer, the foundation’s president, said the doxxing issue is legitimate and needs to be addressed. But she argued that the proposal being considered is overly broad, particularly with the lower-level offense that includes situations where the offender demonstrated reckless disregard.
If passed, she said the bill would have a chilling effect on First Amendment protected speech – and could even ensnare journalists.
“We appreciate that threats and harassment, particularly those enabled by the anonymity of social media, are real and serious concerns in Georgia and throughout society,” Brewerton-Palmer wrote in a letter she delivered to lawmakers Tuesday.
The bill advanced out of [The House Judiciary Non-Civil] committee Tuesday night with a few dissenting votes from both parties and now goes to the gatekeeping House Rules Committee. April 4 is the last day of this year’s legislative session.
House Bill 441 by State Rep. Emory Dunahoo (R-Gillsville) would further restrict abortion in Georgia, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Georgia lawmakers are advancing a bill, HB 441, that would significantly restrict abortion access and could charge pregnant mothers for murder.
The bill, introduced in February, 2025, has passed its second reading and is currently pending in the House Judiciary – Non-Civil Committee. A hearing is scheduled for Friday, March 26, at noon.
This bill, The Georgia Prenatal Equal Protection Act, defines life as beginning at conception, a stance opposed by critics who highlight the potential life-or-death consequences of such legal action.
If this bill passes, criminal murder charges will be held against anyone, including pregnant mothers, in the act of knowingly and willfully killing a preborn child.
That article fails to note that House Bill 441 has no chance of passing this year, because Crossover Day came and went without HB 441 passing the House.
House Bill 340 by State Rep. Scott Hilton (R-Peachtree Corners), the “Distraction-Free Education Act” passed the Senate, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Savannah Morning News.
Children and adolescents won’t be able to use personal cellphones in public schools starting next fall after the General Assembly overwhelmingly supported banning the devices in elementary and middle schools.
House Bill 340 passed the Georgia Senate Tuesday 54-2 after the state House of Representatives passed it with strong bipartisan support in early March.
Gov. Brian Kemp will soon decide whether to sign the measure. So kids and parents will need to mentally prepare for the technology that tethers them to each other be severed during the school day.
The “Distraction-Free Education Act” requires schools to develop policies that allow parents to reach their kids, for instance, by calling the principal’s office, and it provides exemptions for students with disabilities or medical conditions that require them to use a cellphone for learning or for health reasons, such as checking their glucose level.
But starting in July 2026 all other kids would have to hand over or lock up their device from the first bell of the school day until the final ring. The ban applies even during emergencies, when experts testified that cellphones pose a dangerous distraction, even if parents wish they could still contact their children during, say, a mass shooting.
The crackdown comes amid growing global concerns about the effect of technology and social media on children.
Documentaries such as “The Social Dilemma” have explored how social media companies target children and their attention. Books such as “Stolen Focus” by British journalist Johann Hari have described the impact of the resulting distraction on their ability to function. The new Netflix drama “Adolescence,” about a boy accused of killing a girl, prompted British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to say he was concerned about social media spreading misogyny to young males.
Last year, Australia banned social media for those under 16. Last fall, France initiated a trial ban on cellphones in schools for students ages 11-15, with a potential expansion nationwide. Denmark is talking about banning them in schools, too.
Absent action from Congress, states in America have been tackling the issue on their own, with at least a half dozen already enacting bans like the one Georgia’s legislature has passed.
They’re reporting fewer disruptions and more interaction among students.
“The evidence is clear” that cellphones are a “major” distraction in classrooms, Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, the chair of the Senate Republican Caucus, said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
“This bill isn’t just about academics,” he said. “It’s about student well-being.”
Sen. Randy Robertson, R-Cataula, the majority whip, called cellphones a “serious cancer” in classrooms.
Some Democrats said Republicans are using the phone issue to distract from the concerns about school shootings. But they unanimously supported HB 340 in the Senate, with the only “no” votes coming from two Republicans.
Sen. Sally Harrell, D-Atlanta, said she and her husband struggled to place rules around phone use in their own home when their kids got them a decade ago. But schools had them doing homework on their phones, which made it difficult to enforce limits. She said she was suspicious when she read that Silicon Valley executives wouldn’t let their own kids use such devices.
“So they knew that what they were putting into kids’ hands was not good for them,” she said.
Many suggested during weeks of hearings on the bill that the cellphone ban should also include high school students.
Rep. Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners, the chief sponsor of HB 340, said after Tuesday’s vote that the ban could be extended to those schools in coming years.
“Absolutely, based on the feedback that I have gotten, we do have a problem in (grades) 9 through 12, and it’s the nuance of how do we address that,” he said. “But I do imagine that in a future session we’re going to be back to think deeply about what we do in high school.”
Senators in Georgia voted 54-2 on Tuesday to give final approval to a bill that would bans students in grades K-8 from using phones or other personal electronic devices during the school day. The measure goes to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature or veto.
Currently, nine states ban phones in school, but that number will likely soon rise. Similar bills this year have passed by wide margins in New Mexico, Tennessee and Utah and await action by those states’ governors. Measures are also progressing rapidly in other states.
“This bill isn’t just about academics, it’s about students’ well-being,” Republican Georgia state Sen. Jason Anavitarte of Dallas said during debate Tuesday on House Bill 340. “Studies link excessive phone use to mental health issues, decreasing social skills, and an increase in bullying. We want students engaged in school, socializing with friends during lunch and focusing in the classroom.”
Nationally, 77% of U.S. schools say they prohibit cellphones at school for nonacademic use, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. But that number is misleading. It does not mean students are following those bans or all those schools are enforcing them.
Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia have enacted measures banning or restricting students’ use of cellphones in schools.
The specifics of the measures vary widely. Georgia’s bill says students can’t access their personal devices at any time during the school day, but enforcement is up to local school districts. Some Georgia districts are already using locking pouches, but schools could also just tell students to leave their phones in their locker, to turn them in to a teacher, or disable them using an online application. Students who need devices to monitor medical conditions or to help overcome intellectual disabilities would still be able to use them.
Georgia isn’t providing any extra funding, although supporters suggested districts might be able to use yearly school safety grants if they need to buy pouches or other equipment. New Mexico’s bill sets aside $10 million in aid for local schools to help fund adoption
Objections to the proposal often center around concerns that students and parents won’t be able to contact each other in case of emergency. In September, when a student killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School northeast of Atlanta, many students communicated with their parents and with emergency services using their phones.
Sen. Rashaun Kemp, an Atlanta Democrat, said he was voting for the bill. But he pleaded with Republican colleagues to restrict guns to stop school shootings.
“What if that phone could save lives in an active-shooter situation?” Kemp asked “These are true concerns as a parent that all of us will typically think about. What if that phone is the last opportunity for my child to communicate with me?”
A number of schools in metro Atlanta — including Midtown High School, middle schools in Marietta and a selection of schools in DeKalb County — have been testing out cellphone bans this year. So far, they like it. Parents, administrators and teachers have reported that kids are more engaged and are having fewer behavior problems during the school day. Students have mixed feelings about the new rules.
“The evidence is clear: One of the biggest threats to academic performance, student mental health and public safety are cellphones in our schools,” Anavitarte said.
Despite the early results locally, a recently published study out of England questioned whether cellphone bans are the fix. After looking at 30 schools, 20 of which restricted cellphone use, the researchers found no difference in students’ mental well-being if cellphone use was restricted in school. The study did find that students’ mental well-being decreased when they spent more time on their phones or on social media — but it questioned whether school cellphone bans were able to lower the overall amount of time students spent on the devices.
“If we can pass this, a lot of the measures we have in terms of measuring the health of our children will go up,” said Sen. Sally Harrell, D-Atlanta.
Some lawmakers questioned whether the ban would make it harder for parents to check on their children during emergencies, like the Apalachee High School shooting in September. Parents at the time reported getting texts from their children about an active shooter at the school more than 10 minutes before the school sent out any information.
But proponents of the bill argued that in an emergency situation, it is safer for students to pay attention to their teachers and to law enforcement than be on their phones, and said that every school in the state is required to create and follow emergency communication plans.
Senate Bill 123 by State Senate President Pro Tem John F. Kennedy addresses school attendance and passed the State House, according to 13WMAZ.
A bill hoping to fight chronic absenteeism at Georgia schools passed through both chambers of the General Assembly, acquiring final passage in the House of Representatives on Tuesday and sending the legislation to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk.
The legislation SB 123, sponsored and spearheaded by state Sen. John Kennedy (R-Macon), hopes to address students who repeatedly miss class. However, the law makes a big change: it prohibits students from being expelled from a public school in Georgia for only attendance problems.
“You can be expelled or automatically expelled, but if you think about it, that’s counterproductive to what we’re trying to do,” Kennedy previously told 13WMAZ.
Among the major changes is requiring written student attendance protocols for each county school, overseen by the school climate committee, which is appointed by the chief superior court judge in each county.
The bill also requires the Department of Education to submit a county-by-county report about compliance with the bill’s policies.
“Chronic absenteeism is a growing crisis that prevents our students from reaching their full potential and it all starts with showing up,” Kennedy wrote on Facebook. “With the passage of this bill, Georgia is one step closer to ensuring our students have the opportunity to achieve success.”
Kennedy’s office says, in 2024, 21.7% of Georgia students were chronically absent, which accounts for 360,000 students.
Under the bill, chronically absent students miss 10% or more of the school year.
Additionally, in school systems with high chronic absenteeism rates, there are additional requirements. School systems with a chronic absenteeism rate of 10% or higher must create an attendance review team, which meets monthly, to review cases of individually chronically absent students system-wide.
Plus, any schools with a 15% chronic absenteeism rate or higher must have an individual review team for the school themselves, the legislation says.
The consequences of having a chronically absent child, however, will not change under the law.
Currently, any parent or guardian whose child has five unexcused absences can be subject to 30 days in jail and up to a $100 fine, after the school system notifies the parents of the absences. After notification, any additional absences after the notification counts as another offense.
That stays the same under the bill. The bill instead offers new requirements and policies to ensure that school districts are doing enough to keep kids in classrooms, fighting chronic absenteeism.
The bill now heads to Gov. Brian Kemp who will decide whether the bill becomes law.
Some Georgia schools are banning Crocs from students’ feet, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Lake City Elementary School in Morrow has banned Crocs as part of its updated dress code.
The school cited safety concerns as the primary reason for the ban, according to Times Now. Administrators stated that Crocs do not provide adequate support for students’ feet, potentially leading to injuries from twisting ankles or knees.
According to People magazine, Jonesboro High School enacted a ban two years-ago, saying that disciplinary action would take place if a student wore Crocs.
The ban is part of a larger trend across the U.S., with numerous schools in other states implementing similar restrictions in dress codes.
State Rep. Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain) thanked his House colleagues for their support after he lost his job, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
During the House’s morning orders, Smith came to the podium on the House floor to express his gratitude to his family and colleagues for their support after he was fired Friday from his job as president and CEO of the Harris County Chamber of Commerce.
“This is a family in here,” Smith said. “You won’t believe the calls and texts I’ve had. Wow. It’s amazing. And I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”
His comments stem from when the Harris County Chamber of Commerce executive committee told him in a Zoom meeting Friday he was fired after voting against Gov. Brian Kemp’s tort reform bill, Senate Bill 68.
“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.”
Also during his speech Tuesday in the Georgia House, Smith quoted a Bible verse, Jeremiah 29:11, when he said, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”
While Smith read that verse through a choked-up voice, state Reps. Teddy Reese (D-Columbus), Carolyn Hugley (D-Columbus), Al Williams (D-Midway) and James Burchett (R-Waycross) came to the podium to comfort him as he paused and held back tears. Reese, Hugley and Williams voted against the tort reform bill. Burchett voted in favor of the bill and is listed as one of its sponsors.
“Thank you,” Smith said as he concluded his speech. “I love y’all, every one of you.”
After leaving the podium, other House members from both sides of the aisle lined up to give Smith hugs and words of encouragement.
In response to the Ledger-Enquirer’s questions about Smith’s firing, Theresa Garcia Robertson, board chair of the Harris County Chamber of Commerce, said in an email Tuesday after Smith’s speech, “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.
From another article in the Ledger-Enquirer:
Smith said he had no prior knowledge that his vote on this bill would affect his position at the Chamber of Commerce.
“It would have been three years at the Chamber in June,” Smith said. “I was a little shocked. I worked pretty hard for [the position] too.”
Smith said his opposing vote came after many concerns he had with the bill. He stated that he believes this bill would diminish the power of judges and juries in the courtroom, providing blanket protections that “needed a second look.”
“I think a judge is supposed to run a courtroom,” Smith said. “You don’t limit what plaintiffs and defendants can say and when they can say it.”
Smith said he is not pursuing any legal action against the firing.
“I was told that I didn’t represent I wasn’t representing the chamber, which is full of businesses,” Smith said. “I wasn’t representing the chamber for the way I voted on that bill. And I disagree, but I don’t vote for images. I vote for what’s in legislation. I don’t vote to hold up an image. I vote for good legislation, and I vote against not good legislation.”
“There is a section in there that allows a judge to run his courtroom on certain cases, but not on other cases,” Smith said. “I thought the judge was in charge of the courtroom. … To me, the Speaker of the House is in charge of the House, the Lt. Gov. is in charge is in charge of the Senate — I guess, I know more about the House. Why wouldn’t a judge be in charge of his own courtroom, setting his dockett? I don’t want any outside influence on a judge setting his docket for his courtroom.”
The civil litigation reform bill set up a lot of dicey situations for lawmakers. Rep. Carolyn Hugley, D-Columbus, is an independent State Farm insurance agent. Large insurance companies and business leaders were pushing for the legislation. In addition to being a Columbus legislator, Hugley is also the House minority leader, and voted against the legislation.
“I got no pushback from State Farm,” Hugley said. “State Farm has never contacted me on how I voted on any piece of legislation.”
Hugley was joined in her vote against litigation reform legislation by fellow Columbus Democrats Teddy Reese and Debbie Buckner. Columbus Republican Carmen Rice voted in favor of the reform.
Later Tuesday, [State Rep. James] Burchett, who is the House Majority Caucus Whip and one of SB 68′s sponsors, condemned retaliations against lawmakers who opposed Kemp’s lawsuit reform package.
“Numerous members have suffered threats to their livelihoods and independence because of their votes on Senate Bill 68,” Burchett said. “These retaliations undermine the strengths of our citizen legislature, which depends on members voting their conscience after fully weighing the issues and determining what they think is best for their communities and our state.
“As a part-time legislature, the Georgia General Assembly relies on state senators and state representatives who hold full-time jobs in their communities, allowing them to support their families as they serve their neighbors,” Burchett said.
Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns (R-Newington) said SB 68 is designed to offer “common-sense solutions to protect the rights of Georgians who have been harmed while ensuring the scales of justice in our courtrooms are fair and balanced.”
Smith, whose west Georgia district spans parts of Harris, Muscogee and Troup counties, first joined the Georgia Legislature in 1993. He has long been a reliable member of the Republican caucus, making his vote on Thursday somewhat unexpected. In an emotional speech on the House floor Tuesday morning, Smith made veiled references to the fallout from his decision.
“A lot of things have transpired since last week when we left,” he said, thanking his family and members of the house for their support over the past few days. He also tearfully quoted the Bible verse Jeremiah 29:11, “‘for I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”
Though Smith expressed surprise over the Harris County Chamber of Commerce’s abrupt decision to fire him, he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he did not regret his vote. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce and local chambers formed a powerful alliance in the fight to get a bill passed intended to limit jury payouts for medical malpractice and negligent property owners.
House leaders also addressed the strong reactions to Thursday’s vote, with House Majority Caucus Whip James Burchett, a Waycross Republican who sponsored the bill in the House, urging Georgia residents to “hold legislators accountable for their votes under the Gold Dome at the ballot box – not by taking aim at their ability to support their families.”
“We were sent here to make hard decisions, and hard decisions are hard because you have to look people in the eye that you disappoint,” said Rep. Stacey Evans, an Atlanta Democrat, shortly after the bill passed in the House. “Those victims won’t be here every day, but the chamber will be here. Insurance companies will be here, and I think too many of my colleagues were worried about walking down the hall and looking them in the eye and not worried about the people back home.”
Rep. Mack Jackson, a Sandersville Democrat who is Black with a history of splitting from his party on pivotal votes, criticized the House Democratic caucus in a speech on the House floor last Friday, comparing an unnamed Democratic colleague to segregation-era figures like Bull Connor and George Wallace.
“I realized that somewhere in her subconscious mind, she thought that she had bought me and my freedom to choose,” he said, referencing a conversation in which the unnamed colleague brought up her contribution to his most recent re-election campaign. “I gave her her money back because I don’t want anyone to think that they own me and can talk down to me as if I’m a child.”
He also described other conversations with fellow Democrats who expressed disappointment with his vote, and requested that their campaign contributions be refunded.
“I’ll refund everything, because I don’t ever want anybody to think that they own me,” he said.
Rep. Michelle Au, a Johns Creek Democrat and doctor who also voted in favor of the bill, took to social media to explain her decision, posting a two-page statement on the social media site X (formerly Twitter).
“It is by no means a perfect bill,” Au wrote. “There are elements I object to. But on balance I think it protects our fair, equal access for all to our justice system while hopefully addressing the ways our litigation environment has become untenable for many.”
The second part of Kemp’s tort package, Senate Bill 69 that would increase regulations around third-party lawsuit financing, passed the House Rules Subcommittee on Lawsuit Reform Tuesday evening. It is expected to come up for a vote on the House floor later this week.
We asked Burchett for comment, and he put out a doozy of a statement that ended with this line: “Being cancelled is not something that this House ascribes to, and there is no place for that in Georgia government.”
Some state legislators received contributions from speed camera-related sources, according to 13WMAZ.
Macon-Bibb County pumped the brakes on issuing tickets from school zone speed cameras for now. But at the State Capitol, lawmakers are still going full speed ahead toward deciding if they will ban the camera systems or limit when they operate.
There are two competing house bills to consider – House Bill 225 or House Bill 651. Macon-Bibb County and the camera companies brought in $11.5 million from your school zone speed camera tickets since 2022.
State records show that four companies that operate speed-cameras in Georgia have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to state legislators.
One of the many recipients is senator from Macon John F. Kennedy. He’s the president pro tempore of the state senate. The records say he’s gotten almost $4,000 from the Altumint and Red Speed camera companies. But Kennedy told us that won’t affect his judgment on the cameras or his stance on the bills.
“We get donations from various sources. That’s not what influences our opinion,” Kennedy said. “My opinion is what’s in the best interest of my constituents back home.”
Dale Washburn, the Macon representative behind House Bill 225 received $500 from the Red Speed camera company in 2021. State records show Macon representative Tangie Herring received $1,800 from Red Speed when she ran for the seat last year. We reached out to Herring for comment, and she did not respond.
Kennedy said he was “cautiously” on board with the law in 2018 to allow school-zone cameras because supporters presented it as a safety tool.
“I’ve been hearing about the cameras for a long time now and don’t like the fact that they are fining people,” he said. “The cameras are being used for a tax generation purpose rather than a safety purpose.”
Kennedy said the state often takes another look at new laws after a few years to ask if they’re working.
“Is the law being employed in a way as we were led to think it needed to be? And if not, we need to go revisit it,” Kennedy said. “That’s quite frankly what we’re doing with this this year.”
Kennedy said he hopes House Bill 225 to ban the school zone speed cameras gets full approval. Although he said it’s possible a different bill could come out to address the unfairness as a substitute to banning the cams all together.
Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller also received a campaign donation from a speed camera company, according to 13WMAZ.
Macon-Bibb Mayor Lester Miller says a $1,000 campaign donation from a school-camera company executive hasn’t affected how he’s handling the controversial cameras.
On Tuesday, 13WMAZ reported that four companies that operate school-zone speed cameras have donated more than $800,000 to Georgia legislators. That includes several leaders who may decide whether the cameras are banned or limited.
13WMAZ obtained campaign-finance reports showing that Altumint Vice President Thomas Bouchard donated $1,000 to Miller’s re-election campaign in 2023.
Altumint runs the cameras installed by Macon-Bibb outside nearly two dozen public and private schools. According to county records, Macon-Bibb has taken in around $8.6 million in speeding-ticket revenue.
It’s not illegal for Georgia elected officials to accept donations from companies that do business with their city or county.
And Miller says Bouchard’s donation is just a drop in the bucket for his campaign fund.
“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.”
Bouchard made his donation on Nov. 2 2023, according to Miller’s Jan. 9, 2024 Campaign Contribution Disclosure Report.
Ryan English was appointed Solicitor General for the Houston County State Court, according to 13WMAZ.
Gov. Brian Kemp tapped current assistant district attorney Ryan English to take the reins as Houston County Solicitor General last Monday. That means English will become the top prosecutor in Houston County State Court, primarily prosecuting misdemeanors and traffic cases.
The appointment comes after Kemp appointed previous Solicitor General Amy Smith to a position on the bench, adding a fourth judge to the Houston Judicial Circuit. She had served the county as solicitor general since 2011.
English, however, is no stranger to Houston County courtrooms. He has worked in the Houston County District Attorney’s Office’s Narcotics Division and, before that, was also a prosecutor in the Oconee Judicial Circuit.
The solicitor general, which is an elected position, is the top prosecutor in state court. That’s a division of the legal system which typically handles misdemeanor and lower level crimes. They have the same role in state court as the district attorney in superior court cases, except the DA focuses mainly on felony charges.
But English emphasizes that he’s prosecuted misdemeanors in the past in other circuits and at the Houston County District Attorney’s Office, too.
“Prosecuting misdemeanors isn’t completely foreign to me,” English said. “Certainly in Houston County, they do it on a lot higher volume probably than some other jurisdictions. And so you know it may take me a few weeks to kind of hit my stride and, you know, find my feet.”
But that is something English says he’s ready to do.
“Something that was put to me a long time ago, you know, as far as a lawyer — we adapt and learn the role that that we’re assigned,” English said.
But just like the district attorney, the solicitor general also has the discretion to drop charges or seek outside-of-court solutions to charges.
As a prosecutor in the DA’s Office, he says the process is going to remain pretty similar.
“You know, not every case here in the DA’s office calls for, you know, an extreme sentence or an extreme punishment,” English said. “You assess what you think might be the appropriate outcome, and you try to work towards a resolution.”
As an appointee of the governor, English has business up in the Georgia capitol, scheduled for April 3. That’s when English will officially be sworn into office. After that, English is looking towards the future.
“My intention is to come back, hit the ground, ready to go,” English said.
Columbus residents protested the appointment of John Anker to City Council, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
More than 20 Columbus residents spoke at an overflowing city council meeting Tuesday to express their displeasure with how former Councilor Judy Thomas’ seat was filled and to defend city manager Isaiah Hugley.
Columbus Council appointed Councilor John Anker to the citywide District 9 seat during the same meeting Thomas resigned for medical reasons. The council voted 6-3 to appoint Anker, despite Mayor Skip Henderson’s objection that the community didn’t have an opportunity to nominate other candidates for the seat.
Anker lost the 2022 mayoral election to Henderson and the 2024 District 10 citywide council election to Travis Chambers.
Critics of the vote argued that the council was not transparent and the appointment subverted the will of Columbus voters. They also argued Anker’s appointment was part of an effort to fire Hugley because Anker has been outspoken in his criticism of Hugley.
U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Atlanta) had some sharp words for the Trump Administration, according to the AJC.
In a hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff expressed frustration and disbelief as he peppered senior Trump administration intelligence officials with pointed questions about a text chat discussing sensitive military strategies that inadvertently included a prominent political journalist.
The hearing came as revelations from the article by Atlantic magazine editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg made the rounds in Washington.
Ossoff, D-Atlanta, read portions of the Signal group chat aloud to CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who repeatedly said he did not remember details of the conversation.
“Vance: ‘I think we are making a mistake. I am not sure the president is aware of how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. There is a strong argument for delaying this a month,’” Ossoff said. “You don’t recall?”
“I don’t,” Ratcliffe said.
“It included the private opinions of the secretary of defense on the timing of strikes in Yemen, correct?” Ossoff asked.
Again, Ratcliffe said he did not recall details of the conversation.
“Director Radcliffe, surely you prepared for this hearing today,” Ossoff said. “You were part of a group of principals, senior echelons of the U.S. government, in now a widely publicized breach of sensitive information. You don’t recall whether the vice president opined on the wisdom of the strikes? That’s your testimony today under oath?”
Many Republicans tried to downplay the potential national security implications or avoided weighing in altogether.
“However inadvertent, American strength was on full display in the messages,” Rep. Mike Collins, R-Jackson, said in a statement.
But some, including U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, said they are troubled by what they have learned.
”I think it was incredibly sloppy,” Greene, R-Rome, said, as reported by CBS News. “I think it was a mistake, and I can say for certain they’re going to put protocols in place so that doesn’t happen again.”
Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, said, “It should have never happened.”
Fellow Georgia Republican Reps. Buddy Carter, Rick Allen and Rich McCormick said they wanted the White House to take preventive measures to avoid another embarrassing event.
“While I commend the Trump Administration’s successful military strikes against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, we need to take additional steps to ensure nothing like this happens again,” said Allen, R-Augusta, in statement. “National security should always be the top priority.”
McCormick, R-Suwanee, said, “It was likely a mistake to include a journalist in an encrypted text chain meant for a select group of people. I have every confidence that this will be corrected and will never happen again.”
Carter, R-St. Simons Island, expressed a similar sentiment but also praised the White House for moving forward with its offensive on the Houthis.
“We need to take a look at what occurred to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” he wrote in a statement. “But isn’t it refreshing to see a national security team putting America First?”
U.S. Rep. Brian Jack said the controversy did not come up when House Republicans met behind closed doors Tuesday morning. The Peachtree City Republican said he was still trying to understand the facts around what occurred but found the preliminary details “interesting.”
“What absolute clowns,” [Ossoff] said. “Total amateur hour. Reckless. Dangerous.”
His counterpart, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, also said the group chat was reckless and put service members at risk.
“I will be demanding answers from this administration on how this happened and what their plan is to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” Warnock wrote on X. “How can we trust this admin to keep GA safe when they’re this reckless?”
Former Georgia State Representative Stacey Abrams (D-Atlanta) spoke about President Trump, according to the AJC.
At the Black Women & Public Policy in the South Symposium, she invoked the old adage, “never let a good crisis go to waste,” to compel the crowd of mostly young, Black women not to despair over Trump’s policies.
Said Abrams: “We are in a moment of crisis in this nation. We are on the edge of tyranny, if we haven’t already tipped over. We have an executive branch that is insistent on its abuse of power. We have a legislative branch that is insistent on its ignominy and its supplication and its willingness to do whatever it is told to do. We have a judiciary that is hoping against hope that when it issues a ruling that the system of checks and balances holds.”
Since her second defeat to Gov. Brian Kemp in 2022, Abrams has largely distanced herself from state politics to focus more on national issues. But she remains a prime target for Republicans both in Georgia and beyond.
Georgia GOP leaders routinely bash Abrams, attacks that intensified in January after the New Georgia Project organization she founded agreed to pay a record $300,000 fine for violating campaign finance laws. And Trump singled her out this month during his address to Congress.
Abrams didn’t bring up the criticism during her remarks at the symposium. But she encouraged the audience at Clark Atlanta University to channel their energy into building a more equitable future.
“We each have the power of change, but you have even more power than that, because you are the ones who will design the solutions that come next,” she said.
“You are the ones who will see what is broken, and instead of trying to repair what was already a shoddy system, you will build a better one, the right one, the thing we should have had when we began.”
State Senator Sonya Halpern (D-Atlanta) filed to run for the Congressional seat held by U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Metro Atlanta), according to the AJC.
Democratic state Sen. Sonya Halpern filed paperwork to succeed U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath on Tuesday, becoming the first prominent candidate to enter the race to represent the district spanning parts of west metro Atlanta.
The timing of the filing, however, raised eyebrows since McBath still hasn’t formally announced whether she’ll run for governor. The four-term Democrat said earlier this month she was exploring a bid for Georgia’s top office but hadn’t yet declared her candidacy.
She’s likely to be joined by a range of rivals for the deep-blue seat — if McBath winds up running for governor. Other potential contenders, though, are waiting for McBath to make up her mind before entering the race.
Halpern is the second Democratic state senator from metro Atlanta to seek a U.S. House seat. Democratic state Sen. Emanuel Jones earlier filed paperwork to run for U.S. Rep. David Scott’s east Atlanta-based seat.
The Georgia Ports Authority announced their greatest February throughput, according to the Savannah Morning News.
GPA handled nearly 480,000 twenty-foot-equivalent container units last month, a volume that marked its highest February volume in the authority’s history, GPA announced at its board meeting Tuesday. Tuesday’s volume update came exactly one month after this year’s State of the Port where President and CEO Griff Lynch announced Savannah’s port was the East Coast’s fastest growing.
The record February marked a 6% increase over the same month’s volume in 2024, a sign of continued growth for GPA.
“We’ve had an incredible run, and I think we will see some really good numbers in March,” Lynch said.
After March, Lynch forecasted volume would “moderate” through the rest of the year. He attributed that moderation to the challenge of keeping pace with GPA’s recent growth. At the end of last year, the authority announced 12-consecutive growth months.
But the shipping industry also faces an ever-changing landscape for global trade, with President Donald Trump’s new administration making tariffs a cornerstone policy.
Countries already hit with tariffs such as Canada and Mexico are not major users of Georgia’s ports, Lynch said. But China, which the administration also placed a tariff on, is a more prominent source of volume for GPA.
Still, long-term impacts are tough to gauge due to uncertainty around future tariff policy.
“We’ve had this pace now for almost a year and a half, and it’s tough to maintain that pace,” Lynch said. “With the tariffs, there’s a lot of posturing going on and that could have some short-term impacts on our business for sure. But it’s tough to tell right now because it is a moving target, and we just don’t know where it’s going to land.”
From the Capitol Beat News Service:
Dual container moves, with drivers delivering an export and picking up an import container, accounted for 85% of Savannah’s container business last month, adding overall efficiency.
Meanwhile, Gateway Terminals, which handles operating services for the ports authority, and the local International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) chapter have agreed to further increase efficiency by adding three new start times to work cargo vessels – at 6 a.m., 3 p.m., and 9 p.m.
“This will make a big difference in turning ships around faster,” said Griff Lynch, the ports authority’s president and CEO. “With a total of eight start times and our 24-hour vessel service, crane operators and crews form the ILA will start moving containers on and off ships more quickly, reducing vessel time at dock.”
The Port of Savannah, which currently averages 35 vessels per week, will also increase vessel capacity with a new lay berth at the Ocean Terminal coming online in May. A second lay berth is due to begin operating in the middle of next year.
The Port of Savannah wasn’t the only ports authority operation to set a record in February. The authority’s intermodal team set a new record Feb. 28 with 2,246 rail lifts in a 24-hour period.
The only down side came at the Port of Brunswick, where Roll-on/Roll-off cargo last month declined by 10% – or 6,882 units -compared to February of last year
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