Georgia’s 2016 legislative session is now history, having gaveled to a close in the wee hours Friday morning. Looking back, the past several months have been dominated by social issues such as marriage, religion and guns.
To be sure, the Georgia Legislature accomplished the one thing required of it every year: pass an annual budget that this year totaled $23.7 billion, a reflection of an improving economy that can pay for spending increases and pay raises for state employees and teachers.
Little question remains, however, that social issues made the biggest headlines:
Protecting religious slogans on high school athletic headbands. Defending marriage as an institution between a man and a woman. "Religious liberty" bills with acronyms and nicknames such as RFRA (the Religious Freedom Restoration Act), FADA (First Amendment Defense Act) and the Pastor Protection Act. Allowing guns on college campuses.
All passed in one form or another, landing on the desk of Gov. Nathan Deal, who has until May 3 to decide whether to sign the legislation into law. Other social flash points included immigrants without legal status and the processing of so-called “rape kits” to aid the investigation of sexual abuse.
"You have kind of a stew of all these issues swirling around so that there's almost no day where these issues don't in some way affect what we're doing in process and policy," said state Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, who has spent 20 years under the Gold Dome. "The Senate used to be the house where there was at least the veneer of reasonableness — it would be the backstop."
But, Fort added, “the Senate is as extreme now as the House is. So ‘God, guns and gays’ represents more than just the policy issues but how the institution of the General Assembly has changed.”
‘You’re in an election year’
The institution’s Republican leaders don’t see it that way.
“Protecting the First and Second Amendment rights of Georgians should always be a priority, and I’m extremely proud of the work by the Senate,” said Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who presides over that chamber as its president. “We have a long list of accomplishments, beginning with the budget, which provides critical education funding, a substantial increase in the number of child protective caseworkers and for essential transportation infrastructure improvements.”
Among other highlights for Cagle: “easing the financial burdens facing parents who have disabled children (and) establishing positive alternatives to abortion.”
This year is an election year for all 236 seats in the Georgia Legislature. The state a couple of years ago moved up its primary election, forcing a schedule that sees candidates qualifying at the Capitol during the session when incumbents and challengers alike may be within spitting distance as they sign up for political races.
For some incumbents, there also seems a shorter window to make a statement as someone who wants to be seen as getting things done — or making an example of someone they don’t think did things right.
State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, said election-year sessions are always different, especially since primary elections were moved to May in 2014. Lawmakers want to get in, do their job and get out.
“You’re in an election year. There may be some reservations to move a particular issue,” said Peake, who saw his effort to expand the state’s medical marijuana program fail. “But, at the end of the day, all we’re required to do is pass a budget, and, frankly, sometimes less bills is better.”
House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, speaking to reporters moments after lawmakers adjourned early Friday morning, said this year's session was successful.
“We passed some important measures,” he said, and noted that the House showed the ability to work in a bipartisan manner.
“That was one thing I was particularly pleased about this year,” Ralston said.
In particular, he mentioned the so-called rape kit bill. Originally a House bill sponsored by state Rep. Scott Holcomb, an Atlanta Democrat, the House eventually used Senate Bill 304 to get the measure passed. It would require more efficient testing of rape kits in sexual assault cases.
“It was a very important bill, and we came together and did what had to be done on that,” Ralston said. “Overall, I’m very pleased with the session.”
One measure that did not receive final passage was a proposal that would have asked voters to change the Georgia Constitution to make English the state's official language. Senate Resolution 675 passed the Senate but faltered upon its entry into the House, where it was assigned to a subcommittee with a number of Democrats who then voted it down.
The legislation's sponsor, state Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, called it a "deliberate act" by Ralston, with whom he has feuded over the speaker's handling of "religious liberty" issues — which McKoon has championed at the Capitol for more than two years. McKoon made clear it was something he intended to highlight during the upcoming election season.
“I can assure you in the months to come, those involved in this … we’re going to make them famous. This will not go unanswered,” McKoon said. “If anyone is surprised why seven out of 10 Republican primary voters want nothing to do with the current system, this is why. It’s disrespectful, it’s dishonest, it’s arrogant, and voters are going to see through it.”
‘We’ve done our jobs’
In an exclusive poll conducted for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the start of the year, Georgians said the economy, taxes and education were the most important issues facing the state. "Moral issues" barely registered.
Support for any type of “religious liberty” bill in the poll hovered around 53 percent, but fell to 41 percent among supporters if the bill allowed Georgia businesses to refuse service or refuse to offer a job to gays and lesbians based on the business owners’ religious beliefs.
Yet among the most dominant themes of the session was just that. Leaders of the 1.3 million-member Georgia Baptist Mission Board have led the effort, calling on lawmakers to pass bills they said would protect religious viewpoints and prevent discrimination against religious groups.
This year, for the first time, they explicitly linked the effort to same-sex marriage after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that state prohibitions on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional. The bill that passed, House Bill 757, would protect nonprofit religious organizations and states that no individual can be forced to attend a marriage ceremony.
A similar theme played out with the so-called "campus carry" effort, which gun rights advocates have sought for years. In a 2014 AJC poll, 78 percent of Georgians opposed allowing students to carry guns on college campuses and in college dorms. The bill that finally passed this year, House Bill 859, would still ban firearms in dorms as well as at athletic events, and inside fraternity and sorority houses. But it otherwise would permit anyone 21 or older with a weapons license to carry a concealed gun anywhere on a public college or university campus.
It is hard to quantify just how much time the Legislature spent on these issues. While McKoon spoke almost every morning in the chamber on topics related to religious liberty, much of the action happened outside the chambers. Press conferences, rallies or media events occurred almost daily. If the bills didn’t dominate action inside the House and the Senate, they consumed much of the attention and energy of lawmakers, lobbyists, activists and the media.
After passage of the religious liberty bill, national attention on Georgia soared as opponents from Hollywood to the sports world denounced it as discriminatory against the LGBT community.
But, as noted earlier, lawmakers are only required to do one thing. Peake, the Macon Republican, said they accomplished that.
“As long as we pass and appropriate money in a smart and efficient manner,” he said, “we’ve done our jobs.”
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