April 5, 2022
“Sine Die.” It was an impressive night for Georgia’s incumbent Republican lawmakers. Here’s a short summary of activity on the final day of the 2022 legislative session.
Gambling bill: Trouble, Right here in Coastal Georgia?
As clocks hit midnight, Georgia’s legislators had not passed a resolution sponsored by Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, that would have opened the path for sports betting and other forms of betting and gambling. The bill, supported by Atlanta sports team owners, casino companies and several Coastal Georgia elected officials, would have expanded games of chance beyond the state lottery and potentially brought hundreds of millions in new revenue for Georgia.
But the push for the bill reveals another layer of division within Georgia’s Republican Party and a possible wedge issue for Republican candidates squaring off in the May primaries for state office.
Jeanne Seaver, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor and resident of Savannah, typifies the opponents of expanded gambling.
To her and some evangelical Christians, this is yet another example of deep social changes in the Peach State they dislike. While enumerating the damage they believe a thriving gaming industry in Georgia would inflict on children, families and businesses, their warnings show efforts to preserve a gauzy, nostalgic portrait of the state that, in 2022, seems naively quaint, if it even exists at all.
“Gambling will destroy our state, and everything it entails. It will just bring more division, more destruction, more poverty,” Seaver told The Current “You’ve seen what it’s done to New Jersey, I don’t want to see Georgia become the new Chicago.”
Her opponent, Bert Jones, currently profits from legal forms of gambling. Read Craig Nelson’s analysis of how proponents and opponents within the Georgia GOP view the bill.
Gov. Kemp rallies his troops
Around 9 p.m., Gov. Brian Kemp went to the House floor to rally his Republican colleagues around two more bills that he described as among his legislative priorities: income tax cuts and a controversial measure that would ban trans children from participating in school sports programs.
By that point in the day, the governor had won two signature pieces of legislation — a state budget that fulfilled campaign promises to teachers, and a bill that expanded gun owners’ rights. By midnight, Kemp’s support for the two additional bills got them approved in both chambers. Both measures are wildly popular among the right-wing base of the state GOP, and Kemp is sure to cite them as he battles against former Sen. David Perdue in the May gubernatorial primary.
In fact, it was a powerful night for incumbent Republicans who face more ideologically conservative GOP primary challengers as lawmakers passed measures which are bedrocks of the party’s cultural agenda. Among other measures set to become law: a bill that bans “free speech zones” on state university campuses and a ban on the discussion of “divisive concepts” in public schools.
Lawmakers also voted for yet another amendment to the state election laws that would empower the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to scrutinize individual election complaints.
One measure that failed? A roll back of judicial reforms that would have made cash bails mandatory again for people accused of felonies.
Bipartisanship revival in Savannah?
Meanwhile, in Savannah: a rare event occurred this week. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler, and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, the Democrat born in the Hostess City, found an issue that they both support.
And no, this isn’t a belated April Fool’s joke.
Both elected officials loudly criticized President Joe Biden’s proposed 2023 budget that would close down the Combat Readiness Training Center at the Savannah Air National Guard Base. The center conducts air-to-air combat training missions for both reservist and active-duty fighter pilots.
Both lawmakers said it’s the wrong time to undermine U.S. military readiness when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made the world less secure.
“Russia is aggressively threatening the world order, and the United States must be as strong as possible,” Warnock said in a statement. Carter said that Biden’s budget shows that “clearly, he doesn’t value our defense.”
Before we get too excited about the consensus-building, however, The Current also notes that Rep. Carter voted against the House bill designed to cap the price of insulin for Americans, calling it “misguided.” The bill passed with a strong majority despite his objection. The Senate version, of which Warnock is the sponsor, is heading to a vote soon in the upper chamber of Congress. Warnock says the bill will help 1 million Georgians with diabetes afford this life-saving medication.
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