Brian Kemp to sign bill aiming to keep intellectually disabled off death row

Today’s newsletter highlights:

• Buddy Carter will defend Medicaid cuts in a congressional hearing.
• Democrat Olu Brown plans a formal launch for governor on May 31.
• State Election Board has three finalists for executive director.

Deadline looms

Gov. Brian Kemp signed public safety bills at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth on Thursday.

Gov. Brian Kemp’s two terms in Georgia’s top job have been marked by a return to tough-on-crime policies that his predecessor largely avoided.

But the Republican is also taking a page out of former Gov. Nathan Deal’s playbook with a pair of bills this week that champion criminal justice changes.

On Monday, Kemp inked the Georgia Survivor Justice Act, a bipartisan measure that allows judges to reduce prisons sentences for abuse victims who can show their crimes were linked to domestic violence. The law also expands the kind of evidence courts can weigh.

The Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence estimates at least three-quarters of incarcerated women have survived domestic abuse or sexual violence.

Today, Kemp is set to sign House Bill 123, which aims to keep intellectually disabled people off Georgia’s death row by lowering a legal threshold that defense attorneys say is now nearly impossible to meet.

The new standard could have an immediate impact on Georgia’s capital punishment system. Defense lawyers say roughly 10 of the state’s 90 active death penalty cases involve defendants who have claimed an intellectual disability.

The signings are just the start of a busy week for Kemp, who has until tomorrow night to either sign or veto bills the state Legislature passed this year. Other bills Kemp has signed in recent days:

• Senate Bill 144. This bill shields agrochemical companies from certain liability lawsuits. It’s mostly in reaction to the flood of lawsuits against Roundup, the herbicide that some studies have linked to cancer. The Georgia Urban Agriculture Council said the law will “help keep registered pesticide products available for our industry.”
• Senate Bill 85. This creates the Georgia Foster Care Scholarship Program, which offers up to $30,000 per year to eligible foster children to go to college. The money is only available after students have exhausted all other federal or state assistance.
• House Bill 38: This law extends a program offering up to $2,500 grants to help low-income college students make it to graduation day. It also makes more people eligible for the program.

Things to know

Good morning! Gov. Brian Kemp has two days left to either sign or veto bills passed by the state Legislature this year. He’s signed at least 104 bills into law so far and hasn’t vetoed anything yet.

Here are three things to know for today:

• Gov. Brian Kemp and President Donald Trump met in Washington on Saturday to discuss unifying behind a Republican Senate candidate in Georgia, Greg Bluestein reports.
• A probate judge in Middle Georgia has resigned while facing accusations of misusing county funds and having improper discussions about cases, the AJC’s Rosie Manins reports.
• Elections for Georgia’s Public Service Commission have restarted amid rate hikes and a voting rights case, the AJC’s Mark Niesse reports.

Buddy Carter’s big day

U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons Island, hopes to win a Senate seat in 2026.

When launching a U.S. Senate campaign, it’s usually not a good idea to follow that up with a plan to cut more than $700 billion from a government-funded health insurance program that covers roughly 2 million of your would-be constituents.

But U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter has a narrow path available to him that could avoid some of the blowback.

The St. Simons Island Republican and self-proclaimed MAGA warrior launched his Senate campaign last week. Today, he’ll defend the House Republicans’ plan to slash Medicaid spending during a marathon hearing.

The plan could cause as many as 8.6 million people to lose their health insurance over the next decade. But most of them likely wouldn’t be in Georgia. Much of the savings would come from imposing work requirements on able-bodied adults with no children — a population that Georgia’s Medicaid program largely does not cover.

The proposal would freeze taxes on hospitals and nursing homes, which Georgia uses to pay for a big chunk of its program. But the freeze doesn’t eliminate or lower the tax, earning praise from Caylee Noggle, president and CEO of the Georgia Hospital Association.

Still, advocates worry even small changes could have big impacts for Georgia’s rural hospitals that rely on Medicaid for the bulk of their funding and are in danger of closing.

“We already have a health care system under significant stress,” said Leah Chan, director of health justice for the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute. “Even small tweaks for Georgia that increase bureaucratic red tape or make it harder for us to close the coverage gap are not a good thing.”

Carter isn’t backing down, telling the “Politically Georgia” podcast on Monday that he thought the cuts didn’t go far enough.

“I truly believe that the people who truly should be on that program aren’t going to be impacted at all,” he said.

Listening tour

Olu Brown is a candidate for governor's race in 2026. He's the former founder and lead pastor of Impact United Methodist Church.

Democrat Olu Brown announced his campaign for governor way back on Aug. 29. So why is he waiting until the end of this month to formally launch the campaign with a big rally?

He’s been busy listening.

The founder and former lead pastor of Impact United Methodist Church in East Point said he has held about 30 “listening sessions” throughout the state where he asks voters three questions:

• What do you love about Georgia?
• What are your concerns?
• What would you change?

“Most politicians … are going to spend their time telling people what they think is best for them,” Brown said. “Our approach is the opposite. I want to hear what you feel is best for you.”

Brown said most of the concerns shared with him have been about inequality in health care, the economy and education. Oh, and everyone’s mad about traffic.

As a first-time candidate who is not well known to voters, Brown knows his campaign is a long shot. But he views that as a strength.

“I embrace it,” he said. “The thing I’m learning as I’m traveling in Georgia, people aren’t as concerned about your political experience as opposed to how much you care about them.”

Election director

Three finalists are vying for the position once held by Mike Coan: executive director of the State Election Board.

Three finalists are in the running to become the next executive director for the State Election Board.

The executive director is responsible for running the day-to-day operations of the board, which became mired in controversy last year over its attempts to change election rules to hand-count ballots and require a "reasonable inquiry" before certifying results.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Mark Niesse obtained the job applications of the finalists through the Georgia Open Records Act. The candidates are:

• Louis DeBroux, who was Acting Labor Commissioner until Gov. Brian Kemp appointed Barbara Rivera Holmes in March.
• James Mills, a former state representative and former chair of the State Board of Pardons and Paroles.
• Nicolas Northen, who was assistant deputy elections director for the secretary of state’s office until January.

The board’s previous executive director, Mike Coan, resigned in January and took a job as administrator for Barrow County economic development.

The State Election Board could soon vote to hire one of the candidates for the job, which comes with a $120,000 salary.

Gun sales

Gun policy has changed dramatically across the country in recent years, reflecting shifts in politics and policy in both the legislative and judicial branches of government. New research now asks: what’s been the impact on gun sales?

Gun sales jumped 21% in states that passed laws making it easier for people to get permits to carry handguns, according to research published in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science. Those increases were “substantially larger” in urban and high-crime areas. But researchers said the evidence did not suggest the sales increased gun deaths, including suicides.

Meanwhile, states that already had broad permitting laws that decided to eliminate concealed carry licenses altogether — like Georgia did in 2022 — saw “no statistically significant increase in firearm purchases.” Researchers surmised this was likely because most people who wanted to carry a gun already had one.

However, those states did have a “modest increase” in total gun deaths, including suicides. But they note “the findings remain inconclusive because of limited statistical power”

Listen up

Insurance Commissioner John King is running for the U.S. Senate in 2026.

Today on “Politically Georgia,” we break down the latest on the GOP race to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff as U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Rome opted not to run and Insurance Commissioner John King jumped in.

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.

You can listen and subscribe to the show for free at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Today in Washington

Happenings:

• President Donald Trump’s trip to the Middle East continues.
• The House returns for evening votes.
• The Senate has more votes lined up on Trump nominees.
• The House Energy and Commerce Committee will meet to discuss proposed cuts to Medicaid.
• The House Ways and Means Committee will meet to discuss extending the tax cuts Trump signed during his first term.

Holy smoke

Nick Dyer, left, and his friend Dan Marino, traveled to the Vatican to witness the selection of Pope Leo XIV last week.

Nick Dyer, who until recently was U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s chief spokesman, couldn’t pass up the once-in-a-lifetime experience of being on hand for the election of a new pope and made a last-minute trip to Vatican City last week.

Dyer and and a friend spent the day sightseeing before arriving at St. Peter’s Square on Thursday just before the white smoke emerged from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel indicating that a new pope had been chosen.

That put them among the throng of thousands of people from around the world who were the first to hear from Pope Leo XIV.

“It was just total celebration, and I got chills immediately,” Dyer told us. “It was just an incredible, incredible place to be to experience it firsthand there in St. Peter Square with thousands of other devout Catholics.”

Shoutouts

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