Next Saturday, March 2nd, I will be presenting, along with Stephanie Ali of the ACLU, at “Citizen Power!” hosted by Indivisible Marching Buddies of Atlanta. Join us Saturday, March 2nd, 10:30am – 12:30pm at the Tucker-Reid H. Cofer Library, 5234 LaVista Road, Tucker. We will be presenting on how a bill becomes a law, and how you can support and influence legislation. RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/.   

Be Proud of Being Loud

This week a supporter told me he contacted his newly elected Republican representative to discuss voting machines, gerrymandering and Medicaid. Then he resignedly said, “He’s well indoctrinated into the Republican line of thinking and I got really nowhere with him.”

I know these phone calls may seem futile, but they matter. If we don’t make these calls, Republicans stay comfortably in their bubble, and they don’t realize we exist. We must agitate. Don’t forget – many of them know they must listen if they’re going to win their re-election campaigns.

As an example, this week after hundreds of Moms Demand Action advocates showed up to the capitol in their red t-shirts, a friend of mine overheard a couple of Representatives admitting that they knew they were going to have to give a little on gun issues, or they were going to continue losing more districts.

Showing up matters. Being loud works.

Citizens Crowding the Capitol

At the Gold Dome, we often refer to “working the rope-line.” When we say this we are describing the areas outside the chambers where school-aged “pages” serve, waiting to deliver messages to legislators inside the chamber. If the legislator is able, he or she comes out to talk with constituents across the rope that divides the page area from the public area.

I love coming out to the rope line to meet people, and this week I got so many page messages that I had a hard time keeping up with the debate inside the chamber! It was a busy week for citizen groups who came out to influence legislators on their issues.

Redistricting Reform: I joined dozens of Georgians from across the state at an Advocacy Day event organized by the ACLU, Common Cause Georgia, and Fair Districts GA to advocate for SR52, The Democracy Act, sponsored by Sen. Elena Parent. The bill calls for greater transparency, stronger redistricting standards, and an independent bipartisan redistricting commission, modeled after California’s commission. Twenty one states now have some form of non-partisan or bipartisan redistricting commission. The only way our lawmakers will consider this issue is if you get loud and demand it. In addition to your representatives, call Senator Matt Brass, Chair of the Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee, (404) 463-1376 to ask for a hearing on SR52 and sign up for Fair Districts GA action alerts to help continue to push for this bill. Finally, this bill needs a state-wide push, so think about who you know across the entire state who would be willing to make a call to their legislators, and reach out to them.

Improving Our Voting Process: So many voters packed the House Elections Subcommittee hearing to oppose HB316, a bill to reform Georgia’s voting processes, that the AJC took notice and reported on it. Melanie Manning and Betsy Shackelford, who both worked hard on my campaign, testified at the hearing. Melanie asked the committee to keep the current ratio of voting machines to voters at 200:1, instead of increasing it to 250:1. She saw first hand how under-resourcing at a polling location led to long lines and frustrated voters leaving without casting their vote. Betsy spoke eloquently to dispel the myths about handmarked paper ballots, what she called the “state of the art” gold standard for secure voting.

House Minority Leader Bob Trammell offered an amendment in sub-committee to require that paper ballots be printed and machine read in a human readable format, rather than an unreadable barcode. The amendment was defeated but Rep. Trammell said they picked up one Republican and there was a considerable amount of interest in the amendment. The bill passed out of committee and will likely pass the House this week and make its way to the Senate, where further improvements can be made.

Responsible Gun Ownership: Last year I was one of the many moms, dads, and students advocating for gun reform at the Capitol for Moms Demand Action Advocacy Day. This year, I was thrilled to speak to the group as a newly-elected Senator now able to advance the fight with SB50, my Campus Carry repeal. This day will definitely go down as the highlight of my session.

The thing about Moms Demand Action is that many of their members carry the intense pain of having lost loved ones to gun violence. But they are there turning their pain into power, and I’ve honestly never felt as much collective power as I have at Moms Demand Action Day at the Capitol.

We gave each other many hugs across the Senate rope-line, and those hugs and cheers from so many friends, constituents, and supporters were incredibly uplifting. I brought all of that power and energy with me to my very first appearance later that day on GPB’s “Lawmakers” program. It reminded me that my most important role is to be your voice when you can’t be present at the Capitol.

Thank you to everyone who has been getting the word out about Senate Bill 50, my bill to repeal Campus Carry. We are flooding social media, keeping phone lines busy, and having personal conversations at the “rope lines” outside the House & Senate chambers. I am hopeful that Sen. John Albers, chair of the Senate Public Safety Committee, will soon schedule a public hearing for the bill.

Addressing Dyslexia: Every once in a while, there’s a bill that everyone can feel good about. SB48 requires schools to identify and support kids with dyslexia in their early school years and provide more dyslexia information and support to teachers and schools. Led by my predecessor, Senator Fran Millar, this was a well-studied effort and well-written bill with a great deal of citizen input and support. Advocates for the bill were at the Capitol last week for Dyslexia Day to push for its passage. And this week, Senator Millar joined us on the Senate floor to watch it pass unanimously.

Breast Cancer Education: Margie’s Law, HB62, is a bill advancing quickly through the process of becoming law. What’s significant about this bill is not only what it does, but how it came about. Margie Singleton and Lisa Walls, from the Savannah area, came by my office this week to tell me about their bill. Margie and Lisa aren’t professional lobbyists or members of a major advocacy organization. Margie is a breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed 6 months after a clean mammogram.  Lisa is a healthcare professional who didn’t know about the risk of dense breast tissue until she heard about Margie. Together, they saw a need and launched their own effort. Margie’s Law requires health facilities that perform mammograms to inform any patient who has dense breast tissue that they need to obtain further screenings.

Healthcare: The Senate Health and Human Services Committee held a restricted debate on SB106, the Governor’s Medicaid Waiver bill. Previously, I reported that the Governor proposed spending $1M for experts to study Medicaid Waivers. In the 2018 – 2019 Amended Budget, which has now passed the House and Senate, this amount was increased by $600,000, and brings in a Federal match of another $1M. That’s $2.6M in taxpayer money to study an already well-studied issue. The research shows that full-scale Medicaid expansion works to increase healthcare access, decrease insurance premiums, create jobs, and put people back to work. Call the Governor’s Office at (404) 656-1776 and the Lt. Governor’s office at (404) 656-5030, as well as your own representatives to oppose SB106 and the lucrative “Medicaid Waiver Study Contract.”

Announcements:

My next Coffee Chat will be in Chamblee at 10 am on Saturday, March 16th. Location TBA.

Save the date for these upcoming joint Town Hall Meetings with House Representatives in Senate District 40:

• Representative Matthew Wilson and I will host a Town Hall Meeting on Thursday, March 14th at 6:00 pm at Brookhaven City Hall.
• Representative Mike Wilensky and I will host a Town Hall Meeting on Tuesday, March 19th at 6:00 pm at Dunwoody City Hall.

We’ll post Facebook events and announce other Town Hall meetings soon.

Georgia’s Health is on my Mind

Come share a cup of coffee in person at my next Coffee Chat with Sally. We’ll be in Dunwoody at the Georgetown Starbucks at 10 am on Saturday, February 23. It’s just a casual conversation about whatever’s on your mind. Bring your friends and neighbors. We’ll also soon be announcing our State Senate 40 Town Hall Meetings coordinated with your State House Representative.

With the pace of bills to vote on picking up now, I placed on my chamber desk my Yellow Values Card that I originally wrote when I served in the House of Representatives. Many of you heard me talk about these values during my campaign. And, this week I gave a Values Card to each of my fellow newly-elected Democrats in the House and Senate.

A Impending Healthcare Earthquake

Last week I said, controversy is coming . . . well, it’s here and it’s healthcare.

The healthcare debate revolves around two intertwined issues:

• Georgia Republicans’ unwillingness to accept Federal Medicaid expansion.
• The proposed elimination of Georgia’s Certificate of Need (CON) program,

Both can impact Georgia’s healthcare delivery system for many years to come, and the current trajectory will leave more people without healthcare.

The Healthcare Crisis: The GOP introduced two bills — SB106 and SB74/HB198. The first, dubbed “The Patients First Act,” is the Governor’s proposal to explore very limited Medicaid expansion options. The second is a plan to eliminate Georgia’s Certificate of Need (CON) program which protects our hospitals and helps ensure access to care for all Georgians (see this article for good background on the CON debate). The first bill doesn’t go far enough to cover all Georgians that need healthcare while the second eliminates regulations that protect Georgia’s hospitals from going bankrupt and protects patients from predatory practices. Without fully expanding Medicaid, it’s irresponsible to eliminate the CON program when our hospitals are already struggling.

Moms and Babies Reveal Georgia’s Ill-Health: Georgia ranks among the states with the highest maternal and infant mortality rates. Representatives from the Georgia Department of Health spoke to about 75 people at this week’s Legislative Women’s Caucus, a group I co-chair. We learned that many moms die from complications that occur weeks after giving birth, when Medicaid benefits run out. These are not easy issues to tackle, but I am grateful that Georgia has a Maternal Mortality Review Board that looks at every single death to determine trends and recommend solutions.

Environmental, Financial and Community Health

Coal Ash Storage: The House & Senate Natural Resources & Environment Committees held a joint session this week to hear presentations on the issue of coal ash and what’s being done to prevent spills and protect against coal ash storage failures. I was very happy to see Tina Wilkerson, a constituent who has championed clean energy as a leader of Solarize Dunwoody, at the meeting. Coal Ash storage is a huge issue for Georgia. As long time lobbyist Neill Herring says of current storage inadequacies, “It’s like putting poison in a cardboard box and saying the cardboard is safe.”

College Loan Defaults and Professional Licenses: The Higher Education Committee discussed SB92, a bill that prohibits all state boards that issue professional licenses from refusing, suspending, or revoking the license of anyone who defaults on their student loans. It simply doesn’t make sense to take away someone’s livelihood when they have loans to repay.

Speaking Out on Gun Safety: On the first anniversary of the tragic shooting at Majority Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, several colleagues and I spoke from the Senate well about the importance of taking action on gun safety. The Public Safety Committee, chaired by Senator John Albers, is considering a school safety bill, but it’s disingenuous to talk about school safety without considering common sense gun laws. Until we pass gun reform, we’ll still have tragedies like Parkland. If gun safety is important to you, call both Senator Albers (404) 463-8055 and Lt. Governor Duncan (404-656-5030) and demand hearings on the gun safety bills.

Building Healthy Relationships with the Board of Regents: At a reception this week, I met the Chancellor and members of the Board of Regents that oversees the University System of Georgia. The governor appoints Board members to serve a voluntary seven year term. The Board has 19 members, five of whom are appointed from the state-at-large, and one from each of the state’s 14 congressional districts. The Board then elects its chancellor to lead the body. Building these relationships is important for my work on Higher Education.

Announcements

Citizen engagement is critical for a healthy democracy. Be loud. Your involvement can influence which bills get hearings and which bills are left untouched. Spread the word. Call and email Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan, House Speaker David Ralston, and your state representatives. We all need to hear from you, so we can report which issues are important to our constituents. Share your stories. Write letters to the editor in your local papers. Also, all legislative committee meetings are open to the public and if you are able, I encourage you to attend one that may be of interest you.

This coming week will a big opportunity to engage on two other very important issues. Redistricting Reform advocates will be at the Capitol on Tuesday to lobby for a bill to create an independent bipartisan redistricting commission. And on Wednesday, hundreds of concerned parents and students with Moms Demand Action GA will be there to advocate for common sense gun safety, including the Campus Carry Repeal. I plan to be with both groups and I hope to see you there.