Power struggle between Georgia House speaker and lieutenant governor spills into public

The only problem was, across the hall, the Georgia House was in the midst of debating a priority of House Speaker Jon Burns — speeding cameras in school zones — and it had a stack of other bills to address.

Jones’ choice to gavel out early put a pin in whatever other legislation Burns had hoped to advance.

That included a tax credit for gun owners to purchase safe storage devices, which supporters say could help prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands.

The two men insisted there was no animosity between them, but their comments that night suggested there might be some degree of resentment.

“No bad blood here,” Jones said, but added, “I don’t tell the House how to run their chamber, they don’t tell me how to run mine.”

Burns used the same words: “I don’t have any bad blood with anybody over there. They’re my friends, but the House is focused on getting the job done.”

Both Jones and Burns were new to their leadership positions in 2023. The pair have worked together for nearly three years, and while there has always been friendly competition between chambers, this year showed the extent to which one leader was attempting to dominate the other.

A prickly thorn

Perhaps nothing illustrated that acrimony as much as state Sen. Colton Moore.

The Republican from Trenton has been a prickly thorn in Burns’ side since March 2024, when he made what the speaker called “vile” statements about the chamber’s deceased former leader. It led Burns to ban Moore from the House.

Just a few days into this year’s session, police arrested Moore at the Capitol after he defied Burns’ order and tried to enter the House chamber — and got into a lengthy wrestling match with one of the speaker’s deputies.

The situation escalated as Moore unsuccessfully tried to subpoena Burns and House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration over the fight.

But Jones, meanwhile, stood by the senator.

“My obligation is to the 56 senators here in this room. … And I can tell you this moving forward, you have my word that this will not happen again under my watch because I will make sure that every senator has a voice in this building,” he said.

Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS

Jones, who is expected to announce a run for governor later this year, called the incident “an embarrassment for the Legislature as a whole.”

Even after all of the bitterness, the House put a bill on the floor for a vote that contained ideas originally from Moore. Senate Bill 204 would prevent local governments from restricting firearms access and passed along party lines, 99-74.

Still, the House wound up scaling back Moore’s bill so much that he no longer supported it. That’s a point that Kayla Green, a spokesperson for Burns, emphasized.

Senate Bill 204 “is not the Senate’s language — this is the House’s perfected version of a bill that was sent to us by the Senate,” she said.

Regardless, the legislation never returned to the Senate floor for a final vote.

Blame to go around

The clash between Burns and Jones did not go unnoticed. At the podium front and center of the House chamber, Democrats blasted Burns for doing the Senate’s bidding.

“What I remember about (former) Speaker (Tom) Murphy,” said state Rep. Karla Drenner of Avondale Estates, is that “he didn’t capitulate to the Senate.”

“This year, we have let the other chamber — that’s running for governor — run our chamber over here, from my perspective,” she said.

State Rep. Stacey Evans said the House let “a Senate priority take over us.”

Still, Burns said he accomplished all of the priorities he set out this year.

For example, he successfully pushed legislation that would require public schools to create plans addressing the behavioral health needs of students and “identify, assess and mitigate” potential threats made by students. He also spearheaded the approval of a bill that aims to protect in vitro fertilization.

Jones has said the same. He successfully pushed for legislation that would create a new child tax credit and expand child care tax programs.

Another of the lieutenant governor’s priorities that passed both chambers would heighten the mandatory minimum sentences for those trafficking fentanyl with the goal of curbing overdoses of the lethal drug across the state.

In addition, several bills passed were shared priorities. Among some, the House passed legislation that would seek to improve literacy rates, which originally stemmed from a Senate study committee. The House also passed a Senate-started effort to restrict transgender student-athletes from playing team sports according to their gender identity after several years of being the chamber to stall the legislation.

But one of Jones’ notable efforts was not listed on his final report card.

Jones started pushing what he called the “red tape rollback” last year, which he rebranded this year as Georgia’s version of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.

That legislation would have required state agencies to review all rules every four years to assess their economic impact unless the agency has reduced the number of rules they have by 10%.

It stalled in the House.

What’s next

Burns will likely be asked for his opinion in the Republican primary, and Jones will likely continue to push legislation that will bode well for him, such as “red tape rollback” should he enter that race.

“I also remind people all the time that this is a two-year cycle,” Jones told reporters shortly after adjournment last week. “That means whatever doesn’t get done this year will be available exactly where it sits for next year.

Burns shared a similar — but slightly biting — viewpoint.

“The House is focusing on its priorities of getting the job done, and we’re not worried about moving on to some other higher office. We came here to do a job, and we did our job,” he said.