Georgia lawmakers worked late into the night on Crossover Day, a key internal legislative deadline. Dozens of bills were approved, while dozens of others never made it to a vote.
Here’s your cheat sheet:
Passed
- Senate Bill 180, a religious liberty measure from state Sen. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, that drew opposition from Democrats and business groups, including the Metro Atlanta Chamber and Georgia Chamber.
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
- SB 390, which would ban local libraries from being affiliated with the American Library Association.
- SB 507, a bill to create an “America First” specialty license plate in Georgia.
- SB 395 passed unanimously and would allow anyone in schools to possess and administer naloxone, the opioid reversal drug.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
- House Bill 1105. Following the killing of nursing student Laken Riley in Athens, the legislation would require local law enforcement to notify federal officials if they’ve detained an undocumented immigrant.
- HB 1180 would put limits on how much the state will spend on its lucrative film tax credit while at the same time requiring companies to do more to promote the state in order to get the maximum tax break.
- The House passed a series of mental health measures, including a bill to repay student loans for those who go into critical need specialties and a measure to make licensure easier for some provider roles.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
What didn’t make it
- SB 532, a bill to require an opt-in from parents for children to take a sex education class didn’t get a vote. The measure also sought to prevent sex ed in schools before the 5th grade.
- House Resolution 780, which called for a constitutional amendment to ban non-citizens from voting, failed to reach the two-thirds threshold amid opposition from Democrats who said the prohibition was already enshrined in Georgia law.
- SB 221, a measure that would have eliminated automatic voter registration, did not advance.
- HB 1338, which would limit new mining permits near the Okefenokee Swamp for three years.
- Never on the agenda? Proposals to expand Medicaid in the state, much to the frustration of Democrats. Also, legislation from state Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, to codify access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) services in Georgia.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Spotted
- Former state senator and current Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper was back in his old haunts, but sporting a new black cowboy hat.
- Spiro Amburn, former chief of staff to House Speaker David Ralston, was on the other side of the velvet ropes as a lobbyist this time around.
- Martha Zoller, the conservative commentator. She hosted her radio show from the offices of Senate Pro Tem John Kennedy, R-Macon.
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
LISTEN UP. State Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, and state Sen. Jason Esteves, D-Atlanta, joined the “Politically Georgia” radio show Thursday to preview Crossover Day at the General Assembly.
Find that show and other previous episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Later today, hosts Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Bill Nigut will break down all the action from Crossover Day, including a look inside the halls of the Capitol. Listen live at 10 a.m. on WABE 90.1 FM, at AJC.com and at WABE.org.
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Credit: Casey Sykes for the AJC
Credit: Casey Sykes for the AJC
UNDER THE GOLD DOME:
- The House and Senate are out of session. Both chambers resume floor action on Monday, March 4.
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Credit: Bob Andres/AJC
Credit: Bob Andres/AJC
FREE SPACE. The unqualified hit of Crossover Day was the House and Senate bingo cards that our AJC colleagues Mark Niesse and Maya T. Prabhu crafted. The tongue-in-cheek sheets tracked things to watch for throughout the day, such as whether a lawmaker used the phrase “No. 1 state to do business” and which chamber adjourned first.
Maya won the Senate contest.
And state Reps. Teri Anulewicz, D-Smyrna, Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners, and Ruwa Romman, D-Duluth, captured the title in the House.
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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
SAFER COMMUNITIES. DeKalb County Police Chief Mirtha Ramos and seven other leaders of local police agencies met with President Joe Biden at the White House this week.
The group represented localities where homicides declined in recent months, and they spoke with the president about their various efforts to combat violent crime. Ramos, the only female leader in the group, said she spoke about how DeKalb was able to cut its homicide rate by 10% in part by taking advantage of federal dollars made available under the American Rescue Plan Act, a COVID-19 relief package that became law in 2022.
“We had given retention bonuses, we had improved on technology, we were training the analysts, we were doing specialty trainings for our SWAT unit, we were investing in equipment,” Ramos told the AJC after the meeting, recounting what she shared.
The COVID-19 dollars also helped DeKalb County increase its mobile crisis unit, a special response model that pairs police officers with mental or behavioral health workers. Ramos said she fielded lots of questions about the unit and how it can be replicated elsewhere.
Biden spent roughly a half-hour with the chiefs.
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BUYING TIME. The U.S. Senate on Thursday signed off on the plan to push back federal funding deadlines and avert a partial government shutdown. The continuing resolution keeps agencies scheduled to close Friday open another week and moves the deadline for the remaining departments from March 8 to March 22.
The stopgap legislation marks the fourth time since September that Congress has pushed off passing the budget for this fiscal year. Dissension among House Republicans over spending and other policies continues to be the primary stumbling block.
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Credit: Brant Sanderlin/AJC
Credit: Brant Sanderlin/AJC
REMEMBERING JOHN LEWIS. Vice President Kamala Harris will join members of Congress making their annual pilgrimage to Selma, Alabama, to commemorate the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday attack on the late John Lewis and dozens of other civil rights activists in 1965.
U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, the Atlanta Democrat who holds Lewis’ old congressional seat, will also make the trip.
The actual anniversary of Bloody Sunday is March 7, which coincides with President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have urged Biden to make a direct connection in his speech to the history of Alabama state troopers attacking activists marching for voting rights 59 years ago.
The lawmakers also want Biden to highlight efforts by Democrats to strengthen voting laws and what they perceive as former President Donald Trump’s threat to democracy if he were to return to office.
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Democrats in the Senate recently reintroduced the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Atlanta, will be one of the lead advocates of the legislation, which will get an initial hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 12.
Warnock said it is worth trying again to pass the legislation, which would create federal standards for voting and elections, even with Republicans who oppose the measure in control of the House.
“I think about John Lewis crossing that Edmund Pettus Bridge; he didn’t have any reason to think that he could win (against) brutality on the other side of that bridge,” Warnock said during a Thursday news conference. “But with a trench coat on his back and commitment in his heart, he kept marching.”
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Credit: Olivia Bowdoin for the AJC
Credit: Olivia Bowdoin for the AJC
CLOSING OUT BHM. On Thursday, the final day of Black History Month, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock posted a powerful video on social media about his place in history as just the 11th Black person to serve in the Senate and the first Black Democrat elected in the Deep South.
In the video, Warnock stands on the steps of the Capitol with the Senate’s other two current Black members, New Jersey’s Corey Booker and California’s Laphonza Butler.
As the three hold hands and beam with pride, a voiceover plays of Maya Angelou reading her famous poem, “Still I Rise.”
“Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave,” she intones. “I rise.”
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden meets at the White House with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy.
- First lady Jill Biden travels to Atlanta to launch the Women for Biden-Harris initiative.
- The House and Senate are done for the week.
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Credit: AP
Credit: AP
CLOSING ARGUMENTS. A court hearing that may lead to the disqualification of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the election interference case against former President Donald Trump and eight others reaches its climax today.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee will hear closing arguments in the challenge that an improper relationship between Willis and a special prosecutor she hired to help try the case —Nathan Wade — calls for Willis’ removal.
The AJC’s Tamar Hallerman breaks down what to watch for at the hearing, which begins at 1 p.m.
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FRUITLESS FRAUD SEARCH. An opinion column written by a man hired in 2020 by the Trump’s campaign to investigate fraudulent voting in Georgia published this morning at AJC.com. Ken Block writes that he found “about one dozen examples of this fraud, not thousands” and that he evaluated claims of fraud and “found them false.”
More from the piece:
Why don't more people know the truth? Conservatives mainly get their news from conservative media. Coverage of my story about working for the Trump campaign and the subpoenas I have received has garnered a single mention in just one conservative outlet. Facts are only helpful if people are made aware of them.
Voter fraud did not cause Trump's 2020 Georgia election loss. I know because I have the receipts.
Block submitted the column in connection to the publishing of a book titled “Disproven: My Unbiased Search for Voter Fraud for the Trump Campaign, the Data That Shows Why He Lost, and How We Can Improve Our Elections.”
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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
VOTER ALERT. Today is the deadline to request an absentee ballot for the Georgia presidential primaries. Any registered voter can apply for an absentee ballot by printing and signing a form, then returning it by email, through the state’s My Voter Page or at their county’s elections office.
According to reporting by the AJC’s Mark Niesse, 35,700 voters have requested absentee ballots so far and 191,000 people have voted in person during Georgia’s three weeks of early voting. Absentee ballots must be returned to county election offices before polls close at 7 p.m. on election day March 12.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
DOG OF THE DAY. This one goes out to anyone who worked late into the night on Crossover Day. Meet JoJo Davis, here to show you how to let off some steam.
JoJo is the four-year-old goldendoodle who calls Michelle and Walt Davis her people. Among JoJo’s many hobbies and leisure pursuits is feeling the wind in her fur while boating on Lake Jackson with her little people, Parker and Bailey, tubing behind.
May you be as carefree as JoJo through Sine Die, or at least get some ideas about how to spend spring break.
Send us your dogs of any political persuasion and location, and cats on a cat-by-cat basis, to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us at @MurphyAJC.
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AS ALWAYS, Politically Georgia readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.vanbrimmer@ajc.com.
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