At The Capitol and Back Home.

With Crossover Day behind us, the House reconvened under the Gold Dome for the ninth week of the legislative session on Monday, March 11. Now that we have passed this major legislative milestone, we quickly got back to work in Week 9 and 10 where we considered several Senate measures.

Week 9 and 10

HB 316

In Week 9, the Senate passed HB 316 with a vote of 35-21. The bill will now go to the Governor’s office and he will likely sign it. This is disappointing because the bill will force Georgia taxpayers to pay for voting machines that have no auditability and have been opposed by many elections and cybersecurity experts. While I am unhappy with the results, I admire the strong fight that my colleagues in the Senate put up against this bill. It is also likely that this will be further litigated in court, so it is not quite over.

HB 481

HB 481, often referred to as the “Heartbeat Bill”, passed both the House and the Senate and, will come back to the House for an Agree/Disagree. The bill is a frightening attempt at government control of women’s bodies and also contains horrible consequences for people dealing with miscarriage, people dealing with infertility and wanting IVF, healthcare providers trying to provide care in Georgia, and more. The House will have one last chance to defeat this bad legislation before Sine Die.

SB 77

The House recently received a Senate bill which would prevent Confederate monuments from being placed in museums. SB 77 is an attempt to stop Confederate monuments from being removed, regardless of the will of local governance where it resides. The bill is supposedly to help “educate” people on the history of Georgia, but I believe that logic does not follow as the bill prevents these monuments from being relocated to museums. This would take away control from local governance and make it harder for communities who do not want them to remove them.

SB 106

The House will hear (heard on 3.25.19 by time of publishing of this newsletters) SB 106 gives the Governor of the State the authority to explore Medicaid Waivers for those with incomes up to 100%. While it is great that our State is finally having conversations about closing the coverage gap, I have extreme concerns that the legislature would give full control of this process to the Governor and “trust” that he will do the right thing. It also costs MORE than expanding Medicaid while covering less people. (Update: On Monday, 3.25.19, the House passed SB 106. I voted no)

On March 19th the voters of Gwinnett rejected the MARTA Referendum. Here is my official statement on the measure:

Other Happenings At The Capitol

Honoring the Life of Late Mayor Diana Preston

I had the honor and privilege of presenting a Resolution to the family of Lilburn’s First Woman Mayor, Diana Preston. She dedicated her life to service and the community and it was a pleasure meeting her family and friends and celebrating her life.

South Gwinnett Takes On The Capitol

Students from South Gwinnett a High School came to visit us at the Capitol. They had a chance to view the daily happenings in the House chamber and to be recognized from the Well during Morning Orders. They also met with several Representatives on their visit.

An Interesting Sight

As the Senate prepared to vote on HB 481 (the so called “Heartbeat” Bill), the tension was high and so was the police presence. An unprecedented number of GA State Patrols lined Mitchell St in preparation of the day’s activities, showing off their stellar parking skills in the process.

One Weekend. Two Conferences.

I enjoyed serving as a panelist at Emory’s ComSciCon (top). The following day I had the amazing opportunity to serve as a panelist at the Young Dems America (YDA) and Young Dems of GA (YDG) Convention (right). I truly enjoyed meeting and speaking to the students and Young Dems, respectively, about Science Policy and life as a Scientist Legislator.

What’s Next??

We are counting down to Sine Die, the last day of the session, on April 2nd. In the meantime, I have been busy trying to push good bills, defend against bad bills, and prepare for the off season.

On Monday I dropped a Resolution in the hopper that seeks to create a Study Committee on Mental Health and Gun Violence. I believe it is time that we begin to have these conversations so we can work together to do what’s right for Georgians when it comes to addressing mental health and gun violence. Now, with the untimely deaths by suicide of gun violence survivors and family members of gun violence victims, this conversation is much needed in our State and across our country.

I also look forward to continuing the work of HB 133, the bill that updates our sex education standards.
It is my hope that this bill will be heard in committee at the beginning of session, next January.