Sen.Merritt Press Conference on GLBC Priorities | 02/02/2026

Okay. Good afternoon and thank you all for being here. I wanna welcome members of the press, our community partners, advocates, and mostly importantly, the executive board and members of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus. I am deeply honored to serve alongside this dedicated group of legislators who represent communities across our state and who are united by a shared commitment to justice, equity, and opportunity for every Georgian. Today, we gather to officially kick off Black History Month by unveiling the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, because Black Caucus's twenty twenty six legislative priorities.

Priorities shaped directly by the voices, needs, and lived experiences of people that we serve. In October 2025, members of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus identified legislative initiatives critical to constituents. The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus members are committed to supporting legislation that focuses on these combined members response responses. Economic justice and access to wealth. That includes protection and aid for black land owners and their heirs.

Expand contracts and access to credit for minority owned businesses. Advocate for the use of percentage of, for the use of a percentage of the surplus to strengthen economic growth. And lastly, to increase the minimum wage. Our next high priority, health and health access and equity. Expand health care options based on income eligibility.

Expand options for maternal health care. Requirement for prostate screening. Protections and increase options for rural Georgians. More than adequate funding for mitigating food deserts and ensuring school aged children and their vulnerable populations are properly nourished. Our next step priority will be access, housing access.

As we know, housing is probably one of the top issues that I keep hearing. So we want to advance fair housing initiatives and dismantle barriers that perpetuate residential segregation. Eliminate source of income discrimination in Georgia by including a source of income as protected class in Georgia in the fair housing statute. Establish tenant protections and create eviction standards statewide. Protect homeowners from selective discriminatory enforcement by HOAs.

Next, we have voting and civil rights. Supporting consistency in election administration across all 159 counties in the state of Georgia. Increase civic participation through standard k through 12 initiatives. Ensure the proper funding is in place for counties to run their elections. Mandate that county serve as centralized election administrators for municipal elections.

Clear audit authority and transparency measures for the secretary of state. Next, we have education. Prioritize expansion of funding for k through 12. Prioritize expansion of funding for HBCUs. Create extensive workforce pipelines, and a continued focus to expand early literacy programs.

Next is criminal criminal just criminal justice reform. Excuse me. Trust based policing and public safety standards to to support constitutional and judicial protections for all Georgians. We will continue to uplift reentry projects that support jobs, housing, and stability to cut recidivism. At the heart of our agenda is a clear and urgent commitment, protecting civil and constitutional rights while expanding access to economic opportunity, quality health, safe and affordable housing, strong educational pipelines, and a comprehensive criminal justice reform.

Additionally, as current events threaten the safety of Georgians, the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus will stand in the gap. The GLBC's priorities are not theoretical. They are community driven, evidence based, and rooted in the realities facing families across Georgia. Central to this work is our full support of the Georgia Civil Rights Act of 2026. That's going to be that is House Bill six seventy and Senate Bill three twenty.

This legislation represents a cornerstone of our agenda and a necessary step to close gaps in protection, strengthen accountability, and ensure that civil rights in Georgia are not optional but are

guaranteed. Today, we will hear from legislative leaders and community voices who will speak to the urgency of this moment, the legal and moral foundation of this work, and the collective action required to move these priorities forward. This is about more than policy. It's about power protection and legacy. It is about connecting legislation to the lives of people.

The Georgia Legislative Black caucus exists more than just the legislate during the legislative session. We are committed to leading Georgia three hundred and sixty five days a year. To keep up and follow our work, please visit us at wwwgeorgiablackcaucus.org. Thank you for being here. We look forward to working together.

Oh, I'm gonna call up, representative Clark, and she will be introducing and speaking on House Bill six seventy, our civil rights legislation.

Thank you so much, madam chair. Again, my name is doctor Jasmine Clark, and I represent Georgia's House District 108, which is located in the Lilburn area of Gwinnett County. And I I am the sponsor of house bill six seventy or the Civil Rights Act of 2026. In a state that produced prominent civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King and John Lewis, Andrew Young and Hosea Williams and so many others, it is actually shameful that the state of Georgia has less protections against discrimination than some of our southern neighbors like Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas. For example, at the state level, in Georgia, there is no law barring discrimination due to race or religion in public places.

The same is also true for employment in the state of Georgia. There is no state level law that protects people. And in both of these instances, a person does have federal protections, but having to fight for your civil rights at the federal level can be intimidating. It can be expensive, and it can feel out of reach for so many Georgians. Additionally, this bill will require the state of Georgia to collect data on racial profiling and traffic stops by law enforcement.

Believe

it

or not, once again, Georgia is behind other Southern states in this endeavor as this is already done in states like Texas and Louisiana, North Carolina, and Virginia. We, as a nation, are watching the unraveling of civil rights happen right before our eyes all across the country. We have top level officials in this country that are attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion as if they are dirty words. We have people at both the state and federal level that have been doing all that they can to deny, rewrite, or just straight up remove an accurate telling of our nation's history. The civil rights act of 2026 is a reminder that freedom is always a work in progress.

It's It's like a group project that we all must participate in in order to make our state a better place for everyone to live and to protect the rights of all who call our state home. And so that is why I am pushing the Georgia Civil Rights Act of 2026, house bill nine sixty. Thank you.

Afternoon. Good afternoon. Thank you for saying that. I do appreciate it because this is a a great afternoon to talk about what Georgians need. Hi.

My name is Christopher Bruce. I am the deputy executive director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, an organization that is dedicated to defending your civil rights and liberties in this state. Now, I have prepared remarks, but state representative Jasmine Clark did so well laying out the comprehensive civil rights bill. I'm gonna take up from what she had said and really emphasize and talk directly to the people about what's happening right now. Your rights are being trampled on.

I don't know another way of saying that. You have an administration that is literally killing people in the streets without any type of accountability. You have a time when journalists are being arrested. Your entire constitution is at stake. You do have state protections in other states.

But for some reason, in the birthplace of our civil rights, the home of doctor Martin Luther King, we are woefully behind here in the state of Georgia. Woefully behind our other southern states, especially when it deals with public accommodations, when it deals with housing, and it would deals with other racial justice issues. So laying out a very simple, plain language, Georgia comprehensive civil rights bill will do what? It will give you the rights that you deserve. The rights that have already been enshrined of you on the federal level, but guess what?

You cannot depend on your federal government anymore. There have been so many changes that have been happening with this administration. If you do not understand that, it's too late. You must demand from your state senators and your state representatives to pass the Georgia comprehensive civil rights bill, and you have to demand that they pass it now. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Good

afternoon, John.

My name is John Moy.

That's right.

I'm the senior director for policy at the Urban League of Greater Atlanta. And, we're here today because of the fierce urgency of now. I stand here today on behalf of the Urban League alongside the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus at a moment that calls for clarity, courage, and collective action. We're here because civil rights in Georgia cannot be taken for granted. This must be protected, strengthened, and advanced, not only by the leaders standing behind these microphones, but by you the people whose lives and future depends on the laws passed under this gold dome.

Today, I wanna speak directly to our community. This time, this is the time to mobilize. This is the time to stand publicly and unapologetically in support of a strong civil rights bill for all Georgians. This is a time to make it clear that discrimination has no place in our state. Not in housing, not in employment, not in public accommodation, not anywhere.

Thank you. But by passing this bill, it won't we won't it won't happen by hope alone. It will happen by through action, through you, through us, through we the people. I urge every Georgian who believes in fairness and and dignity to contact your state legislators. Tell them you expect them to protect your rights, your family, and your future.

Tell them you are watching, that we are watching, and you will remember you will remember who stood on the side of justice. Show up at committee hearings. Your presence in these rooms matter. When lawmakers see rows of constituents, students and parents and business people and faith leaders, they understand that this is not an abstract policy debate. This is about real people.

You your us. We the people. Real lives in real consequences. So I ask you to educate your neighbors, educate your networks, talk about what this bill does, why it matters, and what's at stake. Civic engagement is not a a one time act.

It's a culture. We build together. It is how we protect our communities. It is how we honor those who fought before us. Civil engagement is power.

Civil engagement is protection, and civil engagement is legacy. Now is the time to act. Thank you.

Okay. Alright. And with that, we are done. I don't think we took up too much of your time. But just to be clear, a comprehensive civil rights legislation, this is a bipartisan issue, and it is absolutely something both of these chambers can come together and work on.

So with that, I'm gonna open it up to questions for anybody that might have any. Okay. Oh. Oh. Yeah.

The the house property. We have not taken a position on it yet as a caucus, but we will be looking at that legislation to see how it impacts our communities. You know? We're we're always concerned with how it's gonna impact black communities. So, once we take a look at that, we will put out a statement on how we feel about that legislation.

Yes. He was he was he was asking about the property tax bill, not the income tax bill. My overall message was your first question? Yes. Our overall message my overall our our our caucuses' overall message is let's work on those policies that actually address this the issues that black Georgians are care about.

I think our comprehensive civil rights legislation is kind of our one of our key pieces of legislation. So my message there is, hey, all my colleagues on both side of the aisle, please work with us to pass that legislation. There is no reason we should have it. What was your second? Mhmm.

Right. So that's coalition building with a lot of our advocacy groups. Yes. We absolutely need to raise the minimum wage. Companies, you know, are are are making all of the money, yet workers don't have enough money to even live.

So that is, again, is another policy that I would love to have bipartisan support for, and there's no reason we should not have already raised the minimum wage. People are having trouble just buying groceries. You know, childcare, we know is a issue. You know, we have some tariffs, some bad policy on tariffs that are affecting people's affordability. And, of course, we do have a housing crisis to where people there's not enough housing and what's out there, people can't afford it.

So I think raising the minimum wage would kinda stop the bleeding and help there. So I look for bipartisan support on there. There's no reason why we shouldn't have we we shouldn't have legislation to raise the minimum wages this time. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I think we're seeing again, you know, our policy is always the Georgia legislative backed caucus is protect voting rights, full stop. We know we have a history of our ancestors before us fighting for, you know, voting rights. We want to continue to adhere to that fight to make sure that we are protecting voting rights. And then the other part of your He made specific terms not opposed to the line on the March.

Yeah. So the only thing I wanna say about we don't know I guess the concern right now is how much is that going to cost, and is that the right policy right now? I think we're already in the twenty twenty six election. I think trying to roll that back at this time is concerning, as well as we don't know the overall effects, and we don't even have a fiscal note about how much this will cost. So that is another piece of legislation that we'll be looking at closely and we we will make a statement.

Yes. Right. We support black business. Full stop. Whether that be hemp legislation, that is something we support black farmers.

So I think full stop for the legislative black caucus, we would be supportive. We haven't seen we haven't digested all the legislation that's out there, but I would say at this time that that is our goal to always support black businesses and black farmers. Alright. Yes. Somebody else wanna speak to you?

I don't want me to speak to it. What's that? Fulton County delegation is taking the lead. Okay. So the Fulton County delegation will be taking the lead on that.

I can tell you right now that there we are concerned as this is a voting rights type of bill and any attacks on our election and setups to interfere with our election, we take very seriously in this legislature. And we are asking our colleagues on both sides to take these attacks very seriously because this was just Fulton County today, but this could happen in anyone's county. Alright. Okay. Thank you all for joining us.