'Lawmakers' Day 27: Senate debates religious freedom; House helps missing adults with autism

With Crossover Day looming, each chamber works late into the day, passing a plethora of bills.

The issue of and need for religious freedom protections was debated in the Senate today.

Senate Bill 36, the Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration Act, is supposed to keep the balance between state and local laws and an individual's religious rights, mirroring a federal law already on the books.

"After the federal RFRA law was passed almost unanimously in 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that the federal RFRA only protected people from unfair federal government intrusion and would not protect people from unfair state and local government intrusion on their basic rights," State Sen. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth) said. "Since then, 39 of 50 states have adopted their own state RFRA laws or seen their courts adopt RFRA-level protections about judicial ruling to protect ... people who have faith from overreach by state and local governments.

"RFRA puts their First Amendment right of free exercise on the same level of protection as the First Amendment rights of speech, assembly and press by simply creating a judicial balancing test to weigh out the facts in cases, to make sure that a person's right to practice their faith versus government powers is matched and balanced and brought together in the fairest way possible."

But Democrats pushed back on the bill — first, on a personal level.

"Under this bill, someone could deny me, my husband, my son and my beautiful daughter service out of business and use their religion as a reason to do that," Sen. RaShaun Kemp (D-Atlanta) said. "So, this isn't about politics for me. It's about the ability for my family to live freely in this state."

Democrats also disputed the legal fairness of the bill.

"RFRA at the federal level has changed dramatically since then," Sen. Jason Esteves (D-Atlanta) said. "It does not provide the same protections, and in fact, it is being used across the country to discriminate against people. It is also a fact that there are over 30 states that have RFRA laws in the books, but the vast majority of those states have a civil rights statute in place to protect against discrimination. Georgia is one of the handful of states that does not have a state-level civil rights law."

In the end, Democrats failed to sway any Republicans, and the bill passed 32 to 23 along party lines.

Meanwhile, in the House, a bill that aims to help missing adults with autism.

House Bill 465 would allow law enforcement to send an emergency Mattie's Call alert when an adult with autism goes missing. Mattie's Call alerts are currently used for adults with dementia or other cognitive disabilities.

"This bill is Georgia's bill that's saving lives because we can help others find their loved ones and help law enforcement with the tools to find them quicker," Rep. Carl Gilliard (D-Savannah) said. "There are other states and cities such as Los Angeles, California, Chicago, Illinois, New York, Houston, Texas, and Phoenix that have established this law."

HB 465 passed unanimously.

The House also voted on a bipartisan bill that would prevent people with intellectual disabilities from being sentenced to death.

HB 123 would bar the state from seeking or imposing the death penalty on individuals found to have an intellectual disability by the court during the pretrial process.

"Beyond the legal principles legalities of this," Tyler Paul Smith (R-Bremen) said, "this bill reflects our state's shared values and our belief in our state motto of wisdom, justice, and moderation. We must recognize that intellectual disability affects an individual's ability to understand those complex legal proceedings, not to mention their actions and the results thereof."

"To put them to death is to punish them for a cognitive limitation that they did not choose," Rep. Esther Panitch (D-Sandy Springs) said. "A limitation, and in essence, a part of their fundamental human identity. We are not defined by how we treat the strongest among us, but how we protect the most vulnerable."

The bill passed unanimously.

Also, the House approved HB 79, which would create a voluntary $300 tax credit for safe gun storage devices like lock boxes, firearm safes or trailer locks. The credit could also be used for gun safety courses.

"Especially when you have children or maybe neighborhood children come to visit that weren't trained like maybe you train your own children," Rep. Mark Newton (R-Augusta) said. "Grandparents that may not think about this. And then, of course, we've got troubled teens — that's almost a redundant to say that because all of us were somewhat troubled when we were teenagers — but it's a challenge, and it is and occasionally gets to the level of a tragedy."

The bill was supported by representatives on both sides of the aisle. But some Democrats said it does not do enough.

"What if we passed a bill offering families vouchers for buying car seats, but we did not also have a law requiring car seat use for babies and children?" Rep. Michelle Au (D-Johns Creek) said. "What if we passed a bill instructing car insurance companies to offer lower premiums for drivers with clean records, but we didn't also have speed limits or DUI laws? What if we passed a bill offering tax credits for swimming lessons and water safety courses, but did not also require safety fences around public and private swimming pools?

"In those cases, I think we can recognize how, despite all the good intentions, incentives alone do not work nearly as well as incentives coupled with regulation."

Still, the bill passed 165 to 8.

Lawmakers return on Thursday for Crossover Day, the last day a bill can be passed in one chamber and move to the other this session.