Today’s newsletter highlights:
- The Laken Riley Act heads to the U.S. Senate after passing the House on Tuesday.
- U.S. lawmakers honor the late President Jimmy Carter.
- Gov. Brian Kemp reveals spending plan for troubled state prison system.
After years of wrangling, sports betting supporters in Georgia will arrive at the legislative session next week armed with a new poll that shows nearly two-thirds of voters back the idea.
Sports betting measures have languished for years amid debates over the scope of the legislation and rifts over how the new revenue it would generate should be spent. Other opponents say it’s immoral, addictive and breeds crime.
Still, the University of Georgia poll commissioned by the Metro Atlanta Chamber found some 63% of registered voters support letting adults legally bet on sports. A majority (54%) said they would be more likely to support legalized sports betting if it would discourage residents from crossing the state line or using offshore websites to place wagers.
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
Nearly 80% say they’re more likely to back legalized sports betting if all the revenues generated pay for education programs like the HOPE scholarship and pre-K programs. Nearly the same proportion supports enshrining sports betting in the state constitution through an amendment rather than having state elected leaders pass a law.
That same poll also found a broad majority of voters say that “an increasing number of lawsuits filed against businesses in Georgia hurts the state’s economy.”
It says most Georgians disagree with the idea that business owners should be held liable for crimes committed by third parties on their property, and an even greater number say businesses shouldn’t be held liable for crimes committed by third parties near their property.
That dovetails with an initiative led by Gov. Brian Kemp to rewrite litigation rules to make it harder to file certain types of lawsuits, reigniting a fierce political battle that’s raged for decades.
Marshall Guest, the chamber’s vice president of public policy, said the poll shows that Georgians support both sports betting and efforts to “better protect our business climate.”
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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
GOOD MORNING! Georgia’s legislative session begins in five days. President-elect Donald Trump’s second term starts in 12 days. You can still get tickets to his inauguration.
Here are four things to know for today:
- Georgia Republican House Speaker Jon Burns will speak with reporters at 1 p.m. about the legislative session that starts next week. He spoke with Greg Bluestein last month about his priorities.
- Local school systems are asking lawmakers for more money for things like improving safety and mental health supports, the AJC’s Cassidy Alexander reports. Voices for Georgia Children and the Child Advocacy Leadership Lab are hosting a panel discussion at 10 a.m. today on school safety at the Georgia Freight Depot. Panelists include state Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta; House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley, D-Columbus; and state Rep. Chris Erwin, R-Homer.
- The Savannah Joint Development Authority settled a lawsuit that threatened to block the water supply for Hyundai’s electric vehicle factory, the AJC’s Adam Van Brimmer reports.
- Former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral procession made it to Washington, despite a snowstorm that delayed things for a bit. He’ll lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda until his state funeral at Washington National Cathedral on Thursday. Here’s a recap of Tuesday’s events.
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Credit: Courtesy of Augusta University
Credit: Courtesy of Augusta University
LAKEN RILEY ACT. Only days into the new year, Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia is already facing a test that could impact his 2026 reelection campaign.
U.S. House Republicans allied with 48 Democrats to approve a measure Tuesday that would allow law enforcement agencies to detain and take steps to to deport immigrants living in the country without legal permission who have been accused of theft or burglary. Police can only do this now for people charged with violent crimes such as rape or murder.
The Laken Riley Act, named after the nursing student killed on the University of Georgia’s campus last year, now heads to the Senate, where both Ossoff and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., have not yet said whether they’ll support it.
Instead, Ossoff has only said he’ll vote for a procedural motion to clear the way for a vote on Friday. He did not say whether he’ll support the final measure, which could still be amended.
Ossoff is being pressured by the bill’s author — U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Jackson — and other Georgia Republicans to join Democratic U.S. Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Gary Peters of Michigan in backing the bill.
Meanwhile, across the Capitol, Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath of Marietta was among the House Democrats who flipped their votes on the measure to “yes” after voting against it in March 2024. Her office didn’t immediately respond to the AJC’s requests for comment.
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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
BANISHMENT BACKLASH. When Georgia GOP officials took the extraordinary step of voting to exile former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan from the party, the move also drew attention to other Republicans who escaped such a fate.
There were no such attempts to purge Brian K. Pritchard, the party’s former vice chair, after a judge found he violated state laws when he voted nine times while serving probation. (He was, however, removed from his vice-chair role).
Nor was there a push to banish Jim Beck or John Oxendine, two former statewide insurance commissioners convicted of fraud charges.
Duncan, of course, touched a different sort of nerve last year by endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris instead of Republican Donald Trump for the nation’s highest office — and then touting her at the Democratic National Convention.
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Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
CAPITOL FAREWELL. The late President Jimmy Carter ran for president as the ultimate Washington outsider in 1976. But he was honored by the most powerful people in Washington on Tuesday during a ceremony at the Capitol.
Supreme Court Justices, senators, House members, and Vice President Kamala Harris were all on hand. Republican U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he was just 4 years old when Carter was inaugurated, but he admires him still today.
Along with appreciating the late president’s thrift, Johnson said, “I’m reminded of his admonition to ‘live our lives as though Christ were coming this afternoon,’ and of his personal reflection, ‘If I have one life and one chance to make it count for something.’ We all agree that he certainly did.”
For anyone who watched Carter battle with Congress during his years in the White House, seeing Congress honor his legacy is a full circle moment and a well-deserved honor, writes political columnist Patricia Murphy.
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Credit: Adam Beam/AJC
Credit: Adam Beam/AJC
PRISON MONEY. Gov. Brian Kemp unveiled his plan to fix the state prison system on Tuesday, and it was a doozy: more than $600 million in new spending to address an agency in crisis.
The AJC’s Carrie Teegardin and Danny Robbins reported the details:
The proposal, developed with consulting firm Guidehouse Inc., includes measures to hire more correctional and security officers, improve their pay and update their training; make emergency repairs to prison facilities; beef up the maintenance staff; and fix locks and security electronics.
State lawmakers were generally receptive to Kemp’s plan during an afternoon hearing, but they still peppered Department of Corrections Commissioner Tyrone Oliver with questions about how it will work.
Oliver answered many questions with “we’ll get back to you.” Lawmakers gave him a lot of grace, but with a warning that their questions will get tougher as time goes on.
“I’ve never been known as someone who is easy with money,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia. “So the questions, when you’re asking for these dollars, they are going to be hard.”
“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” added House Appropriations Committee Chair Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin. “But we probably want this subdivision built very quickly. … We’re going to push hard.”
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Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
ANOTHER SHOT. Advocates eyeing a pay raise for some disabled workers plan to try again during the legislative session that starts next week. And this time, they’re changing tactics after last year’s defeat in the state Senate.
State Sen. Billy Hickman, R-Statesboro, has agreed to introduce legislation that would block community rehabilitation programs from paying disabled workers less than the minimum wage.
These programs are taxpayer-funded and they hire people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. A federal law lets these programs — with the state’s blessing — pay workers less than the minimum wage, sometimes under a dollar per hour.
The thinking is they can’t find work in the private sector, so this gives them a chance to earn money. But that’s increasingly becoming not true, said Charlotte Densmore, public policy director for the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities.
“People with intellectual disabilities can work in their communities,” she said. “We can help them find jobs at places like Publix that will pay them at least minimum wage or more.”
To be clear, most of these community rehabilitation programs aren’t doing this. Out of the 600 or so in Georgia, just eight have permission to pay below the minimum wage, Densmore said. It impacts less than 300 workers. But advocates say that’s still too many.
Even if the bill fails again, supporters still have hope. The U.S. Department of Labor last month revealed a proposed rule change that would phase out this practice nationwide over three years.
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Credit: Katelyn Myrick/AJC
Credit: Katelyn Myrick/AJC
LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” hosts Tia Mitchell and Patricia Murphy report live from Washington as former President Jimmy Carter lies in state in the U.S. Capitol.
Be sure to download the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are uploaded by noon each day, just in time to have lunch with us. You can also listen live at 10 a.m. EDT on 90.1 FM WABE. Have a question for the show? Give us a call at 770-810-5297.
On Tuesday’s show, former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan talked about the Georgia Republicans desire to expelling him from the party. Then, Republican political operative Brian Robinson discussed new GOP majorities in Congress.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden is scheduled to return to Washington from California but has no public events on his schedule.
- The U.S. House and Senate are taking the day off while thousands of people are expected to visit the Capitol where President Jimmy Carter lies in state.
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SHOUTOUTS. Transition:
- Tate Mitchell, a former aide to Gov. Brian Kemp, is now the communications director for newly elected U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana. We hear Mitchell, who most recently was a regional press secretary at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has a heck of a singing voice.
Belated birthday:
- Chamblee City Councilman Jimmy Furst (was Sunday).
Credit: Kynder Ganoe
Credit: Kynder Ganoe
Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that! Click here to submit the shoutouts. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.
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AS ALWAYS, send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.
