James May-June 2025 web - Flipbook - Page 81
HB 81 Increasing access to student
mental health services
HB 307 Strengthening literacy resources, including funding “literacy
coaches,” in K-12 Schools
HB 185 Banning taxpayer-funded sex
change surgeries for prisoners
HB 428 Codifying access to IVF (large
bipartisan support)
HB 112 A $1 billion tax rebate to taxpayers
HB 579 Streamlining the professional
licensing process and boosting Georgia’s workforce
A “de facto” firearm registry shot down
The conservative State Freedom
Caucus Network had an interesting
take on a bill it labels “de facto gun
registration.” HB 79 sought to have
Georgians register a gun safe with
the government or pay an additional $300 in taxes. The organization
wryly notes that “you don’t buy a
gun safe for it to remain empty. The
government will have to maintain a
database for who received this credit
to administer the process.” It argued
that the language was unconstitutional, “extortion” and “a dangerous foot in the door for deadly safe
storage laws … (and) you should not
have to pay $300 more in taxes than
someone else because those chose
to put their name on a government
list of known gun owners.”
Key GOP lawmakers argued that
everyone who would utilize the tax
credit would go on a list compiled by
the Georgia Department of Revenue,
effectively creating a registry of gun
owners. Interestingly, this bill was
originally introduced by a Democrat
but was then taken over by state
Rep. Mark Newton, R-Augusta, who
told lawmakers that it was somehow
reworked to prohibit a government
database of known gun owners.
Ultimately, Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, asked probing questions and finally got Newton to confess that it did
indeed create a type of gun registry.
That led to the death of HB 79.
More juvenile court judge power derailed
SB 8 was legislation giving
juvenile court judges the authority to issue arrest warrants— a bill
some critics charge was “literally
written” by the state Department of
Children Services. At present, these
judges serve under elected Superior Court Judges, who then appoint
the juvenile ones to their position.
Also, magistrate judges issue arrest
warrants and if there is some kind
of problem they go to the Superior
Court. Therefore, it was argued— by
various Republican and Democrat
lawmakers— that the bill would
simply be making it easier to arrest
people, especially parents, without
going through the typical process.
SB 8 was ultimately brought to
an up-or-down floor vote and failed.
State regulatory reform waits until 2026
SB 28— the “Red Tape Rollback
Act”— was heavily pushed by the
Republican lieutenant governor and
passed the Senate along party lines,
but it was never able to get a full
House vote. However, the Senate
bill can still now be considered for a
House vote during the 2026 General
Assembly.
SB 28 came about because state
regulations have skyrocketed ever
since the Georgia Secretary of State’s
office began tracking them in 1965.
Furthermore, research conducted by
the Georgians First Commission just
a few years ago found that over half
of all those regulations were out of
date, redundant or in need of review.
Georgia Public Policy Foundation
policy analyst J. Thomas Perdue
says, “The Red Tape Rollback Act
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