Sunday Solutions — April 6, 2025
Good morning! Sine Die has come and gone for the legislature, leaving a trail of unpassed bills and uncompromising debates before early adjournment on Friday. Crowds gathered along the coast (and elsewhere) Saturday to send a message to leaders in Washington to top off a week of news closer to the home: Midway bought a fire truck, and Glynn County administrators answered a few grand jury questions. Let’s roll.
NEWS: COMMUNITY
Taking it to the streets
More than a thousand protestors took to the streets on Saturday in Savannah and Brunswick to air grievances over the Trump administration’s cuts to federal grants, programs and services as well as its moves to narrow civil liberties. The Current’s Craig Nelson and Justin Taylor were in Savannah where they found the crowd to be a mix of older and younger citizens focused on domestic policy instead of foreign involvement. Read Nelson’s report and see Taylor’s photos from the afternoon march.
NEWS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Early end to annual lawmaking
The 2025 Georgia General Assembly ended with a thunk and a few whimpers as the Senate quit work just after 9 p.m. and the House left by 10:30 p.m. Normally, the final day stretches into the late night to get outstanding bills from each chamber considered. But this time, high-profile bills approved by one chamber or the other will sit stranded until next January. Here are some observations on the past few days.
All dressed up and nowhere to go: The school zone camera bill to rein in abuse by defining how the devices could be set up and limiting fines, passed the House Friday evening but the Senate had already left for the year. It’ll be on hold until next year.
The switcharoo: Bills often pass with substitute or edited language, but every year there are a few that do not reflect any part of their original intent. At one point, we saw lawmakers double the death compensation for families of teachers killed in schools but erase an effort to increase the educators’ sick leave from 3 to 5 days by substituting language in HB 127 to ban classroom conversations that include concepts or words including unconscious or implicit bias, sexual or racial privilege or Antiracism. As it turns out, the teachers did get two more days of leave in another bill on education, and the controversial concepts language bill didn’t pass.
Hiding the work: Late Wednesday, a bill to clarify that open records requests for government (aka taxpayer) work done by hired contractors should be submitted through the contracting state agency and not the private contractor. This became a measure designed to hide communications between legislators and other branches of government and outside parties, thus keeping legislators from having to show where they are getting advice and information from on the laws they pass for their voters. The broadly written amendment would have hidden from the public almost all information about police officers’ stops, arrests and incident responses. Of note: Most legislative work, unlike the executive branch, does not fall under the Georgia Open Records Act, so that move would’ve shielded nearly all of it. However, after public scrutiny, the amendments disappeared and the main point was approved by both chambers.
While a variety of bills — a ban on puberty blocking drugs for minors, red-tape cuts, tax credits for firearms storage devices, labeling for imported shrimp — will wait until next year, the focus shifted very quickly to the newly minted state budget as the markets tanked on Friday and worries about spending and revenue estimates grew. A story from Georgia Recorder summarizes the night and budget worries that will now require attention whether lawmakers are in or out of session.
NEWS: PUBLIC SAFETY
Midway gets fire gear. Will service be next?
To keep its charter, municipalities much perform certain services. One of those — under Georgia law and citizen expectation — is fire service. Midway in Liberty County has been depending on the county department for that since its own fire department lost certification last month. Citizens were poised to see insurance rates soar since the city didn’t have proper gear for its firefighters, an inhabitable firehouse, or a truck. All that could change shortly: Last week the city council worked a deal to get two trucks, a fire chief, gear and a renovated firehouse. Will certification be next? The Current’s Robin Kemp details what the city had to do, what it costs taxpayers and where the certification stands.
🎉 Congratulations to BethStevenson for knowing that last week’s Spyglass was of the Kit Jones, a vessel that’s had many jobs on the coast since 1939. It now sits on display in Darien and recently gained its own historical marker. We had 36 correct answers last week — let’s see how you do this week.
Test how well you spy details in Coastal Georgia. Give us the location of the item in the photo above. Some spots may be easier to identify than others; some will be tougher. We’ll collect correct answers each week and draw for a weekly winner.
CLICK HERE TO GIVE YOUR ANSWER
Timely reads
There was a lot going on over the past week or so. Here are a few pieces that stood out as interesting for a variety of reasons, so we’re sharing. You can make up your own minds about the topics and perspectives.
- ‘Maryland Father’ or MS-13 Gang Member?: From National Review.
- America was at its Trumpiest 100 years ago. Here’s how to prevent the worst.: The Washington Post
- Trump, found liable for sexual abuse in 2023, promotes sexual assault awareness: From The 19th*
- Donald Trump, Franklin Roosevelt and the Allure of Permanent Power: From The Dispatch.
- USDA cuts hit small farms as Trump showers billions on big farms: From Stateline
- Immigration Crackdowns Disrupt the Caregiving Industry. Families Pay the Price.: From KFF Health News
9 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 16, Fine Arts Auditorium, Armstrong Campus, Georgia Southern University. Click here for info. The Current GA is an in-kind sponsor.
EXPLAINER: EDUCATION
☕ Your second cup: How Covid changed school
We all have a Covid story about change: habits, jobs, health, missing friends. But no topic is as pervasive as what happened to students during that time. And, they weren’t the only ones affected. Many teachers who worked through that time still walk into the same classrooms, while the students have moved on. Chalkbeat has a first-person story from an educator about the impact on colleagues and the system itself. And, here’s a related story from Chalkbeat about 10 ways Covid changed American schools — we learned a few things, but mostly we learned there’s so much more to do, even without a pandemic.
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Culture war bills, election tinkering left behind as Georgia lawmakers abruptly leave Gold Dome
By Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder, Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder, and Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
The 2025 legislative session in Georgia ended abruptly when the Senate adjourned early, leaving many bills left in limbo, but the House did pass a bipartisan landlord bill and a budget for the next fiscal year.
Fiscal ’26 state budget clears General Assembly
By Dave Williams/Capitol Beat
The Georgia General Assembly has approved a $37.7 billion fiscal 2026 state budget, prioritizing education and prison spending, with $141 million allocated to Georgia’s new private school voucher program and $200 million to the Georgia Department of Corrections to address conditions inside prisons.
Failure of speed-zone cameras bill leaves bad blood between Georgia House and Senate
By Dave Williams/Capitol Beat
House Bill 651, which sought to restrict school-zone speed cameras, was shelved until next year due to the unexpected early end of the 2025 General Assembly session.
Open records bill stripped of new loopholes for state lawmakers
By Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder
A proposed bill to limit the public’s access to police reports and communications with state lawmakers was abandoned after First Amendment defenders expressed opposition. Original bill heads for governor’s desk.
Glynn grand jury had questions about the DAs office spending. We got some answers
By Jabari Gibbs
Glynn County grand jury investigated Brunswick area district attorney funding overspending fight with county commissioners and left with many questions. The Current tried to answer them.
In bid to recertify city fire service, Midway buys trucks, hires chief
By Robin Kemp
The Georgia Municipal Association, a nonprofit group for Georgia cities, is helping to front the cost of 2 new pumper trucks and gear through a private lender. GMA is leasing the trucks to Midway over the next 10 years, which will cost the city over $2 million. The city has not said whether the fire […]
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