A Comedy of Errors, But The Show Goes On

The Republican leadership has been slow to release bills to the Senate floor, which allowed me time to focus on the work my district sent me to do. I filed two bills:

SB 339, A Medicaid Public Option: Modeled after Georgia’s successful Peachcare for Kids program — available to ANYONE, no matter your age, income level or insured status. Don’t like your private plan? You have another option!

SR 654, Funding for Public Transit: Proposes a constitutional amendment to allow the Georgia Department of Transportation to use gas tax revenue for public transit.

Unfortunately a stomach bug and a clerical error threw me a couple of curveballs this week. Thanks to a team effort, we were able to overcome them and keep things moving.  

Was it Dual Enrollment or a Stomach Bug?

This week, the Georgia Senate passed HB444, which outlines program cuts to Georgia’s highly successful and popular Dual Enrollment program. The program allows motivated high school students to “Move on When Ready,” and take college and technical school classes free of charge, earning credits that count both for college and high school, and was a focus of our previous Lieutenant Governor, Casey Cagle.

Governor Kemp wasted no time last year targeting Dual Enrollment for cuts. The legislature is now fast tracking a bill through that only lets students “Move On” with half as many credits as before.

With college tuition crippling students with debt, Dual Enrollment has been a lifeline for Georgia families, including my own. It’s not an exaggeration to say I am heartsick about these cuts. But the morning the bill came to the Senate floor, I literally woke up sick. I was proud to remotely watch my Senate Democratic Caucus colleagues take up the mantle to defend Dual Enrollment and speak against the bill. Sadly, the bill passed along party lines, and will be going back to the House so that they can either agree or disagree to the changes made by the Senate. Call and email your house Representative and let them know where you stand on these cuts.

Medicaid Public Option and a Clerical Error

Speaking from the Senate well about the need for a Medicaid Public Option

On Wednesday, I addressed my Senate colleagues after filing my signature piece of legislation for the year — a Medicaid Public Option that would allow ALL Georgians, regardless of age, income, or insurance status, to purchase Medicaid, at the same cost it takes the government to deliver the services.

I’ve heard from a number of constituents who have private plans with such high monthly premiums and deductibles that they have a hard time finding money to pay the doctor. They feel they have to forgo healthcare even though they have insurance. And they often can’t trust their health insurance because they get billed for services they thought were covered. 

With a public option, the government sets the price instead of a for-profit company. This keeps prices down, increasing competition in the market to keep costs down for everyone, including those with private plans. The plan is modeled after the popular Peachcare for Kids, and would simply be another option on the marketplace that consumers could choose. Close to 20 other states are taking a serious look at how to make a public option work for them. It’s time Georgia does the same.

The Secretary of the Senate’s instructions on how to ask for Unanimous Consent to Withdraw a bill

The concept of a Medicaid Public Option is new, so this was not an easy bill to draft. We went through multiple versions — so many in fact, that I inadvertently filed the wrong one! And I learned this week that some mistakes made in the Senate can be fixed!

The Secretary of the Senate gave me a little cheat card with the formal language you must use on the Senate floor to make a motion to withdraw a bill. In the process, I got to see the inner workings of the Secretary of the Senate’s office, including the script that they prepare for the Lt. Governor that guides him as he presides over each day’s session.

A Course Correction, A Bipartisan Success, and Other Matters

Transportation: This week I filed a Constitutional Amendment to allow Georgia’s gas tax to be used for transit. Georgia’s Constitution currently only allows our gas tax to be used for roads and bridges. This is why we’re seeing managed toll roads instead of transit options to solve our traffic woes. Our Constitution is holding us back and we must change course. It won’t be easy — a Constitutional amendment requires two-thirds of the vote in each chamber and a ballot referendum. But it is time for that fight.

Elected with bi-partisan support, GDOT Board Member Rudy Bowen addresses the 7th Congressional District Delegation, with Chair Sen. Steve Henson and Secretary Rep. Beth Moore.

Speaking of transportation, it’s not often that Republicans and Democrats can all agree on something, so it was nice to participate in a rare example this week as the Gwinnett County Delegation voted unanimously to re-appoint Rudy Bowen, a long-time public servant, to represent the 7th Congressional District on the Georgia Department of Transportation Board.

Gangs: This week, the House and Senate Public Safety Committees held a joint meeting to learn more about gangs, a major focus of the Governor. Young kids are being recruited into gangs as early as elementary school age, so we must focus on ensuring Georgia’s most vulnerable kids see a better path through education and positive programming.We can’t arrest our way out of this problem, and we must tread thoughtfully and carefully. Georgia already has some of the toughest laws on the books. We must make sure that Governor Kemp’s efforts on gangs don’t undo the great progress former Governor Deal made during his term on criminal justice reform. 

We’ll be monitoring this issue closely.

What’s on Deck?

We only have five more days officially scheduled for this session, which will bring us to day 14. House Speaker Ralston held off on releasing the remainder of the calendar until he saw the Governor’s budget proposal. It’s anybody’s guess what happens from here!

It was a pleasure to visit with CG Takeuchi, our new Japanese Consulate of Atlanta while having lunch with the Japan Caucus.

Good to visit with local elected officials from Chamblee, Norcross, Doraville & Tucker at Georgia Municipal Association Day at the Capitol.

A beautiful event where my colleague Sen. Harbison was honored at the Georgia Military Veterans Hall of Fame Class of 2019 unveiling ceremony.

Already Making Sausage

Otto von Bismarck is famous for his quote, “If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either being made.” Because bills filed in 2019 carry over into 2020, the 155th Georgia General Assembly wasted no time in getting the sausage-making going again.

Changing the Sausage Recipe

Chatting with Social Work students from Dalton State about my path from BSW student to state Senator

Bills that lack the power and push from the Governor’s office have a slower start to life. Likewise, bills that the Governor pushes can race right through the process like a greased pig. That’s why I spent the weekend prior to the 2020 session training Indivisible Advocates on how to utilize their networks to agitate and inspire the bill making process.

The second year of the biennium is fraught with political posturing since every member of the legislature is up for re-election (yes, that includes the Senate). But this environment actually provides a ripe breeding ground for making your voices heard. Even a handful of postcards or phone calls to a targeted legislator can bring an issue to the forefront, or strategically inject doubt.

If a bill you support is not getting traction, don’t fret. Passing a bill into law is not the only measure of success. Sometimes bills are filed to generate discussion, or to move the needle of public opinion. And if there’s a bill you oppose, by all means, BE LOUD and agitate, even if you live in a district where you don’t feel heard. Let your legislator know you’re there.

Organic Sausage is Best

The “Hopper” where bills are collected before they are read on the Senate floor and assigned to a committee

A bill begins with an idea. Sadly, many bills today are created by conservative “model bill” factories that provide fill-in-the-blank templates for legislators. But not all bills are made in a factory; better ones are home-grown. This week I dropped in the “hopper” two bills that came directly from conversations I had with constituents.

Local Control: At a Dunwoody town hall meeting, a constituent expressed concern about a new law mandating that all cities allow for wood construction in their building codes. This was clearly an example of an industry lobby pushing their agenda that directly conflicts with our cities’ abilities to set their own standards. I filed SB 292 to repeal that law and restore local control. 

Speedy Tax Refunds: Another constituent asked me why it took so long to get his tax refund. When I called the Georgia Department of Revenue to find out, they couldn’t give me a good answer. So I sponsored SB 290, a bill that reduces the time it would take for Georgians to receive their tax refunds from 90 days to 30 days. 

The Governor’s Sausage

Standing with the Senate Democratic Caucus at a press conference giving the Democratic response to the Governor’s State of the State Address

On Thursday, Governor Kemp laid out his priorities at the State of the State Address. But he was silent on our looming fiscal crisis. Georgia has always been a well managed, fiscally conservative state because we have purposefully underestimated our annual revenue estimates. But now for the first time, we’re facing revenue shortfalls thanks to Republican-created state tax cuts and overly optimistic revenue projections. Legislators in 2018 cut the income tax, trusting that a Trump tax reform windfall would fill the gap. But it did not, so we’re now having to find ways to raise revenue and make tough spending cuts.

Online Sales Tax: The Senate passed its first bill this year which will allow Georgia to collect more sales tax from Internet and app sales, just like we do for brick and mortar stores. This will help make up some of our revenue shortfall.

Dual Enrollment: Highschool kids who enroll in college classes are about to become the first victims of budget cuts. The Senate Higher Education Committee passed the latest version of HB 444. The bill restricts the number of credits that can be earned, the types of classes that can be taken, and limits enrollment to only 11th & 12th graders (current students are at least partially grandfathered in). I voted against the bill.

UGA Tuition vs Minimum Wage, 1981 and 2019

Cost of College: Rising tuition was not mentioned in the Governor’s speech this week, but it was high on my mind so I went to the Senate well to remind my colleagues that too many promising young Georgians are having to choose between taking on enormous debt for a college degree, or not going to college at all. My husband Jay and I now have two kids in college, and we are discovering all kinds of back-door tuition increases. Did you know in 1981, it was possible to pay for a year of college tuition with a summer job earning minimum wage? Today, young adults would have to earn $46/hour at a summer job to be able to pay for a year of tuition at the University of Georgia. College costs have skyrocketed while Georgia’s minimum wage, among the lowest in the country, lags woefully behind the times. 

DeKalb Sausage

Dekalb Ethics: Now that voters rejected the very controversial proposal to revamp Dekalb County’s Ethics Process, the Dekalb House and Senate Delegations are working together for a solution. While many people want us to simply fix the Board appointment process that was rejected by the courts, there clearly are concerns among delegation members about the current process. A joint House and Senate Task Force will work through those concerns to come up with a solution.

I enjoyed a wonderful dinner with the Consulate General of Israel to the Southeastern United States, Anat Sultan-Dadon, and some of my Democratic colleagues.

Sausage Aside…

I look forward to seeing those of you concerned about the Georgia Department of Transportation top-end I-285 toll lane project at as many of the upcoming public information meetings as my schedule allows.

With the help of some of my constituents, I’m working with the Center for Pan Asian Studies to recruit pages, who spend a day at the capitol delivering messages to Senators inside the chamber. If you know someone who is interested in serving as a Senate page, please apply here.

And as always, please come to the Capitol for a visit! To set up a visit, or to get a message to me, please call my Administrative Assistant, Keridan Ogletree, at 770-463-2260.

Sally’s 2019 Legislative staff from left to right: Amy, Elizabeth and Peter.

In the season of budding leaves, final exams, and tax returns, I want to pause for a few minutes to thank you for sending me to the Georgia State Capitol to be your voice. I am profoundly appreciative and honored to have been given that responsibility, and I hope that I rose to the challenge. While it was a much tougher legislative session than we all anticipated, it was still a pleasure to be there, at least on most days!

In my final email for the 2019 legislative session, I thought I’d share my reflections — the surprises, the wins and the losses.

Also, Rep. Scott Holcomb and I will host a Townhall meeting Wednesday, April 24th, 7pm, at Livsey Elementary School, 4137 Livsey Road, Tucker.

The Biggest Surprise — Georgia Bans Abortions

Having grown up with Roe v. Wade in effect, it’s hard to imagine living in a country where abortions are illegal. Like many of us, until recently I took reproductive freedom for granted. I never imagined that a bill like HB481, the “heartbeat” bill that bans abortion at around 6-weeks, (before most women know they are pregnant) could pass the Georgia legislature. But I was incredibly proud of how forcefully the women of Georgia — doctors, mothers, and young women alike — spoke up against this hurtful, insensitive bill that won’t stop abortions. It will only stop safe abortions. The silver lining is that we’re already seeing that the backlash is fueling the recruitment of progressive candidates — particularly women — who will undoubtedly run successful campaigns to join the legislature in 2021.

What We Did Right — the Budget

Sine Die with Minority Leader Sen. Steve Henson and Rep. Scott Holcomb.

I’ve always been proud of Georgia’s fiscal health and I have great respect for Senator Jack Hill, who has chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee for a couple of decades. Sen. Hill knows the ins and outs of Georgia’s budget, and runs a very orderly process. This year’s budget passed with very little controversy, with teachers and mental health being the biggest winners. While 2018 was the first time in more than a decade that the education budget did not include austerity cuts, in subsequent years, we must do more for education. We must update the state’s Quality Basic Education formula, the spending per student ratio that dictates how we fund our schools. Georgia’s QBE formula is decades old and desperately needs an overhaul. But overall, Georgia is a fiscally sound state, as we have had good budget leaders for as long as I can remember.

The Biggest Win — No School Vouchers

The biggest win this year was blocking the passage of the Governor’s school voucher bill that would have been devastating to our already underfunded public schools. The original SB173 did not pass on the first go, and had we not flipped three Senate districts in 2017 and 2018 (Senate 6, 40 and 48), the outcome would have been different. SB173 almost gained a second life when it was attached to another education bill. We all thought arms would be twisted to get that bill through, but it never got to the Senate floor because the Republican leadership simply didn’t have the votes.  

While I’m glad we did no harm to our public schools, the school voucher bill was a good reminder that we still need solutions for families whose needs aren’t being met in the public schools. Thank you to those who reached out to me to tell me your stories. Know that I heard you. The other big win this year was the dyslexia bill, a bill that my predecessor worked hard on. Now all Georgia school children will be screened for dyslexia and receive early intervention, and Georgia’s teachers will be better armed to help kids with dyslexia. I’d love to see a similar approach to other types of learning disabilities. This is how we fix public schools, not by taking money away and giving it to private schools.

The Biggest Disappointment — Georgia Ambulance Services

During my campaign, I learned of some very distressing issues regarding slow ambulance response times. So I was pleased to learn about HB264, which sought to address some of the governance issues that impact ambulance contracts. It was a good bill that many people worked very hard on, including family members of victims who died while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. I was excited to vote it out of the Senate Ethics Committee. On Sine Die, I was crushed to read the Conference Committee Report on HB264. Several unrelated bills had been added to HB264 as amendments, including an amendment that attempted to weaken campaign finance laws by allowing large increases in PAC contributions. These last minute shenanigans were totally disrespectful to the legislative process, and to the victims. Ultimately, HB264 did not pass this year, so I am motivated to help clean the bill up next year.

The Biggest Area for Improvement — Healthcare

Sen. Nikema Williams, Chair of the Georgia Democratic Party, prepares her confetti for the last moments of Sine Die.

While there were some healthcare wins, such as Medical Marijuana Oil and Needle Exchange programs, we did not get the overhaul of Georgia’s healthcare system that is so desperately needed. Although our hospitals seemed pleased that the Governor was finally willing to introduce a weak Medicaid Waiver bill, the bar remains very low.  And while a compromise was reached regarding the CON regulatory system, for-profit healthcare still got huge exceptions written into the law. Access to affordable healthcare for everyone needs to continue to be a top priority for candidates as we go in to 2020 elections.

The Most Concerning Bill — School Safety

SB15 came out of the work of the Senate School Safety Study Committee, which in the aftermath of the Parkland, Florida school shootings, held six meetings throughout the state during 2018. The bill seeks to prevent tragedies by requiring threat assessments, drills and coordination among various authorities and governments. While on the surface it all sounds necessary and good, I have concerns about unintended consequences in its implementation. The bill mandates the collection and sharing of sensitive information and suspicious behavior, but does not define “reasonable suspicions,” which opens the door to broad interpretation and potential discrimination of minorities. It also weakens due process. I fear this could lead to increased imprisonment and deportation of people of color. I will continue to work with organizations such as Project South to track implementation issues requiring legislative action.

The Biggest Loser — Transportation

Transportation in Georgia became this year’s biggest political football. HB511 began as an ambitious proposal to create a coordinated statewide approach to public transit that would consolidate several state transportation agencies, raise money for public transit through a flat tax on ridesharing services, and allow local areas to raise taxes for transit projects which would have been a welcome opportunity for Georgia’s cities and rural areas. But when it stalled in the Senate Transportation Committee, it was combined with two other politically-sensitive topics — a jet fuel tax exemption for Georgia-based airlines and an airport authority that would oversee all of Georgia’s major airports, turning SB131 into a massive “frankenbill.” These types of bills normally don’t fare well and this one was no exception. It never came back to the Senate floor for a vote.

Looking Ahead

Sine Die – until next year!

Because this was the first year of Georgia’s 2019/2020 legislative session, we have a lot of unfinished business. Bills that were not passed this year still have a chance of passing next year. I look forward to returning to the Capitol next year to keep pushing for gun safety reform, education opportunities, and better solutions to Georgia’s healthcare. Until then, I’ll be continuing discussions with constituents and local leaders through meetings and events throughout Senate District 40. Stay tuned to my Senate Facebook page to see where I’ll be. I’m also checking my Senate email, so please feel free to reach out at sally.harrell@senate.ga.gov. I’d love to hear from you.

Do We Deliberate or Rubber Stamp?

I’ve always loved the idea of Georgia’s part-time citizen legislature. Our legislators serve for three months and then go home to resume their respective careers. This allows for a diverse group of people with everyday life experiences — farmers, funeral home directors, grocery store owners, car salesmen, real estate agents, doctors, etc. — to work together for the people of Georgia.

Answering constituent questions with Representative Mike Wilensky at the Dunwoody Town Hall meeting

But the limited session means we’re always racing toward a deadline, be it Crossover Day or Sine Die, the last of our 40-day session. Bills are rushed. Mistakes are made. Debate and amendments are discouraged. Our bicameral legislature, designed to provide two distinct sets of fresh eyes to improve bills, suddenly becomes a rubber stamp. Other forces like gerrymandering — drawing district lines for partisan gains — create safe seats and give rise to extreme points of view as elections are decided in primaries. It hijacks our ability to compromise and ultimately forces us to focus on the most divisive issues rather than those that make people’s everyday lives better. We saw both of these dynamics come together in HB481, the 6-week abortion ban, which was neither a welcome nor well-thought out bill.

The good news is that good government is in our hands. We can continue to perfect our imperfect system through the legislative process, like The Democracy Act that seeks to reform our redistricting process, or by changing the people that make up the legislature at the ballot box. This session and this week demonstrated more than ever that we have some serious work to do in 2020 to reclaim our government to make it work better for all of us.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

My Senate colleagues and I were proud to wear white in honor those that fought for women’s rights before us

The floor debate on HB481, the 6-week abortion ban, scheduled for Friday loomed large and we met several times throughout the week to plan the Democratic response. The ladies of the Senate decided to wear white to honor those that fought for women’s rights before us. I focused my floor speech on what I learned during my campaign — many voters, even those who are staunchly pro-life, can agree on maintaining what Senator Jen Jordan called the “uneasy truce” of our current abortion laws. And if we are to be truly pro-life, we must do much more to feed, house, educate, and provide healthcare for Georgia’s mothers and children. The four-hour emotional debate and vote was a tough way to end the week.

Nearly every meeting leading up to Friday reminded me of the rush to the finish line with only a handful of days left in this year’s session. Too many bills are being rushed through. But the citizen advocates that were at the Capitol throughout the week bringing their personal experiences and expertise to impact policy were much-needed reminders of why we do this work, despite all the challenges.

Mandatory Recess: The Senate Education and Youth Committee finally voted on HB83, a bill that seeks to require recess for grades K-5. You would think that a bill this simple would be easy to pass, but I worked hard on this issue my last year in the House only to have it fail in the very last hour of my very last day in office. Rep. Demetrius Douglas has tried to pass this bill for the last three years. This current version is not perfect — it’s not what I tried to pass and it’s not what Rep. Douglas started with. It’s gone through lots of changes and compromises along the way. While I would have loved more time and opportunity to amend the bill, a wise and experienced Republican colleague reminded me that sometimes we have to start with the imperfect as a first step in order to get to a better bill later. With the help of some citizen advocates, including two fifth graders who came to testify, the bill passed the Committee. I look forward to voting for it when it comes to the Senate floor.

Panel discussion at the Indivisible Sixth District Town Hall meeting Sunday evening

Protecting Georgia’s Shoreline: Serving on the Natural Resources & Environment Committee has allowed me to delve into studying many of Georgia’s environmentally diverse challenges. Thanks to HB445, I found out that a groin means something very different to shoreline protection than it does in other contexts, and beach nourishment isn’t about protecting native habitat! HB445 amends Georgia’s Shoreline Protection Act to give private homeowners along Georgia’s coast more control over land along the shore. And it provides a special exception to an area of Sea Island where a project is already underway to build high-end homes. Environmentalists strongly objected to these changes, arguing that current regulations are necessary to protect our eroding shoreline and that the Sea Island provision would set a dangerous precedent for other areas along the coast. The Democrats agreed with the Environmental community, voting against the bill and filing a minority report, which puts the minority dissenting opinion on the official record. The bill passed the Committee and will be on the Senate floor soon.

Ambulance Services: The Ethics Committee discussed HB264, a bill to improve oversight of the state’s ambulance services. I became aware of this issue during my campaign, as slow ambulance response has been a major issue for Dunwoody. Ambulance services are managed by the Division of Public Health and regional Boards throughout the state. When I originally researched this issue, I was troubled to see that the regional Boards were heavy on people in the private ambulance industry, which could lead to major conflicts of interest. HB264 inserts more transparency into the process by requiring anyone who lobbies the regional boards to register as a lobbyist. I would have loved more time to study the bill and think about other ways to improve the system. But like with all of the other Committees, we were pressed to take action on the bill as is and it passed the Committee.

After the meeting, I met Ellen Sims from Madison, Georgia who testified in the House hearing on HB264. Her mother tragically died from an allergic reaction to a wasp sting because the ambulance took 28 minutes to respond. She was with her 12 year old granddaughter at the time who called the police, but then had to watch her grandmother slip away because of the poor response time. It’s always an honor to meet people like Ellen who work to turn their personal tragedy into better policy for others.

The Capitol police beefed up security in anticipation of the emotional debate on HB481

Gun Safety: I had two great meetings this week with citizen advocates working to prevent gun violence. Jeff Binkley, of Dunwoody, started Maura’s Voice, a new organization that will conduct and compile research and offer assistance to lawmakers to create effective policies on gun violence and violence against women in honor of his Jeff’s daughter, Maura, who was shot and killed in the hot yoga studio shooting in Tallahassee. Jeff educated us on red flag laws and the need for better profile standards and training for law enforcement and mental health workers to identify potentially violent men. Men who commit gun violence against women are not necessarily mentally ill as defined by the mental health community. They are more likely to have social disorders and find belonging in like-minded hate groups that radicalize them further. We need the right diagnostic tools to effectively identify dangerous individuals or we will inevitably miss some and unintentionally flag innocent people with mental illness. Researchers at Florida State University are developing an online certification program to train social workers on how to identify potentially violent offenders. Given my Masters in Social Work, Jeff encouraged me to take the course when it’s ready and I very much look forward to that and using that experience to create effective red flag laws for Georgia.

I also met with Kathryn Grant from the Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus. Kathryn will be a terrific resource and partner for the fight to repeal Campus Carry in Georgia. She has been compiling data on gun incidents on college campuses since our Campus Carry law has gone into effect.

Elder Abuse/Domestic Abuse: As we race to the finish line, meetings pop up out of the blue and sometimes it’s hard to find a quorum with competing priorities. Such was the case with our Special Judiciary Committee where the Chairwoman, Senator Jen Jordan, scraped together a quorum to vote for HB247, a bill to enhance penalties for elder abuse, sponsored by Republican Representative Deborah Silcox. But this meeting was worth the last-minute scramble as, much to Rep. Silcox’s surprise, Chairwoman Jordan introduced a significant amendment taken from her domestic violence bill that requires those convicted of domestic abuse to forfeit their guns. Jordan’s bill, which passed unanimously in the Senate Judiciary Committee, stalled in the Rules Committee thanks to pressure from the gun lobby. The all-Democratic Special Judiciary Committee voted unanimously for Chairwoman Jordan’s amendment and for its new vehicle, HB247. It will now head to the Senate Rules Committee.

School Vouchers: The school voucher bill, formerly known as SB173, that would have diverted anywhere from $50 to $450 million per year of public school funding to private schools, was defeated in the Senate just a few weeks ago. But it made a comeback in the Senate Education and Youth Committee as an amendment to HB68, a bill to prohibit certain entities from becoming a school scholarship organization. The amendment scales the program back from the original proposal to make it potentially more palatable to some Republicans that originally voted no on SB173, but we won’t know if it will be palatable enough to pass the full Senate. I know we must do more to help families with children whose needs are not currently being met in our public schools, but we must find solutions that don’t drain our public schools of desperately needed funds. I plan to vote no on HB68 when it comes to the Senate floor.

Extending Hope: The Higher Education Committee considered HB218 a bill to extend the time you can use Hope scholarship funding after graduation from 7 to 10 years. This allows for any delays in education due to life circumstances. The bill also excludes military service in the time counted toward Hope scholarship funding. The Committee will vote on this bill along with the dual enrollment bill next week.

It’s time for another Town Hall! Please join Representative Mike Wilensky and me at Dunwoody City Hall on Tuesday, March 19 at 6:00 pm.

Sharing an update on the legislative session with Representative Matthew Wilson at our Brookhaven town hall meeting

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Town Hall in Brookhaven with Representative Matthew Wilson. It’s great to see so much interest in what’s happening at the Gold Dome.

Courage, Conflict & Conscience

We are three-quarters the way through the 2019 legislative session, and we have 75% of the work left to finish. This is the time when arm-twisting runs rampant. It is during times like this that I pull out my copy of John F. Kennedy’s “Profiles in Courage” and re-read Section One, in which Kennedy outlines the various Senatorial pressures.

Kennedy explains how post-election, the legislator’s constituency expands to include all voters (including those outside the circle of support), legislative colleagues, Party leadership, state-wide special interest groups, corporate interests, and local governments. Needless to say, these constituencies don’t always agree, and as legislators we must figure out how to negotiate these conflicting interests. Kennedy describes how the pressure to “go along to get along,” can cause the legislator to subdue the conscience, and unfortunately, many do. Others choose paths of compromise, and a few march out alone and face not getting re-elected. Courage and arm twisting are the oil and water of politics. Ultimately, I believe that in the end, a legislator must vote his or her own conscience, but remaining true to this under pressure is challenging. That’s why I have my yellow values card!

On another lighter note, and speaking of legislative colleagues, did you know the Georgia Senate has its own John F. Kennedy? He’s a Republican, and he’s from Macon, Georgia.

Case Study of Conflicting Constituencies

Voting machines still dominated my work this week. But other tough issues came up too.

Speaking at the Senate well against HB316

Voting Machines: The debate over voting machines has been a clear example of the conflict between constituencies and conscience. Since HB316 came to the Senate, I personally shared my concerns in meaningful conversations with some of my Republican colleagues and found they had some concerns too. Some worried about the costs and a few didn’t like the systems that scanned a barcode instead of the text on the paper ballot printouts. The Lt. Governor told us he supported an open floor debate when we met with him early in the week. I wrote my floor speech with my Republican colleagues in mind. I wanted to share my own initial reservations about handmarked paper ballots but how in the end, my extensive research showed that the electronic ballot marking devices were too new, largely untested, and not ready for such a large contract. I wanted to appeal to their conscience instead of putting their faith in a system being pushed by the Governor, the Secretary of State, and their preferred vendor.

But going into the floor debate, we knew which constituency had won out. Any doubts my Republican colleagues had suddenly disappeared. The bill was “engrossed” which meant we wouldn’t be allowed to offer any amendments from the floor. At my urging, the Democratic caucus took a strong collective stand against HB361. Minority Leader Steve Henson invoked the Senate rule that requires a fiscal note, a detailed analysis of costs, that is required for any bill with a major impact on our state budget. But the Lt. Governor ruled it not necessary because some money was already allocated in the Governor’s amended budget. Sen. Henson also moved to table the bill to give us more time to get a fiscal note and understand the full cost ramifications, but the motion failed with a party line vote. We made our floor speeches and answered some tough questions. But in the end, it was clear that the Republicans were going to vote with their party and preferred vendor and the bill passed along party lines. The House passed and amended the bill after a very similar debate and party line vote. And now the Secretary of State has already issued an RFP, even though the Governor has not yet signed the bill into law.

Honoring Community Servants: It was nice to get a mid-week reprieve from contentious bills and partisan politics at the Women’s Legislative Caucus Nikki T. Randall Servant Leadership Awards breakfast. Later in the Day, Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) held a reception for the Women’s Caucus that included a program about human trafficking. Representative Shelly Hutchinson, a social worker, and Senator Renee Unterman, a social worker and nurse, spoke about their experiences with victims of human trafficking in Georgia. It was eye opening and upsetting, but the Women’s Caucus resolved to take this on together as a bipartisan issue in the future. GPB committed to support the effort with a televised event on the issue.

The Shellfish Bill Got Contentious!: Believe it or not, shellfish came up again in the Natural Resources & Environment Committee and it was not peaceful! While the bill to allow for mariculture, aka shellfish farming, along the Georgia coast passed the Senate with very little debate, a similar bill, HB501 passed the House, but not without significant conflict. That conflict spilled into the Senate Natural Resources and the Environment Committee this week as we considered the House bill. We watched quite a debate between the bill author and a Representative from coastal Georgia who opposed the bill. At issue was the amount of time mariculturalists can farm along the coast in a year. It was a conflict between food safety and economic interests. I ultimately voted against the bill so the conflict could be resolved, but it passed the Committee. It will now go to the Senate Rules Committee and then the Senate floor.

Asking questions about HB444, the Dual Enrollment bill, in the Higher Education Committee meeting

Dual Enrollment: Participation in Georgia’s dual enrollment program, a state-funded opportunity for high school students to earn high school and college credit at the same time from a Georgia college, has grown approximately 500% in the last few years. Both of my kids benefitted from dual enrollment so I was very glad to be able to work on HB444. The bill would limit program funding to 30 credit hours per student and anything beyond that could be covered by tapping into the 127 credit hours allocated to eligible students for Hope scholarship funding. The bill also makes ninth and tenth graders ineligible for the academic program and ninth graders ineligible for the technical school program. In the meeting, I learned that the grade limitations are not for financial reasons but because of maturity concerns.

While we need to address the budget, I’m not in favor of grade level limitations. Dual enrollment has been a great solution for gifted kids who need more challenging curricula than what their high schools offer. Maturity should be based on individual students and a decision that parents, not the government, should make. But the popularity of dual enrollment is a symptom of the larger college affordability issue. Dual enrollment allows kids to get a head start on their college degree without having to dig deep in their pockets. We must take on the high cost of education and low wages that makes college out of reach for far too many.

I will be offering amendments to HB444 when the Higher Education Committee meets to vote on the bill next week. And I’ll be pushing for solutions for the larger problem of college affordability.

Handmaids at the Capitol protesting HB481, the bill to ban abortion after 6-weeks of pregnancy

“Heartbeat” Abortion Ban: There were handmaids in the halls of the Capitol this week, as doctors, pro-choice and pro-life citizen advocates came to lobby for and against the most contentious bill of the session — HB481, a bill to ban abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy. On Thursday, the Science and Technology Committee heard 45 minutes of testimony for the bill and nearly 90 minutes of testimony against it. Those testifying against the bill were largely doctors, nurses, and public health officials that said that the bill’s definition of “life” conflicted with that of all major medical association and medical training. They said it would not allow them to provide the standard of care that they are trained to offer. They were highly concerned that the bill would dissuade medical professionals from practicing in Georgia when Georgia already has the highest maternal mortality rate in the country and 80 Georgia counties have no practicing ob-gyns. The bill will get a vote in Committee next week and will go on to the Senate Rules Committee. Here’s your opportunity to BE LOUD. Call the Senate Rules Committee and tell them whether you think this bill deserves a floor vote.

Announcements:

I am sad to report that my secretary, Anna Boggs, has been out for the past two weeks to care for her elderly mother who has had some health concerns. We’ve missed her during her absence and we are not sure when she will be back.

In the meantime, we welcome Senate Aide Peter Tilly. Peter is young (19!) and very talented. He has been helping us catch up with items we may have missed while we were understaffed.

You can reach Peter at my Senate office number (404) 463-2260 or by email peter.tilly@senate.ga.gov for page requests and other needs. We appreciate your patience with us during this transition.