Greetings! We are on Day 18  out of 40.  We started voting bills out of the House last week, the Governor has signed the 2021 amended budget, and we are hearing bills in committee.  Most of the legislation we pass is non-partisan, but the dramatic bill passed out of the House last week was HB 112, and the emotional bill I heard in Education  last week was HB 276, an anti transgender bill, and this week is HB 60, a school voucher bill.  I have experienced some ethical challenges with HB 86 - read on for my perspective on things!  

Budget

On February 15, the Governor signed the amended 2021 budget, HB 80, which received overwhelming bipartisan support, on an accelerated time table, ensuring we got this done in case COVID impacts our future session calendar.   

On Feb 11, the House passed the Senate version, and one of the biggest changes to the budget that we accepted since I wrote you last time was the announcement of a one-time $1,000 bonus for state employees who make less than $80,000 a year. That covers about 57,000 state employees at a cost of $59.6 million. (The bonus does not apply to legislators, since we are classified as "part-time"... David wanted me to make sure and tell you that!) The State of Georgia has the money for these bonuses because of additional federal funding going to other parts of the state budget, freeing up those state dollars.

These bonuses are a small token of thanks to our front line state employees - our public health nurses, state troopers, EMT workers, DFCS (Dept of Children/Family Services) social workers, veteran workers, correctional control officers, housekeeping workers at state facilities…. The  list goes on and on - during the pandemic.  In Georgia, many state employees struggle to make a living wage.  We are incredibly grateful for your service to the people of Georgia.

 The key group not receiving the bonus are employees of the University System of Georgia because of constitutional reasons. On the Senate floor Thursday, Senator Blake Tillery told senators he believes the Board of Regents intends to follow their lead on the one-time bonuses. 

We already included a similar bonus for teachers and school staffers in our original amended budget from the House and Governor.   

As far as Public Health, the Senate added in two more critical Public Health positions, in addition to the three the House added, and we have the $18 million allocated for one time purchase of the new IT disease surveillance system.  Public Health continues to be underfunded but this budget is moving us in the right direction.  To learn more about how your tax dollars are being spent, please read these highlights  from the Budget and Research Office, and/or you can read this shorter article from WABE.  

Corporate Immunity

The House passed, the first of this session along partisan lines,  House Bill 112 at the start of the week.  I voted no.  This bill is a continuation of the bill passed last year that gave certain immunities from liability claims for businesses during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The original legislation was originally set to expire in July of 2021 and this bill would extend these immunities until July 14, 2022. This bill will now undergo consideration in the State Senate. While I agree that we must do all that we can to support small businesses during these trying times and ensure our economy is well positioned to build back better once the pandemic is over, this bill is not without a lot of concerns. Along with many others, I believe this creates an immunity shield for larger corporations to protect themselves from being sued for sub-par COVID protocols and cleaning.  This bill does not protect our working employees.  The language is too vague and too broad and does nothing to incentivize employers to follow CDC guidelines.  We have a responsibility to take care of our “essential workers” - grocery stores, food delivery, healthcare poultry, transit workers - who have sustained our lives during this pandemic.  These workers are the backbone of our economy, and their safety and wellbeing should be our highest priority. They have been and will continue to be pivotal to Georgia’s recovery from this global pandemic.  

 Trans Student Athlete Discrimination Bills 

HB 276 would require students in private schools to play on sports teams based on the gender on their birth certificates. HB 372 relates to the same subject matter but goes even further and allows school districts to appoint a 3-person panel to determine a student's gender if questioned. 

Both of these bills are harmful and completely unnecessary. We heard HB 276 in the Academic Support subcommittee of the Education committee this week, and when I asked the bill sponsor about where Georgia female student-athletes had experienced this problem he claims, he had no example. Sports teach invaluable, lifelong lessons about teamwork, discipline and hard work, and every young person deserves equal access and opportunity. HB 276 is not reflective of our inclusive and diverse Georgia. 

If you would like to learn more about these issues, I encourage you to read this Sex, Gender, and Genetics information brief,  sent to me by a friend,  by the Personal Genetics Education Project (pgED) at Harvard.  I found this resource helpful.  One of  statistics that stood out to me was: “While “typical” males and females have obvious physical and chromosomal differences, there is a small but significant portion of the population whose sex does not fit into this simple binary. These individuals are often referred to as “intersex.” Some studies estimate that almost 2% of all people are intersex, which is roughly the same number of people who have green eyes or red hair.”  And for further understanding,  I encourage you to read these resources. 

We should be focusing our energy on getting our citizens vaccinated, our kids back to school, and helping our businesses recover - not wasting our resources alienating children who just want to belong and be themselves.     

Election Legislation  

This past week, the ACLU of Georgia presented to the Georgia House Democratic Caucus on pending Election Legislation.   House Election Bills can be found here, and Senate Bills can be found here.   The DeKalb Delegation will be holding a "Protect Your Right to Vote Forum" next Tuesday, Feb 23 at 6:30pm - look for an announcement about that.  In the meantime,  I am grateful to the ACLU for sharing their slides with me, and I am sharing with you:  

Needs Based Aid for Post Secondary Education

• Nearly 112,000 students deal with unmet financial need in the University System of Georgia, with 
  • 42% reporting not receiving any financial support from parents or guardians, 
  • 39% struggling with stable housing;
  •  37% had very low or low food security.
•   In Georgia, the median family income for students at the most selective colleges and universities exceeds $100,000; however, it is below $40,000 in 17 of the 26 colleges in the university system. 
• Students from higher income families are more likely to get state financial aid
  • In USG, more than 90% of students with family income greater than $120,000 were receiving either the HOPE Scholarship or Zell Miller Scholarship.
  • More than 30% of students with family income higher than $120,000 received the ZELL Miller Scholarship for at least one semester, compared to less than 10% of students with family income less than $30,000
•  Less than 1% of students received school-funded need based grants or scholarships in 23 of 28 schools in the university system;  12 schools did not award any need-based grants or scholarships.  
• 56% of Georgia college graduates carry debt, and of those who do, the average debt burden is $28,081.  

DeKalb County will use a new federal $21 million grant to help local renters avoid eviction during the ongoing pandemic.  If you or a loved one are a tenant needing help with rent or a landlord needing help to pay your mortgage, you can apply and learn more here.  
 
Could you or a loved one use help with groceries?   DeKalb is hosting another food giveaway this weekend - you can learn more here.  Free food is given away weekly at East Lake YMCA on Fridays 2 to 4pm, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church Saturdays 10am to Noon, and McNair Middle School Thursdays 11am - 1pm, Berean Christian Church on Fridays 2 to 4 . 

COVID

Access to the vaccine continues to be a problem.  The good news is - the White House Says Vaccine Supply Is Increasing.   More pharmacies, like Walgreens and CVS,  are being added.  Click  https://dph.georgia.gov/covid-vaccine to find links to all of the different vaccine provider sign ups.