5 questions for Gold Domers as 2024 lawmaking session kicks off
A look at what's in store this session as state lawmakers get back to work
Happy New Year and happy first day of session!
The Georgia Legislature on Monday will return to the state capitol in Atlanta to kick off the 2024 legislative session, and they will have several important bills to consider as soon as they hear the first gavel drop.
Some issues that failed to gain traction last year are expected to resurface, such as sports gambling and strengthening Georgia’s hate crime law. But a host of new debates are expected to begin, including one that may or may not lead to a massive overhaul of the state’s healthcare system.
The colors red and black might be absent from this year’s college football championship, but Bulldog-howling lawmakers will have a lengthy agenda to keep themselves occupied when they return to work Monday morning.
With the 2024 session taking place during an election year, however, Gold Domers on both sides of the aisle will be antsy to conclude their annual 40 days of work so they can start getting back out on the campaign trail, especially those who are running in new districts after recent redistricting.
Here are five questions for state lawmakers as we kick off the new session. After Sine Die (the end of the session), we will return to this post with our answers.
1. Is 2024 the year Georgia expands Medicaid?
It is an idea that state Republican leaders have long dismissed as too expensive. But talks of a bipartisan compromise to expand Medicaid are reportedly underway after a Republican-backed work requirement system vastly underperformed expectations.
Georgia is one of just nine states that have not expanded Medicaid, according to Atlanta’s 11Alive. But a state House committee last fall heard testimony from an Arkansas Republican lawmaker who said that her state’s Medicaid expansion model has saved lives.
Legislative Democrats are cautiously encouraged by the majority’s new openness to a compromise after being told ‘no’ for more than a decade. “Whatever makes it as easy as possible to get them to ‘yes’ is what I would do and I will help them do it,” one told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A full-scale Medicaid expansion has become synonymous with the Georgia Democratic Party’s platform.
But the fact that we are in an election year could give Republicans less of an incentive to work towards a compromise, and the minority party will not hesitate to point out any unfair antics during negotiations. So just as bipartisan talks could easily get started, campaign politics could easily cause them to fall apart — or not begin at all.
2. Will anti-semitism become a hate crime?
The debate over establishing anti-semitism as a form of hate failed to get across the finish line last session. But it is expected to pick up steam this year as the conflict in the Gaza Strip rages on and hateful attitudes towards the Jewish community increase.
Republican state Rep. John Carson of Marietta had teamed up with Democratic state Rep. Esther Panitch to cosponsor a measure that would have enshrined anti-Semitism in the state’s 2020 hate crimes law.
The bill cleared the House last year but stalled in the Senate after a back-and-forth between GOP leaders in both chambers.
Rep. Panitch, Georgia’s only Jewish state lawmaker, says she is ready to give it another go.
“If the bill can’t pass now, I don’t know if it ever will short of having a Jewish Georgian killed and an antisemite blaming their feelings on Israel because that would not be covered under current law. Nobody wants that,” said Panitch, a Democrat from Sandy Springs. “The new type of anti-semitism is cloaked in an anti-Israel narrative.”
3. Will Georgia start paying teachers to carry guns?
A new push from Georgia’s lieutenant governor could lead to teachers earning a yearly stipend to carry firearms in their classrooms.
Republican Burt Jones says he supports paying Georgia teachers $10,000 per year to carry guns in schools and plans to push the measure through the state senate, where he serves as presiding officer.
Lt. Gov. Jones and his senate allies say that having “trained individuals” protect students from bad actors is better than no option whatsoever. Critics, on the other hand, say that increasing the number of weapons in schools will only make things worse, not better.
Gov. Brian Kemp has yet to weigh in on the idea, but both teacher pay raises and expanding gun rights have been key priorities of his administration.
4. What about private school vouchers?
Despite an intense 11th-hour push from Gov. Kemp on the last day of the 2023 session, more than a dozen members of his own party joined with nearly all Democrats to sink a private school voucher plan in the House.
The plan would have offered families with students who attend a public school that performs below the state average on standardized tests a $6,500 waiver to attend a private school instead.
Supporters say that this encourages the concept of “school choice,” while opponents say that this would deprive those same underperforming public schools of the financial resources they need. They also noted that the voucher would only cover half of an entire school year’s tuition.
The voucher debate is certain to continue this year, but new reporting from the AP suggests that Republicans may still have several hurdles to climb.
“I’m just not ready to give up on public education as we know it right now,” said Rep. J. Collins of Villa Rica, who added that “taking away money from public education is not the answer.”
5. “Wanna make a bet?”
Another session, another push to legalize sports betting and casinos.
Some of the Gold Dome’s most conservative members have long opposed allowing more gambling for religious reasons, but state Sen. Brandon Beach believes that Georgia is losing revenue to nearby states because of the Peach State’s limited gambling scene.
A push to expand gambling would require a change to the state constitution, meaning that it will go before voters in November if passed by the legislature. Sen. Beach, an Alpharetta Republican, says he believes that Georgians would overwhelmingly approve a gambling expansion and that it would bring more than $900 million to the state.
Last year’s session saw Republicans attempt to replace a soapbox derby bill with language that would seek to legalize sports betting. Senate Democrats ultimately refused to offer Republicans any votes to carry it across the finish line as political retaliation for passing a bill that limits healthcare access for transgender children.
Follow-up questions
Will this election year bring new election laws?
Are more abortion restrictions coming?
Will the Senate and House GOP compromise on a mental health overhaul?
How will the presidential primary and the Fulton election trial impact the session?
Will the GOP attempt more oversight on local prosecutors?
Is a Gold Dome battle brewing over the Atlanta safety training facility?
Are more rebates coming for taxpayers?