GA Legislative Watch 2025 | Week ten

March 22, 2025
Friendly Amendment, GLW, In the News

GA Legislative Watch

By Molly Mcloughlin ● March 22, 2025
Smart Brevity™ count: 5.5 mins…1,519 words

5 more days. With legislative days 32-34 down, that’s how many legislative days are left until Sine Die.

🥄 One fun thing: Actually, two delicious things! Cornbread and brunswick stew are one step closer to official state recognition, but not without some extra fixins’.

The latest version of HB 233 that passed a Senate Committee also recognizes a Sugar Cane Syrup Day,
and adds a provision barring adversarial countries from hiring a third-party to do their bidding for state contracts. 🤷‍♀

1 big thing: Consider it over(hauled)

Gov. Kemp’s litigation reform package surfaced from the Senate (for the second time), approving the House changes after nearly 20 hours of testimony and years of setting the stage. The Gov. and his floor leaders were able to put in to law:

Limits to suing businesses for certain injuries or negligence on their properties.
Rules for how damages are calculated in personal injury cases.
Splitting some trials into two phases – one for compensation and the other for culpability

👀 The final tally. In the House, SB 68 received the bare minimum vote of 91-82, with 8 R’s voting no and 3 D’s voting yes.

Rep. Tim Flemming (R-Covington) cast the deciding vote for R’s, and Speaker Jon Burns didn’t push any further on the remaining hold outs.
The Democratic ‘yays’ were Reps. Michelle Au (D-Johns Creek), Carl Gilliard (D-Savannah), and Mack Jackson (D-Sandersville).
In the Senate, Sen. Colton Moore (R-Trenton) was the R outlier, while Sens. Ed Harbison (D-Columbus) and Emanuel Jones (D-Decatur) sided with the majority for a 34-21 vote.

“This was a tough decision for a lot of them, and I understand that,” said Speaker Burns. “But at the end of the day, a good bill was passed…”

💵 Same, but different. The first round of changes to the Gov.’s bill allows jurors to consider the bills that go to the insurance companies as well as what the plaintiff actual paid (vs. the original proposal of just the actual costs). Now, it also:

Shortens the timeline for bifurcated trials to ensure they aren’t drawn out deliberately.
Allows judges to reject splitting trials in cases with damages below $150K or involving sex crime victims.
Exempts some sex crime victims from the limits to suing businesses when the crime happened on their properties. Dem’s wanted to exempt children and the elderly too, but that was shot down in both chambers.

Critics say the measure will make it harder for crime victims to seek justice and strip the ability to challenge corporations, while not helping to lower insurance premiums.

They also reference FL’s reports of rising insurance premiums and claim denials in the wake of their own litigation overhaul.

🧐 But wait, there’s more. Speaker Burns announced a special study committee to dig deeper into the state’s insurance market. He will appoint 11 members — 7 lawmakers and 4 experts — to study the

“conditions, needs, issues and problems” with the insurance industry’s rate-setting practices, profit margins and compliance to ensure “consumers are not being subjected to unjustified rate hikes.”

Big picture. Gov. Kemp flexed his political might throughout the legislative process, but in the end, SB 68 passed by only one House vote in his own party.

2. Notable legislation

💰 The Senate’s version of the FY26 budget proposes that agencies in charge of schools, prisons and social services take a total of $300M in cuts to the House version.

Senate leaders want to restore the $100M cut from “school choice” vouchers in the House’s iteration of Gov. Kemp’s original budget.
They also expressed concern about the House’s proposal to finance $321M in construction projects using bond debt, which the Gov. has traditionally opposed.
In case that happens, Senate Appropriations Chair Blake Tillery (R-Vidalia) asked all agency heads to cut 1% from their budgets.

✂ Tax cuts and refunds for Georgians are awaiting the Gov.’s signature, totaling $2B going back to taxpayers through FY26.

Taxpayers can expect rebate checks from $250 to $500 this year.
Also, the state income tax rate will be reduced from 5.39% to 5.19%.
The other side. Democrats opposed cutting the tax rate, claiming it would mostly benefit the rich.

More Helene relief. The Senate passed HB 223 providing tax breaks to timber producers and farmers affected by Hurricane Helene. More relief is pending.

The future of 911. Every senator gave a ‘yay’ to the final passage of a bill that will overhaul the state’s antiquated 911 system.

HB 423 will provide for “Next Generation 9-1-1 systems and services” and tasks the Georgia Emergency Communications Authority to deploy the new technology.
The amended FY25 budget includes $5.7M to get it started.

🏘 HB 399, requiring out-of-state landlords that own or operate 25 or more single-family or duplex homes to have in-state property managers, passed the Senate Economic Development committee.

AI crackdown. A House committee unanimously passed SB 9 which criminalizes the distribution of AI-generated explicit images of children, whether they exist or not, with up to 15 years in prison.

🌿 More medicine. Senate Rules Chairman Matt Brass’ bill to increase the potency of medical marijuana and expand access to more patients passed out of the House Regulated Industries Committee.

The Senate “Red Tape Rollback Act” advanced through a House committee with several changes, meaning it must go back to the Senate for final approval.

Rep. Saira Draper’s (D-Atlanta) amendment raises the threshold to trigger an impact analysis from $1M to $3M and would require those reports to be published online.
Yes, but: Although the bill’s sponsor allowed their amendments, Dems still didn’t vote for the measure.

The plan to oversee how AI is used in the state, HB 147, passed the Senate Science & Technology committee.

The final version combines ideas from Sen. John Albers’ (R-Roswell) similar bill, and tasks the Georgia Technology Authority with providing AI best practices to local governments and defines AI in state code.

🚦 School zone cameras. A Senate Public Safety subcommittee heard 3 hours of testimony starting at 6am – earlier than most kids wake up for class – and 2 days later, came up with recommendations for a compromise between diverging House bills.

Their recommendations suggest there won’t be an outright ban on school cameras, like HB 225 would do, but there will be stricter guardrails to ensure transparency and fairness.
A new version of the bill will be presented on Monday.

⛪ Motion to reconsider religious freedom. After an intense round of procedural voting tricks in the House Judiciary Committee, SB 36, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, is still alive.

The proposal to provide further protections from local governments restricting Georgians’ right to worship could be taken back up for a vote next week.

3. Other political news

New labor commissioner Barbara Rivera Holmes will be the first Latina to hold a statewide constitutional office in Georgia after Gov. Kemp appointed her to fill the state’s long-vacant labor commissioner post.

The business executive from Albany told the AJC she will seek a full four-year term in 2026, when her seat will be on the ballot.
Zoom out: Her appointment adds diversity to a Republican Party eager to expand its appeal ahead of the next election cycle.

✏️ DOE is DOA. President Trump signed an executive order to fulfill another campaign promise – dismantle the Dept. of Education.

The order is meant to “bring education back to the states,” something Gov. Kemp and other state leaders are praising as they roll out the new school voucher program.
The bill preparing Georgia for this change is also on it’s way to the Gov.’s desk.
Yes, but. Congress would have to approve a total take-down.
Go deeper >>

👍 Speaking of GA support for Trump, U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter, Andrew Clyde, and Mike Collins co-sponsored a resolution to impeach U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg for throwing a yellow flag at the president’s order to deport immigrants from Venezuela.

The other side: The call for impeachment was rejected by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in a rare public rebuke.

“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said.

Trump calls on another Georgian. State Sen. Brandon Beach (R-Alpharetta) was named U.S. Treasurer, overseeing the U.S. Mint, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the storage of gold at Fort Knox.