The art of policy is about compromise, and we are tired of the majority party failing time and time again to compromise, to at least engage with us in order to create a better democracy.

Georgians are better.

Georgians benefit when we have a two party system that functions.

And you all have chosen the majority party has chosen to make sure we remain dysfunctional.

A second day of Democrats pushing back in the Senate on what they say is the lack of Republican compromise.

Good evening, and welcome to Lawmakers.

It's day 34 of the Georgia legislative session.

I'm Donna Lowry in Atlanta, Georgia.

Businesses, small and large are paying attention to what is taking place under the Gold Dome.

Among other things, some may lose tax breaks they have counted on for years.

Tonight, you'll hear from the head of the Georgia chamber on how state, national and international issues are affecting its members.

Also, two House Democrats who are attorneys join us to talk about legal legislation.

First, Sarah Kallis has a rundown of the day at the Capitol.

Hi, Donna Moore, Democratic resistance in the Senate today.

And the House passed bills on retirement.

Democrats were at it again in the Senate.

Their ongoing acts of political resistance started today by asking for the Senate Journal to be read.

The Senate Journal is a lengthy record of the previous day's events.

Usually the Senate rules.

Chairman reads the Journal and presents to the body each morning that it was found to be correct.

It's then requested that the reading be dispensed before the Senate body, but not today.

I object to the dispensing of the reading of the Journal, as I do not believe that the journal may be correct, so therefore, I would like us to proceed with the reading of the Journal.

The Senate would have to vote to approve the request, but once a quorum was formed in the chamber, Mallow withdrew it.

Democrats first started disrupting chamber business yesterday with a filibuster and a variety of unrelated amendments to Republican bills.

Then the Senate went on to take up the business of ten House bills on the calendar.

House resolution 251 would amend the state's constitution to mandate probate judges be elected in nonpartisan elections.

A probate court is a place that so many citizens interact with after, of course, dealing with estates and other matters, and I think it helps encourage overall more confidence in our judicial system to have judges elected in a nonpartizan way.

You'll see in your desk.

Speaking of nonpartisanship or bipartisanship, a letter signed by former Governor Roy Barnes and Nathan Deal asking for this bill, supporting this bill.

And also, you heard the state judiciary this year, our Chief Justice Peterson, also asking us to pass this to help restore more confidence in our justice system.

Democrats continue their resistance, telling Republicans that they wouldn't vote for the resolution because of a general lack of compromise between the two parties.

This session.

The art of policy is about compromise, and we are tired of the majority party failing time and time again to compromise, to at least engage with us in order to create a better democracy.

After debating the challenges of partisan politics and the grievances of Democrats, the bill failed to acquire the necessary two thirds majority to pass 31-18 It was the same on H.R.

12 43, a resolution that would create an account to help fund the state's transition to the next generation 911 system.

Republican frustration began to show.

If you vote no on.

This bill today, don't tell me that you support our police officers.

Don't tell me you support our firefighters.

Don't tell me you support our EMS or our 911 dispatch ever again.

Don't tell me that you support your people at home.

When you have a chance to help save their lives, and you're going to put politics ahead of it.

And all the yelling and screaming about who cares about what doesn't change the fact that 11 years.

Talking always got these bills through.

And for whatever reason, this year it was decided.

We're not saying anything to you.

And that's fine.

That's how governing sometimes works in the sense that we then have no other choices.

It also failed to pass 31-14 Opposing resolutions is the only opportunity Democrats have to flex any power.

Both will be reconsidered tomorrow.

All of the other bills were passed with near-unanimous support in the House.

Members took up several bills dealing with retirement.

One of those bills, Senate Bill 285, increases monthly pension payments for police officers.

Under this plan, that would could increase 30-35.

So that would be $150 a month or up to $1,800 per year for a retiree.

Other bills increase the maximum employer contribution to 401 for law enforcement officers and add a new eligible position to the judicial retirement system.

Both bills passed.

The House gave near-unanimous passage to Senate Bill 570, which aims to prevent human trafficking at short term rentals.

For this bill, the Georgia Hotel and Lodging Association has worked very hard with the short term short term rental platforms to ensure that every short term rental platform and every person that comes to attend the World Cup, that their employees are trained on these techniques and that they are safe from human trafficking.

SB 570 passed 160 2-2 Senate Bill 470 also received easy passage.

The bill would ban the use and manufacturing of signal jammers with carve outs for law enforcement.

This bill criminalizes the possession, use, operation, manufacture, sale, distribution or importation of signal jammers in Georgia.

Signal jammers block wireless cellular GPS, radar and radio communications, putting first responders 911 systems in critical infrastructure at serious risk.

And Senate Bill 444 says that A.I.

Can't deny a person insurance coverage alone, and a human review agent must make the final call.

When it comes to a denial of a treatment of a human, that denial should be made by a human, and that's simply what the bill says.

That bill passed unanimously.

Also today, Representative Edna Jackson made her farewell speech to the chamber with a message of unity.

As I look at the frustration sometimes that I have here in this room, when we see that we cannot be kind to each other, it makes me say, what's wrong with us?

As members of this building, we are here to serve the what the people.

We're here to correct those things.

A.M.

I correct.?

The Senate also passed the House bill suspending the state gas tax for 60 days.

It now heads to Governor Kemp's desk for a signature.

That's my Capitol report.

Thanks, Sarah.

From proposed changes to tax incentives to global forces like tariffs and the conflict in the Middle East for Georgia businesses, the economic outlook is far from certain.

I sat down with an extended interview with the president of, and CEO of the Georgia Chamber, Chris Clark.

We spoke at the historic Georgia Freight Depot just after the chamber's state of Economic development event.

I began by asking him about that gathering.

We just held our first state of economic development.

It's one of four that we're doing this year.

We did one on higher ed, this one on economic development, another one on energy and then one on rural Georgia later this year.

But our goal here is to bring together economic developers, business leaders from the state legislators to talk about the importance of economic growth and the fact that we can't take that for granted.

And I feel like we've had, you know, six great years of economic growth under Governor Kemp.

And a lot of people have taken that for granted, unfortunately, and we're not that far from a recession or a trade problem.

And at the end of the day, we have to continue to work on these issues to create jobs for our kids, to create opportunities.

And, and that's, that was our whole conversation today.

So do you feel the business community, there's a little undercurrent about being a little nervous about what's next?

I think what we're seeing is that rise of anti-growth that's out there, right?

That rise of NIMBYism, of cave people.

And I feel like that's created some some concerns at the Capitol, some bills that we've seen this year.

You're seeing think tanks in Washington spend millions of dollars now on anti-capitalism anti economic development, anti-growth ideas and propping up groups all over.

And that has a negative impact.

It sends the wrong message to businesses that are looking to invest at a time of great disruption in the economy.

And so part of the effort today is to to have those conversations.

I have to ask you, as far as the business community is concerned, how are they reacting to what's going on with the war in Iran?

So I think we're just now starting to see the impacts of that war.

We're seeing gas prices now getting close to $4.

Diesel is now over $5 a gallon for the first time since I think COVID or the Ukraine war that trickles down.

And what that really hurts are those small mom and pops out there that have a small fleet.

Or maybe it's the guy that's mowing the grass in the neighborhood.

It's really impacting those companies.

And I think if this continues much longer, particularly as we get into the summer season when gas is normally higher anyway, you're going to see that trickle down.

And then obviously, we've heard from our airlines and other partners that are out there that are starting to see an impact already.

And we're only three weeks into this.

I think that's the first phase that we'll see.

The second phase is we use oil in so much of our processing and so many different business sectors that as those prices go up, we're going to see that impact.

And then the third thing is, you know, last night they bombed the largest natural gas field in the world.

Well, is that going to drive up prices?

Because most of our companies in Georgia use natural gas and their production processes.

So there's a ripple effect here that on top of tariffs and on top of, you know, this affordability issue that we're having is really going to squeeze.

What I worry about some some of Georgia's small businesses.

So this is kind of a wait and see period where things might go.

But you're starting to see things a little happening.

Yeah, you're starting to see it.

You're starting to see businesses.

I was talking to a small business yesterday.

Who was who asked the question, how do I let my customers know that my costs have gone up considerably?

And how do I translate that into raising my own prices in light of everybody being able to hardly afford our product anyway?

And so small businesses are going to be the first.

They're always the first to get that impact.

Let's talk about some things over the legislature for a while.

But Georgia is, you know, always been ranked.

As long as I've been doing this show as one of the best states to do business and all.

So what decisions are you watching under the Gold Dome that will make that continue to be something we can brag about in this state?

So I think there's several positive bills, but then there's some defense that we have to play as well, right.

I think that 12 years in a row of being best place to do business, it's not just a title.

I think it's a philosophy that we have here that we want to to be a place where businesses want to move, where people want to move to.

It's important for our long term growth.

One of the things we've got to do is deal with housing.

We've got two bills that the General Assembly now to hopefully increase the amount of housing that's built, to make it easier for builders to go in and build.

What one of our panelists today called attainable housing, right?

Not workforce housing, not just attainable housing.

So we're very bullish on getting something across the line there.

There's several bills that's come out of the governor's office, as well as the speaker and the lieutenant governor to deal with literacy, mathematics, workforce development, apprenticeships, workforce, workforce, workforce every year.

So I think those all help considerably.

What we have to pay attention to though, is a lot of the bills that we saw earlier in the session of taking away incentives or changing tax policy without thinking about the ramifications or impact.

That's the ones where we have to play defense.

And that that's what worries us.

Can you get into that a little bit more?

We're talking about the businesses that have been used to getting these tax breaks that to bring in, to get rid of, eventually eliminating the state income taxes they're looking to take away some of those breaks.

And listen, all of us want to see lower taxes.

And I appreciate the fact that in the last five years in Georgia, we've we've given tax rebates every year.

We've been able to give them tax rebates because of the economic development investment in the state to offset it.

What you don't want to do is to have a company that has made a multibillion dollar decision to move here, build a new facility, and all of a sudden that maybe it's a tax credit or an incentive that's out there changes or goes away?

Well, that that upsets their entire, you know, business formula that they made.

We made a business case to get them here.

And so listen, nothing's perfect.

We get that some incentives maybe are outdated.

We ought to always look at those.

But to just get rid of every single incentive to do away with them overnight or to target an industry and companies that are here employing Georgians right now when the economy is so disruptive and so unsettled, just think that sends the wrong message.

Businesses love consistency.

We want to know what tell us what the policy is and let us go invest.

Right?

So you just can't make those changes overnight.

And anytime you even debate some of those or drop a bill to get rid of something, you're sending a message.

And that message in this economy is not the right message to send.

How do you handle that kind of thing in an election year?

The defense part of it.

Well, I think we just have to go out and represent the members and represent economic development and free enterprise in this state, and we go talk to those legislators who drop some of these bills and let them know the problems that we have with them.

And most legislators, I think, want to work and realize a lot of times it's unintentional consequences of trying to do something else.

So that's what our team is at the Capitol doing every day is just trying to explain how this impacts business.

Obviously, when we get ready to start talking to candidates, which we're already doing, I should say, that are running for office in Georgia, we're going to put out a series of blueprints for them, policy blueprints of here's what's happening in Georgia, here's what's coming.

Here's what we think ought to happen on incentives.

Here's what we think ought to happen on taxes, on workforce.

And we're going to be sharing those with all the candidates that are running as we move through the next six, eight months here.

Okay, let's talk about innovation a little bit.

We recently did a Lawmakers show on innovation and emerging industries.

We're seeing this rapid growth in that area.

Of course, artificial intelligence data centers, the advanced manufacturing.

So what's going on?

What can you give us in big picture when it comes to those things?

So I'm a little bit of a history buff.

So let me give you a little history first.

You know this economy was founded on agriculture in the 1950s.

We started recruiting manufacturing.

When we recruited manufacturing, we actually grew agriculture in the state in the 1990s under Governor Miller.

We passed incentives.

We started recruiting service industry, tech companies that helped grow manufacturing, helped grow agriculture.

Still solid growth in here.

What Governor Kemp's done over the last five years is really ushering this innovation economy, which is A.I.

And robotics and all that incredible work.

But it's impacting our farmers.

It's giving them drones to, you know, they're now as much a soil scientists as they are a farmer.

Right.

And so we're going to see this innovation economy in Georgia that is driven on the back of data impact every single sector.

It's going to create incredible jobs.

It's going to eliminate some low skill jobs.

Unfortunately.

But that's that's the future.

And those communities in Georgia that say, we get it, let's be part of this.

Let's embrace innovation.

Let's embrace technology.

Let's embrace what the next disruption is going to be.

Those communities are going to do well.

And those that don't or that are resistant to change, they're going to fail in the long term.

And so this is the future of the economy.

And I think data centers in particularly, it's as much a part of infrastructure for the future as a highway or a railroad is today.

Every business runs on it.

And listen, if I told somebody the other day, if you don't want a data center in your backyard, then quit posting pictures of your kids soccer games online every night.

That economic development at the end of the day is a response to consumer demand.

Businesses, government, individuals need data storage.

We want it here.

It's going to go somewhere.

Let's get it in the communities that want it.

In Georgia, not every community, but the ones that do.

Some companies are going to embrace robotics, invest there, others aren't.

Let's make sure that we've got the right policies in place to facilitate that.

Yeah.

So is it telling some business owners they're growing pains, you're going to have to go through it and eventually we'll get to the other side because this is a change.

As you've mentioned, some of the history.

It is, but we go through this cycle.

Anytime there's a new technology that comes around, right?

It's it's just part of the economy.

It's disruptive.

Some companies go out of business because they don't adapt and survive.

But we're in a period now and I love Sam Altman with OpenAI made the comment that the average American now that wants to start their own business has the equivalent of every PhD in the world in their pocket on their phone, and that one person in the near future will be able to create a $1 billion company for the first time in history with just them in A.I.

That's going to create opportunities for our kids, our grandkids, our rural communities, everyone in this state and businesses, I think, are trying to figure out big businesses are already implementing a lot of A.I.

And automation, quantum computing.

We just got to make sure that small businesses in Georgia have the same access to those tools.

That's what I was saying thinking what about those mom and pop businesses?

They're thinking, I can't compete.

Yeah, but they can.

They just got to have a little bit different mentality of, how do I use this to my advantage?

How do I a great example, I was with one of our members last week, has a small accounting firm, and he talked about how much his company has grown since he started using A.I.

To go search for new clients, to help research them, to study the work that they're doing, to help on the back end that he now can take a vacation for the first time in the last 20 years.

And I think that's a small business.

That said, you know what, I can use this to my advantage.

I just got to put in the time to go figure it out.

I'm going to do something next week.

Dealing with cybersecurity and those kinds of things.

What are you doing to educate some of these businesses about the risks that are out there when it comes to those kinds of things?

Well, one of the things I tell businesses, if you haven't been cyber attacked yet, you will be.

If you haven't been fished yet, you will be.

And if you don't have cybersecurity, you need to treat cybersecurity just like you treat the lock on your front door and the the security system that you have watching your facility, it is a consequence of the new economy that we live in.

And I think we even saw it last week when Iran was able to cyber attack, you know, healthcare facilities in the U.S.

We just have to be prepared for that.

Georgia needs about 50,000 more cybersecurity professionals in the coming years because every single business sector is going to need someone that knows how to manage and do that work.

Yeah, I was thinking about the mom and pops again.

You know, those businesses, do they have to go find somebody who can help them in case it happens?

Absolutely.

And they need to have the same systems in place that a Georgia Power or an AT&T has.

And it's it's a shame that we have to say that.

But that's the world that we're living in now.

And particularly as you share data, right?

That data is out there.

And if in listen, if you get your customer's information hacked, well, you've just lost their trust.

And so it's really a matter of trust and how you take care of your customers to make sure that you build that firewall to protect yourself and their information.

A big thank you to Chris Clark for sitting down with Lawmakers.

Well, coming up, rental pricing protection, Ponzi scheme protection insurance, consumer protection, creating a family justice center, protecting attorney client privilege, and more to attorneys.

Update us on the legal bills.

They're sponsoring this session, so you'll want to stay with us.

Georgia Farm Bureau a grassroots organization dedicated to preserving Georgia agriculture.

Farm Bureau advocates for all Georgia farmers at the state Capitol during the session and year round.

Georgia Farm Bureau the voice of Georgia farmers.

Hi, I'm Bert Wesley Huffman, joining you from the set of Lawmakers, now in its 56th season, covering the Georgia legislative session.

You know, community and collaboration are foundational to our work, and we're honored to bring those concepts together around the issues and stories that matter to you.

Your engagement powers our ability to create trusted programming that encourages curiosity and conversation.

With Georgia in focus.

It's all here for you, so please support it now with your generous gift at GPB dot.

It's not a country thing or a city thing, but it is a. Get the crew together thing.

It's not a soul music thing or a folk music thing, but it is a. Finding your new favorite local band thing.

It's not a yellow jacket thing or a bulldog thing, but it is a football Friday's thing that brings every fan to their feet.

Tune in to GPB.

It's a Georgia thing.

We came across this intriguing story.

Things are starting to get going.

Are you prepared?

It is a golden opportunity.

It's not over.

It will be all that you've dreamed of.

Welcome back to Lawmakers.

I'm Donna Lowry.

We're going to talk legal legislation with two attorneys in the House.

Democratic Representative Tonya Miller of Atlanta.

She is House Minority caucus chairman.

Her committee assignments include rules, ethics and code revision.

Also joining the show is Democratic Representative Esther Panitch of Sandy Springs.

Her committees are judiciary Non-civil judiciary, Juvenile and Public Safety and Homeland Security.

Welcome to Lawmakers at session for both of you.

I appreciate this.

Got a lot to get through.

And we're going to start with you.

You have your the Ponzi Scheme Protection Act.

Yes.

HB 15 21 is the interest related to what happened in Noonan at first.

Liberty.

It absolutely is.

You know, we all sort of watched with horror as this $140 million Ponzi scheme unfolded.

Ponzi schemes are, by design, very difficult to detect.

That's why so much damage can be done so quickly.

This bill would make it easier for state regulators to detect Ponzi schemes by treating these IOUs or loans as securities, so they no longer exist in the gray area between where we regulate banks and where we regulate investments.

And where is that bill now?

Well, that bill now is still sitting.

It's in the hopper.

It's assigned a committee, unfortunately, but it is in the atmosphere, and I'm hoping that someone takes it up.

I'm sure people are going to start looking at it.

Representative Panitch, you want to create a family justice center.

So tell us about HB 12 83.

Well, I was approached by executive district attorneys who deal with domestic violence, sexual assault, child trafficking, and they were telling me about this family Justice Center, which we have three of in the state, but they were put together piecemeal.

Waycross, Macon and in Cobb.

So this they needed a a structure.

And so this bill provides a structure.

And it would allow resources that victims need.

Survivors need to be co-located in the same place, because any time you create a barrier for an abuse survivor to get out of that abuse, every barrier, you're less likely to get out.

They're less likely to leave the abuse.

So to have everything in one place, law enforcement protective orders sexual assault exams, as long as you can have all of that there, it saves lives and it also saves law enforcement lives because law enforcement deaths, 29% of them are caused in domestic violence situations.

So that would reduce that number as well.

And where is that bill?

That bill has passed the House unanimously, and it just passed the Senate committee yesterday.

It should.

I'm going to rules tomorrow.

Okay.

Well, good luck with that.

Well, Chairwoman Miller, tell us about 15 20.

Your rental pricing protection bill.

Yes.

So it's interesting that your first segment talked about how housing is so critical to Georgia's economy.

Essentially, what we are finding.

Yes, we do need to increase stock, but we also need to regulate some of the bad practices of corporate landlords.

We know that A.I.

Is being used and software are being used to allow landlords in the commercial space to sort of collude on pricing of rent.

And of course, as a result of that, that has made rents artificially high.

There have been several studies about this.

This bill would seek to regulate that area.

It would require that A.I.

Software not be used to artificially make rents high, and that nonpublic, nonpublic information about renters not be shared among landlords.

A fair free market competition in the rental market keeps rents low because landlords have to compete for your business.

If they can all agree to keep rents artificially high, it makes it bad for all of our.

And they've been using algorithms and all kinds of software.

This is correct.

That law needs to catch up to that.

All right.

We'll keep up with that one.

Yeah.

You want to protect attorney client privilege.

Yes.

Talk about that.

This is a bill that passed the House unanimously last year and made it through Senate rules.

It just didn't get called up on signee die.

So there is no law at this moment preventing lawyers from talking to their clients in jail, from being recorded.

And then ultimately, these recordings can be used in trial.

While the attorney client privilege is so sacrosanct that we need to have a law that protects it, that prevents recording at all.

And if there is recording, then there are mechanisms to keep it out of court.

If in a trial.

But it also passed unanimously from the Senate committee this afternoon.

And so that's also.

Heading right.

And that's also heading to Senate rules tomorrow.

Okay.

Well, thank you for that.

Let's all.

You also have the Georgia Insurance Consumer Protection Act.

Yes, yes.

Donna, you know, I was on your show last session talking about some of the practices of the insurance industry in connection with tort reform, which is what we were debating last session.

What we know from our citizens, what we know from ratepayers is that they are facing unaffordable insurance rate increases without justification.

The process of deciding what insurance rates are in Georgia, largely occurs between the industry and the insurance commissioner.

This bill would insert someone in that process to advocate for the consumer.

It would also get away or do away with automatic rate increases that are not justified and require more transparency in the rate setting process.

Now, how's that one doing?

That one actually passed committee.

It was a bipartisan bill.

We had multiple Republican signers on this bill, so it did not quite make it out of rules.

But again, it's in the atmosphere now.

And it's an issue a lot of people care about.

Absolutely.

Okay.

We're going to get to one more of yours.

You are part of a bipartisan bill that HB 13 79, the Foreign Funding, Transparency and Accountability Act, and we don't have a whole lot of time.

Okay.

So that came about because there was there are reports coming out from the Foundation for Defense of Democracy showing that Qatari money has been flowing into Georgia public schools, College and Fulton Charter School.

So parents have a right to know in public schools where their funding is coming from and who could be influencing our students there.

Some of these programs include teacher training, and then the teacher comes back and then praises a suicide bomber, or they praise Yahya Sinwar.

We would never allow money in from a foreign country that praised Osama bin Laden.

So this should be no different.

This doesn't ban any foreign funding.

This just requires disclosure of it.

So parents who have no choice where to send their child in a district have a right to see and know who's trying to influence their children.

And that's moved along too, hasn't it?

That yes.

Yes, that's that is actually waiting for the governor's signature.

Okay.

Well, sorry we had to go through this so fast, but thank you both for being here and thank you for your bills.

Day 35 will take place at the Capitol tomorrow, but we will not have a show.

Look for Lawmakers the Capitol report from Sarah Kallis at the end of the PBS NewsHour and have a good evening.