'Lawmakers' Day 39: Senate debates voting measures, House bans funds for prison gender-affirming care

On Wednesday at the Capitol, the House and Senate jumped into hyperdrive on Day 39.

In the Senate, almost 90 bills and resolutions were posted on their rules calendar as legislators hustled to pass as much legislation as they can in the last two days of the session.

House Bill 397 is a controversial bill dealing with a variety of voting measures.

"We helped them streamline this thing, and this has the blessings of Gabriel [Sterling], who actually performs the elections all over the state," Sen. Rick Williams (R-Milledgeville) said. "It fixes the issues with our third-party candidates, and it stops counties from doing this pop-up voting sites."

Not true, say Democrats who oppose the bill.

"Election security is important, but this isn't about security — it's about control," Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes (D-Duluth) said. "It's about disenfranchisement and it's keeping power in the hands of the few at the expense of the many.

"Georgians want elections that are free, fair, and accessible, not the partisan attempt to put more roadblocks between the people and the ballot box."

They say it erodes voting rights by removing Georgia from ERIC, the Electronic Registration Information Center, gives unconstitutional power to the State Election Board, and would no longer allow absentee ballots to be hand-delivered the weekend before elections.

"The ability for a voter to drop off an absentee ballot the weekend before election is a critical one," Sen. Jason Esteves (D-Atlanta) said. "It's a crucial access point that this bill would take away. And in an era where we have seen that the post office is wholly unreliable, many voters have relied on dropping it off the weekend before [an] election, because life happens."

The bill passed along party lines 33 to 23.

Two House bills recognizing homegrown Georgian foods, cornbread and Brunswick stew, were both "Frankensteined" into new bills.

HB 14 would have made cornbread the official state bread but it was changed into the Georgia Music Office and Music Ready Communities Act.

HB 233 would have named Brunswick stew the official state stew, but now involves not only the stew, but also makes the fourth Friday each November National Sugar Cane Syrup Day in Georgia, became the new home for the missing cornbread bill, and prohibits state agencies from contracting with any country considered a foreign country of concern.

Both were passed, but no word on if the changes left a bad taste in anyone's mouth.

In the House was recognition of one of GPB's own, as long-term cameraman Wesley Nichols was noted for his 25 years of contribution covering the legislature for Lawmakers.

"And we are thrilled to honor Wes on his quarter-century career milestone capturing Georgia politics," Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones said.

Another special guest visited the House chamber as Georgia first lady Marty Kemp was joined by Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Commissioner Kevin Tanner to talk about 988, the mental health crisis hotline.

"In 2023, only 16% of Georgians had heard of 988," Tanner said. "A poll that we did recently, 84% of Georgians have now heard of 988. And a lot of that is because of the work that the first lady's done helping us spread the word."

Then the House moved on to the first of several rules calendars.

Members approved Senate Bill 17, or "Ricky and Alyssa's Law," named after two school shooting victims.

The legislation originally in the bill to create a panic button system in classrooms was added to the school safety bill past Monday, so this version of SB 17 added clarifying language.

"We passed this in the school safety bill, this is just an amendment cleanup," Rep. Holt Persinger (R-Winder) said.

Members had personal testimony about this issue.

"I waited a day or two before I asked my child if he had heard the news and asked him how it felt," Rep. Betsy Holland (D-Atlanta) said. "I asked him if it made him feel scary or if it makes him feel anxious. And he said, 'No mom, that school only had one resource officer. Our school has two. When an active shooter comes, we're going to be better prepared.'

"That was the day I realized that my child uses the word 'when,' not 'if,' when he thinks about an active shooter coming to his school."

The bill passed unanimously.

House Democrats displayed a demonstration in protest of Senate Bill 185. The bill would ban the use of state funds for gender-affirming care for transgender prisoners in Georgia.

Democrats spoke in opposition.

"What is it — what is going on with my colleagues that they have become so obsessed with what is happening in transgender citizens' panties and their underwear and their boxer shorts and their bedrooms and their medical rooms when they talk to their doctors — when they deal with their families?" Rep. Tanya Miller (D-Atlanta) asked. "Why is it that this has become such an obsession?"

Then she and other Democrats walked en masse out of the chamber.

Republicans were quick to criticize the move.

"Probably the most disheartening moment I've ever had in my service here as a member of the House," Rep. Chuck Efstration (R-Mulberry) said.

The bill passed 100 to 2.

In an unusual move, the Senate also passed SB 214, which requires voters to use paper ballots in elections. The bill will have to wait until the next legislative session to be considered, since it didn't pass before Crossover Day.

Lawmakers returns for Sine Die, the finale of the session, on Friday, April 4, 2025.