Legislative Session Week 4
A Sad Week
February 4, 2024
This was a sad week that took some unforeseen turns.
We unexpectedly lost a member of the House – Rules Committee Chairman Richard Smith of Columbus. And we also got the tragic news that the three Georgia soldiers were killed in a drone attack in Jordan a week ago. They were Sgt. William Jerome Rivers of Carrollton, and Sgts. Kennedy Landon Sanders of Waycross and Breonna Alexsondria Moffett of Savannah, both of whom were promoted to sergeant posthumously.
May their memories be a blessing.
At the Capitol, things are moving fast. We have seen movement in election-related bills. Talks of expanding Medicaid to uninsured adults have resumed(!!!). And we are continuing to call attention to issues that don’t seem to get much attention from the majority Republican caucus.
Here is my recap of week four at the Gold Dome.
Town Halls
HB 881– Republicans Want to Control Democratically-Elected (and Democratic) Prosecutors
Voting Bills on the Move
Continued Gun Safety Efforts
Medicaid Expansion is Still On the Table
Scouts Visit and Interns Wrap Up
House District 90 Town Halls – Let’s Talk
I’m thrilled to be partnering with DeKalb Dems-HD 90 to host a series of Town Halls throughout the district. We have an incredible slate of other state legislators and local elected officials who will join us at these community gatherings.
Please come if you can. We want to hear your ideas and concerns, and provide updates.
Dates and Locations
– Feb. 15, 6-7:30 p.m. at Cedar Grove United Methodist Church, 3430 Bouldercrest Road in Conley
– Feb. 21, 6:30-8 p.m. at Brownwood Park Recreation Center, 602 Brownwood Ave. SE in Atlanta
– Feb. 26, 6-8 p.m. at Gresham Library, 2418 Gresham Road, SE, Atlanta
– March 6, 6:30-8 p.m. at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, 980 Briarcliff Road NE, Atlanta
– March 13, 6-7:30 p.m. at Bessie Branham Recreation Center, 2051 Delano Drive, Atlanta
– March 14, 6-8 p.m. at Neighborhood Church, 1561 McLendon Avenue NE, Atlanta
– March 20, 6-7:30 p.m. at McNair High School, 1804 Bouldercrest Road SE, Atlanta
– March TBD, at Beulah Missionary Baptist Church, 2340 Clifton Springs Rd, Decatur
HB 881– Republicans Want to Control Democratically-Elected (and Democratic) Prosecutors
It felt like the movie Groundhog Day only it wasn’t yet Feb. 2.
The Republican-led House passed – again – a bill that would allow “rogue” prosecutors to be removed.
They apparently don’t think this decision should be made by voters at the next election.
For the second time in a year and on a party-line vote, the House created the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission and gave it the power to sanction – and possibly remove – elected district attorneys.
This do-over was prompted by the Georgia Supreme Court’s concerns about the law that was passed and signed by the governor last year.
Last year’s version said the commission could begin its work once the state Supreme Court approved rules governing it. But the state justices said they had “grave doubts” about the constitutionality of the high court having the authority to approve rules and standards of conduct for the commission.
In response, the Republicans pushing the initiative have crafted a new bill that simply removes third-party oversight.
This push in Georgia is in line with a nationwide GOP effort to exert control over “liberal” prosecutors who exercise their discretion as to what crimes to prosecute and which cases to decline to pursue.
The Georgia effort, however, has become a part of national political discourse because GOP legislators targeted Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis after she secured a multi-count election interference case against former President Donald Trump and others. A complaint was filed with the commission soon after the indictments were returned but nothing has happened because of questions of who or what organization creates the rules that will govern the commission. I made this point on the House floor.
HB 881 now moves to the Senate side, where it will likely pass.
This is a reminder that Republicans are puppeteering what happens under the Gold Dome with their eyes on November. Anything they can do to undermine Democrats or increase their chances of electoral success, they are doing. This is a party that is full steam ahead on protecting Trump and putting him above the law.
Voting Bills on the Move
There were committee and floor votes on a handful of election-related bills this week.
SB 358 - Authorizing Investigation of the Secretary of State
The House now has Senate Bill 358, which is being pushed by Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who reportedly plans to run for governor in two years. This bill would empower the State Elections Board to investigate GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, who is also supposedly looking at a run for governor in 2026.
SB 358 also removes the elected Secretary of State from the State Elections Board; he had already been stripped of serving as chairman.
This idea was proposed after the State Elections Board deadlocked over opening an inquiry into Raffensberger’s oversight of Fulton County’s audit of the 2020 election.
Promoters of this bill aren’t thinking about what this will mean for future secretaries of state and the impediments they are putting on the office. They are focused on short-sighted revenge.
And they apparently want revenge now, passing it out of the Senate before the state attorney general could complete his review for constitutionality. The attorney general was reviewing the bill to determine if an unelected board could have authority over an elected official at the lieutenant governor’s request.
HB 976 - Watermarks on Ballots
The House passed HB 976 which would add a visible watermark to the ballot paper used for voting. This is in addition to the invisible-to-the-naked-eye markings that are already on ballot paper.
In case you missed my appearance on LawMakers last week, here’s my take on HB 976
SB 189 - Removing the QR Code on Ballots
The Senate committee that handles election and voting bills, Ethics, passed SB 189 which would make the human readable text on a ballot the official source of truth for tabulation, instead of the QR code. Supporters argue that there is no way for voters to know if the QR code actually reflects the choices listed on their printed ballots.
If QR codes are ditched, “optical scanners” would replace the current ballot readers, and that would mean buying new equipment for every polling place in the state. I’m skeptical this bill will move forward, and if it does, that these changes will be implemented before November. The undertaking is simply too big and expensive to make at this late juncture. I’m watching closely.
There will be many more election bills being considered next week, including some with severe voter access implications. For example, SB 367 would eliminate dropboxes and early voting sites. SB 367 would cut down the number of early voting days. I’ll keep you updated.
Gun safety and our children
The statistics are abysmal.
– Firearms are the leading cause of death for children, teens and college-aged people in America.
– Nine in every 100,000 children die from firearm injuries in Georgia each year.
– The rate of young people dying because of firearms is 30 percent higher than the national average, and 4.5 times higher than the rate in New York – a state with more robust gun safety laws.
But the GOP-led Legislature isn’t focused on this.
Still, there has been a steady stream of gun safety advocates at the Capitol this session, and I am grateful for their efforts to hold Republicans accountable for their dangerous policy decisions and lack of action on common-sense gun safety legislation.
A little more than a week ago, we held a news conference to shed more light on the issue. Medical professionals, victims of gun violence, gun owners, and others delivered impassioned remarks. I also shared my perspective as a parent of young kids and highlighted how the harm of guns extends beyond the actual violence – the emotional toll of living in the era of school shootings is traumatizing our children.
Maybe the folks who are the majority at the Capitol will realize that this is a problem that cannot be ignored and they decide to do something about it. Let’s keep going.
I'm so grateful for all of Dr. Betsy Collins' efforts at the Capitol. I met her in 2017 when we were both at the Capitol for a Moms Demand Lobbying day.
But it’s not all bad news
Sometimes things change for the good.
Last week I told you that Medicaid expansion was dead.
Well, maybe not.
There was a ray of hope a few weeks ago, when Republican leaders said they were considering Medicaid expansion after years of refusing to even think about it because of the cost to the state; federal dollars cover 90 percent of the cost for new Medicaid enrollees while the states are responsible for the rest.
There now seems to be interest in Medicaid expansion because of the prospect of a legislative trade; the interest in changing the “certificate of need” law that governs where new hospitals can operate.
Support is also coming from outside the walls of the Capitol.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock traveled the state this past week with a reminder for lawmakers and Georgians that he and Senator Jon Ossoff secured $1.2 billion in 2021 in coronavirus relief funds to speed up expansion of the healthcare program for the uninsured. This means there are additional federal dollars to help with the transition.
Also last week, officials from other southern states told Georgia legislators at a luncheon that their fears concerning Medicaid expansion are unfounded. For example, Arkansas saw a decline in applications for Social Security benefits after it expanded the state-federal program to cover more people. And officials from North Carolina said there was no political downside there – all of the legislators who voted to expand Medicaid were re-elected.
Since Republicans control the Legislature, we must convince them we should do the same as these other states and take care of all uninsured Georgians, and not limit benefits to children and individuals with disabilities.
Expanding Medicaid would allow us to cover five times more Georgians for less than we pay now. It would help keep hospitals from closing. And it would create jobs because we will need so many more doctors, nurses, medical assistants, and technicians to care for these newly insured.
Everybody wins.
The Girl Scouts and Scouts BSA Pay a Visit
I enjoyed visiting with a group of scouts and hearing their questions and observations as we strolled the Gold Dome. I welcome all constituency groups– please reach out if you’d like me to arrange the same for your group.
And finally, I want to give a shout out to some great interns, Tislim, Isa, and Raja, who wrapped up their internship with my office this week. These high school students go to school in the district, and are interested in politics. I’m glad we were able to provide them with this learning experience, and I’m so grateful for their help, participation, and perspective!
In service,
