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Request a DemoTop 6 issues and government actions that most impacted Georgians in 2022
What a year.
We were blindsided by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn abortion rights, we’re still getting over an exhaustive round of midterm elections, and we’re grappling with yet more hospital closings. Crime has spiked in some communities, and who knows who’s packing a handgun these days? It’s enough to send some folks to a therapist, if one can be found (fortunately, there’s a legislative remedy for that).
Here’s a look at the issues that most impacted the lives of Georgians statewide this year:
1. Abortion ban
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark legislation that protected people’s rights to abortions for nearly half a century. The controversial ruling has triggered intense legal battles in Georgia over the state’s “Heartbeat Bill,” which bans doctors from performing abortions on patients once a heartbeat is detected usually about six weeks pregnant, with exceptions for rape, incest, or inviability of the fetus.
Passed in April 2019, the law was ruled unconstitutional in July 2020 until that decision was reversed on July 20 of this year. The law has since see-sawed back and forth in court. The abortion ban was in place until this past Nov. 14 when a Fulton County Superior Court judge lifted it; a week later, the Georgia Supreme Court reinstated the ban until it makes a final decision.
During the week the ban was lifted, Feminist Women’s Health Center in Atlanta “saw an average of 30 to 35 patients each of those days,” Kwajelyn Jackson, the center’s executive director, told State Affairs. “That's about double what we’ve been seeing under the six-week ban.” Feminist Women is one of the plaintiffs in the legal fight against the state heartbeat bill.
For years the anti-abortion movement has worked relentlessly to get Roe v. Wade overturned, so the Supreme Court decision was, by all accounts, a moment of victory and, many said, an opportunity to step up and help those women making the difficult decision to have an unwanted child.
“We realize that more services are going to have to be provided. … If you're going to be pro-life, you have to be pro-life about everything,” said Martha Zoller, a Georgia Life Alliance board member who welcomed the SCOTUS decision because it puts the issue squarely in the hands of states.
“ We want the states to be the ones to make the decision so that it's more reflective of the values of the state. Do you want nine Supreme Court justices or do you want state legislators making those decisions? Who’s closer to the people?” she said.
In the meantime, Georgia’s law is impacting thousands who are forced to travel out of state to get abortions, Jackson said, adding, “For people who don't think this is an issue that affects them, it may just not have affected them yet. There certainly may be people in their lives who they love and care for, for whom this is a very serious concern. A lot of times, we don't think about our reproductive and bodily autonomy until we're in a crisis situation.
Read what other Georgians had to say about the abortion ban here and here.
2. Costly elections
Perhaps the two most-watched races in America during the 2022 midterm election occurred in Georgia. If they weren’t, they certainly were among the most expensive and exhaustive.
Gov. Brian Kemp and his challenger Stacey Abrams, the darling of the Democratic Party, raised more than $250 million combined in their rematch and collectively achieved a record-setting turnout for a midterm election among Georgia voters. Abrams’s second failed attempt to become Georgia’s governor has left her $1 million in debt, according to media reports.
The governor’s race doesn’t begin to compare to the caustic U.S. Senate race between incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker. Their battle cost more than $400 million combined — the most expensive race in the nation during the 2022 midterm elections, according to OpenSecrets.org. That data was through November and does not include what was spent during the Warnock/Walker runoff race.
The mind-numbing spending has some — including Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — calling for reforms, most notably an end to general election runoffs. Georgia and Louisiana are the only two states to hold runoffs in a general election if no candidate gets 50% of the vote. The system is a holdover from Jim Crow laws that sought to curtail the political power of Black voters.
The runoff is estimated to have cost taxpayers over $10 million in metro Atlanta alone and millions more around the state, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article.
Since the start of 2020, $1.4 billion has been spent on just four races in Georgia: Two election bids each for the U.S. Senate and the governor’s mansion, according to a New York Times analysis.
3. Guns, gangs and crime
While violent crime, property crime, and crime overall are down statewide, continuing a 10-year trend, gang violence, illegal drug trade and juvenile crime continued to spike in some urban and rural areas.
The impact of crime was felt nowhere more than in Atlanta, where 162 homicides reported as of mid-December have made it the most murderous year since 1996. Two of the most horrific cases included two boys, ages 12 and 15, gunned down by three teens on the 17th Street bridge in Midtown, and the stabbing death of a 77-year-old woman by a young man apparently intent on stealing her car in an affluent northwest Atlanta neighborhood.
Overall, the 29-county metro Atlanta area is the site of about 60% of all major crimes in the state. Violent crime in Savannah so far this year is up 11% over 2021, including more rapes, street robberies and aggravated assaults with guns.
Gang activity is fueling the drug trade, human trafficking and violent crime in many cities and rural areas across the state, according to Attorney General Chris Carr.
This year the state expanded its Gang Task Force led by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to several counties in middle Georgia and gave additional powers to the attorney general to investigate and prosecute gang-related crime.
In August, one of the state’s most notable crimes that drew national attention was resolved with the sentencing of the three men who murdered 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery near Brunswick.
Then, in November, just days before the midterm election, Carr announced the indictment of 17 alleged members of the 183 Gangster Bloods, whose alleged crimes include racketeering, murder, fentanyl trafficking and a variety of weapons-related offenses.
The issue of crime and guns also served as political ammunition throughout the year, as Republican Gov. Brian Kemp touted his support for the “constitutional carry” law signed in April, which allows Georgians to carry a concealed handgun without a permit. Abrams, meanwhile, cited the law for an uptick in violent crime and pledged to push for red flag laws for gun owners.
4. Hospital closings and renewed debate over Medicaid
The closing of the Atlanta Medical Center (AMC) in November created a crisis of care still reverberating throughout the indigent communities that have depended on the hospital for more than 100 years, as well as for much of the medical community in Georgia. It was also a sign of the times for the state’s ailing health care sector, where at least 10 hospitals have closed over the last decade.
The loss of AMC, a 460-bed nonprofit hospital run by Marietta-based Wellstar Health Systems, as well as related doctors’ offices and medical services located on its two-square-block campus, left Atlanta with only one Level 1 trauma center in the city, and tens of thousands of poor and working class people with nowhere to go for primary and specialty care.
Over the past 10 years, at least eight rural hospitals in Georgia have closed. However, this week, Wellstar announced its intent to partner with Augusta University Health System to create an expanded teaching hospital at Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.
The recent hospital closures are reigniting debate over whether the governor should expand Medicaid, which would allow Georgia to access billions in federal funds to help support struggling hospitals, and also to extend Medicaid coverage to an estimated 500,000 Georgians who lack affordable medical coverage. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that hospital officials across the state say that inaction on Medicaid expansion has “hurt their bottom lines because they still treat high numbers of uninsured patients, many of whom cannot pay for treatment.”
While Kemp earlier this year signed a bill approving a one-year-only extension of Medicaid coverage for maternity care for an estimated 60,000 women, and is planning to launch a limited Medicaid expansion next year that will include a controversial work requirement for recipients, Georgia remains one of just 12 states that hasn’t fully expanded Medicaid.
5. Mental health parity
The General Assembly voted unanimously to pass the Mental Health Parity Act, a sweeping piece of legislation that obligates the state to enforce rules that insurers cover mental health issues the same as they do physical illnesses.
The law will help more Georgians access affordable mental health and substance abuse treatment. Insurance companies can no longer arbitrarily decide how many visits to a therapist or psychiatrist a patient suffering from anxiety or addiction may have; such decisions will now be driven by mental health professionals who will abide by existing standards of care and what they deem is “medically necessary” for their patients.
Over time, the law is expected to address chronic and critical shortages in the mental health workforce. It ensures equity in reimbursement of fees to mental health providers, and also provides service-cancelable loans to residents who are enrolled in education and training programs to become mental health and substance abuse professionals.
Among many highlights in the monumental act: It relaxes Georgia’s standard for involuntary commitment by allowing law enforcement officers to evaluate and transport people having a mental health crisis to the ER (instead of taking them to jail, or doing nothing). It also provides funding to better train police and peace officers in how to intervene in a mental health crisis.
6. Tax breaks galore
With inflation running high, fears about the economy, and a looming recession among the top concerns for Georgians, tax relief was the remedy chosen by the governor.
Kemp gave Georgians billions in tax breaks and handouts using federal and state money.
The governor first issued $1.1 billion of state income tax refunds in the form of checks ranging from $250 to $500 sent to most Georgians. He also gave $350 cash cards to Georgians on public assistance, although there was lots of criticism early on about being able to use the cards, but that has since been resolved.
Throughout the year, Kemp issued executive orders to suspend the state fuel tax. The fuel tax holiday, which took effect in March and runs through Jan. 10, has cost the state approximately $1 billion in revenue. The average Georgian saved $12 to $15 a month on gas, while some diesel consumers saved hundreds of dollars each month.
Last spring, the Legislature also enacted a historic income tax cut proposed by the governor to move Georgia from a progressive income tax with a top rate of 5.75% to a flat 4.99% income tax, to be phased in by 2029.
And he’s not done doling out cash just yet. In a speech in Athens to lawmakers early this month, Kemp pledged another $2 billion in income and property tax breaks for 2023.
What did you think were the top political stories of 2022 in Georgia? Contact Tammy Joyner on Twitter @LVJOYNER or at [email protected], and Jill Jordan Sieder on Twitter @JOURNALISTAJILL or at [email protected].
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Header image: Speaker David Ralston and members of the Georgia General Assembly at the bill signing for HB 1013 on April 4, 2022. (Credit: Georgia House of Representatives)
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House speaker Jon Burns hires new communications director
House speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, announced today that he has hired a new communications director. Kayla Roberson, who has served as press secretary at the Georgia Chamber for the past year or so, will now oversee all external communications, media relations and strategic messaging for Burns.
“I’m excited to welcome Kayla to our team,” Burns said in a statement. “Kayla has an excellent background, deep skill set and strong work ethic, and we’re excited to have her on board to continue getting our message out and sharing the House’s priorities ahead of and into the next session.”
A double major in political science and journalism at the University of Georgia, where she graduated in 2022, Roberson interned for U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Republican in north Georgia’s 9th Congressional District, and worked as a consultant for GOP political candidates before joining the Georgia Chamber.
“I’m beyond grateful for the opportunity to work under the leadership of speaker Burns,” Roberson told State Affairs. “Whether it’s improving education opportunities, putting money back in the pockets of hardworking Georgians, creating jobs or supporting our rural communities, speaker Burns always prioritizes doing what is best, and what is right, for Georgia.”
Political strategist Stephen Lawson, who has held the top communications role for the speaker since last December, announced he’s joining Dentons, where starting today he’ll lead the global law firm’s public affairs efforts.
Have questions or comments? Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on X @journalistajill or at [email protected].
Global bird flu disrupts Georgia exports, costing chicken producers millions
ATLANTA — A global bird flu that has rapidly spread from birds to dairy cows, milk supplies and humans has cost untold millions of dollars in lost export business in Georgia, the nation’s leading poultry producer, officials with the state Department of Agriculture and poultry industry said.
Georgia has had only three reported cases of H5N1 avian influenza since it reemerged in 2022. The last of those cases was resolved in November 2023 but ramifications of those outbreaks continue to have a big effect on the state’s ability to export chicken and chicken parts, such as chicken feet, to different countries, including China, one of Georgia’s biggest export markets for chicken feet.
In 2022, frozen chicken feet, for example, accounted for more than 85% of all U.S. poultry exported to China, according to Farm Progress, publisher of 22 farming and ranching magazines.
The $30 billion poultry industry is Georgia’s largest segment in its No. 1 industry — agriculture.
China has also placed a ban on the import of chicken products from 41 other American states. The ban on Georgia products went into effect Nov. 21, 2023. Efforts to reach the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. were unsuccessful.
Georgia Poultry Federation President Mike Giles estimates the state’s loss at “well into the millions of dollars.”
“It’s a significant amount in a significant export market for us,” he said. “Poultry paws [feet] immediately lose value because of the loss of demand.”
The ban has forced Georgia poultry producers to find alternative markets for their products that would normally be headed to China.
“Some are sold domestically, some are frozen and stored, hopefully to find markets later on, and some go to other countries,” Giles said.
This isn’t the first time China has banned U.S.-produced poultry products due to a bird flu outbreak. The country instituted a ban in January 2015 which lasted until November 2019 — even though U.S. poultry products were deemed free of the disease by August 2017.
After that ban was lifted, China’s appetite for American-produced chicken products became voracious.
In 2022, U.S. producers shipped nearly $6 billion in poultry meat and related products (excluding eggs) to over 130 countries. China has emerged as the second largest destination for U.S. poultry exports, increasing from $10 million in 2019 to a record $1.1 billion in 2022, according to Southern Ag Today.
Chicken paws, for instance, are eaten in many Asian countries, including the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Korea.They can also be found on Chinese dim sum menus throughout the U.S. and are also popular in Jamaica, Trinidad, Russia and Ukraine in everything from soups and curries to fried snacks.
Three Georgia counties have reported H5N1 outbreaks since 2022. The most recent case was late last year. Henry, Sumter and Toombs counties each reported one case of H5N1 bird flu. Those outbreaks are resolved, poultry and state agriculture officials say.
“When HPAI cases are found in any state, that state is given a designation that could lead to foreign countries halting trade on poultry products from that state,” Georgia Department of Agriculture spokesman Matthew Agvent told State Affairs.
Not since 2016 has the United States experienced such a fast-moving case of the H5N1 avian influenza. In the last two months, the virus has spread in parts of the United States from birds to dairy cows, some milk supplies and humans. Two people — a Texas dairy worker and a prison inmate in Colorado who was killing infected birds at a poultry farm — are reported to have caught the virus, according to news reports. The outbreak is the largest in recent history, impacting both domestic poultry and livestock as well as wild birds and some mammal species.
State officials are continuing to monitor the national outbreak and its impact on Georgia.
Georgia’s poultry & egg industry: At A Glance
Annual economic impact: $30.2 billion
Percentage of the Agriculture industry: 58% *
Jobs: 87,900
Counties involved in poultry & egg production: 3 out of 4
National ranking in chicken broiler production: No. 1
Daily production of table eggs: 7.8 million
Daily production of hatching eggs: 6.5 million
Pounds of chicken produced daily: 30.2 million
Pounds of chicken produced annually: 8 billion
Number of chicken broilers processed each day: 5 million
Counties involved in poultry & egg production: 3 out of 4
Source: Georgia Poultry Federation; The Center for Agribusiness & Economic Development, University of Georgia, Ag Snapshots 2024; Georgia Poultry Federation.
Have questions? Contact Tammy Joyner on X @lvjoyner or at [email protected].
Is it safe to eat chicken and eggs and drink milk? Answers to your most pressing questions about the latest bird flu outbreak
A two-year-old strain of bird flu has heightened concerns in Georgia and the rest of the country after the virus recently spread to dairy cows. Here’s what you need to know about the virus and its impact on Georgia and the rest of the country. What are the symptoms of this flu in humans? Eye …
Kemp signs bills on education, health care, taxes
Gov. Brian Kemp signed a slew of bills over the past week or so, including the private school voucher bill long sought by Republicans and a bill that will ease regulations over the construction and expansion of medical facilities in rural areas.
His bill-signing events were clustered into themes: education, health care, military members, human trafficking and Georgia’s coastal communities.
Education
Among the education-related bills Kemp signed was Senate Bill 233, also known as the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act, which provides the families of Georgia students enrolled in underperforming school districts with $6,500 scholarships that can be used toward private school or homeschooling expenses, including tuition, fees, textbooks and tutoring.
“Georgia is affording greater choice to families as to how and where they receive their education, while also continuing our efforts to strengthen public schools, support teachers, and secure our classrooms,” Kemp said, and thanked leadership in the House and Senate for prioritizing passage of the bill, which had failed in a close vote in 2023.
Democrats and many public education advocates who opposed the bill argued it will drain resources from public schools and primarily benefit students from wealthy families.
Kemp also signed Senate Bill 351, sponsored by nine Republican senators, which will require social media companies, as of July 1, 2025, to verify their users are at least 16 years old unless they receive approval from a parent.
House Bill 409, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Daniel, R-Locust Grove, directs school systems to consider not having bus stops where a student would have to cross a roadway with a speed limit of 40 mph or greater. The bill also increases the penalty for passing a stopped school bus to $1,000 from $250.
Kemp noted that Ashley Pierce, the mother of Addy Pierce, an 8-year-old who was fatally struck by a motorist as she boarded her school bus, “passionately advocated for and was instrumental in the passage of this legislation.”
Senate Bill 395, sponsored by Sen. Clint Dixon, R-Gwinnett, states that no school visitor or personnel can be prohibited from possessing an opioid reversal drug such as Narcan and directs schools to maintain a supply. It also allows opioid antagonists to be sold in vending machines and directs certain government buildings to maintain a supply of at least three doses.
Senate Bill 464, also sponsored by Dixon, creates the School Supplies for Teachers Program to financially and technically support teachers purchasing school supplies online. It also creates an executive committee of five voting members within the Georgia Council on Literacy and limits the number of approved literacy screeners to five, one of whom must be available to schools for free.
Health care
The governor chose his hometown of Athens as the venue to sign several bills aimed at improving health care in rural and underserved communities.
Among them was House Bill 1339, sponsored by Rep. Butch Parrish, R-Swainsboro, which revises the Certificate of Need process by which the state determines if and how new medical facilities can be built or expanded. The bill provides for several new exemptions, including psychiatric or substance abuse inpatient programs, basic perinatal services in rural counties, birthing centers and new general acute hospitals in rural counties. It also raises the total limit on tax credits for donations to rural hospital organizations to $100 million from $75 million.
Senate Bill 480, sponsored by Sen. Mike Hodges, R-Brunswick, establishes student loan repayments for mental health and substance use professionals serving underserved youth in the state or in unserved geographic areas disproportionately impacted by social determinants of health.
House Bill 872, sponsored by Rep. Lee Hawkins, R-Gainesville, chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee, expands cancelable loans for certain health care professionals to dental students who agree to practice in rural areas.
Senate Bill 293, sponsored by Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, reorganizes county boards of public health and opens the qualifications for the CEO of each county board of health to include either licensed physicians or people with a master’s degree in public health or a related field.
Military members and veterans
Kemp on Wednesday focused on bills to improve military recruitment and provide more work opportunities for veterans and military family members.
House Bill 880, sponsored by Rep. Bethany Ballard, R-Warner Robins, allows spouses of military service members to work under a license they hold in good standing in another state while under the supervision of an existing Georgia medical facility or provider.
Senate Bill 449, sponsored by Sen. Larry Walker, allows military medical personnel to practice for 12 months while a license application is pending, including working as a certified nursing aide, certified emergency medical technician, paramedic or licensed practical nurse. The bill also creates a new advanced practice registered nurse license and makes it a misdemeanor to practice advanced nursing without a license.
Human trafficking
The governor on Wednesday was accompanied by first lady Marty Kemp and other members of the GRACE Commission for the signing of an anti-human trafficking package. It includes Senate Bill 370, which adds certain businesses to the list of organizations that must post human trafficking notices, including convenience stores, body art studios, businesses that employ licensed massage therapists and manufacturing facilities.
Sponsored by Sen. Mike Hodges, R-Brunswick, the bill also allows the Georgia Board of Massage Therapy to initiate inspections of massage therapy businesses and educational programs without notice and requires massage therapy board members to complete yearly human trafficking awareness training.
House Bill 993, sponsored by Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, creates the felony offense of grooming of a minor and creates new penalties for offenses relating to visual mediums depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
House Bill 1201, sponsored by Rep. Houston Gaines, R-Athens, allows human trafficking survivors who received first offender or conditional discharge status to vacate that status for certain crimes, as long as the crime was a direct result of being a victim of human trafficking.
Coastal communities
Earlier today in Brunswick, Kemp signed legislation impacting Georgia coastal communities, including House Bill 244, which amends the laws around how wild game can be hunted and how seafood dealers operate, and House Bill 1341, which designates white shrimp as the state’s official crustacean.
Taxes
Earlier this month Kemp signed several bills related to taxation, including House Bill 1015, sponsored by Rep. Lauren McDonald, R-Cumming, which lowers the state income tax for tax year 2024 to 5.39%, accelerating a multiyear drop in state income taxes that started at 5.75% in 2023 and will continue through 2029.
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget estimates the tax cut acceleration will save Georgia taxpayers approximately $1.1 billion in calendar year 2024 and about $3 billion over the next 10 years.
Kemp also signed House Bill 1021, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Daniel, R-Locust Grove, which increases the state’s income tax dependent exemption to $4,000 from $3,000.
House Bill 581, sponsored by Reps. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, and Clint Crowe, R-Jackson, enables a constitutional amendment (House Resolution 1022) to let voters decide whether counties can provide a statewide homestead valuation freeze, which limits the increase in property values to the inflation rate.
The governor has until May 7 to sign or veto bills passed during the legislative session that ended on March 28. Those he takes no action on will automatically become law.
Legislation signed by Kemp is posted on the governor’s website.
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Have questions, comments or tips on education in Georgia? Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on X @journalistajill or at [email protected].
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