ATLANTA – The General Assembly will convene under the Golden Dome on Monday with its usual mix of old and new business on its plate.
Supporters of permanent things to do, including tort reform and legalized sports betting, will be back for another crack at getting their favorite causes through the Legislature and onto Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his signature.
At the same time, new requests for funding for Hurricane Helene victims and to improve conditions within the state’s much-maligned prison system will require attention. Lawmakers will also be asked to respond to the school shooting in Barrow County last September with legislation aimed at ensuring the safe storage of firearms.
Kemp has made tort reform a top priority for the second year in a row. The General Assembly passed a bill sponsored by Kemp last year that would direct the state insurance department to collect data on legal trends affecting insurance premiums and prepare a report.
At a roundtable with small business leaders last August, the governor vowed to use that data to help craft legislation aimed at reducing “runaway” jury awards that drive up premiums that owners of businesses struggle to pay.
Opponents warn that if taken too far, tort reform threatens to rob Georgians injured in car accidents or medical malpractice of their time in court.
“Ensuring Georgia remains the No. 1 state for business while also protecting consumer rights requires a balanced approach to judicial reform,” said House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington. “We will be fact-driven, gather input from constituents and stakeholders from across the state, and look at thoughtful, data-driven solutions to balance the scales.”
Legalized gambling is another issue that the General Assembly has dealt with repeatedly in recent years without passing. Armed with a new poll showing broad public support for legalizing sports betting, an alliance of sports books, including FanDuel and DraftKings, will be back asking lawmakers to legalize what is already legal in 39 other states. .
“Illegal sports betting is happening in the state, but they don’t pay taxes,” said Scott Ward, a national sports betting expert and adviser to the alliance. “People are realizing that this is here. We have to put railings around it, regulate it and tax it.”
Faith-based organizations will also return to the state Capitol opposing the legalization of sports betting on moral grounds and as an economic threat to gambling-addicted Georgians.
While tort reform and legalized gambling have fueled annual arguments in the General Assembly, new demands to tap Georgia’s large budget surplus promise to play big roles in 2025.
In Athens last month, Kemp pledged to unveil a Hurricane Helene disaster relief package early in the legislative session. The massive storm hit South Georgia and spread north through the Augusta area in late September, killing 34 people and causing heavy rain and widespread flooding, as well as major power outages.
“We’ve been through perhaps the most damaging storm in our history … lasting and generational damage,” the governor said. “We saw incredible damage and communities that will probably never be the same.”
The importance of improving conditions inside Georgia’s prison system came back on Jan. 7 when Kemp and state Corrections Commissioner Tyrone Olive asked lawmakers to raise $372 million to hire more corrections officers, raise the salaries of those already on the payroll and to invest in infrastructure improvements needed to improve the health and safety of inmates.
The spending request was highly unusual, coming before the start of this year’s legislative session, but Kemp and legislative leaders see the need as critical after the release of a U.S. Department of Justice audit last fall accusing the prison system of violation of the constitutional rights of prisoners by failing. to protect them from widespread violence.
“We need to make sure our guards are adequately compensated,” Burns said. “(Also, prisoners) must be protected when they go to prison.”
The legislature is also expected to respond to the mass shooting at Apalachee High School near Winder last September that killed two students and two teachers. A fellow student was arrested at the scene and charged with the murders, while his father faces criminal charges for allegedly letting his son have possession of the AR-15-style rifle used in the killings.
While the Republican-controlled General Assembly is unlikely to support legislation requiring gun owners to purchase trigger locks or gun safes to safely store their firearms, a proposal to offer tax credits like an incentive for those who enjoy broad support.
But state Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur, who chaired a Senate study committee on the safe storage of firearms last year, said that’s not enough. Jones said lawmakers should ask school districts to improve how they communicate with each other when a student moves to a new school.
Colt Gray, the 14-year-old student arrested in the Barrow County case, had recently transferred to Apalachee High.
“When a child transfers to a new school system, any information that their previous school system does not automatically transfer to the new school system,” Jones said. “That needs to be changed.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat, an initiative of the Georgia Press Education Foundation.
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