That House Judiciary subcommittee looking at S.B. 129, the religious liberty bill, meets again this afternoon. Its 10 members are nearly certain to offer some amendments, which could subject the measure to last-minute negotiations under the sword of sine die.
Three of the six Republicans on the subcommittee, including Chairman Wendell Willard of Sandy Springs, indicated they were amenable to changes – including House Ways and Means Chairman Jay Powell of Camilla, who joined the subcommittee at the last minute. Presumably to add Republican ballast.
State Rep. Beth Beskin of Atlanta is the freshman who replaced Edward Lindsey. Lindsey testified Tuesday as a kind of neutral observer, but with several pages of recommended improvements. Beskin said she was particularly concerned with the broad definition given to “exercise of religion.”
The sharpest exchange of the afternoon occurred between state Rep. Barry Fleming, R-Harlem, a champion of the bill, and former attorney general Michael Bowers, retained by Georgia Equality to argue against it:
"You're not trying a case today, but you came in here to make an argument, and you had absolutely no cases whatsoever to support your argument. How many times have you gone into court with no cases whatsoever to support your argument, and have been successful at that?"
Bowers: "Many. Because I've got the words right here. Many, many….I've got the statutory language right here. It's in plain black-and-white. I don't need any cases. I can read and write."
Gay and lesbian activists have been troubled by a business community that opposes the legislation – but unlike last year, has refused to make those arguments in a public forum. In fact, the Georgia Chamber and the Metro Atlanta Chamber had no representative speak at Tuesday’s hearing.
Instead they jointly submitted a three-paragraph statement that includes these lines:
We also urge the committee to review the definition of 'government.' Under the version of the bill before you today, the definition includes the phrase "under the color of law." We have concerns that this phrase used in this context has the potential to impose liability on private companies where there is a contractual relationship between a private entity and a government entity.
***
We're kind of glad we're not the only ones to receive eye-popping estimates for records requests.
State Rep. Regina Quick, an Athens Republican, recently sent the Department of Transportation a 51-point request for a range of documents. They included details of new construction around the new Braves stadium, projects on the department's short-term list and correspondence between agency workers and lawmakers.
You can find her entire request here. What she got back was a tab for more than $100,000. (We've received heftier tallies, though not from the transportation department.)
Quick, who voted "no" on the House's plan to raise $1 billion in new transportation revenue, said on Facebook that one reason for her negative vote was because a "certain level of documentation was not forthcoming despite requests."
"No one sent me to Atlanta to 'tax and spend' without demanding fiscal accountability from unelected bureaucrats and therefore I was a 'NO' on HB 170," she wrote.
***
You shouldn't have any doubt that Gov. Nathan Deal will sign the medical marijuana bill that passed the Senate on Tuesday into law when it reaches his desk.
His spokesman Brian Robinson wrote on this on a Facebook post from Rep. Allen Peake, the bill's champion:
"Cannot wait to put this bill signing event together. Great accomplishment for children in need of help."
***
The New York Times has a piece on Anthony Hill, the Air Force veteran who was naked and unarmed when he was shot and killed by a DeKalb County police officer in a confrontation earlier this month. A taste:
In a Twitter post on Dec. 24, Mr. Hill challenged protesters not to reflexively condemn all police officers.
"If 99 of 100 officers" were on the streets "killing black men like its hunting season," he wrote, "that still leaves 1 just doing his job. Stop w/ the generalizations."
***
One of the Georgia GOP's fiercest advocates landed a hefty new role on a possible presidential campaign.
You may remember Leslie Shedd as the spokesman for Georgia Victory, the GOP outfit aimed at boosting David Perdue's Senate campaign. We remember her for the constant stream of emails attacking everything about Michelle Nunn.
She is now handling press for the super PAC supporting Carly Fiorina's presidential run. It's aptly named Carly for America.
Fiorina, the former HP chief executive, already made waves in Atlanta when she visited last month and took aim squarely at Democrat Hillary Clinton.
About the Author
