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Request a DemoWEEKEND READ: Kemp’s bold budget hikes, D.C. defiance — Legacy building or astute politicking?
ATLANTA — Over the past two years, many students who’ve ridden the bus to Woodland High School in Stockbridge have often missed their first period class because there weren’t enough bus drivers. That shortage forced existing drivers to double up on routes, making kids late to school.
Being habitually late hurt those high schoolers. Many students wound up getting lower grades or failing key academic classes such as math, language arts and social sciences, said Heather Franks, a food and nutrition teacher at Woodland.
But if Gov. Brian Kemp’s State of the State and Eggs & Issues speeches this week are to be believed, help may be on the way.
Kemp wants to pump $205 million into student transportation, based on his budgetary wishlist unveiled this week during his State of the State address. That essentially doubles the state’s current commitment to busing operations.
Overall, the governor’s proposal for the amended fiscal year 2024 and FY 2025 budgets doubles-down on his commitment to Georgia’s children, promising $1.4 billion in additional funding for kids in kindergarten through 12th grade. That includes two pay raises for teachers — $1,000 in FY 2024, and $2,500 in FY 2025 — and $20 million for 227 new school buses. Kemp’s full budget was released Thursday after his speech.
“That’s really promising to hear,” said Franks, who said she was most excited about the funding for school transportation. “It’s going to be a whole new experience, to actually be able to start a class on time. That will alleviate a lot of stress on the kids, to be able to get to school on time and not have to play catch-up constantly.”
During Thursday’s address, Kemp also proposed new investment in school security funding. His budget proposal calls for $104 million to go straight to school districts to beef up school safety. Georgia had 64 school shootings in 2023, the 10th-highest number of school shootings in the nation.
Early childhood education would also get an infusion of new state funding in 2025, with pre-K teachers and assistant teachers pay increases, and $11 million to reduce pre-K class sizes to 20 students from 22.
“These are real investments that will make a big difference for schools and for our pre-K system,” said Stephen Owens, education policy analyst for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, noting that many of the items in Kemp’s 2025 budget are increases to the education funding formula and the base budget, which makes them ongoing budgetary commitments.
“This will do real good in schools, to have these funds baked into the budget,” said Owens, adding that the “huge jump” in the formula funding will allow school districts “to plan on not only to replace school buses, pay bus drivers and bus monitors a better wage, and make sure that we have safer buses on the road, [but] … they can recommit the funds that they've been taking from other areas of school to support instruction in other ways.” This more permanent education funding is, he said, “very helpful compared to the way that kind of one-time grants have been provided in the past.”
The governor recommended $400 million in K-12 education funding be added to the amended fiscal year 2024 budget. He’s also seeking $1 billion for education for the FY 2025 K-12 budget, which would then total $13.2 billion. K-12 and higher education combined would get nearly $19 billion, once again making education the largest part of the state government budget.
All told, Kemp proposed adding $5.1 billion to the amended 2024 budget, which would increase it to $37.5 billion from $32.4 billion, with $2 billion of that money coming from the state’s $16 billion surplus, and much of the rest coming from projected general fund revenues. The 2024 fiscal year in Georgia ends on June 30.
Funding for many one-time spending initiatives or projects is allotted in the amended 2024 budget, state budget officials said. Proposals include $1.5 billion for transportation projects to more efficiently move commuters and freight, $250 million for water and sewer projects, $500 million for the employee retirement system, $50 million for a new medical school at the University of Georgia, and $50 million for workforce housing in rural communities.
Kemp also recommended a FY 2025 budget of $34.4 billion, a $3.6 billion increase over the base budget of FY 2024, also based on projected general fund revenues, which come primarily from tax revenue. The 2025 fiscal year begins July 1, 2024.
Kemp’s historic and ambitious budget proposal may be a glimpse into other ambitions for the 60-year-old Republican.
Angling for 1600 Pennsylvania Ave?
In his last term as governor, Kemp appears to be putting in place some permanent fiscal fixtures such as more money for education and big-ticket infrastructure projects, boosting pay for state workers, public safety, mental health, and other areas he’s been most passionate about. Quietly leaving his stamp and cementing his legacy.
He also may be setting the stage for higher political ambitions, some political observers say.
While it’s still early to gauge Kemp’s political aspirations beyond the governor’s mansion, some say what Kemp does in his final term as governor could be a clue. Kemp’s last term as governor could be viewed as a dress rehearsal for higher political ambitions.
“He'll be leaving [office] which would be a launching platform,” Charles Bullock, a University of Georgia political science professor, told State Affairs. “As governor, you can generate attention very easily.”
In his State of the State address, Kemp frequently knocked Washington and contrasted the missteps of the federal government with the conservative efficiency and populist priorities that drive how his Georgia is governed.
“Congress has become synonymous with runaway spending, bloated budgets, job-killing regulations, gridlock and partisanship, and elected representatives in both parties who are more interested in getting famous on cable news than delivering results for the American people,” Kemp said. “But the good news is that here in Georgia, we’ve chosen a different path. Because we realize that the success of our state does not rely on the actions of government, but on the prosperity of our people.”
Sen. Sonya Halpern, D-Atlanta, detected a note of “partisan” rancor in Kemp’s speech. “I don’t know if I’ve heard him say that [before]. He obviously referenced the federal government multiple times.”
If Kemp’s goal is the presidency, Bullock said, Kemp could possibly take a page from another Georgia politician who once served as governor.
“He could do like Jimmy Carter. Once you’re out of the governorship, you can be a full-time candidate. You don’t have to worry about coming back to your state to deal with crises.”
Bullock, who has been tracking Georgia politics for more than 50 years, said Kemp is “playing it very intelligently.”
“For a Republican who is not infatuated with Donald Trump, Brian Kemp looks really good,” Bullock said. “On the other hand, he has not ever directly gone after Trump. He has not been in a [former New Jersey governor] Chris Christie kind of role.
“What Kemp has done is to chart a middle course,” Bullock said. “He’s not a cheerleader like [Florida governor] Ron DeSantis has been. He [Kemp] won by a substantial margin in 2022. So it works out well for him here in Georgia.”
Time will tell.
“Who knows what the state of the [national] Republican Party will be in another four years, whether it’ll still be in the pocket of Donald Trump,” Bullock said. “In which case, Brian would have a hard time. But if the party has moved on beyond that, especially if the Trump brand had become tarnished by that point, then that tarnish would not affect Kemp.
“He’s not made any decisions publicly. So he’s closing no doors, whether it be to run for the Senate in two years or the presidency in four,” Bullock said.
Throughout his six years as governor, Kemp has taken a low-key, deliberate, and self-professed conservative approach to running Georgia. When it comes to speeches, like Thursday’s State of the State address, political observers say he sticks to the script; never ad-libbing.
“Kemp’s got an incredible message discipline,” Republican strategist Brian Robinson told State Affairs. “It’s hard to think of a time where loose lips have caused him harm or a quote has been thrown back in his face. He’s not someone who jumps at every opportunity to be on TV. He's not someone who is followed by media scrum where they’re shouting questions at him. He's shown a lot of success in sticking to a tight message.”
For instance Robinson said, when Kemp gives a major speech,” he often has lines in there that you could see appearing in a future TV ad or video in a primary campaign. And you don't see him saying things that would be used against him in a primary campaign in the future.”
“He's signaling that he's keeping his options open for the next steps,” said Robinson, who served as communications director for former Gov. Nathan Deal. Robinson also once worked on Capitol Hill for the Georgia delegation. He is a regular on the Political Breakfast podcast and a consultant whose clients include politicians.
“Second-term governors who plan to ride off into the sunset afterwards normally — it was really true for Gov. Deal — let down their guard on partisan posturing,” Robinson said. “They worry a little bit less about how their base is going to respond.”
Robinson said Kemp is “ being very careful in what he says and what he's videoed saying, which makes sense.” At the same time, Robinson added, “ I do think what he's willing to sign that gets to his desk is probably a little broader than it would have been in a first term.”
‘Strategic Investments’
In addition to bolstering education, Kemp’s budgetary priorities include health care, public safety and more workforce housing in rural communities and public safety.
The 2025 budget, which will begin July 1, includes some other ongoing “strategic investments,” budget officials said.
All state employees will receive a 4% cost of living increase in FY2025. Child protection workers will receive $3,000 salary increases, while nurse managers and compliance specialists at the Department of Community Health will get $2,000 raises. The Department of Juvenile Justice will get two new facilities, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation will receive funding for a new gang task force in Columbus, and 21 new crime lab positions.
Kemp told legislators he intends to make strategic spends on government services while continuing to hack away at taxes.
“Instead of expanding the size and scope of government, we’re putting state dollars to work in targeted, efficient ways to recruit, retain, and thank employees in vital roles from corrections officers to case workers,” Kemp said.
Last month, Kemp said he and other top Republicans — Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and House Speaker Jon Burns — intend to see a bill introduced that would accelerate cuts in the tax rate. Kemp followed through on that priority on Thursday.
“With your support, I look forward to signing legislation that decreases our state income tax to 5.39% starting this year,” he said. That would mean a $3 billion savings for Georgia taxpayers over the next decade, Kemp noted.
Two years ago, the state signed into law the Mental Health Parity Act, which led to the launch last year of the state’s 9-8-8 crisis hotline campaign run by the state’s Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. The agency’s commissioner Kevin Tanner requested more funding to increase the number of behavioral health crisis beds and to address severe behavioral health workforce shortages.
The governor’s budget proposal calls for an increase of $205 million for the department and other entities that address mental health, Kemp said. The new money would allow Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to expand services for those struggling with mental illness by funding a new behavioral crisis center, increasing operational funding for three crisis centers already in development and creating 500 new slots in the program for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
If passed, the state will be spending $1.6 billion on mental health, “more than ever before ,” Kemp said.
Kemp also threw his support behind the controversial Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, also known as Cop City. The complex has drawn criticism from activists who say it will militarize police and endanger communities.
Kemp put money behind that support. His budget proposal would give $3,000 raises to state patrol officers, corrections officers and other law enforcement personnel in 2025.
Kemp’s proposal also calls for the Department of Correction to get $145 million in the amended 2024 budget for facility upkeep, recruiting and retention initiatives,as well as security and technology initiatives.
What Kemp didn’t address: Medicaid expansion
Kemp’s address drew partisan praise and criticism from Democrats who said he ignored a critical issue: Medicaid expansion.
“What we have isn't really a surplus,” said Sen. Gloria Butler, the Senate minority leader, just after Kemp’s address. “What we have is a disinvestment. … For four consecutive years, Georgia's budget has fallen short of the state's capacity to meet the needs of the people, as conditions across state government have worsened and vast needs continue to go unmet.”
Butler is among those who sees a political agenda in Kemp’s fiscal plans.
“There's a housing shortage across the state,” she said. “But our surplus wasn't used to help our most vulnerable citizens find a decent place to live. He didn't use this surplus to fully expand Medicaid, which would have given over 500,000 Georgians the chance to go to a doctor — their own doctor; an emergency room when they're sick, without being afraid that a medical bill would keep them from being able to pay their fair rent or mortgage, deciding whether they want to get the medicine or eat. Medicaid expansion would have created 50,000 jobs and $6 billion in economic growth.
“That would be putting people over politics. The government could have invested in Georgia's future; he said no. He said no to investing, and making it just a little bit easier for Georgians to just make it through the day. Instead, he used this money to make short-term investments in Republican political success.”
Republican Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick called Kemp’s speech “very optimistic.”
“He highlighted many of the positive things we’ve done in conjunction with him such as the additional funding for public safety and the bills we passed on human trafficking,” she said. “I was happy he emphasized health care and public safety. I was very pleased with the speech.”
Rep. Becky Evans, D-Atlanta, said she was happy to see substantial new funding for school security and law enforcement. “But if their goal is public safety, then we’ve got to do something to address gun violence in our state,” she said. “ I believe in passing these security measures, but we also need to pass some safe gun ownership laws.”
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Weekend Read: Mesha Mainor expected to face uphill battle to retain seat — even against little-known competitors
Three of the four candidates for Georgia House District 56 in southwest Atlanta are scheduled to appear at a forum in Fulton County next week, just a few days ahead of the May 21 primary election.
Rep. Mesha Mainor won’t be among them. The incumbent, an Atlanta native running for her third term, said she won’t go because her alleged former stalker — one of her Democratic challengers — will be there.
But in any group of Democrats gathered in Atlanta lately, Mainor is the odd woman out. Since switching to the Republican Party last July, she has earned the enmity of many of her former Democratic colleagues, as well as the voters who elected her.
Mainor’s strong support for bills creating private school vouchers and disciplining prosecutors last year made her a pariah among some in her party. After Mainor cast the lone Democratic vote for Senate Bill 233, the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act, which narrowly failed, Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, said that “a Democrat who votes to defund public education should be primaried,” and posted online a photo of a $1,000 check awaiting Mainor’s primary challenger.
More condemnation and criticism from other Democrats followed, leading Mainor to announce last July that she was leaving the Democratic Party due to their “harassment” and intolerance. In doing so, she became the only Black member of the GOP among Georgia’s 236 lawmakers and the first Black Republican woman to ever serve in the Georgia General Assembly.
This year Mainor voted as a member of the Republican majority to pass the school voucher bill, as well as Senate Bill 332, which empowers the oversight commission aimed at disciplining “rogue” and errant prosecutors.
‘Dead woman walking’
Mainor’s Republican colleagues have praised her for taking a stand on the two bills, despite the political cost.
“She was a leader on that education reform bill from start to finish,” said Rep. Matt Reeves, R-Duluth, adding that “here in Georgia, I think that people want to see problem solving and effectiveness and delivering results. And that’s what she has done.”
House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, told State Affairs that “[Mainor’s] support of school choice legislation played a vital role” in the bill’s passing. He added, “Representative Mainor’s dedication to common-sense policies that support Georgia’s children, families and communities has been evident since day one.”
Still, Mainor, who has no Republican primary opposition, faces long odds for reelection in November in her strongly Democratic district, where 90% of voters chose Joe Biden for president in 2020.
House District 56 is 47% Black, 32% White, 10% Asian and 6% Hispanic or Latino, and 26% of residents live below the poverty line, according to 2022 data from the Atlanta Regional Commission.
“She has incumbency in her favor, and she’ll do better than most Republicans in a heavily Democratic district where African Americans are a key constituency, but she will get nowhere close to 50% plus one vote,” said Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia.
“She alienated everyone in the Democratic caucus and engendered animosity among her colleagues” through her unpopular votes, he said. And once Mainor switched parties, “she was a dead woman walking from that point on,” Bullock said. “I would imagine most Republican strategists have written that district off.”
“Party matters,” said Andra Gillespie, a political science associate professor at Emory University. Although “there is a diversity of thought within Black communities on issues related to school choice, this is likely not the top issue for voters in her district in this cycle,” Gillespie said. “And Democratic voters as a whole tend to penalize more conservative candidates. Party switching kind of goes beyond the pale. … While she may have some residual level of support as an incumbent, most people are not going to defect and go vote for her because they’ve known her before. Partisanship is going to hold that back.”
Mainor’s Democratic challengers
Mainor’s first Democratic challenger to emerge was Bryce Berry, a 22-year-old seventh-grade math teacher and president of the Young Democrats of Georgia.
Originally from St. Louis, Berry said he got involved in community organizing as a teen after the shooting death of Michael Brown by police in nearby Ferguson in 2014. At Morehouse College, Berry started a state-level student group to help elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2020 and then led college voter mobilization efforts for the Georgia Democratic Party in 2022.
Berry has since won the endorsement of dozens of Democratic state legislators, including most of the House leadership. He also has the backing of several Atlanta school board members, Fulton County commissioners and Democratic student organizations at Spelman and Morehouse colleges.
Berry, a teacher at Young Middle School, in southwest Atlanta has raised $36,350 in campaign contributions since last July, and his campaign war chest held $19,150 as of April 30. Mainor, meanwhile, reported raising $62,863 over the last three quarters and had $12,420 in her campaign account through April.
Berry’s platform includes measures around education reform, expanding Medicaid coverage, raising the minimum wage and working with local and federal governments to create more affordable, mixed-use housing developments in Georgia.
“Fundamentally, Rep. Mainor has left our community behind,” Berry said. “It’s not just about her switching parties; it’s about her actions. …Voters in my district feel like they are not being heard by the state, their needs are not being met and they’re ready for a return back to a visionary, progressive Democrat who will work tirelessly to improve their lives.”
Emory’s Gillespie said Berry appears to be the front-runner in the District 56 Democratic primary.
The Democratic candidate with the next-best level of name recognition in House District 56 is likely Corwin “CP” Monson.
Monson, 50, an audio engineer, was a volunteer in Mainor’s unsuccessful campaign for Atlanta City Council in 2019 before she fired him for being disruptive, she said. Soon after, she accused him of stalking her. A Fulton judge granted a temporary protective order against Monson, who was later arrested for violating it.
In September 2021, in a plea deal offered by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, Monson pleaded no contest to aggravated stalking charges and accepted a three-year sentence — one in prison and the rest on probation. Having already served 10-and a-half months in jail, he was released in November 2021.
Monson has denied stalking Mainor, who he said has “lied and committed character assassination” against him. He told State Affairs he took the plea deal to get out of jail after his lawyer told him a court backlog in Fulton County meant his case might not be heard for another two years.
Monson, who has been endorsed by former state representative for District 56 “Able” Mable Thomas, is campaigning on economic development and education reform, including making the school funding formula “more equitable” for low-performing and rural schools.
Monson also seeks to expand Medicaid and other affordable health care options, as well as pursue criminal justice reform.
He reported $1,005 in campaign donations as of January, but has not yet filed a campaign finance report for the first quarter of 2024, which was due on May 7.
Last week, Mainor announced she is suing Fulton County, Willis and Fulton County Commissioner Marvin Arrington (who initially represented Monson) in civil court for their mishandling of the stalking case against Monson, which she said was not properly investigated, was sidetracked due to interference from Arrington and resulted in a too-lenient sentence.
Also challenging Mainor is Adalina “Ada” Merello, a 42-year-old waitress who has lived in Vine City in House District 56 for two years.
Originally from Eugene, Oregon, she has an extensive background in government and campaign-related work, including working for former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed on neighborhood improvement and service-based initiatives and volunteering for the campaigns of former President Barack Obama in 2012, gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams in 2018 and U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams and U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in 2020 and 2021.
“I’m running because the neighborhood has been misrepresented for too long,” Merello told State Affairs. “Recently, we’ve had backstabbing with misrepresentation,” she said of Mainor’s party switch. “But I believe prior to that, we just don’t have a loud enough voice at the Gold Dome. So I’m newer in the neighborhood, but what I’ve seen is just people living their day-to-day lives, wanting life to be a little easier. And I don’t mean that in a handout way but a hand-up way, of people helping each other.”
Her campaign platform includes mental health reform, with a focus on further implementing some of the parity goals established in the major mental health legislation passed in 2022.
Merello, who has openly discussed her bipolar disorder diagnosis, said she “wants to normalize mental health issues and treatment to make life easier for people who’ve had lives like mine.”
She also wants to improve public schools, create more food security for low-income residents, enact more tenant protections and expand LGBTQ+ rights.
Merello reported $13,219 in campaign contributions as of April 30.
Running on her record
Shrugging off Democrats’ criticism , Mainor, 49, maintains she is “extremely proud” of her advocacy for “the school choice bill,” which she said will deliver sorely needed education options to families in her district, where only 2% or 3% of students at some schools meet reading and math proficiency levels, she said.
Mainor grew up in the Hunter Hills neighborhood of District 56, where she said property and violent crimes, prostitution and the drug trade were rampant and students like her were stuck attending low-performing, poorly equipped schools. She said her mother “worked the system” to enable her to attend Mays High School across town, a better public school that put her on a path to attend Howard University.
“Currently, my district has the most charter schools than any other district in the entire state,” she said. “And what does that mean? That means parents want options and choices. And I do believe school choice is going to create a competitive environment; it’s going to change the dynamics of the education system, which needs to happen. I mean, we really do need to look at how education is done. The school board essentially controls the curriculum, and it’s not serving all students well enough. … And so I think SB 233 will allow families to kind of pick what they want.”
Besides improving educational opportunities for children, Mainor said she’ll continue to focus on public safety and criminal justice reform. She pointed to a bill she sponsored last session, House Bill 1165, that will bring in $7.5 million in federal funds for gun violence prevention programs in Georgia, which Kemp signed in April. She also worked this year with Rep. Reeves on House Bill 926, also known as the Second Chance Workforce Act, which allows people to keep their driver’s licenses and “to still be able to get to work” while they’re awaiting court appearances. Kemp signed it last week.
In 2023, as a Democrat she authored House Bill 142, the Unified Campus Public Safety Act, which allows police on the multiple Atlanta University Center campuses in southwest Atlanta to cross boundaries and collaborate, which she said was in response to campus shootings and bomb scares.
Mainor pointed to other accomplishments during her two terms, including her bill in 2021 to create the Fulton Technology & Energy Authority, an agency that fosters the development of energy-saving technologies that she said will lower the energy burden and create good-paying, green jobs for her constituents.
If reelected, her “key priorities are going to be continuing in the education space,” she said. “But in addition to schoolwide things, I really want to focus on the criminal justice system. I want to see what kind of resources you have while you’re in jail that are getting you ready for when you go out of jail and then when you’re on probation, because we really need to be more comprehensive with the resources we’re giving ‘second chance’ citizens once they come out.”
Reeves, who serves on two House judiciary committees, said Mainor “has a passion for workforce issues and upward mobility of young people. … I think her mindset is rather than having people unnecessarily go to jail or go to prison, to figure out a way to not have their work and education disrupted. And that invariably touches on legal and criminal and public safety issues, so we’ve had multiple chances to work together. And what I’ve seen is she’s very educated, intelligent, a deep thinker in terms of legislative matters. She gets the big picture and the philosophical issues, but she’s always working on the practical part of it to help out her constituents.”
Mainor said she has enjoyed accomplishing more as a legislator in the Republican majority.
“Mentally, I’m in a better place because I don’t have the hostility on one side, because of my vote on school choice or whatever vote I did. And so I feel like I’m in a space where I am encouraged,” she said. “And I got a lot more done this year than I did last year.”
She said she is relying on voters in her district to “look at my record and reflect on what I’ve been able to deliver and see how that compares to what you’ve gotten from Democratic representation in recent years. I tell people, ‘Now you have someone at the other side of the table, sharing what your needs are, because right now [the Republicans] don’t know. I’m able to go and say this type of community needs this. Right now they have no idea.’”
Mainor said, “People in the community have told me, ‘You have helped us and we don’t care what letter is next to your name,’ and sent texts saying, ‘I guess I’m gonna vote across the ballot.’ Many people are coming to me secretly. You know, being Black and a Republican is taboo. You’re not allowed to be a Republican if you’re Black. You’re bound to face bullying and ridicule. Nobody, no one feels like they can just come out and say it, and that’s fine. I just need them to vote for me at the ballot box.”
Gillespie of Emory said Mainor might be expecting too much from voters.
“As a third-term incumbent, you have an incumbency advantage, but you haven’t built up a long-term reservoir of goodwill yet, compared to someone who’s held on to the seat for, say, 20 years,” she said. “It’s a risky thing to get ahead of your constituents on policy, when your constituents aren’t animated by the same issues that you are. And now we’re going to see what the impact of that is.”
Early voting is underway through May 17, and primary election day is May 21. Primary runoff elections, if needed, will be held June 18. The general election will happen Nov. 5.
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Have questions, comments or tips? Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on X @journalistajill or at [email protected].
Kemp signs a bevy of bills on elections, public safety and workforce development
The Gist
Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday ended a six-week whirlwind statewide bill-signing tour that enacted hundreds of new laws governing agriculture, families, elections, public safety and workforce development.
He also vetoed a dozen bills — including those dealing with homestead exemptions and easing eligibility for the HOPE Scholarship for former foster youths — during that time.
What’s Happening
All told, Kemp signed 709 bills into law in the 40 days since the 2024 legislative session ended in the early hours of March 29. The most crucial piece of legislation, by far, was the $36.1 billion fiscal year 2025 state budget, which included 12 disregards. A disregard is when a state agency is directed not to spend the money allocated for a specific item.
“He didn’t have any real disregards. The majority of these are clarifications,” Kemp spokesman Garrison Douglas said of the governor. “Agencies were given more specific instructions on how to spend the money.”
Bills impacting education, health care, military members, human trafficking and Georgia’s coastal communities were among those Kemp signed in the month following the session’s end. Other notable legislation:
- Police and property owners now have more tools to remove squatters, people who have illegally taken over a private home or property.
- Homeowners associations are now required to notify homeowners in writing of a covenant breach and give them time to fix it before the HOAs take legal action.
- Families of students in low-performing school districts may now receive scholarships, commonly referred to as vouchers, of $6,500 per child to be used for private school tuition or homeschooling expenses.
Additional legislation the governor signed over the last two weeks includes:
Agriculture
- Kemp signed a package of bills meant to provide further protection for the state’s No. 1 industry. The new laws are intended to ban “adversarial” countries from owning Georgia farmland, ease high input costs for farmers, protect children from misleading and dangerous marketing, and hike penalties for livestock theft.
Children & Families
- Senate Bill 376 improves timely permanent placement of a child removed from his or her home by the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services.
- Senate Bill 387 provides free state identification cards for children between the ages of 14 and 17 who are in the custody of the Division of Family and Children Services.
Elections
Any Georgia resident can now challenge another resident’s voter eligibility under a new law the governor signed in April, setting up probable cause to have voters removed from the rolls, critics say. Senate Bill 189 also allows a presidential candidate from any political party to be on the ballot as long as that person qualifies in at least 20 other states. It’s one in a package of election-related bills that critics say could impact the outcome of the 2024 and other future elections.
- House Bill 974 gives the public online access to photos of ballots cast in elections on the Georgia Secretary of State’s website, requires watermarks on ballots and uses technology to verify the text on ballots cast. The bill also requires a percentage of ballots in select statewide elections to be audited.
- House Bill 1207 gives election supervisors the flexibility to change the number of voting booths in precincts.
Public Safety
- House Bill 1105, the Georgia Criminal Alien Track and Report Act, creates a new immigration law that requires law enforcement to determine the nationality and immigration status of people they detain and requires the Department of Corrections and sheriffs to notify federal authorities when they have undocumented immigrants in their custody. Failure to enforce the law could cause local governments to lose state and federal funds, and law enforcement officers and government officials could face misdemeanor charges.
- Senate Bill 63 adds 30 more criminal charges to those requiring cash bail for release, including 18 misdemeanors, such as criminal trespass, forgery and failure to appear. The bill also limits what charitable organizations can do to provide bail to people in jail and establishes that individuals and organizations cannot post more than three cash bonds per year to secure a person’s release. Legal defense organizations say it unfairly limits their work and violates the rights of those accused, and they plan to sue the state to overturn the law.
- Senate Bill 465 creates a new type of offense — felony aggravated involuntary manslaughter — for selling fentanyl to someone who dies from taking the potent drug. Dealers could be prosecuted under the new law whether or not they knew the drug they sold contained fentanyl. Penalties range from a minimum of 10 years to 30 years or life imprisonment.
Workforce Development
Several bills were enacted to help students take advantage of dual enrollment and technical education programs, especially those in high-demand career fields.
- House Bill 982 directs the State Workforce Development Board to create the High-Demand Career List. Colleges, technical schools and high schools currently use conflicting lists, so this unified list will eliminate confusion among students, parents, educators and agencies about what careers are considered high-demand.
- Senate Bill 440 creates the Accelerated Career Diploma Program and simplifies the pathway for students to receive dual enrollment funding for more than 30 hours.
- Senate Bill 497 expands the apprenticeship programs in high-demand career fields and creates a pilot program for public service career apprenticeships.
The Legislature considered more than a dozen bills related to occupational licensing. Among those that passed:
- Senate Bill 354 removes the licensure requirement for beauticians who blow-dry hair, wash hair or apply makeup. The bill doesn’t include other services, such as cutting hair, applying dyes, bleaching or using chemicals, which will still require a cosmetology or esthetician license.
- Senate Bill 373, requires the Board of Marriage and Family Therapists to issue an expedited license to any individual moving from another state who has a current valid license to practice in that state and is in good standing with that state.
- Senate Bill 195 makes Georgia the third state to join the Social Work Licensure Compact. Once seven states have joined, the compact will become functional and allow social workers with valid licenses in good standing to practice in member states.
View Kemp’s 2024 signed legislation here.
Here are some of the bills Kemp vetoed:
House Bill 1231 would have expanded the Georgia Tuition Equalization Grant (TEG) Program, HOPE Scholarship and Dual Enrollment Program eligibility for certainprivate, nonprofit institutions; allowed HOPE Scholarship recipients to use unusedcredit hours to get a first professional degree; and removed the initial and first-year achievement standards of the HOPE Scholarship for former foster youths. Kemp said he vetoed the bill because none of the three proposals were accompanied by additional funding or fiscal analysis.
Senate Bill 368 would have prohibited foreign nationals from making political contributions, which is already banned by federal law. Kemp vetoed the bill at the request of the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Rick Williams, R-Milledgeville.
House Bill 1019, as originally introduced, would have doubled the statewide homestead tax exemption to $4,000 from $2,000 if voters approved it in a referendum. But on the last day of the legislative session, the Senate adopted a floor amendment to return the bill to its original form. That amendment did not change the language of the constitutionally required voter referendum, which references a $10,000 exemption. Voters would therefore be approving a different exemption, which the Legislature did not pass. Conflict between the statutory and the referendum language led Kemp to veto the bill.
See the governor’s statements on all the bills he vetoed here.
What’s Next?
Most of the new laws took effect upon signing or will take effect July 1 unless otherwise noted.
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Have questions or comments? Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on X @journalistajill or at [email protected] and Tammy Joyner on X @lvjoyner or at [email protected].
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Rural communities hopeful Kemp change to state soil amendment law will curb stink
After seven years and millions of dollars in restoration, Heritage GA opened its door last month to those seeking solitude and a chance to commune with nature. But the constant presence of trucks hauling a noxious concoction of waste byproducts from poultry processing plants threatens to ruin those plans.
The historic Catholic retreat sitting on 200 acres near Sharon is meant to be an economic boon and tourist attraction for Taliaferro (pronounced “Tolliver”) County, a poor, mostly Black county of 1,600, situated 90 miles east of Atlanta.
“It’s a very historic, sacred site. Our business is being threatened by this soil amendment. It’s [the retreat] been a major financial investment in the county and in the state and it’s really helping,” Betsy Orr, chief executive officer of Purification Properties LLC, which restored the retreat — a tribute to the first Catholic settlers who arrived in Georgia in 1790.
The sludge, known as soil amendment, is being transported to a hog farm about 1.5 miles from Heritage. The former hog farm was cited by the state Environmental Protection Division after residents complained that the waste being spread on the farm had polluted a nearby creek. The property owner resolved the consent order requiring him to pay $5,000, mark the buffer area on the farm and ensure no soil amendment is applied to that area, according to EPD spokesperson Sara Lips.
The Heritage property includes a commercial building, barn, cottages, prayer spaces, walking trails and the oldest Catholic Cemetery in Georgia. Orr predicts that if the smell from the former hog farm reaches Heritage, “it’s going to wreck our business.”
On Monday, Orr breathed an inward sigh of relief when she learned that Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill into law that could prove fortuitous for landowners and other businesses battling problems created by soil amendment.
The new law adds a provision to the state Soil Amendment Act of 1976 that stops companies from hauling or receiving soil amendment if they’ve been notified by EPD to resolve an outstanding dispute or complaint. The notification is known as a consent order. The new law is effective July 1.
“It’s good because the state and the Agriculture Department have really prevented that kind of bill from being enacted because they say that it’s to the farmer’s benefit to be able to use the soil amendments,” Orr said.
Orr’s comments are a common refrain from business owners and families with properties in rural Georgia who sit near soil amendment sites and who complain of vultures, hordes of flies and unbearable smells floating across their properties.
“The problem is a lot of the soil amendments are causing pollution. They are stinky, nasty wastewater and other products,” Orr said. “Sometimes it is not even what they are allowed to dump. Finally, they have passed this amendment, and I hope they enforce it. Some of the things that these people are dumping are … ruining the landowners around them and the state has got to start caring about that.”
Doug Abramson, a retired corporate lawyer who lives in Wilkes County where a soil amendment runoff killed 1,700 fish in the Little River July 2022, called the new law “a step in the right direction.”
“Many counties throughout the state are encountering problems with sludge, improper dumping, and [other] soil amendment issues,” said Abramson, who along with his wife Susan have been working to address the problem for about a decade. “This [new law] is at least a recognition that there are problems out there. I do think the state could do better. The Department of Agriculture could do better but it is a step in the right direction.”
Have questions? Contact Tammy Joyner on X @lvjoyner or at [email protected].
Watch live: Kemp signs $36.1B budget bill
Today is the deadline for Gov. Brian Kemp to either sign or reject bills passed by the Georgia General Assembly during this past legislative session. Arguably, the biggest of those bills is the annual budget. Kemp and first lady Marty Kemp will be joined by Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, House Speaker Jon Burns, and members …