Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for March 31, 2025

On March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, John Adams, asking that he and his colleagues “remember the ladies” in the fight for Independence.

The future First Lady wrote in part, “I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”

On March 31, 1870, Thomas Mundy Peterson became the first African-American to vote after the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The iconic vote was cast in a local election in Perth Amboy, New Jersey for the town’s charter.  Gary Sullivan of the News Tribune stated, “Exercising his right to vote in a local election on March 31, 1870.  Peterson became the first black man in the United States to cast a ballot.  The amendment had been ratified on February 3, 1870, and within just two months the Fifteenth Amendment was put to use.

An interview with Peterson showed who encouraged him to vote, “I was working for Mr. T. L. Kearny on the morning of the day of election, and did not think of voting until he came out to the stable where I was attending to the horses and advised me to go to the polls and exercise a citizen’s privilege.”  Peterson also revealed his vote in this election, “As I advanced to the polls one man offered me a ticket bearing the words “revised charter” and another one marked, “no charter.” I thought I would not vote to give up our charter after holding it so long: so I chose a revised charter ballot.”

On March 31, 1889, the Eiffel Tower opened in Paris.

The Eiffel Tower remained the world’s tallest man-made structure until the completion of the Chrysler Building in New York in 1930. Incredibly, the Eiffel Tower was almost demolished when the International Exposition’s 20-year lease on the land expired in 1909, but its value as an antenna for radio transmission saved it. It remains largely unchanged today and is one of the world’s premier tourist attractions.

On March 31, 1999, The Matrix opened in theaters.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Under the Gold Dome Today

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

Monday – March 31, 2025

8 AM Cancelled – Senate Reg Ind & Utilities 450 CAP
8:30 AM Senate Rules 450 CAP
9 AM HOUSE RULES 341 CAP
10 AM HOUSE FLOOR SESSION (LD38) House Chamber
10 AM Senate Floor Session (LD 38) Senate Chamber
1 PM HOUSE WAYS & MEANS 406 CLOB
1:30 PM HOUSE JUDICIARY NON-CIVIL 132 CAP
2 PM HOUSE HEALTH 406 CLOB
3 PM HOUSE HUMAN REL & AGING 506 CLOB

Click here for the Senate Rules Calendar.

House Rules Calendar as set by the Rules Committee this morning.

Modified Structured: SB 1, SB 8, SB 82, SB 93, SB 121 (Substitute), SB 140, SB 151, SB 170, SB 204 (Substitute), SB 212, SB 256,

Structured: Sb 141

Sen. Rules Committee Chair Butch Parrish (R-Swainsboro) said the House Rules Committee may meet again today.

Senate Bill 69 by State Senate President Pro Tem John F. Kennedy has passed both chambers but in different forms, so the saga of tort reform continues.

House Bill 68 by House Speaker State Rep. Jon Burns (R-Newington) passed the Senate as a substitute and the two chambers will have to reconcile their versions of the FY 2026 state budget, according to State Affairs.

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

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

It marked a departure from a previous budget House lawmakers passed earlier this month, which proposed about $100 million less for school vouchers while issuing an additional roughly $321 million in bonds to pay for construction projects for schools, prisons, parole offices and juvenile detention centers.

Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee overseeing budget negotiations, said the state should fund those projects with cash reserves going forward — an idea that aligns with Gov. Brian Kemp’s preferences for eschewing deficit spending.

“That’s something the Legislature overall needs to become more accustomed to,” Tillery said in a committee hearing Thursday. “I think you’re going to see our capital expenditures continue to get smaller.”

Tillery also said to expect more belt-tightening in future budgets as a glut of federal funding from COVID-19 relief dries up and revenues from state taxes level out after recent years of increases.

“Sometimes in the budget process, the hardest thing to do but the most responsible thing is you simply have to say no,” Tillery said.

The revised budget includes data and graphs showing that Georgia gives up more money in tax credits and exemptions than it collects in income tax revenues, complicating efforts to lower the state’s income tax rate further, especially after lawmakers approved a $2 billion relief package this year, Tillery said.

“I’m not suggesting as a policy that we eliminate all these,” Tillery said of tax breaks. “But I am telling you that every time we pass another one, we make it harder to eliminate the state income tax.”

The committee advanced the budget to the full Senate for further approval. Once passed there, it will head back to the House for final negotiations before the legislative session ends April 4.

The budget approved Thursday came after state agency officials fielded surprise orders from Tillery in recent weeks to draw up plans for how to shrink their budgets by 1%, marking an unusual mid-session request for cuts that agencies typically have months to prepare.

Agencies submitted plans last week that indicated 1% cuts could slow research for diseases like hepatitis A and muscular dystrophy, downsize some programs reimbursed by Medicaid and eliminate funds for 100 low-income families to help pay for day care, according to records reviewed by State Affairs.

Senate lawmakers did approve cuts for some services and equipment reimbursed by Medicaid like emergency transport and ventilators, but avoided many of the most dramatic cuts including for low-income day care grants and research for hepatitis A.

Recent disagreement between House and Senate lawmakers stemmed from how much to fund vouchers, called Promise Scholarships, that give families $6,500 to move their children from low-performing public schools to private schools.

Created last year, the voucher program drew a wave of interest from families when the application portal opened on March 1. About 5,000 families quickly applied for vouchers with funding available for only 7,000 spots in the House-drafted budget.

Senate lawmakers now await word on whether their House budget counterparts will agree to use reserves to finance construction projects.

House Appropriations Chairman Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin, has not said yet whether he may hold firm on his proposal for bond-debt spending.

From the Capitol Beat News Service:

The Georgia Senate passed a $37.7 billion fiscal 2026 state budget Friday that will require some compromises with the state House of Representatives on state spending, particularly on prisons and education.

The budget, which cleared the Senate 48-7, provides $170 million in additional spending to hire more correctional officers, give the current prison staff a pay raise, and provide technology upgrades to improve security. Inadequate staffing and deteriorating infrastructure were key factors in an audit the U.S. Justice Department released last fall that criticized the state prison system for failing to protect inmates from violence.

“We’re asking (correctional officers) to do a job very few of us would be willing to do,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, told his Senate colleagues before Friday’s vote.

The $170 million the Senate version of the budget recommends for the prisons represents a middle position between the $250 million in the House version of the spending plan and the $125 million Gov. Brian Kemp requested when he presented his budget proposals in January.

That’s one compromise the House and Senate will have to work out when their respective budget negotiators meet to come up with a final version of the budget before the 2025 legislative session comes to an end next week.

Another major disagreement between the two chambers is over funding to launch Georgia’s new private-school vouchers program the Republican-controlled General Assembly approved last year. The Senate budget would fully fund the program at $141 million, the amount Kemp recommended, while the House is proposing to cut the program to $40 million.

Senate Democrats who voted against the budget bill objected to putting any money into private-school vouchers.

Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes, D-Duluth, said funding for vouchers is coming at the cost of reducing state support of public schools.

“We are cutting programs that help kids who are struggling emotionally, economically, and academically, at a time when they need us the most, so we can spend $141 million on private-school vouchers,” she said. “Let’s call it what it is: a transfer of public money into private hands.”

But Tillery said school vouchers are needed when many Georgia students are reading below grade level. The vouchers program, which takes effect July 1, allows students in low-performing public schools to transfer to a private school.

“Kids have to be given the ability to do something better,” he said. “Parents have to be given an option to take their kids somewhere else.”

The fiscal ’26 budget also would include $302.3 million to cover student enrollment growth, fully funding Georgia’s Quality Basic Education per-pupil funding formula, and provides a $14 million increase to reduce the size of pre-kindergarten classes from an average of 22 pupils to 20. Another $18.4 million would fully fund a new literacy program by hiring 116 literacy coaches.

The Senate version of the spending plan would provide $600,000 to help the State Election Board carry out additional duties intended to let it operate more independently from the secretary of state’s office. A controversial election reform bill currently before the General Assembly would accomplish that goal of Republican legislative leaders.

The spending plan calls for funding building projects with cash instead of borrowing the money. Tillery warned that the current climate of economic uncertainty means lawmakers should get used to a smaller annual project list.

Highlights of the fiscal ’26 building package include $44.5 million to complete the renovation of the state Agricultural Building in Atlanta and $31 million for a new STEM building at the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega.

From the Associated Press via WSAV:

For Georgia lawmakers to agree on a state budget, they must first agree on how much they are going to spend on a new voucher program for private schools and home schooling.

Georgia’s voucher program is different from some states, with lawmakers agreeing when they created the program last year that lawmakers would decide each year how to spend.

The state Senate, which passed its version of next year’s budget on Friday, wants to spend $141 million on the program. House members proposed spending only $46 million. It is a key disagreement lawmakers must resolve before Georgia’s annual legislative session ends next week.

At $6,500 per voucher, the Senate amount would provide enough for more than 21,000 vouchers, while the House amount would provide for only about 7,000 slots.

The overall budget would spend $37.7 billion in state revenue in the year beginning July 1. Once federal and other money is combined, it would be more than $67 billion.

Voucher programs are ballooning nationwide. Many supporters want all students to be eligible, regardless of school performance or family income. States that have adopted universal vouchers, such as Arizona, Florida, Iowa and Ohio, reported more applications than expected, causing costs to bulge.

Georgia Democrats fear that happening here, although lawmakers would have to change state law to spend more than 1% of what the state spends on public schools.

“Let’s call this what it is, a transfer of public money into private hands,” said Democratic Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes of Duluth.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery, a Vidalia Republican, defended the program and spending, arguing that low reading achievement levels point to the need for change.

“The reason we support a voucher program is because kids have to be given an ability to do something better,” Tillery said. “Their parents have to be given options to take their kids somewhere else. Why? Because we have failed them.”

House members, though, have complained that the Georgia Education Savings Authority, the group created to administer the program, interpreted the law in such a way that it made many more students eligible than many lawmakers had expected.

The program is midway through its first application period, which runs until April 15. As of Thursday, 4,439 applications had been approved. There are two more application periods set for the summer and fall, but it is unclear how many total applications would be approved.

Tillery said Thursday that if the scholarship program doesn’t need the entire $141 million, lawmakers can take the money back later.

The Senate budget also rejected a House proposal to borrow more than $300 million next year for construction projects. Instead, the Senate plan would spend on construction only from existing state revenue for the third year in a row.

“We’re funding that with cash, saving generations 10 and 20 years from now from paying for buildings we’re building now,” Tillery said.

Gov. Brian Kemp sets the maximum amount that lawmakers can spend, so they can only move money around to different spending items. That means lawmakers must decrease spending on one item to increase spending on another item. So with the Senate rejecting borrowing and increasing spending on vouchers, it pinched spending the House proposed on other items, including supplemental funding to educate students in poverty.

The Senate plan also spends less than the House proposed on prisons, mental health, housing and grants to rural communities.

After Senate Bill 120 by State Sen. Max Burns (R-Sylvania) got caught in a House Committee, the Senate Education and Youth Committee transplanted its parts into House Bill 127, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Savannah Morning News.

In a last-minute legislative maneuver, Georgia Senate Republicans have revived a measure that seeks to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the state’s schools and colleges.

These programs, known by the acronym DEI, were well-intentioned but have been abused, said Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania, the author of Senate Bill 120 to ban such programs.

His bill stalled in the House of Representatives, so Burns and fellow Senate Republicans stripped House legislation that had passed to the chamber and replaced it with Burns’ measure Thursday evening.

The Senate Education and Youth Committee then passed House Bill 127, which had been aimed at increasing the number of sick days that teachers can take.

Instead, HB 127 would now withhold state funding from public schools with DEI programs and withhold state funding or state-administered federal funding — including scholarships, loans and grants — from colleges with such programs.

Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, said DEI has morphed into “neo-Marxist” ideology that has “infected” the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech. It “squelches” academic freedom, he said,

The legislation targets terms such as “allyship,” “cultural appropriation,” “gender ideology,” “heteronormativity,” “implicit bias,” “intersectionality” and “racial privilege.”

It also targets “antiracism,” a term popularized by the author Ibram X. Kendi in the book “How to be an Antiracist” first published in 2019.

Democrats on the committee pushed back, especially against the idea of punishing schools for teaching antiracism. “So you think we should have a position in support of racism?” asked Sen. RaShaun Kemp, D-Atlanta, who is Black.

Burns, who is white, responded that he believes everyone should have “equal opportunities.” But he accepted an amendment by Kemp to ban the proper noun “Antiracism” rather than the lower-cased “antiracism.”

The amended HB 127 passed the Senate’s education committee in a vote along partisan lines. This was the last meeting of the committee in this legislative session and thus a last opportunity to alter a bill in this manner, though there is still time to make major amendments in the Senate Rules Committee, where this bill is now headed, or on the Senate floor, where the Rules Committee might send it.

For a DEI ban to become law, HB 127 would have to pass the Senate, and then the House would have to agree to the amendments.

The original author of HB 127, Rep. Brent Cox, R-Dawsonville, did not welcome the gutting of his bill, so the House might not appreciate the Senate’s changes.

Other bills are receiving similar treatment in legislative operating committee rooms, according to Atlanta News First via WTOC.

With only days to go until the end of the legislative session in Georgia, lawmakers are scrambling to get their bills passed. For many pieces of proposed legislation, that means changes. In Georgia, proposals that don’t make it past a vote in either the Senate or the House are able to be tacked onto bills that do.

It happened to two key bills this week. HB 268, a cornerstone of House Speaker Jon Burns’ school safety wish list, was stripped of a key component when senators removed a database requirement that would allow schools to share information on potentially violent students.

Some lawmakers and parents argued it amounted to surveillance of students and could follow a child for their entire school career, even for a minor infraction. It was abruptly removed from the bill, though Burns said the remaining elements of it are a good step towards safety.

“We look forward to working with the Senate next week and I believe they’ll get school safety across the finish line,” he said during a Friday press conference. “I know that it will offer protections for our students in Georgia, for a safe learning place so they can excel.”

Other bills saw huge mix-ups too. House Bill 79, which would offer up to $300 tax credits on the purchase of gun safety storage devices and safe firearms classes, was altered Thursday when a Senate committee watered it down to only offer the tax credit for safety classes. It was also combined with elements of Senate Bill 47, which would create an 11-day, tax-free holiday on all gun purchases, including safety equipment.

State Rep. Michelle Au (D-Johns Creek) sponsored House Bill 1, which is effectively similar to HB 79 by offering tax rebates for the purchase of safe gun storage equipment. Standing at an event that featured families of Apalachee High School students, where the worst school shooting in Georgia history took place last year, Au railed against the changes Friday, saying the most important element was removed.

“I’m not exactly sure what this bill aims to do at this point,” Au said. “I don’t know if they think that the activists that are here and the students and the families that are listening are stupid enough to think that this is action on gun safety.”

There are only five days remaining in this year’s legislative session. The final day – Sine Die – is Friday, April 4.

House Bill 397 by State Rep. Tim Fleming (R-Covington) includes election changes, according to the Associate Press via WSAV.

A bill before a Georgia Senate committee Wednesday could allow a Donald Trump-aligned state board to strike thousands of challenged voters from the state’s rolls and would require polling officials to count the number of ballots by hand.

The 26-page House Bill 397 is a wish list from Republicans, including three GOP members who control the State Election Board. The board adopted a series of rules amid intense scrutiny last year, only to see a state court judge throw out most of them, finding that the board had overreached its legal authority. An appeal of that ruling was argued last week before the Georgia Supreme Court.

Supporters of the bill say poll workers need to make sure the number of ballots collected on Election Day matches the total counted by ballot-scanning machines and that the State Election Board needs to hear appeals of challenged voters because counties are turning down thousands of challenges.

The bill would also try to force the state to leave the Electronic Records Information Center, a multistate group that tries to maintain accurate voter rolls. Some question the funding and motives of the group.

Officials who work for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger warned the Senate Ethics Committee during a Wednesday hearing that if Georgia joins nine other Republican-controlled states in leaving ERIC, it would undermine the state’s ability to maintain its voter rolls.

“We firmly believe in using every tool available to us,” said Charlene McGowan, the chief lawyer for Raffensperger’s office.

County election officials warned that a requirement to count by hand the number of ballots, although not individual votes, could lead to delays in reporting results on election night and mistakes by tired workers, as well as compromise ballot security. That’s even though some counties in Georgia conducted hand counts until a few years ago.

“We want full control of those ballots at all times. We want them locked in secure containers and brought back to our office as soon as possible,” said Rebecca Anglin, elections director for Greene County, east of Atlanta.

Finally, opponents questioned whether the State Election Board can adequately or fairly hear appeals of voter challenges. Republican activists challenged more than 63,000 voters statewide last summer. Many of those people have moved away. But most challenges were rejected because county election boards said federal law bars them from removing inactive voters until multiple years elapse.

Don Hackney, a retired Atlanta lawyer, said such appeals belong in court, where they go now, and should not be handled by “a non-elected partisan appointed board” that is “completely ill-equipped to handle the avalanche of challenges.”

What was a plain-vanilla bill when it passed the House went through two drafts this week before it was rolled out Wednesday. More changes are likely before the committee votes on the bill as early as Thursday. The rewritten version would then have to pass the full Senate and House before it could go to Gov. Brian Kemp. The timing makes it unlikely any final vote could be taken before the last two days of the session next week.

The bill seeks to put into law a number of rejected State Election Board rules. The hand-count proposal is the most prominent, but other changes would allow increased access to partisan-appointed poll watchers and require counties to post more statistics about absentee ballots online.

The bill doesn’t put everything the board wanted into law. For example, it doesn’t include a rule adopted in August requiring a “reasonable inquiry” before a county election board could certify results as final. Critics said that rule could allow counties to refuse to certify some or all election results, meaning votes could be discarded.

The measure also includes other things Republicans want, like a ban on counties opening election offices the weekend before the election to let voters hand-deliver ballots. State and federal judges slapped down Republican lawsuits to block the practice last November

Other items cater to Republicans’ continuing distrust of the election system, like requiring live video surveillance at night of ballot drop boxes that are already emptied and then padlocked shut inside government buildings closed to the public.

But some changes are being made to HB 397, according to the Associated Press via WSAV.

Georgia lawmakers are retreating from election proposals that could have allowed a Donald Trump-aligned state board to strike thousands of challenged voters from the rolls and would have required polling officials to count the number of ballots by hand.

House Bill 397 was rewritten to remove those provisions before it was passed Thursday by the Senate Ethics Committee, sending it to the full Senate for more debate.

The bill still seeks to force the state to leave the Electronic Records Information Center. Some question the funding and motives of that multistate group, which tries to maintain accurate voter rolls. But Georgia now would not be required to exit until mid-2027 instead of within months, as was earlier proposed.

Republican Rep. Tim Fleming of Covington said he and others decided to remove some of the most controversial provisions after they were panned by officials who work for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, county election directors and others in hours of testimony Wednesday night.

“After hearing a lot of concerns, we realize there’s some things in the bill that probably needed some more work, some more time to be focused on, which we are going to work on during the off-session on our side,” Fleming said.

Supporters said poll workers need to make sure the number of ballots collected on Election Day matches the total counted by ballot-scanning machines. But county officials warned that a requirement to count by hand the number of ballots — although not individual votes — could lead to delays in reporting results, mistakes by tired workers and problems with ballot security. Some counties in Georgia conducted hand counts until a few years ago.

Similarly, supporters said the State Election Board needs to hear appeals of challenged voters because counties are turning down thousands of challenges. But opponents questioned whether the Republican-controlled board can adequately or fairly hear appeals. GOP activists challenged more than 63,000 voters statewide last summer, but most were rejected by counties.

The State Election Board adopted a series of rules amid intense scrutiny last year only to see a judge throw most of them out, finding that the board overreached its legal authority. An appeal of that ruling was argued last week before the Georgia Supreme Court.

The bill still seeks to put some rejected rules into law. That includes allowing increased access in election offices for partisan-appointed poll watchers and requiring counties to publish more statistics about absentee ballots.

The measure also includes other Republican goals, like a ban on counties opening election offices the weekend before an election to let voters hand-deliver ballots. State and federal judges slapped down Republican lawsuits to block the practice last November.

Pay raises for elected officials got shot down twice, according to Georgia Recorder.

House lawmakers quickly swatted down a last-minute Senate plan to give the governor and other statewide officials pay raises.

The Senate had added the salary bumps Thursday to a bill adjusting the pay of judges at higher levels in Georgia. Under the plan, Gov. Brian Kemp would have been tied with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for the highest earning governor in the country.

“You may have seen a little something about the amendment in the news over the last 24 hours,” the bill’s original sponsor, Elberton Republican Rep. Rob Leverett, said to his colleagues Friday.

“I think that is a discussion we as a body need to have at some point, but we shouldn’t have it as an amendment to a bill in the last two or three days of session,” Leverett said. “I believe it needs to be thought through a little more and it needs a little more study.”

Some senators also tried to increase lawmaker pay in another judicial pay bill focused on superior court judges.

Critics argued that the legislative pay amendment would sabotage a bill intended to create uniform statewide pay for Georgia Superior Court judges. The proposed pay raise amendment to House Bill 85 would have increased the salaries of lawmakers from $24,341 to about $55,000.

Sen. Randal Mangham, a Stone Mountain Democrat, argued it would put Georgia lawmakers in line with the national average of $44,320 in 2024, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

He referenced the limited funding he receives for his staff.

“$7,000 for an entire year with my budget for expenses to run the people’s business. It’s a $40 billion enterprise,” Mangham said, referring to the state budget.

Sen. John Kennedy, a Macon Republican, urged senators prior to voting to consider how passing the amendment would come across to the taxpayers.

“Colleagues, are you willing to look at your constituents in the eye and tell them you need more of their tax dollars in your pocket and out of their pocket?” Kennedy said.

The debate ended with the legislative pay amendments failing 33 to 18 before the superior court legislation passed with nearly unanimous support.

House Bill 233 by State Rep. Rick Townsend (R-SSI), to designate Brunswick Stew as the official Georgia state stew also received transplants in a Senate Committee, according to The Brunswick News.

The committee added sugarcane and cornbread to Rep. Rick Townsend’s House Bill 233 and tacked on a provision that prohibits adversarial foreign nations from bidding on state contracts.

Co-sponsors of the bill included Reps. Buddy DeLoach, R-Townsend, and Steven Sainz, R-St. Marys. State Sen. Mike Hodges, R-St. Simons Island, carried it to the Senate.

For the purpose of helping preserve the art of making sugarcane syrup in Georgia, Section 1 of the bill aligns the state with the annual observance of National Sugarcane Syrup Day.

The bill notes that higher production costs, competition from artificial syrups and the decreasing number of farmers who still make sugarcane syrup has led some to refer to the making of sugarcane syrup as a dying art.

“It is not only a time when families gather and celebrate together, but also a time when some say sugarcane is at its sweetest in Georgia,” the bill reads. “It is, therefore, abundantly fitting and proper that the State of Georgia appropriately recognize and honor the family farm tradition of making sugarcane syrup by designating the fourth Friday in November of each year as ‘National Sugarcane Syrup Day’ in Georgia.”

Section 2 of the legislation designates Brunswick Stew as the official stew of Georgia.

Section 3 gives cornbread the honor of being the state’s official bread.

“The colorful history and traditions of the State of Georgia are inextricably associated with the food traditions of corn, and among the many legacies of this proud heritage is the delicious bread known as cornbread,” HB 233 reads. “Relied upon by indigenous people to sustain themselves, cornbread has transcended its humble origins to take a place of honor at such events as the Prater’s Mill Country Fair in Whitfield County. With thousands of participants and visitors, such celebrations include cornbread cooked on a wood-burning stove and served with collard greens and pinto beans.”

Section four of HB 233, which prohibits adversarial nations from bidding on state contracts, is specifically aimed at the “People’s Republic of China led by the Chinese Communist Party.”

Townsend, R-St. Simons Island, said he expects the bill to be taken up by the Senate Rules Committee, the last stop before a full Senate vote, Monday or Tuesday.

“I support the bill in its entirety,” Townsend said. “Cornbread and sugarcane are good additions.

“The section regarding adversarial countries helps clean up a previous bill to protect the state from adversaries receiving a government contract. This section had complete bipartisan support in the Senate committee (Economic Development) where it was added.”

Here’s my burning question: do corn tortillas qualify as cornbread?

Senate Bill 254 by State Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens) would increase regulation of the hemp industry, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Valdosta Daily Times.

Joe Salome built up his intoxicating hemp products business from one small store to six, and he got licensed by the state last year after new rules gave the industry a path into the sunlight.

Then, in a surprise move, some Republicans in the Georgia Senate tried to slam the brakes in early March, with legislation that sought to pare back the potency allowed in gummies and other consumables — and that also sought a total ban on beverages containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the intoxicating component from hemp.

It wasn’t altogether unexpected by Salome, who said he always gets apprehensive when lawmakers return to the Capitol.

“Every year during this timeframe we hold our breath,” said Salome, owner of The Georgia Hemp Company. “My daughter’s 10, and now during this time of year it’s, ‘Hey dad, anything else bad happen to your business?’ “

Products from the hemp industry with the power to intoxicate started proliferating on store shelves after Congress passed legislation in 2018 that distinguished hemp from marijuana, making hemp derivatives legal.

The two plants are the same species, but hemp flowers contain less THC. Clever entrepreneurs were able to develop products from hemp with an intoxicating effect though.

Georgia began licensing hemp-related companies last year, but Senate Bill 254 sought to pump the brakes. It passed the Senate 42-14 in early March, with Republicans and Democrats voting on both sides.

The chief sponsor of the bill, Sen Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, said the dosages appearing on shelves were hazardous.

“We are putting loaded guns in people’s hands in the form of a can, or a gummy, and we need to protect them,” he said.

Cowsert opposed an amendment that sought to go even further, banning beverages containing THC, the intoxicating ingredient from hemp. But after the amendment passed, Cowsert voted for his amended bill.

The amendment was brought by Sen. Randy Robertson, R-Cataula, the chamber’s majority whip, who said, “We are on a bullet train when dealing with marijuana.”

Despite the Senate’s efforts, it appears the train will keep moving, for this year at least.

The Senate measure hit a wall in the House of Representatives, where Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, said he was reluctant to ban a substance “that God lets grow naturally.”

Powell chairs the House Regulated Industries Committee, where Cowsert’s bill was sent for review. After Cowsert testified for it at a hearing on Wednesday, people from the hemp industry got a chance to talk about the impact the legislation would have on them.

They spoke of the investments they’d made and of the employees they’d have to let go.

Diana Padron, owner of Hemp Haven ATL, talked about older customers who come to her shop looking for an alternative to pain medications or alcohol.

Meanwhile, a representative from a group called Georgians for Responsible Marijuana Policy, spoke of health risks from hemp products, from anxiety to dependency.

That hearing ended without resolution, but the next day Powell called another one, and he introduced his own amendment to SB 254.

Powell’s substituted language deleted all of the Senate’s proposed limits, including the ban on hemp beverages. It would leave the hemp industry in status quo, with one exception. Instead of punching the brakes, the Powell amendment taps the accelerator, by expanding hemp product sales to package stores, where they are currently prohibited.

The amended bill passed from his committee unanimously.

“We’re going to be studying this in depth this summer,” Powell said.

On Friday, Salome was relieved. “We live for another year,” he said.

Senate Bill 79 by State Sen. Russ Goodman (R-Homerville), the “Fentanyl Eradication and Removal Act,” has passed both chambers, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Tifton Gazette.

Legislation stiffening penalties for trafficking in fentanyl in Georgia cleared the General Assembly Friday.

The Fentanyl Eradication and Removal Act, which now heads to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature, imposes a range of mandatory minimum sentences on convicted traffickers in fentanyl. The smallest amounts covered by the bill – between four grams and 14 grams, will result in at least five years behind bars.

Fentanyl is so deadly that just four grams of the drug would be enough to kill 2,000 people, House Majority Whip James Burchett, said before Friday’s 131-31 House vote to pass the bill.

“This drug has medicinal value,” said Burchett, R-Waycross. “But it is being illegally imported and utilized by our youth. We have a silent epidemic here.”

The bill’s opponents agreed that fentanyl is a major problem affecting Georgians. But they argued that mandatory minimum sentences have proven ineffective in multiple studies dating back to the 1990s.

“Fentanyl is a scourge. It has caused heartbreaking loss,” said Rep. Scott Holcomb, D-Atlanta. “(But) mandatory minimums do not work. … They don’t deter the conduct on the front end, which is purportedly what we’re trying to do.”

But House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration countered that adopting mandatory minimum sentences for members of drug gangs who bring fentanyl into Georgia would convince them to take their deadly business elsewhere.

“This measure does a tremendous amount to deter fentanyl operators from operating in our state,” said Efstration, R-Mulberry.

The bill, which had passed the Senate 50-3 last month, cleared that chamber on Friday unanimously. It had gone back to the Senate to agree to changes the House had made to the measure.

Senate Bill 44 by State Sen. Sam Watson (R-Moultrie) passed and lowers the required property tax millage rate for local boards of education to be eligible for State Equalization Grants, according to the Moultrie Observer.

Residents may get some property tax relief in the near future if Gov. Brian Kemp signs Senate Bill 44 and the Colquitt County School Board takes advantage of the provisions of the bill. The bill passed both houses of the Georgia General Assembly and is on its way to the governor’s desk.

Senate Bill 44, sponsored by Sen. Sam Watson, R-Moultrie, lowers the required millage rate for board of educations from 14 mills to 10 mills. Therefore, school boards are still eligible for State Equalization Grants if they opt to decrease their millage rate.

Jeremy Jones, chief financial officer for the Colquitt County School System, defined the State Equalization Grants. They are additional funds provided by the state to narrow the gap between systems in terms of property tax wealth per pupil. The reasoning behind them is to equalize educational opportunities across school districts.

“We put a lot of work in this bill over the last two years,” said Rep. Chas Cannon, R-Moultrie, who presented the bill on the House floor.

He said in an earlier interview, since property assessments had gone up all over the state last year, it had become an important issue. Lowering the school’s minimum millage rate can accommodate for higher property values and help reduce property taxes, he said.

Both Cannon and Watson sponsored bills to take up the legislation again and try to get it through this year’s session. SB 44 is the bill that made it.

When Watson presented the bill in a House subcommittee meeting, he said that the bill had the same verbiage as the one Cannon had sponsored. He said many people had wanted to get it passed last year but they had just run out of time.

“This allows them (school systems) to lower the millage rate, give money back to the tax-payers and not get in trouble with the state and risk losing their Equalization,” Watson said. “One of my counties is at the 14 mill rate and they would love to go below that to give that money back to the taxpayers but they can’t.”

Senate Bill 245 by State Sen. Mike Hodges (R-SSI) passed both chambers in different forms and would increase the rights of grandparents to access to their grandchildren, according to The Brunswick News.

Senate Bill 245 passed the Senate 56-0 and in the House 160-1. Rep. Rick Townsend, R-St. Simons Island, carried in the House.

The bill now goes back to the Senate because of changes made by the House.

United States Representative Nikema Williams (D-Atlanta) resigned as Chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia, according to the AJC.

U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams stepped down Monday as chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia amid criticism from donors, activists and elected officials who questioned whether a sitting lawmaker could continue serving as the party’s leader.

Williams resigned days after the party’s State Committee overwhelmingly backed a rule change to make the party chair a full-time position. Matthew Wilson, the party’s first vice chair, will serve as interim chair until a new leader is elected.

Williams, first elected to the volunteer role in 2019, endorsed the rules change in November, saying it would ensure that “independently wealthy folks” aren’t the only ones who can fill the role.

The typically internal fight over her leadership became a public battle as prominent officials traded open letters vouching for Williams or urging that she step down before her second four-year term ends in 2027.

Williams, meanwhile, mounted a campaign for a Democratic National Committee post earlier this year. She withdrew her bid for a vice chair post in February after she trailed in several rounds of voting.

United States Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Atlanta) criticized U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Extreme NW GA), according to the AJC.

Ossoff continued his combative streak over the weekend in an interview with CNN’s Manu Raju, where he predicted “a landslide victory for Democrats across the country” in 2026. And he had a forecast for his own race. While he doesn’t know whether Gov. Brian Kemp will run, he said he doesn’t think he’ll face U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“I don’t think that she’s got the guts to do it,” he said of the Rome Republican. “But she would be a disaster in the United States Senate.”

Greene told the AJC’s Politically Georgia earlier this year she is considering a run for either Senate or the governor’s office in 2026.

Ossoff may just be goading Greene, a firebrand Trump loyalist who is popular among the president’s MAGA base but could struggle to gain statewide appeal in the battleground state.

Some Savannah protesters targeted a Tesla facility, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Dozens of people gathered outside the Tesla showroom in Savannah Saturday taking part in a nationwide stint of protests. The protesters had a lot to say about Elon Musk’s position in the White House.

Sharon McCallie-Steller said, “If we don’t speak up, it’s not going to be a country where we can do this much longer.” And John Fetter said, “Make no mistake: we are entering into dystopian times here. If he’s allowed to continue on this track, God save the USA.”

Protesters told WSAV News 3’s Eden Hodges there was no single organizer that rallied they to come out. They heard about the protest online and met Saturday.

Protesters said the moves made by the White House and Musk’s new government department have made them worried about the fate of their country. Fetter said, “Every week there’s something different going on.” And McCallie-Steller added, “We have a constitution for a reason. They’re not following it. They’re not respecting the three branches of government. If you want to find waste, do it the right way.”

Demonstrators said they hope their display could draw more supporters to their cause and encourage a boycott on Tesla sales. Dalton Peppers said, “You can’t make them change their mind. You can only speak out and tell them exactly what’s the truth.”

The group told WSAV News 3 they have plans to protest in Forsyth Park next Saturday.