ATLANTA (Georgia Recorder) – Lawmakers have debated sweeping changes to how Georgians cast a ballot. They’ve considered varying proposals for how best to respond to a surge in data center proposals across the state. And they’ve locked horns over everything from tax cuts to strategies for improving literacy rates.
Now it’s decision time for the many proposals that have been percolating under the Gold Dome during a legislative session that has been dominated by election-year politics.
Any bills left behind after Thursday, which is the final day of the session, will have to start over next year, when lawmakers – and a new lieutenant governor and governor – return for a new two-year cycle of lawmaking.
Many questions will be answered on issues ranging from access to contraception to a proposal to limit access to police body cam footage, and lawmakers will also decide whether Georgia should escape the annual tradition of leaping forward an hour in the spring and then falling back again in the fall.
And of course they still need to finalize the spending plan for the new budget year, which starts July 1. The Senate passed its version of the $38.5 billion budget Friday, but the chambers will likely now hash things out behind the scenes.
Also, will there be a late push from supporters of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones to block candidates with state contracts from running for statewide office? That billstalled in the House but could find an alternative path to the governor’s desk in these final days of the session. According to a Healthbeat analysis from February, wealthy health care executive Rick Jackson’s companies had been paid nearly $1 billion by state agencies since fiscal year 2020. Jackson has threatened Jones’ frontrunner status in the GOP primary ever since his surprise late entrance into the race.
Ballot QR code conundrum
Lawmakers have put forward a number of proposals to change Georgia’s election system.
But with only two formal work days left until the end of the session, they have yet to finalize a plan to remove QR codes from Georgia’s ballots, which current state law says must be done by July.
On Friday, the Senate approved House Bill 960, which includes a controversial proposal to institute hand-marked paper ballots statewide ahead of the general election in November. A previous version of the bill failed earlier on the floor of the Senate, but a revised measure passed in a 32-21 vote along party lines.
But the House is pushing its own election overhaul proposal, Senate Bill 214. The bill would postpone the deadline for removing QR codes from ballots to 2028 and direct the state to begin the process of procuring a new election system this upcoming February. The House has yet to bring it to the floor for a vote, and the Senate will need to agree to its changes before the bill can be sent to the governor’s desk.
Data center tax credits
The session started with a wide range of legislative proposals to rein in the rapid growth of data centers across the state, from a statewide moratorium to measures to protect utility ratepayers from paying for infrastructure built for data centers. But with just a couple days left, the focus has turned to winding down tax breaks for the gargantuan, energy-hungry facilities.
The Senate passed three bills with language aimed at phasing out tax breaks for new data center developments and computer equipment ahead of their original expiration dates, but they are still stuck in committee in the House.
Pending in the House is a proposal to accelerate an income tax reduction to 4.99% while sunsetting a wide range of corporate tax breaks, including the state’s data center tax credit. Another House bill was scrapped in the Senate Finance Committee last week and replaced with language to sunset the data center tax break. However, it kept a tax break for the computer equipment these facilities buy, but senators in the committee suggested that could still be amended on the floor.
Senate Majority Leader Jason Anavitarte said at the committee hearing that he hopes lawmakers “figure out a way to come together” to repeal the data center tax breaks, adding that collecting that tax revenue could help settle disagreements on some budgetary priorities.
“These companies are still going to come here,” Anavitarte said. “We’ve already had so much debate on this. With all the data, with all the studies, these data centers are gonna come here, and so when we talk about something that has grown to over a billion dollars, with a B, I think the citizens expect more of us.”
Tax cut debate to be settled?
Lawmakers have had competing visions for tax relief all session, and now they’re down to the wire on deciding which tax cut plans to send to the governor.
So far, they’ve already signed off on one-time tax breaks for homeowners and another round of income tax rebates. But where will lawmakers land on long-term tax cuts to the income tax rate and proposed changes to how local governments can tax homeowners?
The governor’s preferred income tax cut route – an accelerated reduction to the income tax rate, bringing it down from 5.19% to 4.99% – is up for a final vote in the Senate. But lawmakers could still back other moves toward trimming the rate.
The debate is a little messier when it comes to what should be done about local property taxes, with proposals still pending in both chambers. Republican leaders have insisted that state officials must intervene and stop the escalating taxes homeowners pay, but their push has collided with concerns that such changes would destabilize a vital local funding source that pays for essential services.
Chambers differ on literacy plan
Lawmakers want to hire an army of specialized educators to make sure Georgia’s youngest learners get a head start in reading. But a key literacy bill could get tangled up in the legislative gears in the race toward adjournment.
The House and Senate have each produced their own versions of House Bill 1193, a literacy overhaul that’s been a top priority for House Speaker Jon Burns this session. Both chambers’ versions seek to fund more than 1,300 new literacy coaches, one for each school in the state with students between kindergarten and third grade.
Literacy coaches are educators who special expertise in reading acquisition. The planned hiring spree is projected to cost in excess of $100 million.
But the details of the chambers’ plans differ. The House version contains nearly twice as many pages and contains a number of provisions not found in the Senate’s.
Presenting the bill to a Senate Committee last week, Senate Appropriations Chairman Blake Tillery described the Senate version as more streamlined and “focused on the classroom.”
Tillery rejected the idea that the debate over the bill represents gamesmanship between the chambers.
“Any comments from the peanut gallery that this is anything more than legislative process and folks trying to work together to make things happen is not productive,” he said.
In a statement following the Senate committee’s approval of the bill, Burns’ office said the speaker expects the House version to make it to the finish line.
“We certainly appreciate the Senate’s commitment to funding literacy coaches in the FY 2027 budget; however, without the proper framework in place to deploy those coaches, prepare our future educators, and teach our children, we risk maintaining the status quo, which has failed countless Georgia students and teachers across the state,” said Burns’ spokesperson Kayla Green.
Divisive topics
This year’s session has been largely free of the type of hot button divisive issues that have dominated debates in recent years, such as restrictions on transgender rights or on diversity, equity and inclusion in schools.
But largely free doesn’t mean completely free. A few bills on contentious cultural issues still linger.
One of these is Senate Bill 74, which would remove an exemption for librarians from Georgia’s law against distributing harmful materials to minors. That bill passed the Senate last year and a House committee in February, teeing it up for a potential House vote.
Supporters say it’s a necessary step to remove materials from library children’s sections that they compare to pornography. Opponents say it opens up librarians to potential criminal charges in order to discourage them from shelving books dealing with LGBTQ or racial issues.
Another lingerer: House Bill 54, which originally dealt with home health care services but was amended in the Senate to restrict puberty blocking medication for transgender minors in Georgia, which doctors say can aid in the treatment of children with gender dysphoria, and to stop transgender state employees or their family members from receiving gender-affirming care on the state health plan.
Both bills need a House vote to land on Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk.
