Legislative Huddle: What do lawmakers do outside of the session?

When the legislative session ends in Georgia, the work doesn't stop. "Lawmakers" on GPB keeps Georgians up to date on the flurry of activity happening underneath the Gold Dome. But we are going to bring you a look at what lawmakers are up to right now, as they're busy laying the groundwork for the next round of legislative action.

This "Legislative Huddle" series will peel back the curtain on the committee work being done. "Morning Edition" host, Pamela Kirkland, sat down with GPB’s Donna Lowry to find out what they’re working on. 

Transcript  

Pamela Kirkland: This is Morning Edition on GPB, I'm Pamela Kirkland. The Georgia legislature convenes in just a few months, and lawmakers are already gearing up for a busy session. We want to keep you informed of their efforts through a regular segment we're calling Legislative Huddle with the host of Lawmakers on GPB, Donna Lowry. Welcome, Donna.

Donna Lowry: Glad to be here.

Pamela Kirkland: We hear about what legislators do during the 40 day General Assembly and there's a perception that they only do work during that time, but you say that's not true.

Donna Lowry: Yes, and they want to change that perception. That's right. You might call the months leading up to the session "homework time" for Georgia lawmakers. They're busy compiling information and doing the background work they need to consider creating laws, and they mostly do that through committee work. During these Legislative Huddle segments, I'll explain the important role that committees play and to get us started getting a background on these committees, I spoke to State Senator John Albers of Roswell. He chairs the Senate Public Safety Committee. 

Sen. John Albers: Committees are critical. And that's where a lot of the hard and heavy lifting comes into place. But in general, the committee process is used to really thoroughly vet, to research, to understand.

Donna Lowry: There are various types of committees, including about 70 committees between the two chambers. Those never change, but temporary committees are created and each chamber can establish special committees and study committees.

Pamela Kirkland: Which committees will do the most work in the coming months?

Donna Lowry: he study committees. Those were created during the legislative session, so that the lawmakers could see more, dig closely into issues they feel that need a deep dive. Right now, House and Senate study committees are looking into safe firearm storage, preserving Georgia farmlands, affordable childcare, credit card fees on state sales tax, non-opioid pain management, how to help communities recover after a natural disaster, and much more. Here's Senator Albers.

Sen. John Albers: We need to find out what the best practices are from maybe other states or other regions. We need to figure out where we may have an opportunity to improve, where there could be deficiencies.

Donna Lowry: The study committees meet and eventually produce reports with recommendations that might lead to actual legislation.

Pamela Kirkland: And who determines who gets on a committee?

Donna Lowry: Now that gets really tricky, it varies. For the standing committees, it's another committee, it's called the Committee on Assignments. As for those who are on them, lawmakers lobby for their specific assignments. Once again, here's Senator Albers:

Sen. John Albers: Every two years, we submit a form of what committees we'd like to be a part of, but also why? What's our background and experience?

Donna Lowry: For instance, Albers is a fourth-generation firefighter, so chairing public safety is such a good fit for him.

Pamela Kirkland: And how much power do these committee chairs have?

Donna Lowry: They have enormous power. In standing committees in particular, the chair has the latitude to move legislation along or effectively kill it. Here's Senator Albers.

Sen. John Albers: I can choose not to hear a bill at all, because I believe that the legislation is not something that should be heard, for a variety of reasons. I could also assign a bill to a subcommittee within my committee. I can create subcommittees. I can dissolve subcommittees.

Donna Lowry: Albers created a special subcommittee to investigate issues at the Fulton County Jail, and another one to examine what's taking place with artificial intelligence. There are a few dozen study and special committee scheduled to meet this month alone, and more committee work in the fall leading up to January's General Assembly. And we'll look closer at some of those committees in future Legislative Huddle sessions, Pamela.

Pamela Kirkland: Thank you, Donna. And you can find more about Legislative Huddle on our website, gpb.org/news.