ROUGH TRANSCRIPT:
Hello everyone, Ari Bee here with another legislative update. Before I head in for the big hearing on HB 481, the total abortion ban. I wanted to provide a couple of quick updates.

One — Sen. Jeff Mullis’s bill to protect confederate statues has now passed out of the Senate and out of the House subcommittee it was assigned to. I’ll not that Rep. Barry Fleming came to Mullis’s defense on several occasions when he struggled to answer quite reasonable questions the committee put before him. Mullis is chair of the powerful Senate rules committee, so unless the Speaker is working behind the scenes to squash this measure, I am expecting it to go to the House floor for a vote. This is Senate Bill 77.

Two — The omnibus elections bill from Rep. Barry Fleming *just* received approval in the House. The House agreed to the Senate substitute. This bill now heads to the Governor’s desk for him to veto, or, more likely, to sign into law. Given how hard the hand marked paper ballots folks fought against this measure, I would no be surprised if it faces additional legal hurdles in the form of lawsuits before fully or partially going into effect.

Three — I am hearing the hate crimes legislation may end up getting stalled in the senate. The sticking point, as with the Equal Rights Amendment, is that us transgender folks just might receive some kinds of protections under these laws.

Keep in mind that we are in the first year of a two year cycle. So anything proposed this year can get taken up again next year without having to get re-introduced.

Transcript:

Hello everyone.

This is Ari Bee, getting y’all back up to date with the state legislative session.

Thanks for your patience as I battled off a nasty cold and a broken phone over the past few weeks.

So we are officially on the other side of Crossover Day. This is a critical deadline in the General Assembly when a bill must pass out of at least one chamber to remain active for the rest of the legislative session. Remember: we have a part time legislature and the 2019 session ends on April 2nd.

A few concerning items are now dead, for this year at least. This includes:

Bills in both the House and the Senate from the bail bonds industry that would have ended the bail reform practices in cities like Atlanta.
Rep. Jesse Petrea’s bill requiring the Dept. of Corrections to publish data on the number of undocumented people in their custody with ICE detainers — including the crime they are in custody for.
A couple of other anti-immigrant measures relating to driver’s licenses.
And RFRA, the so called “religious freedom” bills the religious right keeps proposing.

This items can be revived by being added as an amendment onto a bill that deals with the same code section and did survive crossover day. And this is happening with at least one controversial measure — a school voucher bill. For the next month, expect advocacy groups to be on the lookout for these measures getting revived in committee or on the floor.

The hate crimes bill passed on crossover day by a vote of 96 to 64, with 18 members not voting.

During the floor debate for this bill, we heard Rep. Sheri Gilligan oppose the measure. She spoke extensively about the “hate crimes industry,” if that gives you any idea about the depth of her opposition.

Immediately after this bill was heard, HB 481, the total abortion ban, also went to the floor for a vote.

After almost an hour and a half of debate, the bill passed by just three votes.

Here’s one take on all this:

Speaker David Ralston said earlier this year he did not see the need for additional abortion legislation, as Georgia is a very pro-life state in his opinion. He has since gone on to promote the moderation of the Republican party in Georgia, in response to losing about a dozen seats this past election, and fear of losing more.

Then — some of the more staunchly conservative members of the House Republican Caucus — call for his resignation over claims of ethics violations and abuses of his power as Speaker.

Fast forward to crossover day. Ralston comes out in support of this anti-abortion bill going to the floor for a vote over the dinner break, and the measure is added to their agenda at 7:30 PM on crossover day.

The vote happens just before 11 PM, and the House adjourns by 11:15.

I don’t get to overhear nearly as many interesting conversations as when folks mistook me for a college intern. But even without all the dots being connected, it seems clear there is some acerbic, internal fighting among the House GOP caucus over how much attention should be given to what are deemed “controversial” issues. And the Speaker is currently in a weakened position to bend his party to his will.

Meanwhile, folks like Rep. Trey Kelley are rising to leadership positions, and have no qualms about taking up the most divisive issues.

Regardless of exactly how this happened, this abortion ban has now passed out of the House and moves to the much more conservative Senate. The Governor has already stated he will support the measure.

One of Rep. Ed Setzler’s talking points — he’s the main sponsor of the legislation — is that states can have more expansive rights than the federal standards. He cited, as an example, Massachusetts allowing same-sex couples to get married, when the federal government did not extend that right to gay couples.

As you may recall Roe v. Wade is based on two primary rights being balanced against each other. One is the right to privacy under the 14th Amendment that allows women to access abortion up until viability. The other right is a compelling state interest in protecting the potential “life” of a viable fetus.

Anti-choice groups are testing out different arguments ahead of forcing this issue before a U.S. Supreme Court that is strongly weighted in their favor.

Other 6 week bans have been shot down, but that’s been based on the Whole Woman v. Hellerstedt case out of Texas. States cannot place undue burdens on people seeking abortions, like requiring medically unnecessary ultrasounds or requiring providers to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.

The question this bill and these talking points more narrowly get at it, is: can states argue they have a more expansive right to protecting life — or in this case a potentially viable fetus’s future life — than current law allows. This sort of argument may not lead to abortion becoming outlawed, but it may be a path to getting the issue returned to states to decide.

And, as Rep. Renitta Shannon pointed out on the House floor last Thursday, making abortion illegal doesn’t make it go away. It just means that people with access to resources can travel to places where it is still possible to get safe, legal abortions; and people without resources will resort to the sorts of self-induced abortions and unregulated, illegal abortions that led to high maternal mortality rates before the Roe v. Wade decision.

Sen. Renee Unterman — who’s pro-life credentials were called into question earlier this year over her support of the Equal Rights Amendment — has had this bill assigned to her committee. It is set to have a hearing on Thursday.

The other big development right now include the omnibus voting bill HB 316. In addition to a bunch of election law reforms, this bill calls for the state to invest $150 Million in controversial ballot marking devices, plus allows the Secretary of State to join a group called ERIC and maintains that any activities he does as part of ERIC — a crosscheck like organization led by the The Pew Charitable Trusts — would not be subject to open records laws.

This bill is going to the Senate floor for a vote on Wednesday.

That’s all I have for you all this week. I’ll be doing regular video updates again, now that I’m feeling much better.

Please post any questions or comments below — I’d love to answer them or find someone that can.

Bye.

One day before a critical legislative deadline, HB 481 — which is effectively a total abortion ban — passed out of the Georgia House Health and Human Services committee by a party line vote of 17 to 14.

By the following afternoon, several women of the House Democratic Caucus organized opposition to the bill, while Republican Governor Brian Kemp endorsed the measure.

Governor Brian P. Kemp on Twitter

@GovKemp: "Let's champion life today and ensure that all Georgians - including the unborn - have the chance to live, grow, and prosper." #HB481 #gapol https://t.co/svEtU1J5gu

On Wednesday night (March 6), the Health and Human Services committee heard three hours of testimony on a controversial heartbeat bill proposed by state Rep. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth). That measure passed by a party line vote of seventeen to fourteen, and advanced ahead of the Governor’s proposed “trigger law” legislation.

Setzler, a staunch anti-choice member of the state House, told the committee, “We can come together and recognize that if there’s a human heart beat, that child’s worthy of protection.”

“This is medically sound and legally sound,” Setzler said repeatedly throughout the hearing. He also stated this bill was an attempt at a “bipartisan” compromise, noting his own views that legal protections should start at conception, without exceptions.

“We recognize that children in the womb — from early biological development, from six weeks and even earlier — all they need is nourishment and a safe place to live, and they are going to grow into ripe old adulthood,” Setzler testified. “That fact that morphologically certain organs have not grown or their arms aren’t as visible, doesn’t change the fact that they are living, distinct as human beings.”

House Bill 481, dubbed the ‘Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act’ by sponsors, would ban abortion when fetal heart tones can be detected at six weeks into a pregnancy. Both because most people do not know they are pregnant until farther along into their first trimester, and most abortions cannot be performed until after five weeks, this bill effectively bans abortions.

A matching bill in the state Senate never made it out of committee.

More than a dozen other states have proposed similar measures since the beginning of 2019. However, laws like this have consistently been shot down in courts, as six week abortion bans effectively ban abortion.

Setzler told Rewire.News after the committee hearing, “I see a consensus across the state that with a human heart beat the child should be protected, the child shouldn’t be killed.”

He wouldn’t speculate on what might happen to the bill on Crossover Day: the 28th day of Georgia’s part-time, 40 day legislative session, and the last day a bill can pass out of at least one chamber and ‘cross over’ to the other chamber. This year if falls on Thursday, March 7.

On Thursday morning, several legislators showed up with wire hangers and containers of bleach, with messages like “No to HB 481” and “This hanger is an abortion device.” They later organized a press conference opposing the measure, and have filed a minority report opposing the bill, which would give them extra time should the measure come up for debate on the state House floor.

Shortly after the press conference, Gov. Kemp came out with a short video on Twitter supporting the measure.

“I applaud the Health and Human Services committee for advancing legislation to protect the unborn. I encourage the House and the Senate to do the same. This is a powerful moment in Georgia,” Kemp says in the video.

On the campaign trail, Kemp committed to signing the “toughest abortion laws in the country.”

During Wednesday’s committee hearing, two state representatives — Reps. Park Cannon (D-Atlanta) and Renitta Shannon (D-Decatur) — shared with the committee that they have each had an abortion before testifying against the bill.

“I stand here today confident in my decision to terminate my pregnancy when I was sexually assaulted in 2010,” Cannon said.

“I had an abortion almost 20 years ago, I did not regret the decision then and I do not regret it today,” Shannon shared in her own testimony.

A substitute of the original bill was made available to the committee less than a hour before the committee hearing began, while both anti- and pro- choice advocates filled the room on rumors that at least one abortion bill would be heard. However, an agenda was not publicly available until about half an hour before the meeting.

Speakers in support of the bill included Dr. Kathi Altman who is a former abortion provider that recently spoke at March for Life’s annual dinner. She has also testified about this issue in other states.

“We have convinced our young women that an unplanned pregnancy is the worst thing that could happen to them, and that their right to reproductive freedom is more important than their babies right to live. Because we can’t see who they will become, we feel justified in sacrificing babies in the womb for the convenience of those that we can see,” she told the committee.

After Wednesday’s hearing, Cannon told Rewire.news by text that her Republican colleagues are “playing politics with women’s lives in Georgia.”

“By effectively outlawing abortion in the state of Georgia, Republicans are drawing the line in the sand to hand over their re-elections in 2020. They have made it clear that passing legislation without fiscal notes, medical accuracy and public notice are what Georgians deserve,” she said.

The only change to the bill in committee was an amendment from Chairwomen Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta) to add exceptions for “medically futile” pregnancies, specifically: fetal anomalies that are incompatible with life. Approximately a dozen other amendments authored by Rep. Cannon and offered by democrats were rejected.

Rep. Cooper cited, as an example in support of her amendment, the medical condition anencephaly, when a fetus does not develop parts of their skull and brain.

Rachel Guy, from the organization Save the 1, who testified earlier about her personal story of being diagnosed with a fetal anomaly, spoke against the amendment as well.

“We are as alive inside the womb as we are outside. So to claim that we are incompatible with life inside is womb is a fallacy,” Guy argued.

Cooper, who has a history of championing anti-choice bills, responded: “I know that you’re very passionate about this. But I would disagree with you in that a child like this is living not because of their own body function, but because of their mother’s body function.”

That amendment passed unanimously, but not before the Suzanne Guy left the room shouting “shame on you,” at the committee for considering the amendment. Suzanne Guy is the mother of Rachel Mary Guy, and also a speaker trained by Save the 1.

The other speakers in support of the bill included Heather Hobbs, an out of state speaker also from Save the 1, and Daphne Harris Nicely, the executive director of a pregnancy resource center called Atlanta Morning Center.

The speakers in opposition to the bill included : Dr. Al Scott, the President-Elect of the Georgia OB/Gyn Society; Dr. Melissa Kottke, an OB/Gyn professor at Emory; Dr. Roger Rochat, a professor at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory, and Dr. Krystal Redman, the executive director of the black-led reproductive justice organization SPARK RJ NOW.

Dr. Rochat’s testimony included the story of investigating the death of a young college student who attempted to self abort because she did not want to tell her parents she was pregnant. She ended up perforating her cervix with a coat hanger and died.

The minority party asked for a roll call vote — instead of the usual voice voting that happen in both the House and the Senate — and the result was a 17 to 14 split in favor of the bill along party lines.

The other abortion bill before the committee, House Bill 546, would make Georgia a state that immediately bans abortion should the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade. That bill was tabled by the sponsor and one of the governor’s floor leaders, Rep. Jodi Lott (R-Evans), shortly before the committee adjourned.

Majority Whip state Rep. Trey Kelley (R-Cedartown) asked for clarification that the Governor would support the heartbeat bill in lieu of getting his own bill considered by the committee in time to pass for crossover day.

Lott did not commit the Governor to supporting the bill, but strongly indicated he would. And by Thursday, the Governor, had indeed come out in support of the total abortion ban.

Now it is a race against the clock to try to get the bill over the finish line by midnight Thursday.

SB 15, Keeping Georgia’s Schools Safe Act passes in the Senate 47–8. The nays were all dems, but represents less than half of the Democratic caucus in the Senate.

There were concerns about earlier versions of this bill from both Concerned Women for American and Voice for Georgia’s Children.

Some of those concerns were addressed, but I still want to highlight what concerns Voices for Georgia’s Children originally had:

The nay votes were: Sens. Nikema Williams (D-Atlanta), Freddie Powell Sims (D-Dawson), Elena Parent (D-Atlanta), Harold V. Jones II (D-Augusta), Lester Jackson (D-Savannah), Steve Henson (D-Stone Mountain), Gail Davenport (D-Jonesboro)

Some budget (and other) updates quoted directly from the folks over at Nelson Mullins:

SB 83, allowing electives in Old and New Testament courses, changed “curriculum” to “content standards.” After a few questions on what this might open the door to, it got a “Do Pass” and goes on to Rules which worked out well for the bill’s sponsor — Sen. Rules Chair Jeff Mullis

FY2020 budget from House:

• Added $500,000 for grants to schools for feminine hygiene products for low-income students
• $828,042 increase for 54 slots in OB/GYN residency programs to reach a total of 36 slots at Emory University School of Medicine, 20 slots at Medical College of Georgia, 16 slots at Memorial University Medical Center, 16 slots at Morehouse School of Medicine, and 16 slots at Navicent Health Care Macon
• $500,000 increase for a Center of Excellence on Maternal Mortality at Morehouse School of Medicine
• $2,775 salary increase for each certified teacher and employee
• $398,786 increase for 17 adult protective services caseworkers (up from 12 in Governor’s proposal) to investigate reports of abuse, neglect, and/or exploitation of seniors and adults with disabilities
• $1,047,540 increase for maternal mental health to screen, refer, and treat maternal depression and related behavioral disorders in rural and underserved areas of the state

SB 9: Improves the ‘revenge porn’ laws of this state, Senate Judiciary Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute. From Sen. Harold Jones (D-Augusta).

Tampon Tax has a hearing! The Sales Tax subcommittee of Ways and Means, heard from advocates about the menstrual equity issues HB 8 seeks to address. Unfortunately, the chair was not very amenable to the bill, according to an email the Georgia STOMP coalition sent out to supporters.

They write:

“We are highly disappointed that the leadership in our state does not yet understand that the tax on menstrual products is discriminatory and should be eliminated on that basis, alone. BUT, the fact that the most powerful woman in the State House is acknowledging the existence of, and seeking to address, period poverty in Georgia, is a huge step forward in the overall progress of our work.”

HB 475: Another bill addressing the treatment of pregnant people who are incarcerated.

HB 484: Dealing with ethics and transparency (to patients) between medical providers and medical funding providers.

HB 488: You know those sites that let you buy and sell partially used gift cards, usually for a discounted rate? In order to prevent ‘organized retail crime,’ all those transactions would now require that the seller get the fingerprints, description, and official ID of the person they sell to. Those laws are slightly less restrictive for online sales than in-person sales.

HB 489: Adds more provisions to the laws making up cruelty to children in the second and third degrees.

HB 495: Clarifying what makes a worker an independent contractor vs. an employee; employee misclassification is a common way businesses avoid paying their share of taxes on a worker’s wages — and avoid other laws related to the rights of employees — by mislabeling employees as independent contractors.

The clarifications pretty solidly cover the sorts of experiences that differentiate an employee from someone who is truly an independent contractor (freedom to choose hours, projects, location of work, etc. without facing consequences or repercussions from the business paying you).

HB 502: From the generally level-headed Rep. Andy Welch (R-McDonough), addressing continuances (a hearing in a legal case gets pushed back / rescheduled) for Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia or any member of the State Board of Education, and also the Attorney General due to their duties. This is similar to law that Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) is getting heat for now.

HR 345: Lowers voting age to 17.

HR 369: ‘Democracy Act,’ a constitutional amendment to create a citizens redistricting commission.

HR 379 / SR 243: urging the U.S. Congress to impose limits on the President’s First Use nuclear strike capabilities.

SB 194: Repealing Code Section 36–75–11, the War on Terrorism Local Assistance laws.

SB 195: Trying to improve transparency of formularies, which are these fat documents from health insurance companies and pharmacy benefits managers that state what prescriptions are or are not covered, and at what cost to the patient.

cc: everyone who has ever had to unexpectedly switch to a less effective anti-depressant or other critical medicine(s) after finding out their current meds are no longer covered or covered at a much higher rate.

SB 196: Dem-led measure to redefine “ballot marking device” as “a pen, pencil, or similar writing tool, or an electronic ballot marker designed for use in marking ballots printed on durable paper so that its human-readable and verifiable mark may be detected as a vote so cast by an elector and then counted by a ballot scanner.”

SB 199: Sen. Nikema Williams (D-Atlanta) takes up work her predecessor championed calling for the testing of lead levels in school drinking water.

SB 201: Senate version of HB 264, regarding private ambulance employees not being allowed to serve on the local boards that decide which private ambulance companies can serve their area.

SR 237: Calling for a limited constitutional convention to add an amendment to the U.S. Constitution imposing term limits on Congress members.

SR 239: Recognizing Nowruz as the Persian New Year on March 21, 2019.

SR 243 / HR 379: urging the U.S. Congress to impose limits on the President’s First Use nuclear strike capabilities.

Advocacy groups are starting to rally their bases around issues spanning tenant protections, step therapy, and anti-abortion bills. I’ll touch on the who is doing what for folks that are interested. Plus a handful of news items of interest, including updates on the Gwinnett MARTA referendum, the tension behind the airport takeover bill, and anti-abortion legislation advancing in neighboring state Tennessee.

Georgia House Approves Switch To Ballot-Marking Devices With Paper Trail from Stephen Fowler over at Georgia Public Broadcasting.

The state House voted mostly along party lines to advance a $150 million bill that would fundamentally change how Georgians vote in the coming years.

HB 316 passed 101–97, with Democrats Carl Gilliard (D-Garden City) and Valencia Stovall (D-Forest Park) voting for the bill and one Republican, Rep. Scot Turner (R-Holly Springs) voting against it.

The primary function of the bill would update Georgia’s 27,000 17-year-old touchscreen direct-recording electronic voting machines to touchscreen ballot-marking devices that have some sort of printed paper component.

Other coverage / sources:

Georgia’s Election Battle Still Brews, Extends to Voting-Machine Bill from The Wall Street Journal.

Georgia House passes bill for new voting machines with paper ballots from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Live tweets of the floor debate from reporter Johnny Kaufman:

Johnny Kauffman on Twitter

The Georgia state House is about to debate a sweeping election bill, HB 316. Debate could last two hours. Here's the stream: https://t.co/edtbD6fjVW #gapol

Check out Prof. Richard DeMillo’s twitter for some real nerdy talk about voting systems and election security.

Also, a reminder that this bill isn’t just about the voting system Georgia adopts next:

Ga 1st Amendment Fdn on Twitter

The new voting machine rules in HB 316 broadly exempts the Secretary of State from having to publicly disclose any "information received" from a nongovernmental entity. That needs rethinking. The online version: https://t.co/oyB97iqB4p #gapol

Meanwhile, in the Senate: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s Medicaid waiver proposal passes Senate from The Associated Press.

A bill authorizing Gov. Brian Kemp to pursue Medicaid waivers passed the state Senate on Tuesday amid criticism from Democrats that Republicans rushed to approve the governor’s proposal without considering amendments.

The measure cleared the Senate 32–20. It now goes to the House for consideration.

…

Senate Democrats accused their Republican counterparts Tuesday of shutting down debate on the plan after the Senate voted to consider the bill without allowing for any amendments.

“This is life or death. We should be ashamed that we are not letting this be open to debate,” said freshman Democratic Rep. Zahra Karinshak of Duluth.

Simple amendments would improve the bill and give it a chance for bipartisan support, said Senate Democratic Leader Steve Henson of Stone Mountain, one of the measure’s most vocal critics.

Other coverage / sources:

Kemp’s health care ‘waiver’ bill passes Georgia Senate from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

From Governor Brian P. Kemp:

Governor Brian P. Kemp on Twitter

Today, the State Senate took decisive action to deliver results for Georgia families by passing Senate Bill 106" - @GovKemp Read more here: https://t.co/7XpZDAIuYJ #gapol

In the press release, Kemp notes that the bill was carried by two of his floor leaders: Sens. Blake Tillery (R-Vidalia) and Brian Strickland (R-McDonough). Floor leaders are always important to pay attention to.

Journalist Sam Whitehead provides a blow by blow of the debate and vote:

Sam Whitehead on Twitter

@KaiserFamFound @RepHenson86 .@Renee_Unterman on #SB106: "Is this the biggest bite of the apple we could take? No. But at least it's a bite." #gapol

Hot take from Laura Colbert of Georgians for a Healthy Future:

Laura Colbert on Twitter

Exactly. This proposal would cover fewer people while costing more, because the state will need to pay the traditional 67/33 funding match. #coverga #gapol https://t.co/IZlp8b2dID

Highlights of some advocacy work groups are doing at the state capitol.

This is not an endorsement of any group or their activities, just flagging items that might be of interest for readers.

The folks over at Georgia Watch, a consumer protection group, have their eyes on a couple of items this week.

SB 112, prevents the folks over at Plant Vogtle from charging public and charter schools to help fund their expansion. This is a line item on every rate payers bill, approved by the Public Service Commission. You can read more about it here.

HB 346 is a tenant protection bill, by prohibiting landlords from retaliating if a tenant is trying to get an issue with their housing repaired or dealt with.

Planned Parenthood, Feminist Women’s Health Center, URGE, and SisterLove are organizing around several anti-abortion measures that just dropped (that is just got introduced) this week.

HB 481 a “heartbeat” bill, effectively bans abortion, among other provisions.

Fun fact: scientists can grow cardiac tissue with a heartbeat in a lab.

There’s apparently going to be a Senate version introduced soon. In the abortion realm, there’s also SB 169, which would require doctors to tell their patients that it is possible to reverse a medication abortion. Read more about how the heck that all started here.

The Rx in Reach Coalition are also doing advocacy work around the capitol.

HB 63, now in the Senate (meaning it already passed in the House), requires health insurance companies to have policies so that patients are not required to go through step therapy (trying cheaper drugs before prescriptions for more expensive ones are allowed) when their healthcare provider recommends otherwise.

The Coalition will be doing work around that issue early next month.

Group protests family separation on Sundays from the Newnan Times-Herald.

Each Sunday, a small group of Cowetans and folks from surrounding areas have been gathering on the Court Square in downtown Newnan to “shine a light” on the ongoing separation of families at the U.S./Mexico border.

…

The Shining a Light Action protests are organized by Indivisible Georgia 3rd and South Atlanta Progressives, and take place from noon to 1 p.m., weather permitting.

Abortion: Tennessee lawmakers advance fetal heartbeat bill from The Associated Press.

A bill that would ban most Tennessee women from obtaining abortions once a fetus’ heartbeat is detected cleared a key hurdle Tuesday, advancing for a full House vote in the GOP-dominated Legislature.

Georgia Politicians File Two Six-week Abortion Bans from Planned Parenthood’s blog.

Two, dueling six-week abortion bans — HB 481 and a separate senate bill, which is still unavailable — are currently working their way through the Georgia Legislature.

These bills would serve as a de facto ban on abortion — outlawing the procedure before most women even know they’re pregnant.

Gwinnett elections director: As much as 30 percent turnout possible for MARTA vote from the Gwinnett Daily Post.

Gwinnett County expected the county’s MARTA vote would drive a higher voter turnout than usual for a special election, but Monday’s start of early voting offered the first glimpse of what could be as about 900 voters cast ballots.

As of 6 p.m. on Monday, 867 votes had been cast at the county’s elections office in Lawrenceville and a few handfuls of additional voters swung by after that during the last hour that the poll was open that day. In addition to the votes cast Monday, 834 mail-in ballots have been sent out to voters as early voting began.

All of it is leading county elections director Lynn Ledford to predict a turnout that is at least twice as large as a typical special election might draw.

Could state be poised to take over Hartsfield-Jackson Airport? from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A bill that could allow a state takeover of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport cleared a state Senate committee on Tuesday overcoming opposition by the city of Atlanta and Delta Air Lines.

Senate Bill 131 — introduced by state Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson — would create the Georgia Major Airport Authority to control the world’s busiest airport. The Senate transportation committee passed the bill with a 5–4 vote Tuesday evening.State legislators’ interest in taking over Hartsfield-Jackson from the city of Atlanta has grown amid a federal corruption investigation into Atlanta City Hall and lawsuits over the years alleging steering of airport contracts.

Favorite quote (and there was a lot to choose from):

All this and more in today’s post on Day 21: Monday, February 25, 2019 at the Georgia State Capitol.

Monday started with Speaker of the House, David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge), defending himself against allegations that he misused his office to delay court cases.

Part one of his remarks:

and part two:

He is now calling for a bipartisan group to look into the law that allows legislators to delay trial for official business, and said he will not take on any new criminal cases (at a $99,000 salary as speaker, it’s not like he needs it).

From the Atlanta-Journal Constitution:

His remarks were greeted with a standing ovation by most lawmakers, including key Democratic leaders who have largely stayed out of the fight. But several of Ralston’s staunchest critics in both parties pointedly remained seated with arms crossed.

A resolution from a small group of Republicans has been introduced calling for him to resign. If these folks had any bills they cared about, I am guessing they won’t be coming up for a vote on the floor anytime soon.

Co-sponsors are: Rep. David Clark (R-Buford), Rep. Kevin Cooke (R-Carrollton), Rep. David Stover (R-Newnan), Rep. Jeff Jones (R-Brunswick), Rep. Sheri Gilligan (R-Cumming), Rep. Ken Pullin (R-Zebulon), Rep. Matt Gurtler (R-Tiger; Gurtler is already on the Speaker’s shit list), Rep. Michael Caldwell (R-Woodstock), Rep. Scot Turner (R-Holly Springs), and Rep. Colton Moore (R-Trenton).

Rep. Karen Mathiak (R-Griffin) had her name removed from the bill sometime after signing it.

HB 202 — the bill from Rep. Jess Petrea (R-Savannah) — had a ‘hearing’ in full committee that quickly became Chair Bill Hitchens (R-Rincon) cutting public comments short and passing the measure along partisan lines. Video of the vote below:

This bill would create some kind of list of all the crimes undocumented people are responsible for in this state. There was strong support and opposition for the bill. The opposition was organized by the Dustin Inman Society and D.A. King, and their group had a little pep rally after the vote, while opponents of the measure went off to confer in another room.

The full committee hearing is available here (it’s the first bill they take up). This definitely comes with a content warning for some quite openly racist remarks.

The bail bond industry wants your money, at least if HB 340 is anything to go by. Subcommittee hearings are not live streamed, however both myself and Rep. Park Cannon (D-Atlanta) made records of the hearing, available here or here.

All of the bail bonds folks there with sponsor Rep. Micah Gravely (R-Douglasville) sat alongside the sponsor during his presentation of the bill, and did not share that they worked in that industry until called out for it by Rep. Boddie (D-East Point).

Here’s some Twitter commentary on the matter:

Tiff Will Roberts on Twitter

🚨🚨Let's work together NOW to #SaveGABailReform from bonding industry sabotage! Micah Gravley of Douglasville has intro'd #HB340 which would kill #ATLBAILREFORM and prohibit other cities & counties from passing similar reform. The bill is sched. for hearing TOMORROW-2/25 @ 4P!🚨

HB 6: Dem-led bill to eliminate ‘no contact’ as a reason a voter can have their registration cancelled.

HB 415: Also a Dem-led measure to create a process for recently incarcerated people to get state-issued identification cards regardless of if they have the documents usually required under the REAL ID laws (birth certificate, social security card, etc). Instead, the person can rely on the documents from their incarceration to prove their identity.

Having an official identification card of some kind — driver’s license being the most common — is absolutely essential these days to accessing everything from social safety nets to signing lease to applying for a job. This measure could make it easier for a particularly vulnerable and marginalized population to get a REAL ID compliant identification card. After all, if we can lock arrest someone and process them through a jail presumably the state feels confident it was able to establish the identity of the person.

HB 416: Public health nerds! This bill would create a State Vaccine Consumer Protection Office.

HB 429: The fight over the registration fees for alternative fueled vehicles (electric cars and the like) continues.

HB 433: Dem alternative to HB 316, the omnibus election bill which would allow the state to spend $150 million on ballot-marking devices.

HB 434: I’m calling this the ‘fuck Scout’ bill until I hear otherwise. Protects campus cops from civil liability (torts) if they are “acting within the scope of his or her official duties.”

HB 435: “Georgia Red Flag Protective Order Act,” another bill about (temporarily) keeping guns out of the hands of people involved in committing acts of family violence.

HB 437: State law pushing for net neutrality (or some version of it anyway).

HB 438: Children can’t just be held in chains while in court without the court justifying it.

HB 441: “Plan of safe care,” option in juvenile courts.

HB 447: Delta tax fuel breaks…exemption from state sales and use tax to be extended until 2039, instead of requiring the exemption be re-approved every session.

HB 448: My layperson’s read: AirBnb subject to same taxes as hotels / motels.

HB 449: No more tax breaks for sports arenas. From Reps. Ron Stephens (R-Savannah) and William Boddie (D-East Point).

HB 465: “Georgia Water Customer Bill of Rights Act.”

HB 470: Regarding DNA collection, analysis, and use for comparison for people convicted of felonies.

HB 475: Protections for incarcerated women plus access to appropriate prenatal and postpartum care.

HB 481: “Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act.” This is a ‘personhood’ bill combined with a bunch of other anti-abortion restrictions.

See more: Georgia Republican files ‘heartbeat’ bill that would effectively ban abortion

SB 151: “The Health Act,” creating an Office of Health Strategy and Coordination.

SB 163: “Tim Tebow Act” or “Equal Opportunity for Access in Education Act.” About home school students participating in extracurricular activities at what would be their local school.

SB 166: “Georgia Enhanced Penalties for Hate Crimes Act,” from Sen. Lester Jackson (D-Savannah), provides additional penalties if a crime is committed against someone on the basis of “race, color, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, or ethnicity.”

SB 169: Requiring doctors to tell patients that a medication abortion can be “reversed.” (Note: This is somewhere on the spectrum of ‘outright lie’ to ‘dubious at best.’).

SB 173: “Georgia Educational Scholarship Act.” Another way to direct money to private schools.

SB 177: Requiring any new cityhood measures to go through the Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office of the General Assembly.

SB 181: Putting the State Workforce Development Board under the control of the Dept. of Labor, instead of the Technical College System of Georgia.

SB 185: Regarding gaps in Medicare (not Medicaid).

The department shall establish a qualified Medicare beneficiary program designed to provide financial assistance to low-income Medicare beneficiaries to fill the gaps in Medicare coverage to pay Medicare premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance for Medicare covered services or to purchase Medicare supplemental insurance coverage.

SB 187: Regarding a person getting their involuntary hospitalization information purged.

SB 188: Reinsurance?

‘Step therapy’ reform one step closer, by Andy Miller in The Albany-Herald.

The insurer drug protocols that the Atlanta family faced are known as “step therapy.’’ They require that a patient “try and fail” on one or more meds before insurers provide coverage for a drug that was originally prescribed.

The House Insurance Committee on Wednesday passed legislation that would help patients obtain exceptions to these drug requirements.

…

The legislation has the support of state Rep. Kim Schofield, an Atlanta Democrat who has personal experience with the issue. She fought an insurer’s denial of coverage of a treatment for her lupus.

She said in a statement, “I will fight for legislation that eliminates step therapy protocols so physicians have a clear and expeditious process that will allow them to prescribe the best drug and treatment for their patient’s medical needs.’’

On a related note, read more about the recent death of disability rights advocate Carrie Ann Lucas. From Sarah Kim over at Forbes:

Lucas’ death was ultimately a result of her insurance company, UnitedHealthCare, refusing to pay for one specific inhaled antibiotic. She caught a bad case of the cold in January of 2018 but was denied access to proper treatment. As a result, she had to take a less effective drug, and she had a set of adverse reactions to this drug. This led to spiraling health issues, including the loss of speech, and she had numerous stays in the intensive care unit during the past year. The healthcare company refused to pay for the needed drug allegedly to save $2,000.

If you haven’t heard of Lucas and her work, then you are unfortunately not alone.

During this time of society when it has become acceptable to discuss topics that were once considered taboo, such as gay rights and reproductive rights, discussions surrounding disability rights issues are still kept in secrecy. Discussing disability issues often makes the mainstream population uncomfortable. It’s not as “sexy” as equal marriage rights or climate change.

Democratic lawmakers boost Gwinnett County MARTA referendum from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Gwinnett County MARTA referendum got a boost from Democrats in the General Assembly Monday as the county began early voting on the issue.

Nine Gwinnett Democrats urged voters to support the referendum, which would allow MARTA to take over the county’s transit system and would impose a 1-cent sales tax for transit expansion in Georgia’s second-largest county (you can learn more about the details here).

John Legend Thanks Mayor Of Atlanta For Helping Close Down Jail from The Inquisitir.

See also: Designing Our Futures: #CommunitiesOverCages Alliance Meeting from Women on the Rise and Racial Justice Action Center.

Netflix exempted from proposed Georgia downloads tax, from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Your Netflix and other streaming video services are safe from state taxes, at least for now.

Georgia lawmakers have removed an unpopular proposal to impose sales taxes on streaming services.Instead, members of the state House are moving forward with legislation to create a 4 percent tax on most other online products, including e-books, iTunes music and video games.

House Bill 428 would also eliminate various fees and taxes on existing phone and cable TV services.

Georgia House committee passes hate crimes bill from my comrade Patrick Saunders at Project Q.

HB 426 passed out of subcommittee on Monday night, and passed out of the full committee Tuesday morning. The only ‘no’ vote both times came from Rep. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth).

Cole Muzio, president of the Family Policy Alliance of Georgia, worried that including sexual orientation as a protected class would be a “dangerous and slippery slope.” He also said the bill covers gender identity.

“I know the bill just says gender, but our attorneys are looking very closely at this and believe that based on case law, this means gender identity,” he said. “That’s what we’re getting into. Ten years ago, it didn’t mean that. Ten years from now, this bill will be a very different thing as people read it differently.”

…

Jane Robbins, a lobbyist for Concerned Women for America, said HB 426 “violates the spirit of the Constitution” by carving out categories of people “for special protections.”

“I don’t deserve special protection because I’m a woman,” she said. “That really offends me that my boys … ‘Well too bad, you’re white, male, Christian and heterosexual. We don’t really care about you.’”

Robbins also referenced the case of Jussie Smollett, the black gay actor who Chicago police said hired two men to carry out a fake hate crime against him.

“We see how fakeable it is. Hate crimes are faked all the time,” Robbins said.

A look at Day 20 — Friday, February, 22, 2019 — quiet as it was, and what the upcoming week has in store.

As promised, a Republican-led measure was introduced encouraging Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) to resign, over concerns that he abused his office to the benefit of his clients (he’s a lawyer).

I’ll get the full list of co-sponsors up as soon as I can. But lord, this could get ugly.

ICYMI: Electronic voting machines clear hurdles in Georgia House, from the Associated Press. This is about HB 316, the omnibus voting bill from Rep. Barry Fleming (R-Harlem).

There’s some big hearings of interest, all happening on Monday. Many committees have not yet posted their calendar, so don’t be surprised if you get any mid-week ‘action alerts’ for folks on any kind of advocacy group’s email list.

House Public Safety and Homeland Security: Hearing Monday, Feb. 25, at 1 PM to include HB 202, the immigrant registry bill from Rep. Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah). You can watch the live steam from home here.

The Dustin Inman Society writes:

This bill should pass with a unanimous vote. It won’t. The corporate-funded anti-borders lobbyists — some of whom are illegal aliens — will fill the committee room and claim it is “anti-immigrant.”

While the folks over at Project South put out this fact sheet:

And 159 Georgia Together put out a call to action about HB 202 earlier this month.

The Senate Health and Human Services committee will be hearing HB 158 (among others), the bill to give equitable access to antiretroviral drugs to Medicaid recipients, on Monday, Feb. 25, at 3 PM. The live stream of that committee hearing will be available here.

What’s this bill about?

The Reeves Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Non-Civil committee will be hearing the hate crimes bill — HB 426 —also on Monday, Feb 25, at 4 PM. Subcommittee hearings are not usually live streamed, unfortunately.

MONDAY 2/25

NLC Day at the Capitol, hosted by New Leaders Council — Atlanta.

TUESDAY 2/26

2019 Georgia NCNW Day at the Capitol, hosted by the historic NCNW (a black women’s group).

Pink Out The Halls, hosted by Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates.

8th Annual Justice Day at the Capitol, hosted by the Georgia Justice Project, the Southern Center for Human Rights, Georgia Shift, and the many other organizations that make up the Justice Reform Partnership coalition. More information available at: JusticeDay365.org. They will also have a live stream going all day, available here.

These are the folks behind the weekly Talk Justice Tuesdays.

Legislative Action Day with Parents at the Capitol, hosted by Shawna for our Children and the Atlanta Public Education Alliance.

WEDNESDAY 2/27

2019 Housing Day at the Capitol, hosted by The Atlanta Chapter of The National Association of Real Estate Brokers, Inc., Georgia Advancing Communities Together, and another non-profit industry group called Enterprise.

Lupus Advocacy Day at the Georgia State Capitol, hosted by the Ga. Chapter of the Lupus Foundation.

Women at Work Lobby Day (weekly on Wednesday, hosted by ACLU of Georgia, Georgia Conservation Voters and Georgia Engaged.

ERA Advocacy Day, which I believe is being led by an advocate rather than a group.

Georgia AFL-CIO Legislative Training and Lobby Day (Day 1, training), hosted by the AFL-CIO of Georgia.

THURSDAY 2/28

Cover Georgia Day at the Capitol, hosted by Georgians for a Healthy Future, Georgia Equality, and the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.

American Heart Association Georgia Lobby Day, hosted by the Metro Atlanta American Heart Association.

CCGA Citizen Lobby Day, hosted by Common Cause Georgia.

Immigrants Rights Thursdays at the Capitol (weekly on Thursdays), hosted by a coalition of organizations, including Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, GALEO, and New American Pathways.

It’s time to get caught up on new bills and resolutions.

Plus, some other news for you radar.

I’m not sure what more there is to be said about HB 316… after three days of hearings and a lot of support for paper ballots from advocates across the state, HB 316 made it out of the Governmental Affairs Elections subcommittee and the full Governmental Affairs committee. More on this from the AJC.

Here is testimony from the first day of the hearings that sums up a lot of the concerns paper ballot advocates have:

Highlights from Day 2, include this back and forth between Minority Leader Bob Trammel and bill sponsor Rep. Barry Fleming:

Cyber-security expert Dr. Rich A. DeMillo of Georgia Tech also provided testimony on Day 2 and answered many questions regarding why cyber security experts view ballot marking devices as a risk (his remarks start at 1:54:51):

Rep. Bee Nguyen (D-Atlanta) speaks on Day 3 specifically about the exact match policies and the potential for data entry areas that disproportionately impact people of color:

Lastly, here is the conclusion of the subcommittee meeting:

Note that a motion to table fails; Rep. Alan Powell’s (R-Hartwell) comments about disenfranchisement not being a real thing; and the chair of the full committee essentially giving legislators only a few hours to prepare amendments with the assistance of the over-burdened legislative counsel and make copies available to both the bill sponsor and the committee.

Earned Income Tax Credits — SB 41 by Sen. Elena Parent (D-Atlanta) — got a hearing! Video of the full hearing in the Senate Finance committee available here. They did not take any action on the bill.

Several Republicans on the committee interpreted the testimony as broadly supporting an overall reduction in the state income tax.

It’s important to note than the Earned Income Tax Credit specifically targets low income people, for whom a few hundred dollars can make a huge impact on their ability to live, survive, and thrive. That’s a bit different than the impact someone making $100,000 or more a year experiences if they get a small tax break.

From fellow reporter Andy Miller, as published in the Rome News-Tribune:

The Earned Income Tax Credit helps increase the income of working families with lower wages. The federal credit incentivizes work, climbing as wages increase before ending at higher incomes. About 1 million Georgia households earned this federal credit in 2015, the report said.

The report says 29 states have offered a state version of this credit, to offset state and local taxes. But not Georgia.

A refundable Georgia Work Credit set at 10 percent of the federal credit could cut taxes by a few hundred dollars a year for eligible workers, up to about $630 per family, the report says.

Nelson Mullins — which I am going to loosely put in the world of lobbying — highlighted a couple other items of interest in their own daily Gold Dome Report.

The biggest of these is that the budget process continues, despite everyone’s attention elsewhere. The Senate approved their own version of the amended fiscal year 2019 budget, which will now go back to the house for approval or negotiations.

HB 353: Creates the crime of staging a motor vehicle collision. Is this a problem?

HB 359: From Rep. Scott Holcomb (D-Atlanta) regarding how police determine the dominant aggressor and treat other parties in a family violence situation.

HB 360: From Rep. Pedro Martin (D-Duluth), calling for the Department of Driver Services to issue driving cards to non-citizens who cannot currently obtain one. (See HB 400 below).

HB 362: Also led by Rep. Martin, tax payers should be able to deduct expenses related to becoming a citizen.

HB 363: Another bill led by Rep. Martin; the government should provide reasonable accommodations for folks with limited english proficiency.

HB 364: A really specific ‘second chance’ criminal justice bill. The first conviction had to be when someone was between 17 and 25; they can’t have another offense for five years; and a bunch of types of crimes are excluded.

HB 373: Department of Labor can do criminal background checks on employees, with a particular focus on any “individual with direct access to federal return information.”

Also, addresses some of the policies surrounding collecting unemployment benefits.

HB 389: Students get an excused absence for going to vote on election days.

HB 400: Creating a non-citizen driving card in a somewhat more concerning way than HB 360. HB 400 will have ‘NOT FOR FEDERAL USE’ and ‘NOT U.S. CITIZEN’ on the card, in addition to requiring fingerprints to obtain.

HB 403: Banning private corporations from running detention facilities in Georgia.

HB 410: “To allow for the use of bar shaped lighting devices on motor vehicles.” Again, not sure who or what this is targeted to on first (second, or third) read?

HB 414: Mandatory kindergarten.

HB 416: Create a “State Vaccine Consumer Protection Office,” which will primarily deal with “potential vaccine injuries.” Not quite an anti-vaccine measure, but certainly influenced by that line of thinking.

HB 418: Child Victim Act of 2019.

HB 426: Bi-partisan hate crimes bill, covering acts committed on the basis (actual or perceived) of “race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, mental disability, or physical disability.”

HB 433: Hand-marked paper ballots. A response to HB 316, the omnibus voting bill that just passed out of committee.

HR 261 / SR 202: Joint Study Committee on Evaluating and Simplifying Physician Oversight of Midlevel Providers

HR 290: Dems saying University System of Georgia employees should get cost of living and merit pay adjustments to their salaries, and that the legislature should include that in the budget.

HR 291: House Study Committee on Increasing Access to Afterschool Programs.

SB 125: Calling for adult changing stations in family or handicapped-accessible restrooms (in large commercial place).

SB 131: Giving the state authority over airports (Hartsfield-Jackson being one of the top targets).

SB 147: Can’t be an elected official and a paid lobbyist (beyond your duties to represent your constituents / municipality). I can think of at least one mayor this applies to.

SB 150: If someone is convicted of an act of family violence involving a weapon, you don’t get to keep having guns. There is a similar version of this bill in the House: HB 58.

SB 151: The Health Act. No joke, that’s what it is called.

SB 158: Anti-Human Trafficking Protective Response Act, from a handful of republicans.

SR 193: Senate Study Committee on Transferring Oversight of Developmental Disabilities to the Department of Community Health (likely in case the joint study committee doesn’t work out).

SR 194: Joint Study Committee on Transferring Oversight of Developmental Disabilities to the Department of Community Health.

SR 202 / HR 261: Joint Study Committee on Evaluating and Simplifying Physician Oversight of Midlevel Providers.

SR 214: “A resolution urging state agencies and departments to publish or deliver their reports to the General Assembly by electronic means whenever possible.”

SR 217: Senate Study Committee on Prescribing Patterns for Antidepressants and Other Psychotropic Medications (particularly focused on adolescents).

SR 220: Recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This resolution is sponsored by: Sen. Bruce Thompson (R-White); Majority Leader Mike Dugan (R-Carrollton); President Pro Tempore Butch Miller (R-Gainesville); Rules Chair Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga); Sen. Marty Harbin (R-Tyrone); Sen. William Ligon (R-Brunswick); and others.

What’s the difference between a bill and a resolution?

A bill is pretty straightforward — it proposes changes to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, the official laws of the state.

It’s worth mentioning that the state has authority over municipalities, not just preemption (we get to make decisions about this issue, you do not), but authority. When a municipality wants to change how their county commission is structured or paid, or add a judge to their court system, or incorporate as a city, this has to first be approved by the General Assembly.

This is also done with a bill, but gets voted on in a different manner.

A resolution, however, can be one of several things:

1. A gesture to recognize or commend a person, organization, or other entity for their contributions
2. A statement of values — sometimes directed at the federal government — with no substantial impact
3. A constitutional amendment (Georgia has a Constitution that governs how state laws are interpreted; like with amendments to the U.S. Constitution, these require a higher level of support to pass)
4. A way to create a study committee on a specific issue (these are short term committees — either House, Senate, or Joint — created solely for the purpose of looking at a specified issue and returning recommendations to the General Assembly)
5. A way to influence Federal policy (e.g. by calling for the ratification of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution or calling for a constitutional convention)

Resolutions are also exempt from the “crossover day” rule. More on crossover day once we get to it.

March Food Stamps will be issued in two parts, FAQ from DFCS.

Uncertain of how long the federal government shutdown would last, the Department of Family and Child Services went ahead and issued February’s benefits early. For March, they are going to give everyone half their benefit on the second, and the other half on their regular day.

It’s almost like SNAP allocations aren’t really enough to feed us food stamp recipients for a whole month. But, still, I am glad DFCS has been trying to respond as helpfully as they can to the whole situation.

Georgia House speaker accused of delaying court for clients by the Associated Press.

One of Georgia’s most powerful lawmakers has repeatedly used his office to delay court proceedings — some of them for years — for criminal defendants he represents as an attorney, according to an investigation by two Atlanta news organizations.

House Speaker David Ralston asked judges to reschedule court cases at least 57 times in the past two years, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB-TV reported. Clients of Ralston’s private law practice who benefited from the delays included men charged with child molestation, assault and drunken driving.

“That’s why I gave him $20,000 bucks,” Ralston client David Shell told the newspaper. “He’s worth every penny of it.”

Injunction motion filed in seismic testing suit from Wes Wolfe over at the Brunswick News.

With action underway by the federal government to approve applications for seismic air gun testing off the Atlantic Coast, plaintiffs in a lawsuit to stop the practice filed a motion for preliminary injunction Wednesday morning in federal court in Charleston, S.C.

…

“Seismic air guns pose a significant threat to marine mammals and sea turtles that rely on sound for communication, navigation and other critical behaviors,” Alice Keyes, [One Hundred Miles] vice president for coastal conservation, said in a declaration filed with the motion. “Seismic air guns also pose a threat to finfish and shellfish, as crustaceans as well.”

It’s also time to lift up bills that deserve more attention than they are getting and bills to not let slip through the cracks.

Today’s post, covering Day 18 — Wednesday, February 20 — also includes some news items from other publications worth a gander.

HB 316 — the omnibus voting & elections bill from Rep. Barry Fleming (R-Harlem) — had three days of hearings in subcommittee. As I write this, it’s fate is being contemplated by the full House Governmental Affairs committee.

Hand-marked paper ballot advocates have been going hard on this bill. Check out folks like Jennifer Cohn and Anjali Enjeti on Twitter for some great commentary on this issue.

Bee Nguyen on Twitter

I've spent 7+ hours in hearings on HB316. I've drawn up an amendment to address the inherently flawed "exact match" policy. 80% of frozen registrations are people of color - and it just so happens my name & @RenittaShannon's name are misspelled in our own committee notices.

Despite all the push back, the bill passed out of the subcommittee and is, as I write this, before the full Governmental Affairs committee. I’m getting some video clips organized for your viewing pleasure, to capture some of the highlights from the three days of hearings that occurred in the subcommittee. So be on the look out for those.

SB 9: This bill improves laws around revenge porn, to include someone being coerced to share or publicize a video. Still stuck in the Senate Judiciary committee, after some promising hearings.

SB 10: Reduced penalties for marijuana possession. Also stuck in the Senate Judiciary committee, after some promising hearings. Judy is chaired by Jesse Stone (R-Waynesboro).

SB 41: Earned Income Tax Credits! This is a pretty rad policy tool for addressing poverty in a state that is unlikely to increase the minimum wage anytime soon. Dem-backed bill currently sitting in the Senate Finance committee.

Check out Georgia Budget and Policy Institute for more details on this.

SB 46 / HB 116: Speaking of which… these are parallel bills to raise the minimum wage to $15.

SB 50 / HB 122: Eliminate campus carry.

Senate sponsor Sen. Sally Harrel (D-Atlanta) spoke about this measure on Lawmakers.

SB 59: Georgia would go from a one-party consent to an all-party consent for recording any conversations. The ever delightful Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga) is championing this measure.

The Georgia First Amendment Foundation has a great write-up of why this measure is concerning: How Senate Bill 59 will protect the bad guys.

In addition to chairing the powerful Rules Committee, he’s also the lead sponsor on SB 77, which further protects confederate monuments; SB 83, about teaching the “old and new testament” in schools; and is the second co-sponsor on SR 112, calling for “members of both parties and both sides of the life debate to have reasonable debate regarding the interpretation and application of the United States Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade.”

SB 64: Allows for juveniles to be charged with ‘making terroristic threats,’ if they call in a fake bomb threat or fake threats of a mass shooting. This bill is the Senate Judiciary committee.

Like the failed zero tolerance policies of the past, hopefully folks working on this issue will find a better way to address these problematic behaviors.

HB 63: This bill has successfully passed in the House and is now in the Senate; assigned to the Senate Insurance & Labor committee. HB 63 is related to step therapy protocols — this is when an insurance company won’t let a patient access a drug their doctor has prescribed until the patient tries a cheaper therapy first. This requires insurance companies to have some kind of policy in place that allows patients and doctors to challenge the forced application of a step therapy protocol.

HB 116 / SB 46: Parallel bills to raise the minimum wage to $15.

HB 122 / SB 50: Eliminate campus carry.

Senate sponsor Sen. Sally Harrel (D-Atlanta) spoke about this measure on Lawmakers.

HB 158: Medicaid recipients should get the same access to the latest and greatest in HIV meds as everyone else. Passed the House 169–0, and is now in the Senate Health and Human Services committee.

HB 178: As someone who has had to get loved ones involuntarily committed to an inpatient psych facility — because there just are not other options if someone will not voluntarily seek help but is clearly not okay — I appreciate that this bill provides for a step that is less intense: involuntary commitment to an outpatient facility / to outpatient treatment.

In the bill this option is called, “assisted outpatient treatment programs.”

HB 178 is currently sitting in Health & Human Services, chaired by Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta).

I can’t say how experts in this area view this bill, there certainly could be caveats that are concerning that I’m not picking up on. But involuntary commitment to pysch facilities is hella traumatic. Having a less intense intervention would be amazing.

If this is an area you are familiar with, I’d love to get your insights into this bill.

HB 188: Would eliminate state funding for fake women’s health centers (often called crisis pregnancy centers, pregnancy resource centers, or just CPCs). Assigned to Health and Human Services, however the chair of that committee was one of the lead legislators getting the legislation passed. So unlikely this will get taken up for a hearing.

HB 202: Rep. Jesse Petrea’s (R-Savannah) shitty bill to create a registry of immigrants that come into contact with the criminal justice system. Currently just sitting in House Public Safety and Homeland Security; I don’t believe it’s even had a hearing yet.

HB 217: Clarify legality of needle exchange programs! Passed out of the House Health and Human Service committee.

Connect with the Atlanta Harm Reduction Coalition (and their next advocacy day, if they have another) to stay plugged in with this.

HB 331: Expands family violence / intimate partner violence protections to include dating relationships. Specifically it says:

‘Dating relationship’ means a romantic or intimate social relationship that is characterized by a level of intimacy, knowledge, or affection that is not associated a casual acquaintanceship or between persons in an ordinary business, social, or education context; provided, however, that ‘dating relationship’ shall not require sexual involvement.

Sponsored by Rep. Mandi Ballinger (R-Canton), and currently assigned to the House Judiciary Non-Civil committee.

HB 345: A bill related to how pregnant people are treated while incarcerated; sponsored by Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta), whose committee (Health and Human Services) it has been assigned to. Expect this to move.

HB 359: Interesting measure addressing how officers go about determining (and arresting) the dominant aggressor in situations of family violence of intimate partner violence. Put in Juvenile Justice for some reason? But was just dropped (i.e. introduced), so nothing has happened yet.

HR 164: A *constitutional amendment* meaning it has to pass by a two-thirds majority in both chambers, and then go before the voters for approval.

Currently if lawmakers want to dedicate funds to something, they can only do so by a constitutional amendment. However, there are problems with some fees that are collected going into the general fund and not being used for the purpose the fee name would suggest.

This would allow lawmakers to address that problem, but narrowly expanding their right to channel fees to their stated purpose without a constitutional amendment (so the regular lawmaking way).

Just passed out of the House by a vote of 169–1. Now it’s headed to the Senate.

Barnes Law Group Withdraws as Counsel for Republicans in Voting Rights Case from the Daily Report.

The seemingly odd pairing of former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes as defense counsel for Georgia’s Republican secretary of state is over.

Barnes and John Salter, Barnes’ law partner and son-in-law, quietly withdrew their representation Friday from a federal voting rights lawsuit filed against Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp as he ran for governor.

Their withdrawal ended 15 months of defending Kemp against allegations he allowed the state’s electronic elections system to deteriorate so dramatically while secretary of state that returning to paper ballots was needed.

Kristi E. Swartz on Twitter

Vogtle shifts into its startup and testing phases, signaling a pivotal year for the nation's only #nuclear construction project. In #Energywire 🔒https://t.co/ExgCGXGnqX #gapol #gapsc

Pulpit power: Churches join Abrams group’s elections lawsuit from the AJC.

“I’m sad to say Georgia is ground zero with this issue,” said the Rev. Raphael Warnock, who has long used his pulpit at Ebenezer to advocate for voting rights. “We are coming to reclaim our democracy so that the voices of every citizen can indeed be heard.”

The group filed the lawsuit after Abrams ended her campaign for governor against Kemp, who won by roughly 55,000 votes. Throughout the race, she accused Kemp of misusing his role as the state’s elections chief to tilt the playing field.

The group’s lawsuit, which is still pending in federal court, alleges that the purge of voter registrations, cancellations of absentee ballots, closing of polling precincts and dismissal of provisional ballots undermines democracy.

Proposed Georgia Bill Would Make Third-Party Candidacy Easier from WABE

Dar’shun Kendrick is a Democratic state representative from Lithonia who sponsored a bill to loosen the policy. The proposal would change the signature requirement for all public offices to 1 percent of active voters, or 200 people, whichever is less.

What is it about for her?

“How can we make sure that we don’t get as polarized as they are in Washington, D.C., and how do we make sure that our democracy is the strongest that it could be,” she said.

Kendrick said this should be part of the discussion in the state Legislature and the Democratic Party about voting integrity and voting technology.

An interesting item from yesterday’s Daily Jolt:

The Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual legislative luncheon on Tuesday attracted hundreds of participants — perhaps 500 people crowded the Depot. Most of the big names in GOP politics were in attendance.

Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and Attorney General Chris Carr all gave speeches that were well regarded by the crowd but offered little in the way of news.

So did House Speaker David Ralston, who used a variation of his Fannin County speech — without the warnings about ideological purity.

There was plenty of promises to oppose abortion rights legislation and an expansion of medical marijuana rules, with a talk headlined by author Alex Berenson, whose book explores a possible link between drug use and mental illness.

What was missing, however, was any concerted effort to talk up “religious liberty” legislation — long a priority for the group — and any overt mention of casinos and gambling.

Is state Sen. Renee Unterman (R-Buford) contemplating a congressional run?

Via AJC’s The Jolt:

One Republican who seems very likely to hop into the contest is state Sen. Renee Unterman. And she would instantly become one of the biggest names, if not the outright favorite, should she get in.

Our AJC colleague Tyler Estep caught up with the veteran Buford lawmaker on Wednesday, who all but confirmed she’s running.

“I’ve kind of got a little discovery committee going on out there, and we’re talking about it and the results we’re getting are very good and favorable,” she told Estep.

Supreme Court strikes blow against states that raise revenue by hefty fines, forfeitures in USA Today

State and local governments increasingly use funds collected in criminal and civil cases to pay for municipal services. The 100 cities with the highest proportion of revenue from fines and fees in 2012 financed 7 percent to 30 percent of their budgets that way, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

“Imposing monetary penalties that bury people under mountains of accumulating debt has devastating consequences on individuals, families and entire communities, particularly low-income communities of color,” said Nusrat Choudhury, deputy director of the ACLU Racial Justice Program.

The practice often leads low-income defendants further into poverty, crime, prison and recidivism, the liberal Southern Poverty Law Center and libertarian Cato Institute argued in court papers. The American Bar Association noted that nearly two-thirds of prisoners have little prospect of paying the fines and fees after their release.

The Medicaid expansion alternative bill was passed out of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee by a party line vote of nine to four.

The election & voting reform beast of a bill had a hearing that went longer than my cold medicines could keep me upright (and apparently longer than anyone else’s stamina, too, as there has been an additional hearing scheduled for Wednesday).

Some good HIV bills have moved.

The folks behind the move to eliminate sales tax on menstrual products had a press conference today.

Tuesday, February 19, 2019 — the 17th day of the forty day long legislative session — was a doozy. The only place that was quiet was the hopper (where new bills are filed).

The Governor’s alternative to Medicaid expansion had a hearing and was passed by a party-line vote in the Senate Health and Human Services committee today.

The “Patients First Act,” Senate Bill 106, is being carried by one of the Governor’s floor leaders, Sen. Blake Tillery (R-Vidalia).

Floor leaders are selected by the Governor to sort of be his eyes and ears in the Senate. They also promote legislation he wants. It’s definitely a position of power in its own way.

Twelve people (well lobbyists of one sort of another) spoke in favor of the bill, with many pushing for any Medicaid waiver (an 1113 waiver) to go up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line, instead of 100 percent as currently proposed. This is the only restriction explicitly laid out in the bill.

Below is testimony from two different think tanks: Kyle Wingfield of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation and Laura Harker of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. Their respective testimonies capture a lot of the talking points around this bill.

Remember: there’s no actual proposal being considered yet. This bill just puts Medicaid expansion (or rather, an alternative to Medicaid expansion) back in the hands of the Governor.

One interesting thing was the resistance to adding in any kind of guidelines about the waivers. For example, the legislation could include language that any 1332 waivers (these are the waivers related to the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare) should not result in cost increases for households between 100 and 400 percent of the federal poverty line.

Committee Chair Ben Watson (R-Savannah) cut short comments from Minority Leader Steve Henson (D-Tucker) pushing for either an amendment to the current bill language or a hearing on the Dems bill calling for full Medicaid expansion. Clip of that exchange below.

GA Senate Democrats on Twitter

Watch the end of today's #GASenate HHS Committee meeting. After @SenSteveHenson asked to amend #SB106 to enable coverage for hundreds of thousands more Georgians, the chair refused to allow it. We shouldn't be rushing healthcare legislation. #gapol https://t.co/J7CESYuxNi

If you want to dive deeper into this, Andy Miller over at Georgia Health News has a good write up from the meeting.

Georgia STOMP folks had a press conference today promoting HB 8, the bill to eliminate state sales tax on menstrual products.

They are focused on not only eliminating the sales tax on menstrual products, but also addressing access issues for vulnerable populations. This includes women who are incarcerated as well as folks in disaster areas.

Along those lines, Rep. Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City)— one of the key legislators behind this measure — introduced resolutions commending Ga. Emergency Management Agency director Homer Bryson and Ga. Dept. of Corrections commissioner Timothy C. Ward.

The other representative to watch for leadership on this issue is Rep. Kim Schofield (D-Atlanta), who will be introducing a study committee on the issue of access to period products, particularly for middle and high school students.

Here’s the AJC’s coverage of this issue.

The beast of an elections bill that is HB 316 also had a beast of a hearing today.

The room was packed with advocates, and there is going to be a follow up meeting of the House Governmental Affairs Elections Subcommittee at 1 pm in 406 CLOB on Wednesday.

Full live stream of that hearing available here.

The sponsor of this bill, Rep. Barry Fleming (R-Harlem), acknowledged that many parts of the bill were directly taken from Democratic measures proposed in previous years. This is largely seen as a move to placate Democrats and get their support for the Governor’s $150M voting machines.

I’m left with two questions…well two areas of questions:

1. Are Republicans / GOP leadership willing to separate the needed election reforms in HB 316 from the controversial aspects (protections from sunshine laws for the SoS, what type of voting tech the state invests in), and hear and vote on them as separate bills? In other words, how invested are Republicans in election reforms that they ignored for years? On the flip side, how much leverage do Democrats have to cram in as many election reforms as possible if they support the state buying the newest generation of touchscreen voting machines?
2. How is there no middle ground between touchscreen computers and hand marked paper ballots? Republicans have done a dazzling 180 from ‘how dare you suggest a single thing might be wrong with our voting machines,’ to ‘of course we all agree we need to find an accessible, transparently operated replacement for these old things.’ How is there not a way to have computer marked scantron sheets (not a computer print out of your vote with a barcode that is what actually encodes your vote for tabulation purposes)? Literal, hand-marked paper ballots do pose accessibility concerns; but non-transparent, non-auditable voting methods that continue to make the voting process vulnerable to hacking/malfeasance also garner some well deserved criticism.

Anyway, I’ve got more learning to do on this issue. And lucky me, tomorrow will be a perfect opportunity for it.

Relive the glory of Tuesday’s meeting here, and watch the continuation of that hearing into Wednesday here.

Update: someone sent me a bunch of materials on why folks are going hard for hand marked paper ballots (thank you to the person who sent this and the person who collated these items).

Basic Security Requirements for Voting Systems by Wenke Lee, Ph.D., of Georgia Tech.

Ballot-marking devices (BMDs) are not secure election technology by Philip B. Stark, Dept. of Statistics, University of California-Berkeley.

Letter from two dozen of the nation’s foremost cyber and election security experts to the GA Secretary of State advocating hand-marked paper ballots:

This is turning into the year of HIV reforms.

HB 290 — a bill being carried by Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta) and based on bills Rep. Park Cannon (D-Atlanta) has previously proposed — passed unanimously in House Health and Human Services. Now it heads to the Rules Committee, who will decide if it makes it to the House floor for a vote.

HB 290 is related to expanding access to PrEP, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, a once a day pill that can prevent someone from contracting HIV. It’s prohibitively expensive at the moment, but there’s a lot of work happening locally — and statewide it now seems — to make sure this medication is accessible to folks considered part of high risk populations.

Also!

HB 158 passed in the House by a vote of 169 to 0. This measure ensures that Medicaid recipients have equitable access to HIV drugs. It now moves to the Senate for consideration.

A news story (kind of) worth a gander:

Reward offered for Confederate memorial vandals from The Champion. That reward is coming from the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Several members of the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans were at the Capitol last week, speaking in favor of SB 77, the bill to further protect confederate monuments. To be fair, so were a few members of the Sons of Union Veterans. Not surprisingly, 100 percent of them were white men.

Researcher Andrea Swartzendruber from UGA finds that fake women’s health clinics tend to cluster around universities and schools in Georgia.

Fake Health Clinics Are Tricking College Students

CPCs are known for opening near abortion clinics to intercept their patients. But Andrea Swartzendruber, PhD, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Georgia, analyzed the locations of CPCs in Georgia and discovered that they actually cluster around public high schools and universities. “I’ve heard them talk at their conferences about this strategy,” Swartzendruber says.

To get on campus, a pregnancy center might partner with or create a student group in order to establish satellite offices on school grounds, like they have at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and the University of Colorado at Boulder. In other cases, like at Metropolitan State University of Denver, student-group status allows them to park a mobile clinic on campus.