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Political Insider
Political Insider

Hints of a House Republican split over 'religious liberty' bill

By Jim Galloway
March 27, 2015

Today's developments on the "religious liberty" front include two signs of a deep House Republican split over the issue:

A) Chairman Wendell Willard announced a 10 a.m. Monday meeting of the House Judiciary Committee, reportedly to revisit the anti-discrimination clause that gutted SB 129, which is now tabled.

B) Then consider this Tweet from state Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, the sponsor of SB 129, to our AJC colleague Kristina Torres:

The House majority leader is Larry O'Neal, of course. Who led the unsuccessful House Republican revolt against HB 170, and was punished by being denied a spot in House-Senate budget negotiations. McKoon appears to be hinting of another split in the House Republican caucus.

And then we have C), in which the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau officially worries that the “religious liberty” bill would tarnish the city’s reputation and would weigh down a $13 billion-a-year industry. Read it yourself:

About the Author

Jim Galloway, the newspaper’s former political columnist, was a writer and editor at the AJC for four decades.

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