Should Georgia hide state lawmakers’ addresses to protect their safety?
Today’s newsletter highlights:
- State Senate panel recommends transgender sports restrictions.
- President Joe Biden’s clemency actions included 71 Georgia cases.
- Herschel Walker graduates.
“I know where you live” is a frightening threat, especially for state lawmakers whose personal addresses are just a few clicks away on the State Ethics Commission’s website.
That could change next year. David Emadi, executive director of the State Ethics Commission, said he plans to push for legislation that would redact lawmakers’ personal addresses from their campaign finance disclosures.
“Ten, 15 years ago I would have been adamantly against that,” Emadi told lawmakers this week during the Biennial Institute for Georgia Legislators. “Look, y’all, the world is getting kind of crazy. We just have to make sure we’re not putting people at risk of being seriously hurt.”
The proposal would come after a similar fight in the Legislature last year over whether to redact the home addresses of a broad swath of state and local government workers from public property records. That bill was eventually changed to apply only to police officers after pushback from the Georgia First Amendment Foundation and others, especially after a similar law ran into problems in New Jersey.
Richard T. Griffiths, media ethicist at the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, said this is a time “to be strengthening government transparency, not restricting the public’s right to know.” But, he added, that it’s “always fair to think about the safety of those who serve the public.”
“There may be some smart ways of doing that,” he said. “I hope the Legislature in its wisdom will take great care as they do that and not make such redactions blanket across vast numbers of other documents.”
The proposal got a round of applause from many lawmakers in the audience in Athens earlier this week. Several of them were victims of hoax 911 calls to their homes last year. And just this week, Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s home in Rome was targeted in a hoax threat that indirectly led to a woman’s death.
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GOOD MORNING! We’re 31 days away from the start of the Georgia legislative session, and today we’ll get a better idea of what lawmakers plan to do about the issue of transgender girls in sports.
This morning, a Senate study committee will recommend that the Legislature require student-athletes at public schools and colleges to play on teams, dress, shower and use restrooms according to the gender on their birth certificate, according to a draft shared with the AJC’s Maya T. Prabhu.
The proposal already has the backing of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and House Speaker Jon Burns, so it’s likely to pass. But you can expect an emotional debate.
Here are three things to know for today:
- Republican state Insurance Commissioner John King is laying the groundwork to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in 2026 — but only if Gov. Brian Kemp decides not to run for the seat himself, Greg Bluestein reports.
- Democratic state Rep. Mack Jackson, D-Sandersville, defeated Republican Tracy Wheeler by 48 votes last month. But about 60 people who voted in that race didn’t live in the district, the result of apparent errors following redistricting. Now, a judge could order a new election, the AJC’s Mark Niesse reports.
- The AJC’s David Wickert has more about Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’ proposal for new and expanded child tax credits.
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CLEMENCY GRANTED. President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 71 people on Thursday whose cases originated in Georgia, part of a larger action that included more than 1,500 individuals in the largest single day act of clemency from any president in modern history.
The people on the list range in ages from 38 to 89. The majority had release dates in 2025, 2026 or 2027. Most were convicted of nonviolent drug charges or financial crimes.
Biden said the commutations include people facing long sentences who were incarcerated in federal prisons but assigned to house arrest as the COVID-19 pandemic spread. Of the more than 12,000 people sent home under those emergency measures, most have been allowed to continue serving their sentences under home confinement.
By commuting their sentences, or lessening the terms under which they were to remain under custody, those on the list will soon be released from their homebound inmate status.
A report from the U.S. Department of Justice said that fewer than 1% of the people sent to complete their sentences at home during the pandemic were returned to lockup for committing new crimes while home.
Biden also granted pardons to an additional 39 people, although none from Georgia.
This was Biden’s eighth round of clemency announcements since taking office. The most recent and most controversial occurred on Dec. 1 when he announced a sweeping pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, of gun and tax evasion charges prior to his sentencing.
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COURT COSTS. Gov. Brian Kemp’s push to overhaul Georgia’s litigation rules has been pitched as protecting business owners from unpredictable juries.
But as Thursday’s oversight hearing of MARTA showed, lawmakers could also make the case that changing the rules could protect taxpayers, too.
MARTA spent more than $22 million in the last fiscal year to settle lawsuits. Some of that expense is because of the lingering effects of the pandemic, which created a backlog of lawsuits that are now finally being settled.
But MARTA General Manager and CEO Collie Greenwood told lawmakers another reason for the total is the “landscape” of Georgia’s judicial system. In one case, MARTA paid $1.7 million to settle a claim over a broken finger. Greenwood called settlements like that a “calculated risk” to avoid going to trial, where juries have been handing out what he called “nuclear judgments.”
“It’s just not clear right now in our law to what extent a business is liable for what happens on their property,” said state Rep. Deborah Silcox, R-Sandy Springs, who is the chair of the MARTA oversight committee. “I want people to be able to stay in business, whether they’re a mom and pop shop or they’re a giant company.”
Kemp is already marshaling allies behind his initiatives. But he hasn’t released the proposal yet, so we don’t know what’s in it.
Any attempt to change Georgia’s litigation rules will likely face stiff resistance from the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, which has argued similar proposals in the past would prevent everyday Georgians from holding corporations accountable for negligent conduct.
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PROGRESS. It can take awhile to get a license to do work in Georgia. And, until recently, it could take even longer to complain about it.
The Secretary of State’s call center had woeful wait times of hours and sometimes — when waiting for a call back — days. But a pair of lawmakers eyeing changes to the system say things have improved in recent months.
In October, the average wait time was 33 minutes and more than 21% of callers hung up in frustration before an operator could answer. In November, wait times were down to six minutes and abandoned calls were 13%.
Lawmakers credit the changes to Todd Zandrowicz, the new division director of the Professional Licensing Board and Call Center at the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. Zandrowicz worked at Amazon previously.
“That’s what we needed, someone who understood how Amazon is keeping folks happy so they keep buying those boxes,” state Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, told lawmakers during a gathering in Athens earlier this week.
Zandrowicz said he couldn’t take all of the credit, noting call center manager Crystal Everett and other staffers working to improve response times.
While things have gotten better, lawmakers say there is still room for improvement. Tillery said the division’s goal is to cut the number of abandoned calls to 4%.
“We still have work to do,” Tillery said. “Please don’t hear us saying it is done.”
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CASE CLOSED. Jeff Davis won a seat on Georgia’s Court of Appeals in May. But since then, he’s been fighting a lawsuit alleging he should be disqualified because he lives in Tennessee.
That ended this week, when the state Supreme Court dismissed an appeal from Tabitha Ponder, an Atlanta attorney who lost to Davis in May. Ponder and voter Randolph Frails appealed a trial judge’s dismissal of their case.
The state Supreme Court didn’t decide whether Davis was eligible. Instead, it dismissed the appeal because Ponder and Frails failed “to do everything within their power to have their claims decided before the election occurred.”
Davis will take office in January.
“There’s overwhelming evidence of his Georgia residency, and he’s eager to serve the state,” said Bryan Tyson, Davis’ attorney.
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LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” Andy Miller with KFF Health News joins the show to talk about the angst surrounding insurance companies and the larger conversation happening after the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Be sure to download the AJC’s Politically Georgia podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are uploaded by noon each day, just in time to have lunch with us. You can also listen live at 10 a.m. EDT on 90.1 FM WABE. Have a question for the show? Give us a call at 770-810-5297.
On Thursday’s show, the hosts talked with U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., about his reelection bid and his outlook of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term. Then, state Sen. Jason Esteves, D-Atlanta, spoke about what’s next for him and Georgia Democrats ahead of the legislative session.
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SMALLER BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION. Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler is expected to be the next head of the Small Business Administration. But the agency could be getting shuffled before she even gets there if Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst has her way.
In a proposal first obtained by Politico, Ernst is pushing to require the next small business administrator to relocate 30% of the agency’s staff outside of the Washington, D.C., metro area. The Ernst proposal would then direct SBA to cut its Washington office space by 30% as well.
“The empty SBA headquarters shows its employees clearly don’t want to work in Washington, so we are going to make their wish come true,” Ernst said in a statement. “Not only will they be closer to the folks they serve but it will give more Americans the opportunity to join the agency and bring new ideas and innovation.”
Loeffler still must be confirmed by the Senate, which is expected to begin nomination hearings as soon as President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden will participate in a virtual G7 meeting.
- The U.S. House and Senate are done for the week.
- U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., will speak at the Ware County Bicentennial Celebration on Saturday.
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WALKER’S DEGREE. Former Senate candidate Herschel Walker caused a stir at his convocation ceremony in Athens on Thursday, writes the AJC’s Fletcher Page.
This was no publicity stunt, writes columnist Patricia Murphy. Walker didn’t announce his plans or tip off reporters. He attended classes in person and was spotted frequently around Athens, including pedaling his bike near campus.
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SHOUTOUTS. Today’s birthday:
- State Rep. Dale Washburn, R-Macon.
Transitions:
- State Rep. Al Williams, D-Midway, is the president-elect of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States. The council’s winter meeting in New Orleans kicked off yesterday, and Williams said he expects to be installed as president sometime over the next few days.
Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that! Click here to submit the shoutouts. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.
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AS ALWAYS, send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.
About the Authors
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution's chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
Tia Mitchell is the AJC’s Washington Bureau Chief and a co-host of the "Politically Georgia" podcast. She writes about Georgia’s congressional delegation, campaigns, elections and the impact that decisions made in D.C. have on residents of the Peach State.
Patricia Murphy is the AJC's senior political columnist. She was previously a nationally syndicated columnist for CQ Roll Call, national political reporter for the Daily Beast and Politics Daily, and wrote for The Washington Post and Garden & Gun. She graduated from Vanderbilt and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
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