Senate Chamber

Good morning. Good morning. The time for convening has arrived. The senate will come to order. At this time, I will ask that all unauthorized personnel exit the chamber.

I recognize the distinguished gentleman from Newnan, Georgia, senator from the six. Senator, how are you this morning?

I'm great. Mister president, how are you doing? You look good and chipper today. Proud of you. Mister president, we got some great pages here today.

Out of Gainesville, Georgia, we have a Chloe Almodovar. From Canton, we have a Lawson Crawford. From Stone Mountain, we have Jay Leon Hawkins Jones. From Marietta, we have Arav Rathor. From Silver Creek, Avery Roberts.

And from Atlanta, we have Elijah Scott. Y'all give these pages a big round of applause. We appreciate your service to the senate and to the great state of Georgia. Mister president, the journal has been read and found to be correct, so I move we dispense with the reading of the journal.

Alright. Thank you, senator, and thank you for our young pages back there. We appreciate all their hard work. Is there objections to confirmation of the journal? Chair hears none, and the journal is confirmed.

The

First reason reading and references the senate bills. Secretary?

Senate bill four fifty eight by senators Goodman of the eighth and others. A bill to be entitled in acts who amend chapter 41 of title 43 of the official code of Georgia annotated relating to residential and commercial general contractors who has to provide for a license

related industry.

Senate bill four fifty nine by senators Hickman of the fourth and others, a bill to be entitled in acts to amend title 20 of the official code. In youth. Senate bill four sixty by senators Tillery of the nineteenth and others, a bill to be entitled in act to amend chapter two of title 31. Services. Senate bill four sixty one by senators Tillery of the nineteenth and others.

A bill to be entitled an act to amend chapter two of title 31 in chapter human services. Senate bill four sixty two by senators Still of the forty eighth and others. A bill to be entitled an act to amend chapter 20 e of title 33. Services. Senate bill four sixty three by senator Stillzall of the twenty seventh and others, a bill to be entitled in act to amend chapter three of title 44 of the official code of Georgia annotated relating to regulation of specialized land transaction.

Senate bill four sixty four. Oh.

We're going home development.

Senate bill four sixty four by senators Howard the 30 and others, a bill to be entitled in Act to Amend, chapter one of title 35 of

the official safety.

Senate resolution six ninety seven by senator Burns of the twenty third and others. A resolution recognizing and commending Higher education. Senate resolution six ninety eight by senator Burns of the twenty third and others. A resolution recognizing and commending doctor Ekaterina

Mercola. Education.

Mister president, that completes the order.

Secretary Reed reports to standing committees.

Mister president, the senate committee on agriculture and consumer affairs has had under the consideration the following legislation as instructed me to report the same back to the senate with the following recommendation. Senate bill four thirty five, do pass. House bill one sixty three, do pass by substitute. Spreckely submitted. Senator Goodman of the 8th District chairman.

Mister president, the senate committee on health and human services has had under consideration the following legislation and has instructed me to report the same back to the senate with the following recommendation. Senate resolution six eighty four, due passed by substitute. Senate bill four twenty seven, due passed by substitute. Respectfully submitted, senator Watson of the 1st District chairman. Mister president, the senate committee on retirement has had under consideration the following legislation as instructed me to report the same back to the senate with the following recommendation.

Senate bill one forty three, due passed by substitute. Sprackly submitted to senator Williams of the 15th District Chairman. Mister president, that completes the order.

First reading references first reading of bills and resolutions for the second time.

Senate bill one fifty by senator Hickman of the fourth and others. Retirement, permit public school systems to employ certain beneficiaries of the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia as classroom teachers. Extend the program. Senate bill two sixty one by senator Hartman of the sixteenth and others. Magistrates retirement fund, early retirement benefit, provide.

Senate bill 400 by senator Burns of the twenty third and others. Education, uncredited in institutions from offering degrees prohibit. Senate bill four thirty one by senator Kirkpatrick of the thirty second and others. Education, enrollment of foster care students within two school days of a request for enrollment by such student parents or legal custodian require. Senate resolution six twenty two by senator Kirkpatrick of the thirty second and others.

Joint study committee on evaluating escalating cost in Georgia's foster care system. Create. Mister president, that completes the order.

It is now time for the morning roll call. Are there any motions to excuse? Breguenize the senator from the seventeenth.

Thank you, mister president. I ask for unanimous consent to excuse the senator from the thirty third.

Mad objection. Senator from thirty third is excused. Recognize senator from 43rd.

Thank you, mister president. I rise to ask for unanimous consent to excuse a senator from the 26th for real today.

Without objection, senator from the 26th is excused. Reginald the senator from the second.

Thank you, mister president. I ask for unanimous consent to excuse the senator from the 10th for business inside the capital.

The objection center from the 10th is excused. Right now, senator from the 48.

Good morning, mister president. I ask you to have his consent to please excuse the senator from the 56 for business outside the capital.

That objection, senator from 56, is excused. Any other motions? Secretary will call the roll. Senators, signify your presence by voting the ace at switch. Secretary will unlock the machine.

It is now time for our morning devotion, and I would like to call on the senator from the sixteenth to lead us in our pledge and introduce our pastor of the day. Senator?

Thank you. Thank you, sir. If we will, the American flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The

United States Of America and to the Republic

for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. State flag, I pledge allegiance to the Georgia flag

to the principles for which it stands,

with the justice, moderation, and courage. Well, good morning. I think you will, I'm excited. I have a friend for, thirty years that's been, speaking and talking about our godly heritage. And I believe that he's gonna share some things with you today that probably you didn't know about, things I didn't know about.

But David bar Martin is the founder of Wallbuilders Ministries, a national organization highlighting America's true history and biblical foundation. Best selling author, nationally recognized speaker, he's widely sought after for his expertise in historical and constitutional issues. His extensive collection of original founding era documents legislators, educators, and media's nay nationally. David and his wife, Cheryl, reside in Texas and enjoy their family with three grown children and six grandchildren. I encourage you, if you get a chance, in the rotunda this, for today is their pop up museum.

And the items down there are, personal items of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, some of the first bibles printed in them in the nation, and actually a copy of one of the first, drafts of the constitution. So you may wanna take a look at that. But with that, I'm honored to, introduce to you David Barton.

Thanks, senator. Good morning, senators. In opening with prayer this morning, I wanna go back for a little bit to some of Georgia's beginnings. And in doing so, I wanna show you a document here. This is original.

This is from 1732. This is your birth certificate. This is the act by King George the second that authorized Georgia. He gave £10,000 to start the colony of Georgia. So this is actually the the beginning of of where this colony starts, and you originally had three chaplains here.

One was George Whitfield, one was Charles Wesley, and one was John Wesley. All three of those chaplains, indisputably, had a huge impact not just on Georgia, but on the nation. George Whitfield, particularly, founding fathers, pointed to George Whitfield, and what he did is the reason that we have a nation. He's without Whitfield and what he did across the years being chaplain here, but also across America, he's the guy who laid the foundation for the nation. So I brought with me two works original by George Whitfield.

This is a sermon he preached as chaplain when he arrived here in Georgia. This is the first sermon preached in America. And then after he had been here for a few years, he went back to talk to the king about what was going in Georgia. And this is a sermon that he preached when he got back to England to say, hey. Here's what's going in Georgia.

So it's kind of early history of Georgia in some ways. In addition to that, there's works by other other chaplains. These are works by Charles Wesley, one of your other first three original chaplains. And in addition to these works by Charles Wesley, there's John Wesley right here. Other items that you may find of interest related to, to your history and heritage is your three signers of the Declaration of Independence, Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, and George Walton.

We have documents from all of them. I brought some of George Walton's documents, here when he was serving as governor of Georgia. These are early documents from your history here. And in addition to that, you started your first constitution. This is the Georgia constitution of 1777 written by Button Gwinette.

So this is your original first constitution. It's quite amazing. It's interesting even the motto that, was for the state back then. It says, god has bestowed all these blessings upon us. So that was your original motto in 1777.

A few decade a decade later, we get into the signers of the constitution, and, of course, you have with that William Few and Abraham Baldwin, and we have documents up here from both Few and and Baldwin if you're interested in seeing those afterwards. So let me, let me open with prayer, and I wanna open the prayer by choosing three prayers that were prayed by the previous chaplains here, your original chaplains. So let me begin with a prayer from Charles Wesley. This prayer is spirit of heavenly counsel, come teach our senators thy will. Father let us that ask receive.

To us that ask in Jesus name, thou shalt thy spirit give. Oh send us now the promise comforter. Father everyone that asks receives, receives the gift and the giver to and witnesses that thou art true. So shall we pray and never cease, so shall we thankfully confess thy wisdom, truth, power, and love. And here's a prayer from your chaplain John Wesley.

Did God command us to pray without ceasing? Prayer is the lifting up of the heart to God. Whenever thou attempt us to pray, see that it be that one design to commune with God, to lift up thy heart to him, to pour out thy soul before him. We pray that we may do the whole will of God as he will it in the manner that pleases him, and may we do it because it is his will. Let this be the whole and the only motive of whatsoever we think, or whatsoever we speak, or whatsoever we do.

And finally, a prayer from George Woodfield. He says the neglected prayer has frequently been an inlet to many spiritual diseases and has always been attended with fatal consequences. Praying always says the apostle with all manner of supplication. Watch and pray says our lord that you enter not into temptation. He intends that our soul should be kept in praying frame.

Prayer brings and keeps God and man together. Oh believers pray, pray without ceasing. When you're about the common business of life, be much in prayer. Prayers will reach the very heart of God and return to you again loaded with spiritual blessings. And I'll close by adding my prayer.

Lord we thank you for all the blessings you've bestowed here upon Georgia and its leaders. May the prayers prayed over this state for the past three centuries be heard today, Lord. We ask this in your name. Amen.

Are there any unanimous consents? No unanimous consents. Today, I'll always like to recognize our doctors of the day, and, our doctor of the day is, from Macon, Georgia. Lives in Forsyth, actually, but she's from Macon, and I'll have the introduce her to this body. And probably need to turn this down just a little bit here.

I recognize the senator from the twentieth.

Good morning. Thank you, mister president. It's my pleasure today to introduce doctor Rana Mana who is our doctor of the day. She began medical school at the age of 45 at Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon and completed her internal medicine residency at the Atlanta Medical Center, then began began private practice in Macon, Georgia. She specializes in health, wellness, and fitness, encouraging her patients to lose weight and get fit in order to control hypertension and adult onset diabetes instead of prescribing medication when possible.

She's been very active in the Macon community with a series of health seminars called a better you. She was president of the Bibb County Medical Society in 2013 and continues to serve on that board. She's an annual delegate to the medical association of Georgia house of delegates, and she is on fact on the faculty at Mercer University School of Medicine and mentors medical students. We're proud to have her as our doctor for the day. She does this annually for us, and we appreciate her dedicating her time to do that.

One of her proudest accomplishments is her son, Christian, who is a is now a retired from the United States Marine Force. Her husband, Joseph Egloff, is a cattle farmer who operates Rocking Chair Ranch cattle, providing grass fed beef to several Georgia restaurants and stores. He also operates Mid South Packers, a beef processing facility in Monroe County, and I appreciate her being with us today. Introduce doctor Mana.

Alright. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Thank you for having me today. I love this day more than any other because never in our doctors' lives do we get thanked for our service like we do when we come here.

So it is my joy and honor to serve you today, to help you with your health and wellness, to answer any medical questions that you might have. And I let them tell my story about medical school starting late in life at age 45 simply because there's always somebody in the audience who thinks it's too late to do something. Trust me. If it's important, do it. Thank you.

Good job, man. Good job, man. Does any senator which rise on a point of personal privilege? No one today. Oh, senator from the fourteenth.

I don't think there

we go. Thank you, mister president. Today I rise to celebrate Black History Month with a moment from my senate caucus. I wanna celebrate the life of Bell Hooks. She was an author, feminist, activist, and scholar.

She unfortunately passed in 2021, but has been celebrated for a long legacy of criticism and independent thinking. She was born to working class parents in 1952, Gloria Jean Watkins. She grew up in the segregated city of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. She began, being interested in poetry at young age. She was ridiculed for, quote, talking back and in her perspective, daring to speak as an adult as an equal.

She developed a sense of defiance, and that animated much of her work. I think one of the best stories I've heard is in teaching in Harlem, she found that her students were just as brilliant as any of the students that she worked with at fancy Ivy League institutions. But the difference was that Ivy League institutions produced students who, were entitled to their future, who felt that their future was a gift that they just needed to receive, and there wasn't that same sense of agency in all of the students that she taught. And so the the takeaway, the insight from that that she shared was that everybody is brilliant, and everybody has a right to a future. And it's just a matter of having the sense of confidence and agency to claim it.

So today, we remember Bell Hooks and her poignant, sharp criticism named after her great grandmother was the name that she adopted, because of her sense of sharp opinions and willingness to claim her own agency. Thank you, mister president.

Thank you, senator. Recognize senator from thirty second.

Thank you, mister president. I just wanted to point out that you guys have some, dental things on your desk today. Today is Georgia Dental Hygienists Association Day at the Capitol, and I believe there may be some people in the gallery. So if you're with the dental hygienist, please raise your hand. Alright.

Alright. Let's welcome all these guests. I've got a resolution here for you, and, we all know how important dental hygienists are. And just a couple pointers that I also said last year, one is when you're brushing your teeth, you can stand on one leg for while you're doing it, and it'll improve your balance. And the other thing you can do is some people suggest that you sing or happy birthday while you're brushing your teeth.

I prefer the chorus from Jolene, but, making sure that you're staying there long enough. So, anyway, thanks for coming to the Capitol today, and, I yield the will.

Thank you, senator. I was wondering who that good looking crowd was up there was. It's a dental hygienist. Let's give them a big round of applause again for being here today and all their hard work. Recognized center from thirty ninth.

Good morning. Thank you, mister president. So this morning, I have the great pleasure of recognizing six incredible young women recognize representing the Miss Atlanta competition, who are right here to my right. And they have earned scholarship awards for their performance. I have with me today Jordan Kula, who's Miss Atlanta 2026, Megan Wright, miss Capital City 2026, Sarah Jane Houston, miss Greater Atlanta 2026, Landry Wolf, miss Atlanta teen 2026, Melanie Tidmore, miss Capital City teen 2026, and Madison Walker, miss Greater Atlanta teen 2026.

These young women will go on to compete at the Miss Georgia and Miss Georgia Teen Competition in Columbus in June, and those winners advance to the national level. They are also here today representing the American Heart Association in honor of Go Red for Women Day. February is heart health month. Georgia is considered part of the stroke belt and diabetes belt of the country. High rates of hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, and diabetes are major drivers of cardiovascular disease in the state.

Did you know that heart disease is the leading cause of death in Georgia and often preventable? Here are a few things you can do. Know your numbers. Monitor your blood pressure and cholesterol levels regularly. Adopt lifestyle changes like a heart healthy diet low in sodium and fat, exercise for at least one hundred fifty minutes per week and avoid smoking, get screened for blood pressure checks and risk assessment assessment, and of course learn CPR.

The American Heart Association recommends learning hands only CPR to help in emergencies. And the American Heart Association is here today in Cap Room 125 providing CPR demonstrations and offering a heart healthy lunch at noon. So please swing by. Thank you.

Thank you, senator. I recognize senator from 21st. Appointing personal privilege. Senator, this is your first this is your first time in the way, Ohio, senator?

Good morning, colleagues. Thank you so much, mister president. I want to spend a couple of minutes this morning and talk about a few people, that we've got here. Today, my my page is Lawson Crawford. Great young man.

And, what I want to say is this guy, he's a phenomenal student and even better golfer. For all our golfers in here, he regularly shoots par or better. So, for my friend and colleague, the center of the sixth, that is, this is a young man that we definitely need on our golf team for sure. I also want to recognize, his dad, Brad Crawford, which is a, which is a great friend of mine as well. He's here at the capitol today.

I Also want to recognize, another good friend of mine by the name of Todd Baker. Todd is, he lives up in Canton, Georgia in Cherokee County. He's got a great nonprofit organization. It's called Building Fires, and he really mentors, a lot of students in the, in the high schools there in Cherokee County. And It also provides, his nonprofit provides, letterman jackets to students that are not financially able to to purchase a letterman jacket.

And last but definitely not least is I want to give a shout out and wish a happy birthday to my mom today. It's a very special lady from my standpoint. She celebrated her 70 birthday today. We spent a lot of years, baking cakes and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with her. And that's one of the things that we we routinely bond over is cooking cakes and and cooking a lot of different desserts.

So mom wants to say happy birthday to you. I love you, and I look forward to seeing you this weekend. Thank you, mister president. I, yield the will. Thank you so much.

Right now center from thirty fourth.

Good morning,

Good morning, sir. How are you? I'm good. Good morning, mister president. I rise to, recognize the Clayton County Chamber of Commerce, which is up in the gallery today.

Just want to, the chamber leadership, Clayton, their strength of the community through their works. They develop young, strong, civil business leaders. Business, their relationship expands through out the community, the growth and purpose, the Clayton County Chamber of Commerce, the leadership cohort is with us today. Thank you all ladies and gentlemen. Have a great day.

Alright.

We have a very special guest here today. We have a young guy, that young man that, played many, many years in the Major League Baseballs, and, he made his start here with the Atlanta Braves. I can remember very clearly watching watching a young Andrew Jones step up to the plate in a in a big game, world series game, and I believe it was a home run hit, I believe, wasn't it, sir? And, it went two for two and two home runs in one game, and we knew a star was born that night. So, we are so excited to have, a recently named hall of famer here today with, Andrew Jones.

He, got that big distinguished honor, earlier this year, and, we're very proud of him and glad to have him here. He had a long and very, a very productive career. Played for the Braves, played for the Dodgers, played for the Yankees, played in multiple world series and just was, just was a fantastic ball player. And, and I understand that he's even he's even a better person than he was ball player. So that says a lot about him.

So let's give, Andrew Jones a very warm senate welcome.

First of all, it's a great honor to be here today. Obviously, a lot going on with, the Hall of Fame and, you know, got him back to this year. It's just a great honor to be, selected with such great legacy of the baseball, world. And, now you're with all those guys. So, it's just a great honor honor to be here, you know, receive this honor to be, you know, a native of of, Georgia, of Atlanta, say it like that because, you know, I came here when I was 16 years old.

I threw to the minor league, and 19 year olds, I I made it to to the major league here in Atlanta, and I made Atlanta my home since 1996. So, I can say I'm a Atlanta Atlanian. I live more here than I live in Curacao. So, I just born in Curacao. I just live here, and I I I raised my kids.

I become a man here in in in in Atlanta. So, I mean, Atlanta has always been my home. So thank you. It's a great honor.

Alright. That's gonna be a hard act to follow. Senator from the '50 fifth. I'll go to the next one. Senator from the '30 eighth.

Amen. How you doing? You deny?

Thank you, mister president. Colleagues, on Tuesday we talked a lot about affordability. And today I want to tell you a story. I got a call from a constituent whose health insurance cost went up by more than 12%. And we may hear 12% and think, oh, you know, that's that's not too much.

But when folks are struggling and barely making ends meet, that's a lot. And for someone to reach out to their elected representatives to share a story of not being able to make ends meet, we have to listen. And we have to take their concerns into full consideration and understand the impact of the decisions that we make here under this gold dome. His request was simple. Stop wasting time and do something about health care for working families.

Across Georgia, families are being stretched thin by rising health care costs and insurance costs despite our actions last year. Premiums are climbing faster than paychecks, and too many hardworking people are being forced to make tough choices they shouldn't have to make between paying for care and paying their bills. Georgians have worked hard to build their lives in this state, and they don't deserve to have them upended the way that they are seeing it right now. When people go from paying $400 a month to $1,700 a month in premiums, you're forcing them to put a price tag on their health. At the end of the day, a tax cut means nothing when health care premiums swallow it whole.

My constituent story isn't unique, but it shouldn't be acceptable. Together, we can make sure health insurance coverage is fair, affordable, and dependable for every Georgian across this state. It's time for us to put politics aside and put Georgians first. So let's close the gap and pass senate bill three eighty. Mister president, I yield to well.

Breaking out the senate from the fifteenth, the dean of the senate.

Thank you, mister president. On behalf of the senator from the twenty ninth, I would like to acknowledge in the gallery up there, the Columbus consolidated government, youth council. Years ago, they joined together to form a citywide youth advisory council in an effort to expose these young people to how government works. We plan a day at the Capitol. That's why they're here today with myself and the senator from the 29th, to make sure they understand that we do good business.

We work hard for the citizens of Columbus, Georgia and the entire state. If you stand, we'll acknowledge you. If the people from, Columbus Youth Council over here, please stand so we can acknowledge you. Give you a hand. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, mister Franklin. Please. Absolutely.

Thank you, senator. Recognize the senator from the forty second.

I do, mister president. I was waiting for the bell to ring. You can ring it. Holding the whole senate up. Alright.

Well, if you ever see me come in the Capitol in the morning, you you just see me coming in closer to 09:00, looking a little bit worn out for the day. It's because most days, I try to drop my kids off to school every morning. And, today, we have a great group in the gallery. I have two things I wanna recognize. First off, a great group in the gallery that knows me more is Charles Willis and Beecher's dad, but we have Salem Christian Academy, a large group from our school down in McDonough, which I think, no offense to other schools in the area, lieutenant governor, but the number one school in the South Side of town, Salem Christian Academy, good to have you all up here visiting at the State Capitol.

Welcome to your capitol. This is half the group. The other half, I was told, still stuck outside. So honored to have you all up here today. If you don't mind recognizing them for me.

Y'all stand up. Good to have you all at the State Capitol today. So today is also community service board stay at the capital. If you know anything about community service boards, they are an instrumentality of the state, and they are nonprofits that work in our communities to tackle issues on mental health and also developmental disabilities and addictive disease and to help our citizens struggling with these issues. They play such a very important role in our state.

We last year alone, we had estimated three hundred and twenty thousand people in our state that experienced serious mental illness in the past year, and also one hundred and forty five thousand adults in our state with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And I appreciate the work these boards do, again, in the trenches, serving our most vulnerable members of our society, and I've said this from the well a few times, we are moving and working towards this being a state that can be the number one state in the nation for mental health and addictive disease services, something we strive for every day, and also number one state in the country for families with special needs as well. And I hope we'll keep working towards that every single year, and I appreciate these community service boards and the work they're doing in the trenches to serve our citizens. With that, mister president, I'll yield to well.

Bring it out of the center from the fifty fifth.

My distinguished colleagues, I rise today to recognize Black History Month. Black History Month is about recognizing and celebrating the people and stories that helped shape the state of Georgia and this nation. Let me be clear. Black history is not separate from Georgia history. It runs alongside it.

It's woven into its foundation. Georgia has been home to leaders who challenged America to live up to its highest ideals. Martin Luther King Junior raised in Atlanta, showed the world the power of courage, faith, and nonviolence. John Lewis reminded us that democracy is never guaranteed. Andrew Young, also the ambassador, let us know that it is attainable only when ordinary people people show extraordinary participation and courage, but black history is also made up of countless names that never appear in textbooks.

Teachers, laborers, parents, small business owners, men and women who showed up for one another and worked every day to build communities, strengthen families, and help create a nation that could endure. African Americans in Georgia played a fundamental role in building communities, institutions, and movements that shaped the state. Schools, churches, businesses, and civic organization rose because of their vision, sacrifice, and determination. The work that did not just benefit one community, it strengthened Georgia as a whole, this nation as a whole, and that legacy still matters today. Black history is not only about the past, It's about the responsibility we carry in the present.

It's about continuing that legacy, shaping leadership, expanding opportunities, building communities where everyone has a chance to thrive. As a black senator, as a senator kissed by the sun, serving in this Georgia legislature, I carry that legacy with me every day. Representation is more than a title. It's an obligation. An obligation to listen carefully.

An obligation to pass thoughtful legislation. An obligation to open doors and expand opportunities for all people we serve. And that's how we honor those who came before us, not only with words, but with action. And as we celebrate heart day today, American heart, I think it ironic and I will bring up one other person. When I visited Howard University, I lived in a place called Drew Hall.

And I asked the question, where did this name come from? Drew Hall came from this guy, a great African American physician who lived from nineteen o four to 1950. He was the one that developed this thing called plasma that allows all of us to live, to store our blood. He was the one that developed ways to process and store blood plasma in blood banks. He directed the blood plasma program of The United States and Great Britain in World War two, and he was the one who resigned from that position after a ruling that the blood of African Americans would be segregated from those of other persons.

He died in 04/01/1950. And tragically, because of an old car accident, because of a lot a lack of blood, the man that we celebrate because he allowed us to to give blood for life, but he left this world without having the very thing that he died to help develop. That is the story. The story even goes further to say that he was denied admission at a white hospital, but that's controverted. But the bottom line is we celebrate black history because it is the American story.

It is a story that we've learned to live together because we refuse to die as fools. God bless you. Let's celebrate black history. Thank you.

Thank you, senator. I recognize the senator from the 43rd.

Thank you, mister president. Good morning, colleagues. Today is Black Women in Film Day at the Georgia State Capitol. And I will highlight that the first black woman to star in a major motion picture is Josephine Baker, who is widely known for playing the lead role in the 1927 French silent film, Siren of the Tropics. While she holds this distinction in international cinema, other pioneers in the nineteen twenties include actresses Evelyn Prier in race films and filmmakers like Maria P Williams.

Maria p Williams is widely recognized as the first black woman to write, produce and act in her own film, The Flames of Wrath in 1923. As a pioneer in early cinema, she established the Western Film Producing Company in Kansas City. Iconic black women movie characters include pioneers like Dorothy Dandridge in Gone with the Wind. Groundbreaking groundbreaking figures like Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple. Action heroes such as Pam Grier and Foxy Brown.

Powerful portrayals by Angela Bassett in What's Love Got to Do with It? And our modern iconic icons like Lupita, Youngo, Black Panther and Octavia Spencer in Hidden Figures. Showcasing strength, resilience and diversity across genres and eras. Thank you to the generations of black women who came before us to lead the way and blaze trails for many others to pursue their dreams in film. Again, today, we recognize what every day we celebrate black women in film.

Thank you, mister president. And I yield the well. I pose for my picture too.

Senator from the thirty third, for what purpose do you you rise.

Thank you, mister president. I ask for unanimous consent to excuse the senator from the 28th for business outside the capital.

We have objection. Senator from 28th is excused. Recognize the senator from 29th for a point of personal privilege.

Thank you, mister president. Thank you, colleagues. You know, a lot of times we make, light of when we get ready to come down here, people will say, what are you gonna do in Atlanta this year? And you say, well, I'm gonna go down there and do God's work. And we like to talk about God and a lot of other things.

But I wanna talk about somebody named Cornelius Taylor. Little over a year ago Cornelius Taylor was living here in Atlanta if you wanna call it that. In an alley within the shadows of without a doubt the most iconic church in The United States Of America. And probably the second most iconic house of worship in the world. And he was killed accidentally while the city of Atlanta was clearing the homeless encampment.

And the city, and the mayor, and everybody caught a whole lot of grief about it. And everybody was coming out of the woodwork looking for somebody to blame. That a man who was homeless, living within the shadows of a house of worship had died. And I'm not casting dispersions upon that particular house of worship. I'm challenging every house of worship.

Every congregation. The men and women of faith who come down to this building and ask us for state funds to help them solve problems that they're not even asking their own congregation to take care of. My faith in the Bible that I read out of tells me it is the church's responsibility. Not the bricks and mortar and the stained glass windows, but the congregation inside those. Whether you're in a church, whether you're in a mosque, whether you're in a temple, whether you're in any other faith.

It is your responsibility to stand up and go out and take care of those less fortunate. Those that find themselves trapped in a place that they cannot get out of. Whether it's because of poverty, whether it's because of addiction, or no matter the cause. So where was the church that day? Where was the church when he started struggling?

Where was the church when he ended up where he ended up? We know where they were afterwards. Churches have focused on themselves for too long. Congregations within those churches have focused on themselves for too long. We see all of it on television.

We see all of it on live stream. Church is a place where we go to pick up the weapons we need to go out and fight the battle that we are called to fight. And that is the battle to go out there and take care of the widows and the orphans and those trapped in poverty. Those who struggle with demons that we do not understand. Atlanta has always been known as a city too busy to hate.

And I'm not casting dispersions on the city of Atlanta. I'm challenging every city in the state of Georgia. Do not become the city that depends on the government to do your job, and do not become the city that becomes too busy to care. And with that, mister president, I yield the well.

Reagan, I just sent her from the forty fourth for

appointed

personal privilege.

Thank you, mister president. Health care access is on the line here in Georgia and across America. Georgians are going bankrupt or giving up trying to find health insurance entirely while Republicans in Washington play politics, refusing to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. 200,000 Georgians have already lost health insurance in the last month. A million and a half Georgians could either lose insurance or see their premiums double or triple in light of congress throwing Americans under the bus.

Here in Georgia, our hospitals can lose 1,600,000,000.0 in revenue, deepening the dire financial situation that many are already in. With all of the chaos coming from Washington, it's more important than than ever for our state government and leaders to step in to defend Georgians. Senate Democrats have proposed solutions to this crisis. SB three seventy nine would create a state based health insurance affordability program. This program would lower costs for those up to 400% of the federal poverty line and provide free health care for those up to 200%.

Georgia Democrats have been fighting for years to expand Medicaid. S b three eighty is still the best pass best path forward to ensuring that millions of people can afford to see a doctor. We have got the third highest number of uninsured people in the nation, and it's getting worse. Here are just a couple recent stories. Teresa Acosta, a single mom of three, saw her premium jump from $80 in December to $520 a month in January.

Her son has type one diabetes, requires regular care, and she's tied in knots and kept up at night wondering how she will be able to continue to get him the health care he needs. A small business owner in Dahlonega reported that her monthly premium was $97 before the subsidies were removed. And now, it is instead of $97 a month, it is a whopping a 100 $1,100 a month. The solutions are there, but Republicans are sitting on their hands trying to pretend that the crisis doesn't exist. This is not a crisis that you can ignore.

People understand what is going on when their premiums go up thousands of percent a month. We might hear, wait. We have expanded Medicaid for those who could jump through the hoops that have been laid out. The thing is that the pathways program from the jump has been so purposely contorted with endless paperwork and other requirements that only 6% of those who could have gotten insured have managed to cut through the thicket and get the insurance. Meanwhile, that program has wasted tens of millions of dollars to insure a tiny fraction of people.

Only 30% of the money has actually gone to patient care or to doctors. 70% has gone to administrative expenses. So essentially, it became it has become a jobs program for paper pushers. And what is the point in that? We should have expanded Medicaid a dozen years ago, where we could have insured a whole lot more people at a lot lower cost.

The Republicans in Washington Washington just added a work requirement, and they still pay 90%. So what's the objection now? I suggest that it's that Georgia Republicans are not yet willing to admit that Pathways has been a failure. We've been told that access has been a great success, and we don't clean up Washington's messes. This has left Georgians asking.

If it's not the responsibility of Republicans in Washington to fix this crisis, and it's not the responsibility of Republicans in Georgia to fix it, then who? Who is going to lead on this problem and fix it and lower cost for Georgians? I would suggest to you that it is going to have to be Democrats. Democrats have always led on health care. Democrats created Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act.

It's clear to Georgians that Democratic leadership is needed on this issue once again. Thank you. I yield the well.

Recognize the senator from the thirty fifth or point of personal privilege.

Alright. Thank you, mister president. Good morning, everyone. Is it afternoon or morning? I'm gonna read a excerpt from a book of a hero of mine, and I wanna see if you'll be able to guess who this person is.

Hint, this person is deeply connected to a Martin Luther King Junior. I'm just gonna read this portion of the introduction. And as I read this, I want you to imagine if somebody had to write a book about your life, what kind of words, what kind of phrases would they use? But I want you to just listen in to what somebody had to say. I unabashedly revere this person for his genuine contributions, his strength of character, gifts of mind, vision, and ability to grow and courage to change, creative relentlessness and restlessness and zest for life, his stubborn moral courage, prophetic imagination and deep commitment to social justice, boundless energy and eagerness to tackle new tasks, devotion to academic excellence, capacity for independence of thought and critical judgment, single-minded commitment to the most precious and enduring values of the human enterprise and a lifelong romance with the world of higher possibilities.

He is a wise man. His spirit is indomitable. His will is inexhaustible. This is about Benjamin Elijah Mays. I happen to be a graduate of Benjamin Elijah Mays High School, class of '99 in Southwest Atlanta, Georgia.

A revered educator, led Morehouse College for many decades, And a famous preacher's kid was bent on not going into the ministry because didn't have the vision of what ministry can look like for his life. And doctor Benjamin Elijah Mays took of Martin Luther King Junior and said, imagine ministry looking a little different than what your daddy did. It's Black History Month and it feels appropriate to highlight some heroes that walked these same streets as we do. And I just hope that we also could have a lifelong romance with the world of higher possibilities. You walk into the capital.

We have a homelessness problem. We know it's easy to point fingers on who should be doing what and when. But imagine a romance with the world of higher possibilities says, will what can I do? Many of us in here are in here with a pure heart. At least we hope we have a pure heart.

But I want us to really think about what's our lifelong romance consist of? Do we imagine a world of possibilities or are we stuck in this is just the way it's been? Thank God for those men and women over the centuries who've decided to think about what our world could be. I yield

the will.

Bring it on center from fifty fourth.

Thank you, mister president. My friends, it was a blessing this morning to have David Barton here and just and explain history. But as he was talking, I thought how how fitting that he would mention, Joseph Whitefield, one of Georgia's founders. Because, see, that's where I'm from is Whitfield County, named after George Joseph Whitefield. And I and I love the history.

Yes. There was a change in the spelling, but from Whitfield to Whit Whitfield. But I've always been proud to be from North Us, Georgia. See, we are, unique in the fact that we are the the you you hear often hear the the Rust Belt and and with other in other states. Well, we are the manufacturing district of Georgia and always have been, and I'm just very proud of what we do.

Whether you be from Woodfield County or Murray County or Gordon County, we are aware of the forecast we are the forecovering capital of the world. And I'm very proud to stand here before you, and each year we have Dalton has their Dalton day. And today, I come to the well to proudly to tell you that today is Dalton day. And we invite each and every one of you to come down the freight depot at 04:00 this afternoon so that because, you know, there's essay every year, and you get a rug and you get a rug and you get a rug. But being that this is the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of our state and of our nation, I am proud to display this your this year's Dalton Day rug.

And it's and so everybody's welcome to come down at 04:00 this afternoon. We'd love to have you and meet and understand why George Northwest Georgia is such a great part of our state. And it would be my honor, mister president, to give you the first Thank you.

I appreciate that, senator, and we do appreciate, good folks at Dalton. Dalton, Georgia always providing us with these these, rugs, and then we appreciate the industry and what it that provides as far as the for the state economy as well. So thank you, senator. I appreciate that very much, and I know everybody would be happy to see you coming today. So I recognize the center in front of 36.

Thank you, mister president, colleagues. I I I rise today. We've we've we've donned our red, many of us, this morning, to, wear to the capitol to to signal our support for the American Heart Association and for heart health, and we're wearing red today because of that. We can do a little bit more. That's the good news, and a lot more needs to be done.

You know, unfortunately, over there at the CDC, the tobacco cessation programs were, shut down, that were accomplishing something and making a difference. Programs were shuttered and staff were let go, and that that remains, an issue before us is to is is is to be sure that they're back in business doing tobacco cessation. There's a bill that we can support, house bill five zero six, to help people quit tobacco. Now, I'm not speaking in the abstract. I'm a former smoker.

My daddy was a lifetime smoker. And and the smoking damaged his heart, and we lost him, when he was still in his late sixties. Just had retired and was wanted to, enjoy a a a nice retirement, but that was not to be, thanks to, lifelong use of tobacco. I was smoking when I came to the legislature. I went through the battles of smoking.

We we started smoking behind the bleachers in high school at cheerleading practice. And and and that's that's where the habit gets built, is in very young people who make a lot of, less than smart decisions. And the next thing you know, they're hooked on tobacco. Smoke enders is what, was the remedy for me. But I I one year in the legislature and that was my last cigarette cigarette April 1987.

Right now, we can provide a great assist, to people in Georgia who need help to quit smoking. And the good news is, it's a it's it's not only a lifesaver, it's a money saver at the same time. The Medicaid population is more than twice as likely to be smokers than those that are on private insurance. Georgia spends $699,000,000 annually on Medicaid costs related to tobacco use. If one percent of the Medicaid population quit smoking, it would save Georgia $38,000,000 the very next fiscal year.

These are compelling numbers, aren't they? Right now, we've got barriers for tobacco cessation programs for those who need it most. And that's what house bill five zero six would do. House bill five zero six would remove barriers, create a level level access to smoking cessation, no matter what what your coverage is, whether it's Georgia Medicaid, fee for service, or managed care. We need to bring parity between all of these programs and with with the primary goal of getting more people access to smoking cessation.

It works. SmokeEnders was my pathway. There are many programs, but right now, there and increasingly, there are, meds, that that you can take as well. But counseling as an individual and group counseling, very valuable. The point is we have a structure right now that's not working to maximize the benefits of smoking cessation.

And, I would dare say most of us are unaware of that fact. House Bill five zero six gives us an opportunity to do the smart thing, save money, save lives, and and really give a second life to those who have been caught up in the the dreadful addiction, to smoking and tobacco use. Thank you for your attention to this. I say while we wear our red today, let us then stand together, party party considerations aside, and pass HB five zero six to remove the barriers to tobacco cessation, that are there, currently in our system. Thank you very much for your attention.

I yield the well.

Recognize the senator from FIRST.

Thank you, mister president. Just a clear points of clarification. So, the chaplain, was talking about, reverend Whitfield in Savannah, Georgia, and the senator from the 54th was talking about Whitfield County. I'm not sure they're the same, but Whitfield in Savannah is spelled W H I T E F I E L D. And we pronounce it as he pronounced it, Whitfield.

And he was the clergy from the church that I go to, Christ Church. Other points of clarification have to do with the state of health care in the state of Georgia. So let's just talk about the very successful waiver that we did that's called access. We did that under governor Kemp's first two bills carried by, the senator from the nineteenth, I believe, and appropriations chair. At the time, he was the governor's floor leader, and that's called access.

And that's 100% up to 400% of the federal poverty line. So basically, just over $17,000 for a single person and up to $70,000 for a single person in the 400% federal poverty level line. A great success. Over 700,000 people. Stacey Abrams estimated there were 400,000, and it's it was 700,000, actually.

A great number covered under Obamacare. And Obamacare is what we're at right now. Under the emergency health orders under president Biden, folks were paying zero. And I just think that's wrong. Personally, I think even a person with, at 101% of federal poverty level should pay something.

I think we all should have skin in the game because health care is not free. Hospitals pay mortgages. Hospitals pay bonds. Health care workers have mortgages. But the point I was making is that the max under Obamacare that anyone could pay for their premium in access was 8.1%.

And yes, it has gone up to 8.2%, the max. So 8.2% thank you, mister president. 8.2% of your salary, of your income. So, basically, the $70,000 person at the 400% level would pay $478 a month. I think it's important to have health care.

I think that is important to carry. And then the last, I will just discuss real quickly, 100% on down, which is called pathways. Hopefully, out of poverty because you should not want to earn $16,000 a year and stay in poverty. But you are afforded Medicaid, and that is what is done. Of course, the misnomer of work is, what the press uses and the other side of the aisle uses relating to the work requirements.

Let's talk about that. Work requirements, twenty hours a week of work or twenty hours of volunteer work. Go to your YMCA and cut the grass or go to vocational technical school or go to college. And we just put in a waiver that if you have a six year old child, then you would be eligible also. But what was done in the one big beautiful bill took that up to 13 years old, and that's what we'll be going to also.

Again, we are an example for the nation. Those that did do Medicaid explosion, I mean expansion, is, that's what they'll be doing also. Thank you very much. I yield the well.

We're gonna have senator from the forty first.

Ask for unanimous consent to excuse the senator from the twenty second. Thank you, mister president.

Alright. Without objection, senator from twenty second is excused. Does any other senator wish to rise on a point of personal privilege? You have a consent calendar or privilege resolutions. Does any senator wish to remove a resolution from the consent calendar?

Is there objection to the adoption of the res of of the resolutions on the consent calendar? Chair hears none. The resolutions on the consent calendar are adopted. Are there any motions to withdraw or commit? Alright.

Is we, going in a different order today. We have, it's time to consider the confirmation of the government's appointment to the Judicial Qualifications Commission, the honorable Richard Hyde. Secretary, read the caption.

Mister president, the senate committee on assignments has had under consideration the following appointment to the Judicial Qualifications Commission. Mister Richard Hyde, appointed by the governor, and has instructed me to report the same back to the senate with the following recommendation, that the appointments be confirmed as submitted. Respectfully submitted, the honorable Burke Jones, chairman. Mister president, that completes the order.

I recognize the majority leader.

Mister president, I move that the appointment of the honorable Richard Hyde to the Judicial Qualifications Commission be confirmed as submitted.

Majority leader has moved that the confirmation of the honorable Richard Hyde be accepted without objection. Is there objection? Senator, would you like to speak to your motion? Senator Waves, is there objection to the motion? All those in favor of the leish majority leader's motion will vote the yay switch.

All those opposed, no. Secretary, Open the gate. On the confirmation of the JQC appointment, the a's are 48, the nay's are zero, and this motion has prevailed. Recognize the majority leader for a motion.

Mister president, as GM's consent that the following bills be engrossed, s b four zero three and h b four one four.

Secretary, read the caption.

Senate bill four zero three by senators Kirkpatrick of the thirty second and others. A bill to be entitled an act to amend article five of chapter 12 of title 44 of the OCGA relating to destine disposition of unclaimed properties so as to provide for exceptions to when property is presumed abandoned, to provide for abandonment and liquidation of virtual currency, to authorize delay of publication of notice on the Georgia unclaimed property list under circumstances to provide for methods of payment of claims to waive the requirement of a probate court order for claims of heirs under circumstances and for other purposes. House bill four fourteen by representative Jones of the twenty fifth and others. A bill to be entitled an act to amend chapter five of title 21 of the official code of Georgia annotated relating to government transparency and campaign finance so as to revise the definition of person to include certain non residents of the state to provide the state ethics submission with supplementary investigatory powers related to persons, documents, or information located outside of the state, to revise venue provisions, to address out of state persons, to provide for related matters to repeal conflicting laws and for other purposes.

Mister president, that completes the order.

The majority leader has moved. Is there objection? Objection. We got an objection from the senator from the second and the senator from the forty first. I thought we're all gonna get along today.

Alright. Would you like to speak to your motion, senator? Senator

Waze,

would anybody like to speak in opposition? Alright. We'll just put it we'll just put it on the board. Put it on board. All those in favor of the motion will vote yay.

All opposed, nay. Secretary, unlock the machine. On the motion of engrossment, the a's are 29 and the nay's are 20, and this motion has prevailed. On to the rules calendar. Secretary, read the caption for senate bill two thirty nine.

Senate bill two thirty nine by Walker of the twentieth and others. A bill to be entitled to enact to amend article one of chapter 18 of title 43 of the OCGA relate to funeral directors and establishments, embalmers, and crematories so as to remove the requirement that funeral directors related matters to repeal conflicting laws and for other purposes. The committee of the senate on rules recommend that this do pass by substitute, senator Brass of the sixth chairman. The senate committee on rules offers the following substitute to SB two thirty nine, a bill to be entitled enact to amend article one of chapter 18 of title 43 of the official code of Georgia annotated, relating to funeral directors and establishment embalmers and crematories so as to remove the requirement that funeral directors be licensed embalmers to revise definitions to provide and for other purposes. Miss mister president, that completes you.

Bring it on center for the twenty fifth.

Thank you, mister president. Ladies and gentlemen, I ask for your favorable consideration for senate our senate bill here. This splits a license of funeral directors and embalmers. It does not dilute requirements for licensure on either part. It just splits the license.

This would allow an out of state couple that would move to Georgia, and one of the spouses happens to be a licensed funeral director in another state. Thank you, mister president. This allows people moving into our state to be able to be productive and go to work as a funeral director here in Georgia. Right now, every state that touches Georgia has split license. This is this way in 26 states.

For instance, if a couple moved to Georgia and one of the people, happens to be a licensed funeral director in a neighboring state, they would not be able to get licensed in Georgia. Because in Georgia, in order to be a funeral director, you have to be an embalmer. This, is kind of outdated, especially when more people are being cremated today and less embalming is taking place. So this is just a very simple bill. It will allow people to be productive and get a job, go to work here in the great state of Georgia.

I'd be glad to take any questions, mister president.

You do have a few questions, senator. I recognize senator from the thirteenth. Sir,

do you?

I do. Senator,

are you an expert on embalming and funerals?

I would think so after fifty four years.

I'm glad you said fifty four years. This brings me into my question. I read your bill and I'm and I voted for your bill on a sports bill, but I'm really concerned about confused about your bill. It says no less than 15 times in your bill dead human bodies. Now do you all work on live humans?

No, sir. We don't.

Is there a reason it takes three hundred and three thousand one hundred and twenty hours and eighteen months to figure out that they gotta be dead human bodies?

No. It just figures out what to do with them.

There we go. So the situation is this simple. You teach them you can only work on dead human bodies. That is correct. Senator, I yield.

Thank you.

Alright. Thank you very much. Mister president, if there's no other questions, I'll yield the will. I ask for your favorable consideration. Thank you.

The senator has yielded. Would any other senator wish to speak for or against the measure? Senator from 33rd?

I was gonna ask

him a question. Yeah. Senator is yielding. Chair hears none. Is there objection to the previous question being ordered?

Chair hears none. Previous question is ordered. Questions on the adoption of the committee substitute. Is there objection to the adoption of the committee substitute? Hearing none, the committee substitute is adopted.

Is there objection to agreeing to the report of committee which is favorable to the passage of the bill? Chair hears none. The report of committee has agreed to. Is there objection to the main question being ordered? Chair hears none.

The main question is ordered. Questions on the passes of the bill by substitute. All those in favor will vote yay. All opposed, nay. Secretary, unlock the machine.

Following the passage of the bill, the a's are 50 and the a's are zero. This bill have received the requisite constitutional majority is therefore passed by substitute. Alright. Alright. Senate bill four zero three.

Secretary, read the caption.

Senate bill four zero three by senator Kirkpatrick of the thirty second and others. A bill to be entitled and act to amend article five of chapter 12 of title 44 of the OCGA relating to disposition of unclean properties so as to provide for exceptions to when property is presumed abandoned, to provide for abandonment and liquidation of virtual currency, to authorize delay of publication of notice on the Georgia uncleaned property list under circumcirc circumstances, to provide for methods of payment of claims, to waive the requirement of a probate court court order for claims of heirs under certain circumstances, to provide for circumstances under which a claim is void, to provide for definitions, to amend title 48 of the OCGA relating to revenue and taxation, so as to waive confidentiality of certain tax records, to provide for related matters, to repeal conflicting laws and for other purposes. Mister president, the senate committee on finance recommends that this bill do pass by substitute by senator Hough Sattler of the fifty second chairman. Mister president, the senate finance committee offers the following substitute to s b four zero three, a bill to be entitled an act to amend article five of chapter 12 of title 44 of the official code of Georgia annotated relating to disposition of unclaimed property so as to provide for exceptions to when property is presumed abandoned, to provide abandonment and liquidation of virtual currency and for other purposes.

Mister president, that completes the order.

Break it down to center for thirty second.

Thank you, mister president. This bill deals with unclaimed property held by our State Department of Revenue. This is an agency bill that I've been working on for several months after I sort of accidentally found out that I had a small amount of unclaimed property. Subsequent to that, I found out that there's currently 3,300,000,000.0 with a b dollars in the custody of the state that's unclaimed property. And these properties end up there for different reasons.

Maybe an inheritance issue, it could be an insurance policy, or a forgotten bank account. Many Georgians are not aware that they have unclaimed property, and the current process for getting it from the department is cumbersome. I'm guessing each of you has constituents who have unclaimed property who don't even know to ask. Since I presented this bill in committee, a number of people have told me that they found unclaimed property in varying amounts on the DOR website, and I expect that website to get very busy. The goal of this bill is to return more money to Georgians faster with fewer forms, less costs, and fewer administrative barriers.

This bill does the following. It establishes an exact match program to automatically return small amounts of unclaimed property to owners using tax records. No claim form required. It allows virtual currency to be legally reported and remitted as unclaimed property. It streamlines heir claims by allowing small estates to be paid using a small estate affidavit instead of probate.

It requires stronger holder outreach before property is turned over to DOR, helping to return the money before it ever becomes unclaimed property. It allows the state to permanently take ownership of very small or long abandoned unclaimed property, and we're talking about twenty five years. Improves timing and accuracy of the Georgia unclaimed property list by allowing delayed publication until the proxy property is actually received by the state. This bill will help get money back to Georgia citizens, and I appreciate the cooperation of the Department of Revenue and the governor's office on this agency bill to help our constituents. And with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions and would ask for your favorable consideration.

You have no questions, senator.

Thank you. I yield.

Does any other senator wish to speak for against the measure? No. Chair hears none. Is there objection to the previous question being ordered? Chair hears none.

The previous question is ordered. The question is on the adoption of the committee substitute. Is there objection to the adoption of the committee substitute? Hearing none, the committee substitute is adopted. Is there objection to agreeing to the report of committee, which is favorable to the passage of the bill?

Chair hears none. The reporter committee has agreed to. Is there objection to the main question being ordered? Chair hears none, and the main question is ordered. Questions on the passage of the bill by substitute.

All those in favor of the bill vote yay. All opposed, nay. Secretary, I'll lock the machine. On the passage of the bill, the a's are 50 and the nays are zero. In this bill, having received prerequisites, constitutional majority is therefore passed by substitute.

Secretary, please read house bill four fourteen.

House bill four fourteen by representative Jones at the twenty fifth and others. A bill to be entitled in act to amend chapter five of title 21 of the official code of Georgia annotated, relating to government transparency and campaign finance, so as to revise the definition of person to include to certain non residents of the state to provide the state ethics commission with supplementary investigatory powers related to persons, documents, or information located outside the state to revise venue provisions to address out of state persons persons to provide for late matters to repeal conflicting laws and for other purposes. The committee of the house on information the committee on of the senate on ethics recommends that this bill do pass by substitute senator

Watson.

Watson of the first chairman.

Senator of the substitute.

Mister president, the senate committee on ethics offers the following substitute to house bill four fourteen, a bill to be entitled an act to amend chapter five of title 21 of the official code of Georgia annotated, relating to government transparency and campaign finance, so as to revise the definition of person to include certain non residents of the state, to provide time periods for responding to civil actions brought by the attorney general pursuant to this chapter to provide for reward of default judgments in such actions and for other purposes. Mister president, that completes the order.

Breaking down the center from twenty fifth. I apologize to the senator from the twenty ninth. They wrote the twenty fifth on my paper, senator.

It's a simple mistake. Our hair's exact same color. Colleagues, HP four fourteen, very simple piece of legislation, crafted by representative Jones from over in the house. All it all it does, if you heard the reading of the preamble, is it holds those out of state to the same rules and regulations when it comes to elections as we are held to. And colleagues, I hope you all know what Monday is.

Monday is the last day to get your disclosure in. It'll be looked at to make sure it's transparent. It'll be reviewed to make sure everything is right. And if it's not, there'll be sanctions and ramifications because of our failures. All we are attempting to do in h b four fourteen is to hold those outside of the state of Georgia who choose to participate in our elections through campaign contributions to the same standard.

It gives our friends in state ethics the opportunity to subpoena someone outside of the state. It gives them 30 to respond, and the jurisdiction of that case will be here in Fulton County. It is what we refer to many times as a long arm of the law. Gives them the opportunity to go outside of our state and address individuals who choose to come into our state with their money or their influence. The bill went through committee, senate ethics committee, with a lot of friendly conversation, suggestions, and passed out bipartisan.

And with that, mister president, I'll yield for any questions.

You do have a couple of questions, senator. Reagan I sent from '26.

Thank you, mister president. Would the gentleman yield?

I absolutely will yield with my friend from Macon.

Your explanation of the bill does not seem to be, what the bill is asking. What are you looking for? If you do campaign disclosure, you got put where the money come from and the address where you got it from.

What it is, it's looking for disparities. When somebody outside of the state of Georgia decides they want to give money to state senator Randy Robertson. And they do not provide all the information or I do not provide all the information about the individuals that I receive those contributions from. And if it raises the antennas or the concerns of the Georgia Department of Ethics, then they have the opportunity to send a subpoena outside of the state. Let's say that money comes from Florida.

They're able to send a subpoena down to this contributor in Florida and ask them, I wish it was about water, it's just about me. And ask them to come to Fulton County and give an explanation of who they are, if they allowed to participate in this. What it is, there's a lot of people given a very little bit of information about campaign contributions who want to come into Georgia and influence our elections. We've seen it happen year after year after year after year, and all we are attempting to do is hold those out of state actors to the exact standard that we are held to within the state of Georgia.

Gentlemen, further you. Absolutely. It seems as though you're kinda contradicting yourself. I mean, we get money, like, from Publix. That's out of Lake Lake Blue, Florida.

They absolutely are. And when you put down the the the the the domination of the amount of money you got, you also have to put the address where it came from. That's right. So what is the rationale for this bill when on your campaign disclosure when you put the money in that you receive, you also had to put the address of where that money came from.

Senator, I've explained the rationale twice. Well, I'll explain to you once again, is there bad actors who choose to influence Georgia elections. And they do it through nefarious ways. And it gives the ethics, should concern rise to that standard, the opportunity to subpoena those individuals and to come in here. Because I'm sure as you know, there are people that will use other avenues.

Now, the contributor that you're discussing out of Lakeland, Florida, I believe in the past, they have actually contributed to my campaign. And what I have provided in my disclosure is every bit of the details of that individual. Not just an address in some cases, other things along with copies of the checks and to make sure they have copies of my w nines or whatever else they need. So, we're just holding people outside of the state to the same standards because the the example you gave is a good actor. This is to go after those who choose not to be good actors.

That is why we refer to it as the long arm of the law. So that we're able to reach out and prevent people outside of the state of Georgia from having undue influence in the state of Georgia while attempting to hide their identities.

Recognize, senator from the twentieth.

Thank you, mister president. Senator Yield?

Yes, sir. I yield to the, president Pro Tem.

So when we file our campaign disclosure reports by midnight on Monday, we're held to a standard a high standard of transparency and compliance with the State Ethics Commission. Is that correct?

The gentleman knows of which he speaks.

And, this simply gives the state ethics commission the tools to hold out of state entities that are participating in, Georgia elections to the same standard that we are held and the citizens of Georgia are held to. It gives them a tool to hopefully, do that rather than having to rely on the goodwill, I guess, of a attorney general or a DA or something in another state. It gives them a legal tool to to file a subpoena here in the state of Georgia, on a out of state entity and then turn that subpoena over to to that state, you know, like state of Florida, for example. Have a subpoena, issued in in another state is my understanding. Is that correct?

It absolutely does that. We have had many of our colleagues in the house and over in the senate at times run a foul of ethics because of unintended mistakes on disclosures. And our friends correct the mistake, pay the fine and move forward. And all we are doing is making sure that those who are outside the state of Georgia are held to the exact same standard as we are. Myself, so concerned about my disclosure every time, I've hired someone who's an expert to do all of my deposits and do all of my, disclosures because I appreciate the ethical hammer that is above all of our heads, that hold us to the standard that the citizens who elect us expect us to adhere to.

And all we're asking is that others be held to that same standard who are not residences of this state. And in many cases, what we are exactly doing is telling them that they must meet that same standard as a contributor here in Georgia wants to give a Georgia state senate candidate a contribution.

Thank you, senator. Appreciate you bringing this good bill.

Thank you, mister president Pro Tem.

Recognize senator from the forty first wave. With that Are you having no more questions, senator?

With that, mister president, I ask, everyone, let's hold everybody to the same standard the 56 of us are held to. And with that, mister president, I yield the well.

Recognize senator from the forty second.

Thank you, mister president. I just wanna make sure we're clear this bill is not as exciting as some people wanna make it. This bill has nothing to do with any campaigns going on right now. This bill was filed over a year ago. This bill simply says that if we're gonna have outside groups like a Super PAC that's pouring money and doing politicking in our state for a candidate, that they'll play by the same rules the rest of us play by.

If you vote against this bill, then what you're saying is that folks inside our state had to play by the rules, but folks on the outside are not held accountable. Without passing this, our ethics commission can't go and even investigate these outside groups. We have to have this tool for our ethics commission to go and make certain that groups that pour money into our state, wanna influence our elections, can't for a particular candidate, have to play by the same rules everybody else plays by. That's all this bill is doing, and I just wanna make sure we're clear for the record. This is something that'll make everybody play by the same set of rules in our campaign.

So happy to take any questions.

Do you have one question, senator? Thank you. Reagan has what? Yeah. Senator is yielded.

Yeah. You do have one question, senator. Reagan has a senator from the ninth.

Thank you, you, mister president. So I'm a little unclear how we're determining what a bad actor is. You you all keep saying it, but under what conditions are you saying as a bad actor, and how is that verified, and you see them on there? So can you elaborate on that?

Yeah. It's a great question. So we don't know who the bad actors are without the ability to investigate. So right now without this bill, our ethics commission can't even determine whether or not someone technically is a bad actor. They can't go in subpoena records.

They can't go and do a complaint. So someone's not following our rules. We have certain disclosure rules. We have certain things you have to put on notices when you do when you do ads, of course. If a group is not complying with that without this ability, if they're outside of our state without this bill, we can't even figure out whether or not they are a bad actor.

We're not changing the rules. This bill does not determine who's good or bad or who can who can influence our elections, who can play in elections. All this bill is saying that we will not have the tools to hold the people outside of our state accountable to so the people inside our state are.

Does senator further yield?

Yes.

Yes. I got that, And I understand that this piece of legislation would allow you to be able to go after a bad actor, but it still has not answered my question. How are you determining what a bad actor is? Even if we pass this bill, are you gonna look at a name and say, well, hey. That looks kinda nefarious.

It looks like a bad actor. So I am trying to establish we're in this bill that puts guardrails and kind of some rules on what you are establishing as a bad actor.

Well, it's a whole different topic. This bill does not establish who a good or bad actor is. All this bill is doing is saying our ethics commission can go and do their job the same way they do it with groups inside Georgia, outside of our state. So the topic you bring up is a whole different topic. If you wanna change the current rules, that'll be a whole different bill, different part of the code.

This just says, now we'll have the tools to know what is happening with these outside groups that come in. So the bill has nothing to do with that.

Okay. I'm and I'm sorry, senator. I'm I'm still a little confused about what we're considering a bad actor. I I think that's still not quite defined for me, and maybe I'm missing something. But

You're not missing something. It's not in

the bill. That's not that's not this bill. Right. So if you wanna decide what a bad actor is, you could go to the coach section that defines that, and we give the the jobs or ethics commission to regulate this, this bill is just, again, making certain that those from outside of our state that are coming in and pouring money into elections play by the same rules. This doesn't change the rules themself.

Mhmm. So if we don't pass this, and that means those groups outside of our state let's say you have a primary that you have, someone running against you. You could have a group from outside of our state come in and directly violate the current rules or do things that deserve an investigation. If you don't pass this, we can't even investigate that. You couldn't hold that group group accountable versus someone in Georgia who has to play by the rules.

Okay. The senator for to you?

Yes.

Okay. I know we passed a bill, somewhere around my first year, 2021, to allow the establishment of of packs. I think the governor uses one, these leadership packs. How would that impact this bill impact because that that particular bill does allow anyone to feed money into those packs, and we're not investigating who they are or considering them bad actors.

So, again, it's a whole different topic. How those PACs work, whether or not a PAC qualifies as someone that has the same rules for a campaign for a candidate, that's completely separate. And I understand the argument, but that's a whole separate issue. If you wanna change that, you have to bring a different bill. The bill for us today is just about the enforcement and making sure everybody plays by the same rules, but you shouldn't oppose this because you don't like the rules.

If there's a rule you don't like now, you should file a bill and change that rule versus saying, well, people inside our state have to abide by the the rules, but I'm gonna vote against this because outside groups should be held accountable.

Thank you, sir. Breaking our sermon from the fifty fifth.

Will the gentleman yield

Yes, sir.

From my great hometown area, Griffin, Georgia. I'm a little concerned that the senate the previous senator stating about what is a bad actor and I in this atmosphere of politically charged going after each other in retribution, is there a provision, for example, that there must be probable cause to investigate, quote unquote, these particular bad actors? Or how does that come about?

Well, that's again, I'm not an expert on election law. We're both attorneys in our areas. We practice. I'm not an expert on that, but that's not part of this bill. So there's a whole process set up as to, someone that has an allegation made against them.

There's ethics complaint filed, and there's an investigation of that complaint. There's due process or the administrative procedures act where someone could be heard. There's also a way to take that to a superior court to enforce those orders as well. There's a whole process and code that's set up. This doesn't change any of that.

This just says groups outside of our state abide by the same rules that the groups inside of our state play by.

Well, gentlemen, further you. Yes, sir. I am a little concerned that this not be used as a political pawn to publicize that you're quote, unquote investigating some group because you don't like their political views. Is there any are there any safeguards that we can have so that someone does not abuse their power to publicize and put on the front page of the newspaper that they're investigating some group simply because they do not agree with their particular political views? Again, senator, that's a different topic.

But

I would say instead, this protects everybody because right now, it look. We operate in the world of extremes a lot of times. Let's use an extreme example. If we do have a real bad actor, someone that we both would agree is a bad actor who doesn't wanna play by our rules, it's very simple. Bill, that bad actor could go one county over.

Let's go to West Georgia. Instead of staying in Carroll County, they could go over and cross the state line, and they could then not have to play by our rules. And we have no way to even investigate that. And what I found is someone who's had a lot of elections over the years. People like to throw things out, and the best thing that could happen is to have an actual complaint filed so it can be investigated.

Due process can be heard. Without this bill, you can't even have that due process. You only have a a way to investigate someone that's being accused of doing something wrong outside of our state. So I think this actually brings more due process and makes certain that everybody everybody plays by the same rules.

Thank you, sir. I think you're helping you're helping me out. But so, basically, this would be initiated with someone making a complaint and then the body would then investigate those persons. Is that the way it would work?

I think that, the commission has the ability to also initiate their own investigations in addition to complaints. That doesn't change any of this. But, yes, there still has to be an investigation first. And the first step you're doing with this bill is making sure that investigation can happen.

Okay. I agree we should investigate, quote, unquote, bad actors if we can agree that they are bad actors. But are these complaints under verify are they verified so that if you are lying on me, that I can come back and have some recourse? If the person is doing a false affidavit against my organization?

Yeah. Again, it's not part of the bill, but my understanding is there is due process or the Administrative Procedures Act where someone has a hearing if they're accused of something. And we're both lawyers. We know the best thing you want when you're accused of something and you're innocent is to have your day in court and to let the investigation play out versus leaving an allegation out there for the public to make their own decisions on. So this bill, again, does not change the current rules.

It doesn't identify who's bad or who's good. All this is saying is that our commission that we've tasked with making those terminations and investigating these issues for us can do their job outside of the state of Georgia.

Thank you. Thank you very kindly, sir. Thank you.

You got one more question, senator. Recognize Senator from 27th.

Thank you, mister president. Chairman, do you yield?

Yes, sir.

I'm over here. This

is this has to do

with the State Ethics Commission. Is that correct?

That's correct.

And is it not true that the State Ethics Commission, as you just said, either receives complaints and they can either administratively dismiss those complaints if there is no probable cause, or they can bring them before the State Ethics Commission and or they can open ethics complaints on their of their own accord. Is that not correct?

That's correct.

And is it not true that this bill does not change any of that and that the term bad actors is nowhere in the bill, but that is your own description, essentially, of what we're talking about here?

That's correct. The bill has nothing to do with who's good or who's bad. Even the current process that we have, this bill, again, just makes certain that someone can't abuse our process, abuse our system by moving across the state line.

Do you further yield? Yes.

Isn't it true that it's not just a requirement to that this bill is not trying to address even necessarily moving across state lines. But what this bill is trying to address, hypothetically, would be me hiring an out of state consultant to run negative ads against an opponent, knowing that if there was illegal money used in in such a way that the state ethics commission does not currently have the ability to go subpoena the bank records of the out of state consultant. So what we are trying to do here is close a loophole that currently, perhaps, has been exploited. We don't really know if it's been exploited or not because we can't go do that. But this essentially will seek to stop the practice of using dark money to hire out of state consultants to prevent the state ethics commission from ever getting the sunlight into these, these matters.

Is that not true?

It's a great way of putting it. You you make it personal for all of us as elected officials, all of us who have campaigns. If you vote against this bill, what you're doing is allowing yourself the ability to go and hire an outside consultant from a different state, a group from a different state, and they could then come and and support your campaign, go against your opponent without playing by the same rules everybody else plays by. This makes certain that we all play by the same rules.

And no further questions.

Thank you.

Right now, the center from the fourteenth.

Thank you, mister president. Colleagues, I rise in support of the legislation brought by the senate from the twenty ninth. And senator from the forty second, you gotta promise not to clip this video, but basically everything that the senator from the forty second said on this bill I agree with, I think is correct. Not not even remotely close, mister leader. This is this is a jurisdictional bill and I wanna speak briefly about the code section that follows nine ten ninety, which defines a nonresident.

And that code section is nine ten ninety one, which is Georgia's long arm statute, which determines what rights in state citizens have vis a vis out of state residents. Now this is a funny one. This is a funny story, senator from Forsyth County. I don't know if you remember this, but you had a former colleague, Zara Karinchak. I can say your name.

She's not here. Wonderful person and helped connect me to some senators when I was serving in the state house. And I said, I'd love to work on this long arm issue. And Zara was like, listen, buddy. I got I got just the guy for you.

So she connects me with the senator over here, and we had a phone call. This is years and years ago, and I was trying to pitch this guy on the long arm statute that we need to expand it. Okay? There's two ways that Georgians' rights against people out of state in this state are constrained. Two ways.

One is what's called the federal constitution, due process. Right? That, you know, you can imagine why if we just wanna sue some person in Alaska who's never been to Georgia, knows nobody from Georgia, why that might not be fair. Right? To force them to come to Georgia courts to defend against some kind of lawsuit.

So the federal constitution has a basic guarantee that it's gotta be fair. But then the other thing is our own state laws, Georgia state laws, limit the ability for Georgia residents to go after out of state businesses if they do something wrong. And that's actually a pretty significant area of Georgia's rights that we are curtailing for no reason except we've just decided to tie our own shoelaces together. This is the pitch I was giving the good senator a few years ago. And it's not like some kind of trial lawyer defense thing.

It's about Georgians and our ability to protect our rights vis a vis people who are out of state. So a good example of that is if somebody from out of state says something defamatory or, you know, concoct some kind of business interference plan or fraud and they have very few contacts with Georgia, but they target their their their harm into Georgia, there's not a guarantee that Georgia law allows Georgia citizens to sue them in Georgia court the way that the Georgia laws are currently written. So it's not just the ethics issue. It's actually a range of issues where Georgia law under protects Georgia citizens rights vis a vis people out of state. So I think this is a really good bill.

It's a really good bill because it basically says, if there's out of state problems I mean, it's again, I don't wanna toot you guys horn too much today, but what you just heard from the senator from Forsyth and the senator from the forty second about the ability for somebody to use an out of state entity to harm what's happening in state is absolutely correct. And this doesn't change the underlying ethics laws. Again, if you, you know, wanna change the ethics laws, you gotta go into a different part of the code. So this is a good bill. It is in line with other reforms we also need to increase Georgians rights vis a vis people out of state who might do harm, and I'll be voting yes on this legislation today.

Happy to take any questions.

You do have a couple of questions, senator. I recognize the senator from the forty first.

Thank you, mister president. Senator Yield?

I do.

Just to help some of my colleagues with a timeline here, isn't it true that this bill was brought forward last session before certain activities that are on TV on a regular basis began?

Yeah. That's right. And the other thing I'll say, and I think the minority party finds ourself in this situation a lot where, look, we're not always gonna agree with majority party's administration. You know, if the if the executive, if the governor is from a different party, we're not always gonna agree with the way that the laws are enforced. But I think it's there's a basic fairness and, you know, conscience test by us.

If we were in charge, would we like to have the authority to go out of state and regulate what somebody does out of state in our elections? I think the answer to that is yes. If, you know, the basic operation of of governance requires that you have the authority that you need to go after people who are violating our laws. And I and I do think there's a loophole right now where out of state actors are able to do that. And the timing, I I think, absolutely suggests that there is no specific intention in this bill to address anything we're seeing right now.

Do you further yield? I do. Isn't it true that this can impact legislators on either side of the aisle in both ways that all of us are vulnerable to this type of behavior regardless of party?

Senator, I I aim to earn my rule of law messaging. I aim to earn my annoying speeches about how the rule of law matters. And so if I wanna earn those talking points with my colleagues, one good faith way to do that is to acknowledge that, yes, this is basic, good government, meat and potatoes stuff, and I would like for Georgians rights to be robust as to out of state actors that potentially do harm. Thank you, senator. You have no further questions.

Thank you, mister president.

Look at us all getting along in here today. I tell you what, over a house bill nonetheless, a year old house bill, I'll still get blamed for it. Don't worry. Alright. Any other senator for or against this measure?

Is any other senator which speak for or against the measure? Chair hears none. Is there objection to the previous question being ordered? Chair hears none. Previous question is ordered.

Questions on the adoption of the committee substitute. Is there objection to the adoption of the committee substitute? Hearing none, the committee substitute is adopted. Is there objection to agreeing to the report committee which is favorable to the passage of the bill? Chair here is none.

For the committee is agreed to, is there objection to the main question being ordered? Chair here is none. The main question is ordered. Questions on the passage of the bill by substitute. On the pass of the bill, the yeas are 50 and the nays are one.

This bill had received the requisite constitution. Majority is therefore passed by substitute. We have a, we have a message from the house. Secretary, read the caption.

Mister president, the house has passed by the requisite constitutional majority the following bill of the house. House bill nine seventy three by representative Burns of the hundred fifty ninth and others. A bill to be entitled in act to amend an act making and providing appropriations for the state fiscal year beginning 07/01/2025 and ending 06/30/2026, known as the General Appropriations Act.

What's not an appropriations?

Mister president, that could please the order.

The house has given us the the budget, so we will sign it to appropriations. And I now recognize the majority leader for a motion.

Mister president, I move the senate stand adjourn adjourn till 9AM on Friday, February 6.

Adjointed leader has moved. We have a few announcements here. Senator from the 36.

Thank you, mister president. Colleagues, quick announcements. You have on your desk the Georgia Working Families Legislative, Caucus invitation today to a luncheon in LOB 307. That's CLOB 307. And the topic is top priority housing and homeless issues issues that we're grappling with here in the state and here, in this legislative session.

Thank you very much. You are all invited, and I hope to see many of you there. A yield.

Senator from 39, do you have a message or announcement?

Quick announcement for anybody who's part of the Fulton County Delegation. Today is Fulton County day at the Capitol. There will be displays all throughout the, South Stairs Rotunda, but a lunch for Fulton County Delegation members is happening now in in Cap 122 between 12:30 and 01:30. Please come by. Thank you.

We're gonna ask Pro Tem.

Thank you, mister president. I know it's already been said, but just don't forget we're gathering in at 9AM tomorrow morning. And tomorrow is John Bullock day. If you don't know what that is, ask one of your more seasoned colleagues. Thank you very much.

Bring it on center from 4th.

Thank you, mister president. I just wanna remind all colleagues that there is a joint press conference with the house at 01:00 on the South Steps on the literacy bill that was dropped as a companion bill yesterday by the senate and by the house. So please please join us and support the bill. Thank you. Thank you.

Reagan on the sun from fifty fifth.

My colleagues, I on your desk or something for faith and clarity appreciation, recommend someone from your district who's a person of faith, whether from church, mosque, synagogue, etcetera, and consider co hosting this thing. Let these people know there is an obligation of the as my distinguished colleague that the whip stated this morning, there's an obligation for those of faith to do certain things unless on your desk, turn it in. Thank you. Appreciate it. March 3, faith and clergy appreciation day.

Thank you.

Secretary, read the announcements.

The rules committee will meet upon adjournment in Room 450 Of The Capitol. The education and youth committee has been canceled. The judiciary committee will meet in Room 307 Of The CLOB at 2PM. The state local government operations committee will meet in Mezzanine 1 at 2PM. The urban affairs committee will meet in Room 125 Of The Capitol at 2PM.

The regulated industries and utilities committee will meet in Room 450 Of The Capitol at 3PM. The insurance and labor committee will meet in Mezzanine 1 at 4PM. Mister president, that completes the order.

Alright. Any more announcements? Hearing none, majority leader has moved and send a stand adjourn until 9AM, February 6, tomorrow morning, 9AM. And it is John Bullock day. I understand.

So all those in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, no. No. Nice.

Clearly have it. Y'all have a good day.