Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024
Good morning! Today we look first at the looming deadline under the Gold Dome and what it means for legislation affecting Coastal Georgia’s schools. Then we look at the political fallout from the killing of a Augusta University nursing student. Finally, we point out six things for your radar, starting with what could be a landmark primary day here in Georgia. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com.
Pressure’s on
For Coastal Georgia Republican lawmakers sponsoring legislation to revamp the state’s education system, it’s white-knuckle time.
The deadline for legislation to pass out of either the House or Senate in the current session of the state legislature is Thursday at midnight.
Failure to clear that hurdle — known as Crossover Day — means a bill has little chance to reach the desk of Gov. Brian Kemp and be signed into law. It must start over when a new session of the General Assembly convenes in January.
For Coastal Georgia senators Ben Watson (Savannah), Billy Hickman (Statesboro) and Mike Hodges (Brunswick), that means the pressure is on.
Like other GOP lawmakers elsewhere in Georgia and nationwide, the three are seeking to reshape how sexuality and religion are addressed in public schools, The Current’s Craig Nelson reports.
‘Failed oversight’
For Republican lawmakers from Savannah to Atlanta, the killing of Laken Riley has quickly become an election-year centerpiece of what they see as the Biden administration’s failed oversight of the immigration system.
The body of Riley, who was attending Augusta University’s nursing program at the University of Georgia in Athens, was found on UGA’s campus on Thursday. A 26-year-old Venezuelan man who entered the country illegally in 2022 and was living in northeastern Georgia has been charged with her murder.
Gov. Brian Kemp, U.S. Rep. Earl “Buddy Carter, and Speaker of the House Jon Burns (R-Newington) all weighed in with condemnations of the administration. But no one spelled out their anger and frustration more publicly or more at length than state Rep. Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah), even as Democrats urged against politicizing Riley’s death, The Current’s Craig Nelson reports.
6 things for your radar
1. It could happen here: The earliest Donald Trump could clinch the Republican nomination for president is March 12, when Georgia’s presidential primary takes place.
2. The way to win: “I believe that we have to meet the voters that are here in this district. We have to meet them at the intersection of their issues and their lives and help them see that their representation matters, that they should be voting in their best interest,” Richmond Hill’s Patti Hewitt, a Democratic Party candidate for 1st District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, tells Skidaway Island Democrats.
3. IVF: After Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) publicly acknowledged that she had used in vitro fertilization to start a family and announced she opposed any restrictions on the procedure in the wake the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are children, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter praised her for sharing her story and declared fertility treatments a “pro-life” measure. In January 2023, however, Carter voted in favor of the “Life at Conception Act,” which has no stipulations for treatments like IVF and no federal protection for it.
4. Shutdown? U.S. Congress has until Friday night to figure out how to extend federal finances to prevent a partial government shutdown. Roughly 20 percent of the federal government will shutter on Saturday without action. A deadline for the remaining 80 percent looms just a week later. The farm bill is among those bills coming due Friday. The second government shutdown deadline on March 9 would hit the Defense and State departments, border security operations, the Justice Department and FBI, workplace safety regulators and national health officials.
5. Better programs: “We got better programs of our own than having to deal with the bureaucracy, the federal government,” says Gov. Brian Kemp, on his administration’s refusal to accept federal money to feed low-income children in the summer, one of 14 states to do so.
6. Fresh questions: Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee will hear arguments on Friday over efforts to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis from Georgia’s 2020 election interference case against former President Donald Trump. A new filing raises fresh questions about the timeline of the relationship between Willis and prosecutor Nathan Wade.
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Chatham County Manager calls dispatch issues for 2,200 addresses ‘minimal’ in a statement.
As Crossover Day nears, fate of efforts to revamp education uncertain
Coastal Georgia Republicans behind push to reshape schools, libraries
GOP lawmakers urge immigration reform after nursing student’s death
Carter, Burns, and Petrea among those calling for action
Title-pawn legislation hits bumpy road
Senate bill fails to leave committee; House bill still under scrutiny
Georgia Senate panel approves referendum on sports betting, casinos
More than 80K state residents go to out-of-state casinos
‘Religious liberty’ legislation emerges from eight-year slumber at the Georgia Capitol
Critics say it would allow private employers to intrude on personal decisions like birth control or legalize discrimination.
PSC to resume hearings on Georgia Power request for more generating capacity
Utility plan would prioritize natural gas over renewables.
State Senate panel passes book banning bill
Commission appointed by governor, legislative leaders would set standards for books.
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