Kemp urges ‘fiscal sanity’ as lawmakers race to adjourn

Today’s newsletter highlights

• What to watch for on Sine Die, the final day of the legislative session.
• How members of Congress are spending spring break.
• Which Georgia companies helped make NASA’s lunar mission possible.

‘Fiscal sanity’ push

Gov. Brian Kemp appears before a news conference on Wednesday in Atlanta. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

There are legislative sessions when Gov. Brian Kemp is at the center of every fight. As this one draws to a close, we can decidedly say he’s not in the middle of much.

He entered January of his final year as governor with a scaled-back agenda, a far cry from the more ambitious earlier sessions of his tenure.

And by his own telling, his top political priority now lies beyond the Gold Dome: helping Derek Dooley win Georgia’s U.S. Senate race.

Still, as lawmakers haggle over the final details of Georgia’s $38.5 billion budget and debate competing proposals to cap property taxes and slash income tax rates, Kemp has one final message.

“I’m just trying to make sure that we keep fiscal sanity around here. I’ve been very prideful of that,” he said.

He remains especially protective of the state’s still-buoyant, if shrinking, surplus. And he said he’s zealously guarding Georgia’s prized AAA bond rating as he eyes the exits.

While he stopped short of saying it outright, Kemp signaled caution toward the Senate’s aggressive push to phase out the state income tax — a levy that generates roughly $15 billion in annual revenue.

“I just want to make sure that we leave us in a good fiscal place when I walk out of here in 10 months or so,” he said.

And that mindset could influence the session’s final showdown.

Though a breakthrough over House Speaker Jon Burns’ signature literacy bill has lowered the temperature under the Gold Dome, don’t mistake detente for peace. One of the biggest remaining fights is over taxes.

Kemp has not closed the door on cutting the income tax beyond the reduction to 4.99% he proposed at the start of the session.

“We may go further. I’m certainly for that, as long as we’re doing it in a fiscally responsible way that protects the core things that we need to do in state government,” he said.

“Our number one job, at least for me anyway, is public safety, education, health care — making sure we continue to have a good economy.”

Things to know

Former state Sen. Nabilah Parkes is running for lieutenant governor. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Good morning! Democrat Nabilah Parkes picked up an endorsement from U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson for her bid for lieutenant governor.

Here are three other things to know for today:

• Clayton County District Attorney Tasha Mosley apologized to the Georgia Supreme Court for a prosecutor’s use of artificial intelligence in court filings, the AJC’s Shaddi Abusaid reports.
• The Trump administration is scrutinizing recent purchases of warehouses for immigrant detention, raising questions about the future of two planned facilities in Georgia, the AJC’s Lautauro Grinspan reports.
• AJC politics columnist Patricia Murphy writes about the highs and lows of the legislative session so far.

Sine Die guide

State lawmakers toss papers in the air on Sine Die in 2025. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Welcome to Sine Die, the Georgia Legislature’s annual end-of-session sprint through chaos.

It’s the final day when stalled bills roar back to life, obscure measures morph into major policy overhauls and lawmakers race through a blur of votes that can stretch well past midnight — or, like last year, end abruptly at suppertime.

However it ends, lawmakers who spent the first weeks of the session moving only a trickle of bills will likely approve dozens throughout the day.

It’s been called a lot of things over the years, but our favorite description came from one Capitol veteran a few sessions back: it’s like passing a kidney stone that gets bigger and more painful for three months. Ouch.

Legislators are often wading through heady, high-stakes bills they’ve had little time to read while weighing last-minute “Frankenbill” rewrites that can transform measures about obscure issues into headline-grabbing overhauls.

Here are five things to watch for on the Legislature’s last day.

• Making AI behave. It’s clear lawmakers want to stop people from using artificial intelligence to make obscene images of others without their consent. But they haven’t agreed how to do it. The Senate disagreed with the House changes to the bill on Tuesday. A conference committee could iron out the differences, but there’s not much time left to do it.
• Stay in school. Senate Bill 513 would let the state withhold driver’s licenses from students who have missed 10% or more of the school year. It would be the state’s most aggressive move to crack down on chronically absent students.
• What time is it? A bill to move Georgia to Atlantic Standard Time is still pending. The goal is to make daylight saving time permanent. But it would leave Georgia out of sync with its east coast neighbors.
• Follow the money. Lawmakers still haven’t passed a budget. Without one, Georgia’s government would shut down on July 1. That likely won’t happen. But it adds some suspense to the final day.
• Wild cards. There’s always surprises on Sine Die. Just look at what happened on Tuesday when the House almost passed a bill that would make it tougher to remove Confederate monuments. Anything could happen.

Ending the DHS shutdown

House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill last week. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP)

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said last week that the Senate-approved bill funding most of the Department of Homeland Security was a “crap sandwich.” On Wednesday, Johnson and Senate Leader John Thune issued a joint announcement saying they reached an agreement to fund DHS that closely mirrors said “crap sandwich.”

Although Congress is in recess, the House and Senate have pro forma sessions scheduled for today where the legislation could quickly be approved in both chambers as long as no lawmaker shows up to object.

Under the plan, all DHS agencies except those tied to immigration enforcement will be funded for a full year. Republicans will begin working on a separate measure to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol using the reconciliation process that allows the measure to pass with majority votes in both chambers, meaning Democrats can’t block it.

Republicans in Georgia’s delegation who last week rejected the Senate deal and vowed they would never support a funding deal that left out U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol did not publicly comment on Thune and Johnson’s announcement.

Artemis tour

NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B on Wednesday. (Chris O'Meara/AP)

On the day of NASA’s Artemis II launch to the moon, U.S. Rep. Brian Jack spent the day spotlighting a different kind of launch pad: the Georgia companies helping make the mission possible.

Jack, a Republican from Peachtree City, toured three businesses in his west Georgia district that play a role in NASA’s first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.

In Peachtree City, he stopped at Timber Products Inspection, which tests and certifies the specialized crates used to transport mission-critical hardware to Kennedy Space Center.

He then visited Universal Environmental Services, whose re-refinery turns used oil into lubricants that help power launch equipment and ground systems.

The final stop was in Griffin, where GM Diecron manufactures precision metal components for contractors in the Artemis supply chain.

Under the Gold Dome

The Georgia state Capitol. (Natrice Miller/AJC)

It’s Day 40 of the legislative session. Some happenings:

• 10 a.m.: House and Senate convene.

Iran war

President Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday. (Alex Brandon/AP)

Last night, President Donald Trump delivered his first address from the White House to make the case for the ongoing war in Iran and to share what’s ahead.

“Over the next two to three weeks, we’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong,” Trump said. “In the meantime, discussions are ongoing.”

Ahead of the speech, Kemp said it was important for Trump to speak to the American people. “I think he needs to make sure and continue to have people understand why they are doing this,” the governor said.

For his part, Kemp said, “I support what the president’s doing to make sure Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons, because they’ve shown they’ll use that plus long range ballistic missiles to attack countries like Israel.”

But Kemp was also sober about the possibility that troops, including members of the Georgia National Guard, could be called up to serve as a part of the conflict.

“Anybody that’s serving our country in full military uniform right now, or in the National Guard, is subject to be called up in any kind of conflict like this, not only in the Middle East, but anywhere else that they may be needed,” Kemp said, adding that the Georgia National Guard has been deployed throughout his seven years in office.

“I have so much admiration for what they’re doing, but also what their families back home are doing to support them while they’re away,” he said. “We need to keep them in our prayers.”

Listen up

State Rep. Imani Barnes, D-Tucker, waves papers in the House of Representatives at the Capitol in Atlanta on Sine Die last year. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast we’re previewing the final hours of Georgia’s legislative session as Sine Die unfolds at the Capitol, including what’s passed, what’s left, and who’s up and who’s down.

You can listen and subscribe to “Politically Georgia” for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Have a question or comment for the show? Email us at politicallygeorgia@ajc.com or give us a call at 770-810-5297 and you could be featured on a future episode.

Today in Washington

• Trump has no public events on his schedule.
• The House and Senate are out until mid-April.
• U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock will hold a news conference in Paulding County to highlight his efforts pass a bill restricting investor-owned rental homes.

Brag time

U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter speaks in Tybee Island on Wednesday. (Courtesy photo)

It’s spring break for members of Congress. When they’re not dodging TMZ, they’re taking time to brag about their accomplishments.

First up is U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons Island. He’s running for the U.S. Senate in the Republican primary next month. Wednesday, he was in Tybee Island boasting about $5 million in federal funding to build a new fire station.

“On any given day, Tybee Island’s population can fluctuate from just over 3,000 residents to tens of thousands of visitors,” Carter said. “The $5 million in funding will support the construction of a modern fire station designed to meet today’s needs.”

Then there’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, whom Carter hopes to challenge in November. Ossoff boasted about the $175,000 in federal funding to boost the Spalding County Sheriff Office’s helicopter rescue infrastructure.

“I brought Republicans and Democrats together to deliver these Federal resources for upgrades to Spalding County’s helicopter rescue capabilities and help ensure the best emergency care when needed,” Ossoff said.