Despair Breeds Hope, and Hope brings Action

This week I was reminded of the work of Cesar Chavez during the 1966 Delano Grape Strike, when 100 farmworkers marched 300 miles over 25 days, arriving at the State Capitol in Sacramento on Easter Sunday to present their list of demands. By the end of the march, their numbers had grown to 10,000. Four years later, major growers were signing union contracts.

With the announcement of the opening of an ICE office in College Park, and plans released to build a 10,000-person detention center in Social Circle, a small town of 5,000, we have tough times ahead of us. As Chavez said, “We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure.”

I witnessed this kind of resolve this week during Latino Day at the Capitol when a young high school student from my district told me his story of coming here on asylum from a South American country. Instead of letting despair overwhelm him, he came to the Capitol to share his ideas about how our K-12 schools can do a better job teaching immigrants English so that students like him can continue their studies without interruption. This young man was acting on hope.

A Visit with Sen. Jon Ossoff

Early Monday morning, Senator Jon Ossoff met with the Senate Democratic Caucus and spoke candidly about the situation our country is in, describing it as “dire” and even “grim” — hard words to hear. Had Sen. Ossoff stopped there, he would have left a trail of despair. But instead, he sat down with us in an unhurried way, offering constructive ideas about how federal and state elected officials can coordinate messaging leading into the November elections. Sen. Ossoff gave me hope that the direness of our situation is helping us to reinvent our strategies.

Georgia Elections in Peril

A New Voting System? It’s easy to drown in the feeling of despair. I felt this way even before the week started, when I was alerted Sunday night that a committee substitute to SB 214 was suddenly scheduled for a House committee hearing the very next day.

The new bill version was a sweeping, confusing, and potentially costly overhaul of Georgia’s election system. Republicans are under pressure to comply with SB 189, a 2024 law requiring Georgia to phase out QR codes on ballots and move to a system that counts votes from human-readable text. But this proposal went far beyond that, reviving old fears of voter confusion, long lines, and administrative chaos.

Hope arrived on Monday afternoon when people filled the room to speak against the bill. The hearing was abruptly canceled. This issue will be back, but it was a powerful reminder that public engagement still works, and that democracy depends on people showing up.

Voter Data Privacy

Last week, I wrote about SR 563, a GOP authored resolution urging Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to turn over private voter data to the Trump administration. This week they brought the resolution to the Senate floor for a vote, sparking a long and difficult debate.

The resolution passed along party lines — leaving a familiar pit in my stomach. When you’re in the minority party, it’s a challenge to find the right balance between speaking truth to power and trying to build relationships with Republicans so you can get something done. Ultimately, you have to do both, but by mid-week, that balance was clearly off, and I was certain the Lt. Governor would punish us by killing our initiatives. Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for Burt Jones), we got a short-term reprieve when billionaire Rick Jackson jumped into the Governor’s race, handing Burt bigger worries.

Property Tax Caps vs. Local Control

Remember the constitutional amendment on your 2024 ballot creating a Statewide Homestead Exemption that freezes property taxes to the rate of inflation? Well, after all the thought you put into your vote on this issue, the Georgia Senate Republicans are trying to change how the exemption works — WITHOUT getting another vote from you.

The only way the legislature could pass the underlying legislation in 2024 was to include an opt-out provision for local governments. It turns out 65% of local governments chose to opt-out, for various reasons. So on Tuesday, the Senate passed SB 382, which forces local governments to opt-in.

It was discouraging to see a bill move forward that rewrites what both lawmakers and voters previously approved. Its impact on local funding, especially school funding, is unknown.

My Legislative Agenda: Progress and Pitfalls

Online Safety for Kids: Last year, a Chamblee mother came to me after her nine-year-old interacted with an AI-generated companion chatbot posing as a fictional character from a children’s book. Within minutes, the chatbot conversation turned sexually explicit.

This year, I noticed that SB 398, a bill making it a crime to use generative AI to create obscene images of a real person without consent, was scheduled for a hearing. I approached the Republican author about accepting an amendment addressing chatbots, and he agreed — inviting me to present it with him in committee. Just hours later, we were in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the bill with my amendment passed!

The Corn Bill: Last year, I introduced SB 278, a bill to require folic-acid fortification of corn masa products to help prevent spina bifida, a birth defect of the spine. Because federal law requires folic acid in wheat flour but not corn masa, Hispanic families face more than double the rate of spina bifida.

In January, we hit a hurdle when Frito-Lay sought an exemption for snack foods, arguing that fortification would be costly.

This week, we were able to present a different perspective. I invited executives from Mission Foods, the world’s largest tortilla producer, to the Capitol and they flew in from Texas to meet with the Senate Agriculture Committee Chair. Mission Foods already fortifies their corn tortillas with folic acid. Along with experts from the Food Fortification Initiative, they answered technical questions and helped move the conversation forward.

Take Action:

Government Can Still Work

Dry Needling & Acupuncture: For the last couple of years, I’ve spent time talking with groups of very worried acupuncturists lobbying against bills that threaten to take their livelihoods away. Fortunately this week, the Health Committee passed a bill (SB 411) that ironed out all the issues and all parties agreed. There are no longer angry acupuncturists in the hallways!

Foreign-Trained Doctors: The Health Committee also passed a bill this week (SB 427) that creates a pathway for internationally trained doctors to become licensed in Georgia, an issue I’ve also heard about for years. The bill requires service in rural and underserved areas to help alleviate physician shortages.

Foster Care: Our foster care system is broken and legislators want to fix it. Funding was added Friday by the House to address the Division of Family & Children Services $82 million deficit. SB 431 prevents delays in school enrollment for foster kids, and SB 622 creates a Joint House & Senate Study Committee (SR 622) to meet this coming year prior to the 2027 legislative session.

More Action:

Volunteers for ICE-Out: My office is coordinating with local groups that support immigrants and their families — many of which need volunteers to observe ICE, provide legal counsel, and deliver meals. If you’d like to help, please contact my Chief of Staff, Amy Swygert, at amy@sallyharrell.org for more information.

Dunwoody Apartment Fire: Recently, there was a terrible apartment fire in Dunwoody and eight families lost everything. If you would like to donate to their recovery, the Kingswood Church in Dunwoody is organizing efforts: Donate online at https://onrealm.org/KingswoodUnited/-/form/give/now. Choose Mission Appeals from the top menu and then select Fire Victims (under memo). Donations will be used to directly support families impacted by the fire as they begin to rebuild

What’s Ahead: We return to session Monday through Thursday next week, and the pace is already accelerating as we move closer to Crossover Day (March 6), the deadline for bills to pass out of their chamber of origin. The pressure builds quickly this time of year — and in a short session like this one, every day counts.

What’s It Matter To You – Healthcare