Rep. Alan Powell
Governor wants lawmakers to take on crime in special session this fall
Gov. Brian Kemp wants lawmakers to take on crime around Atlanta this fall when they meet for a special session. At a special House public safety committee hearing Monday, the panelists said lawmakers could also increase the budget for state police around Atlanta, restrict local governments from establishing more moderate prosecution policies and institute better […]
Police funding bill passes as other contentious criminal justice bills falter
Lawmakers considered several measures this session that critics argued were tone deaf and ignored the pleas for police reform that followed 2020’s string of high-profile shootings of Black Americans. By the time the ceremonial tattered papers flew shortly after midnight, legislators had backed a bill that would prohibit city and county officials from cutting their […]
Ga. House approves bill to limit cuts to city and county police budgets
“Defund the police” became a rallying cry at protests in the wake of last summer’s wave of killings of Black people at the hands of law enforcement, and Republican lawmakers are pressing ahead with a new bill intended to stop that cry from becoming reality in communities across Georgia. The bill authored by Athens Republican […]
Georgia lawmakers press forward with bills to restrict voting access
Legislation to restrict absentee ballot access and reduce early voting options advanced through a special Georgia House committee Wednesday. The controversial legislation moved through the House Special Committee on Election Integrity with Republicans outvoting Democrats on a proposal to require voters to have an ID to vote absentee. It would also ban provisional ballots if […]
New sweeping election bill decried as ‘burdensome’ by voting rights groups
A new state House committee set up as a gatekeeper for election bills is scheduled to hold a daylong hearing Friday on a controversial package that more than two dozen voting rights groups say would set devastating limitations on the ability of Georgians to cast ballots. The House Special Committee on Election Integrity’s hearing is […]
Lawmakers OK ban on burning crossties at NE Ga. wood-fired plants
The smelly emissions from power plants that sometimes burn chemically treated railroad crossties to generate biomass energy has been a nuisance for nearby residents in two northeast Georgia counties. On Thursday, the burning of creosote-treated wood in Georgia is closer to coming to a halt after the Georgia Senate joined the House in unanimously backing […]
Bill aims to ban election offices from mailing absentee ballots requests
Georgia’s House Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday voted to ban election officials from mailing absentee ballot applications to voters, a Republican-backed proposal that would likely stop a repeat of June’s election when a record 1 million people participated by mail. The state encouraged Georgia voters to cast ballots by mail to avoid in-person contact at precincts […]
State Senators poised to act on bill to limit burning crossties for energy
Gerry Wilson is frustrated with the smell, noise and ash coming from a wood-burning plant near her home in rural Franklin County that is feeding its furnace chemically treated railroad ties. But the retired school teacher is most worried about what she can’t see. “It’s heart breaking to live on land and think you need […]
Rural Georgia fury over power plants burning railroad ties spurs legislation
Folks in a pair of northeast Georgia counties knew two new wood-burning power plants might mean nuisances or pollution — but they also knew the plant owners could be valuable taxpayers. But the noise, the chemical-laced logs and state environmental citations angered people enough in a rural area north of Athens that now some influential […]
Atlanta Motor Speedway among those pitching gambling to lawmakers
Casino promoters and Georgia business boosters pushing the state to expand legalized gambling — including the Atlanta Motor Speedway president — lined up in a meeting room across from the Capitol Tuesday to sell state lawmakers on plans to allow new games of chance inside state borders. The Hampton venue that’s hosted NASCAR races and […]
Will Ga. House bet on expanding gambling to casinos, horse racing?
State Rep. Ron Stephens, a Republican from Savannah, says this will be the year legalized gambling in Georgia takes a great leap forward – or bites the dust for good. Stephens and other state lawmakers are hoping to put the question to Georgia’s voters and let them decide whether to permit casinos, horse racing and […]