It’s decision day at the Georgia Capitol as lawmakers decide whether to ban school speed cameras, change election laws and prohibit promoting diversity in schools.
Friday is the 40th and last day of this year’s legislative session, the deadline for bills to pass or fail.
Votes on dozens of bills are planned late into the night. Pending measures also include Georgia’s $37.7 billion state budget, school vouchers for foster children and criminalizing cockfighting.
Scroll down for the latest updates, and stay with this page throughout the day.
The session may not end for another few hours, but Gov. Brian Kemp took a victory lap.
The Republican thanked lawmakers for backing his budget and tax priorities – and securing a vast overhaul of Georgia’s legal system to limit certain lawsuits and bring down jury awards.
“You all know that fight was hard, and the debates were fierce,” Kemp told House lawmakers. “But it’s my belief at the end of the day we have a commonsense, comprehensive piece of legislation that will keep our state moving in the right direction.”
The governor exerted enormous political pressure to pass the measure, which cleared the House last month by the barest of margins.
He threatened to back primary challenges against Republicans who opposed the overhaul and warned lawmakers he’d force a special session if they ignored his demand. He pointedly brought up the latter threat to nervous laughs in the House.
“And while tort reform may have been controversial, and some people may have been for it, and others have been may have been against it, one thing we can all agree on is nobody wanted a special session.”
For every moment the Georgia General Assembly has been in session the last 40 days, the 17 House doorkeepers and their counterparts in the state Senate have been there too.
As lawmakers work into the night, the doorkeepers will be working along with them, on duty until the gavel drops.
We spoke to the doorkeepers about their backgrounds, their hobbies and how they came to their unique jobs at the state Capitol. "I call it democracy at its finest,” doorkeeper Willie Jones said.
House Speaker Jon Burns didn’t sound enthusiastic about two of the most controversial Senate-backed measures still pending on the last day of the legislative session.
Asked at a news conference Friday about bills to ban diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in Georgia public schools and restrict puberty blockers for transgender youth, Burns made clear they weren’t his priority.
“I’m not sure we’ll get to those bills this year or not, but they’re always out there,” he said.
House Republicans have long pushed back on more contentious Senate measures, but this year they have embraced many base-pleasing measures.
The Georgia Senate on Friday approved a measure that could allow President Donald Trump to collect millions of dollars of attorney fees in the Fulton County election interference case.
Senate Bill 244 would allow criminal defendants to collect reasonable attorney fees and costs if a prosecutor is disqualified from the case for misconduct and the case is dismissed. The bill also would standardize the process for compensating people who have been wrongly convicted in criminal offenses.
Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, has said he proposed the measure to ensure that Trump and his 14 fellow defendants can collect attorney fees and costs if Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is disqualified from the case.
The Georgia Court of Appeals disqualified Willis in December, citing her romantic relationship with a top prosecutor in the case. Willis has appealed that decision to the Georgia Supreme Court.
The House amended the measure to include the new process for compensating the wrongly accused — a proposal that has repeatedly stalled in the Senate. But on Friday the combined Trump/wrongful conviction measure passed the Senate by a vote of 35-18.
It now goes to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature.
The Georgia House approved legislation by a vote of 99-74 that would prevent cities and municipalities from enacting gun laws that conflict with state statutes.
The impetus for Senate Bill 204 came from cities like Savannah, which enacted laws penalizing gun owners for leaving their weapons unattended or losing them.
“We’re all for local control until the locals get out of control,” state Rep. Kasey Carpenter, a Republican from Dalton, previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Democratic state Rep. Michelle Au of Johns Creek criticized Republicans who had blocked her bill — which would require gun owners to store their weapons in safe places — from receiving a vote.
A sign the Senate Rules Chairman Matt Brass seems to be optimistic about the end of the day: He began ripping up paper around 5 p.m. in anticipation of the end of the legislative session.
It is tradition for lawmakers in both chambers to rip up the many papers on their desks to throw confetti-style and mark the end of each legislative session.
However, there are likely many hours left before the gavel falls to close out the year. The last day of the session typically ends around midnight.
Brass walked over to the Senate press box to share an "exclusive" with the journalists in the back of the chamber.
"I'm ripping up bills," the Newnan Republican said.
The Georgia Senate took a "first step forward" in restricting out-of-state ownership of single family homes, said state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, who authored the legislation.
House Bill 399 would require property companies to have a agent in Georgia available to manage complaints from local residents.
Oliver and state Sen. Max Burns, who carried the bill in his chamber, said they hope to go further to make it easier for Georgians to buy homes next year.
The measure passed 41-9.
A few minutes after Barbara Rivera Holmes was sworn in Friday as Georgia’s new labor commissioner, the longtime economic development official was pressed on what she plans to do in her new role.
After mentioning her background as leader of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce and her history-making role as the first Latina to hold statewide constitutional office in Georgia, she added something else: “Fresh perspective and youth vitality.”
Does that mean you hope to balance a Republican ticket in 2026 that’s mostly male, older and whiter?
“What do you think?” the 45-year-old said with a smile.
Outside the halls of Georgia’s Gold Dome, Atlantans gathered to dance along to live music and enjoy local food to celebrate 404 Day, Atlanta’s unofficial holiday celebrating the city’s culture, community and influence.
Dozens of people gathered in Liberty Plaza across from the Capitol, dancing and eating while lawmakers deliberated across the street.
The event billed as a "Sine Die Block Party" was sponsored by two-term state Rep. Eric Bell, D-Jonesboro.
Sine Die this year coincides with the anniversary of the assassination of civil rights icon the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., an Atlanta native. So it made things a little awkward when state Rep. Park Cannon accused Republicans of slashing funding in the budget for The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
Cannon, an Atlanta Democrat, pointed out the original House budget included $250,000 for the King Center to use for educational exhibits and marketing. The budget lawmakers approved Friday cut that to $125,000.
House Appropriations Chair Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin, said that is still an increase to the King Center's budget, which he said "approaches a million dollars a year."