The 2016 Georgia legislative session is over. State House Speaker David Ralston (R- Blue Ridge) yelled out Sine Die! and pounded the gavel from his perch in the House chamber, officially ending the General Assembly session around 12:30 early Friday morning.

Several big issues dominated the assembly from the beginning this year, including religious liberty and campus carry legislation. A fight over extending MARTA rail service also erupted midway through the session. A rape kit testing mandate was held-up in a Senate committee then passed the Legislature on the back of another bill at the eleventh hour. An effort at expanding medical marijuana and the number of illnesses legally treatable with cannabis oil gained early traction then stalled in committee.

Lawmakers offered up varied assessments of the 2016 session, which moved quickly in the end as legislators hurried to get back to their home districts to begin their re-election campaigns.

“This has been the God, guns, and gays session,” stated Atlanta Democrat Sen. Vincent Forte.

“Hot-button issues about religion, about sexual orientation, and about guns. We haven’t done very much in terms of improving the lives of everyday Georgians,” Forte pointed out.

But Woodbine Republican Rep. Jason Spencer, whose Georgia Spaceflight Act lost its thrust in the later days of the session, had a different take on this year’s assembly.

“Overall, it was a positive session, especially for Republicans,” Spencer said.

Spencer described it as “a quick session,” but also called it “focused.”

“We got the budget passed. That was a big deal and I think we’re spending time on some meaningful legislation,” he added.

His senate colleague, Sen. Josh McKoon (R-Columbus) agreed that Republicans did achieve some legislative victories.

“I think the high points have been our passage of religious freedom legislation that is robust, that actually offers real protections for Georgians,” McKoon said.

“I think the other high point would be that we did move on campus carry legislation after several false starts.”

But many Democrats expressed concerns that the issues that were addressed in this election year General Assembly pandered to the conservative Republican base at the expense of moving on meaningful issues for average Georgians.

“Campus carry legislation, certainly the RFRA, FADA, religious liberty bill, all of those things are election year bills,” concluded Rep. Stacey Evans (D-Smyrna). “They are red meat for a certain segment of the Republican base and that’s dangerous,” she continued.

“Obviously RFRA was extremely disappointing,” chimed in Rep. Keisha Waites (D-Atlanta). “I’m very concerned about the economic impact.”

Senator Elena Parent, (D-Atlanta), called the religious liberty and campus legislation a “black mark” against Georgia.

“Those are very consequential pieces of legislation that are very damaging to Georgia,” she contended.

”I think they’re a huge overreach from a super-majority that’s totally out of step with the feelings of Georgians as a whole,” Parent added.

But Evans said, for her, there were a couple bright spots. ”The MARTA bill is one.”

In a surprise, last minute victory, a pared down MARTA expansion bill for Atlanta and Fulton County won approval in the General Assembly late Thursday. It’s expected to raise more than $2 billion to help fund rail expansion in the city and county.

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