Legislature’s Work Comes Home

Sunday Solutions — May 4, 2025

Good morning, it is. And yes, it is Star Wars Day, should you choose to observe. As Yoda would say: Challenges, face them you will. And coffee, drink you must. May the Force be with you as you move through today’s news.

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NEWS: GOVERNING

State meets local for bill-signing day

Governor Brian Kemp arrived in Coastal Georgia this week for a busy few days. He cut the ribbon on the massive Savannah Convention Center expansion and then signed dozens of bills into law while he was here. It’s a good reminder that the state’s General Assembly also must codify many local governmental processes, and that’s why you need to know your state reps and senators. Here’s a quick list of just some of the new local legislation:

• HB 233 made Brunswick Stew the official state stew;
• HB 714 codifies designation of electors for Rincon;
• HB 722, Bryan County gets a chief judge and an associate judge in state court;
• HB 724 sets 4-year terms for Pembroke’s mayor and city council;
• HB 730 provides for membership in the Chatham-Savannah Authority for the Homeless;
• HB 732 sets an excise tax in Glynn County, and HB 760 gives Glynn commissioners a raise;
• HB 762 sets up a Savannah Music Commission;
• HB 763 creates a Richmond Hill-Bryan County Airport Authority;
• HB 799 sets compensation for the Long County Board of Education.

And there were more, including a tribute to the Original 33 – see Craig Nelson’s story from the event.

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NEWS: GOVERNING

In the past week….

The changes continue stopping, starting, and shape-shifting. Here are some updates in no particular order to help you stay current with facts:

• CDC reports 216 child deaths this flu season, the most in 15 years: And doctors say it’s likely an undercount now that vaccination rates have slipped to 49% for children. From The Associated Press.
• Glynn sheriff applies for partnership with ICE in county jail: This will allow department to serve warrants in order to turn prisoners over to ICE quickly. From The Current’s Jabari Gibbs and Jake Shore.
• In reversal, FDA rehires staff tasked with releasing public records: Turns out people need to know what will harm or help them — and the courts want documents, too. From KFF Health News.
• Gun owners group calls for federal inquiry into firearms industry’s secret sharing of customer data: This comes after makers and others used private info of buyers to target marketing to them. From ProPublica.
• Georgia pre-K program takes steps to improve after slip in national rankings: As federal funds for Head Start come under fire, state looks to improve its ratings for younger citizens. From Capitol Beat.
• International students win another legal decision against Trump administration’s immigration actions: Judge says Justice Department hasn’t produced reasons for revoking visas. From Capitol Beat.
• Contract disputes create uncertainty over Georgia’s Medicaid oversight: Management fight could endanger care for 2.5 million state residents. From Capitol Beat.

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NEWS: ACCOUNTABILITY

When public work isn’t public

On Friday, mayors and city managers from Chatham County were invited by county commission chairman Chester Ellis to discuss priorities for the next special purpose local option sales tax request, aka SPLOST. Guess who wasn’t invited: the taxpayers and the journalists who represent them. The 1-cent sales tax, if approved by voters in November, requires a list of projects for $625 million it’s expected to raise. Which brings us to the fundamental question: How will the taxpayers know if their representatives are reflecting their will in discussing priorities or their desire for the tax at all? They won’t. Ellis was very clear to The Current’s Susan Catron and, later, two Savannah Morning News reporters that he chose to close the meeting to the public, despite case law in Georgia that stands firm with the state’s Open Meetings law that says all meetings of officials should be open unless there were specific reasons set forth by the law.

It was a chance for the county chair to allow the public to see how decisions are made and help voters understand — and possibly, gain confidence in — the process for spending the tax money that will go to a public vote later this year. But instead, Chairman Ellis barred the very people who could help explain the process to a large number of his constituents. Here’s a Savannah Morning News story to wrap up next steps in the planning process for the tax project list and the vote.

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FEATURE: GEORGIA HISTORY

☕ Your second cup: Preserving a language

American history is fraught with painful chapters, and the treatment of the Native American Cherokee Nation is but one of them. In a project based in western North Carolina, two schools are working together to reintroduce the Cherokee language and traditions through education and book-making projects. It’s an effort that brings younger learners and college students together to re-establish a cultural heritage that was all but erased by boarding schools and the Trail of Tears, which uprooted the tribal group from north Georgia and the Carolina mountains.

You can read the story from The Daily Yonder here. Enjoy.

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