This article first appeared in Political Peach News
The 2023 Georgia legislative session is over, and the legislators are off on spring breaks, back to their day jobs, or recovering in bed. But advocates who care about good policy in this state are assessing what just happened, what bills passed or failed, who were allies, where the roadblocks were, and what the lessons are for the next session.
Several news outlets and legislators have produced a rundown of the bills that passed or failed, including the AJC, The Current, and the Associated Press. In this issue, I focus on just two bills: the failure of SB 233, the school voucher bill, and the passage of the anti-transgender bill.
The failure of the school voucher bill was certainly a progressive win. It had passed the Senate by a vote of 33 to 23, but failed by two votes in the House late on the last day of the session. All Democrats, except Rep. Mesha Mainor (D-56) voted against it, along with 16 Republicans from rural districts. This bill, discussed in a recent issue of the Peach, would have given families of children $6,500 per year to attend a private school or for homeschooling if the child was attending a school that was performing in the bottom 25% of all Georgia schools. Various commentators have pointed out that legislators from rural districts realized that their school systems would suffer if this bill passed. But in addition, as Sen. Nan Orrock (D-36) observed after the session, “The voucher bill was an example of the right wing of the Senate being given a lot of leeway. It’s not just that it was a carelessly drawn bill and full of loopholes. It was long on raiding the public education coffers but very, very short on accountability of private schools.” Unfortunately, it is likely that we will see another voucher bill next session.
If the failure of the voucher vote was a big and surprising victory, the passage of SB 140, was a disappointing progressive loss. The anti-transgender bill, which was quickly signed into law by the governor, will ban gender-affirming medical care to youth under age 18 and can impose criminal penalties on providers who administer such care. Parents, students, and medical providers gave heart-wrenching testimony about the need for this type of care, the risk to the lives of children, and the legal exposure for medical professionals. The advocacy group The Georgia Youth Justice Coalition (GYJC) released a statement saying, “The immense presence of students, medical professionals, and allies at the Capitol demonstrates that Georgians are not only against this hateful bill but also committed to fighting for justice and liberation for trans youth.” This bill will likely be challenged in the courts.
These two bills illustrate some systemic and structural problems and possibilities for progressives. First, this legislative session was significant because it had new leadership in both the House and the Senate. In the House, Jon Burns (R-159) was elected by that body to be Speaker of the House after long-serving Speaker David Ralston died last November. But the leadership role in the Senate is different in that it is the constitutional duty of the lieutenant governor to preside. Burt Jones was elected lieutenant governor in the November 2022 state-wide election after having served as a state senator for five terms. In addition, Jones has gotten attention as an election denier and as a fake elector after the 2020 Trump election loss.
Jones had a rocky start as head of the Senate. He actively supported a bill (SB 99) that passed the Senate with only Republican votes but did not make it out of a committee in the House. The bill was designed to make it easier to build hospitals in rural counties but likely would allow a hospital to be built in Butts County on land owned by Burt Jones’ father, a project for which his father has long advocated. Patricia Murphy of the AJC quipped that Jones will have to decide if he wants to represent the interests of his family’s business or that of the people of Georgia.
Another structural problem in this session is worth noting. The sheer volume of bills the legislature had to handle was made more difficult by a few factors. First, perhaps because of the new leadership, the session got off to a slower start than usual. Also, for the first time in memory, House and Senate leadership created a calendar for the session with a firm ending date. This seemed like a good idea at first. Legislators, lobbyists, and advocates could plan trips or other commitments, and it was clear the session would end before the Masters Tournament in Augusta. However, as the end drew near with so many bills not considered, it became clear that more flexibility in scheduling might have been a good idea. The legislature can only meet for 40 days, but the days do not have to be consecutive. Many good bills did not receive votes, with much hard work wasted. And some bills that did pass clearly needed more work.
This legislative crunch points to the anachronistic nature of our part-time legislature. Last year Georgia Public Broadcasting took a close look at this structure and how it could be improved. It is clear that the quality of bills that pass or fail suffers under our current system. Most of the larger states, like Georgia, have either full-time or almost full-time legislators, and they have longer sessions. These changes may be necessary for well-crafted legislation and policy in the future.
But longer sessions and better pay might not correct another problem: that the Republican majority is out of step with the majority of views of everyday Georgians. Poll after poll consistently shows that on many issues, including abortion rights, environmental protection, and ease of voting to name a few, Georgians agree with the Democrats by wide margins. Yet Republican legislators continue to pass policy that is not desired by the citizens of this state.
Currently, “The GOP majority pours energy into policymaking that spends public dollars in an inefficient and ineffective way and fails to meaningfully tackle the most pressing issues on Georgians’ minds. Republicans passed several bills that directly harm the most vulnerable people in Georgia,” said Sen. Gloria Butler, Senate Minority Leader, in a press release from the Senate Democratic Caucus.
Two bright spots for progressives to ponder were happily apparent this legislative session. First is that the youth were in the halls. This is the second year that the Georgia Youth Justice Coalition (GYJC), has had lobbyists and activists at the capitol address a number of bills, but especially the voucher bill and the anti-transgender bill. More broadly, Isabelle Philip with the GYJC media team says the group advocates for a strong public education system. “It’s definitely a bit intimidating at first, just because you can tell the Capitol isn’t a place where they expect just like average every day, high school and college students to be in; it’s just not really built for us if that makes sense. But eventually, you have to realize that at the end of the day, these people work for us. So we need to put pressure on them however we can. There’s a public entrance to the Capitol for a reason.”
In addition to GYJC, there is a growing number of progressive lobbyists and activists who are down at the capitol virtually every day. Others attend sporadically or listen and monitor on video. Some of these folks have now been at the Capitol for more than a few sessions and have become seasoned, knowledgeable, and committed to seeing good policy enacted.
Veteran lobbyist Larry Pelligrini, who has mentored a number of the newer progressive lobbyists over the last decade, says, “We’ve never had the number of people participating and the quality of people participating. We’ve just got to keep fighting. And this was a year where our theme was if we fight, we can win some. If we don’t fight, we will lose them all. So it was a big effort that we can be proud of.”
Additionally, the strength of progressive advocacy and the growing diversity of representatives in both legislative chambers is creating different policy-making opportunities. “We now have the second largest Asian American Caucus in the country, for example,” said Sen. Orrock. “The years of investment in building up progressive infrastructure to engage in the political process and the policy debates are definitely paying off. And I definitely see more and more sophisticated advocacy and coalitions working together for legislative wins down there. It’s a night and day difference from years and years ago.”
