You're looking at a live view from under the Gold Dome, where a legislators in the Senate are working hard on this 28th day of the session.

Good evening and welcome to our special Crossover Day edition of Lawmakers.

I'm Donna Lowry in Atlanta, the legislative day is already long in both chambers, and the work is expected to continue for a few more hours.

Crossover is the critical day for bills to pass in one chamber to have the chance of becoming law before the 2026 session ends.

We have a great lineup of guests tonight from both sides of the aisle for live interviews, including the Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones and Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones.

But first, let's get an update on the day so far from Capitol correspondent Sarah Kallis, who's there live right now?

Hi, Sara.

Hi, Donna.

Lawmakers are still hard at work passing bills and are expected to continue late into the night.

The Senate started off the day early with 50-7 bills and resolutions on the calendar for Crossover Day.

SB 410 would repeal any new tax exemptions given to data centers for equipment purchases.

It also tacked on the original language from SB 34, saying the intent of that portion of the bill is to prevent power companies from passing on the electrical infrastructure in large load rate costs of data centers to their customers.

This body cannot make it any more clear.

We do not want ratepayers paying for the cost of data centers.

It is that simple.

The money for the state portion that these data centers are getting is more than an entire month of the total income taxes that the state of Georgia collects.

Democrats say it doesn't go far enough.

And Georgia Power knows the reason they are fighting this.

The original 34.

The senator from the 34th bill is because they know that the contracts do not actually cover customers.

They want to make sure that they do not actually cover customers for the length of what they are entering into, because that would mean that if the contracts, if the data centers don't come or don't stay, that their shareholders would have to pay for the excess.

Despite the concerns, the bill passed 32-21 along party lines.

SB 423 would limit the amount of money that out-of-state PACs and leadership committees could donate to campaigns to less than 50% of the candidates total contributions.

This bill offers a common sense, balanced approach to protect Georgia election elections from undue outside interference while promoting transparency and accountability.

It addresses the real concerns about dark money and disproportionate nonresident influence without imposing absolute bans or overly restrictive dollar amounts.

This is truly a transparency bill to make sure Georgians are electing Georgians.

Opponents say the bill is flawed and at best, a fig leaf cover for a bigger problem.

This bill is not a technically tight attempt to regulate campaign finance.

It is a vehicle for harassment of campaigns that derive political support, in part from national support.

The bill passed along party lines 33-21 Senate resolution 838, or the State Assurance of Voter Eligibility Amendment, would add a clause to the state constitution requiring that only U.S.

Citizens could vote.

Senators who oppose the resolution say that state law already bars non-citizens from voting.

When we talk about paragraph two and the right to register to vote, it says every person who is a citizen of the United States.

So, Senator, is it your belief that members of this body can change the definition of who a U.S.

Citizen is from the Georgia General Assembly?

Is it is that your belief.

You could write a law that allowed every United States citizen to vote, but that had a second section in that law that allowed non-citizens to vote?

However, if you change the word to only, that would not be allowed.

The vote was 32-23 failed to get the required two thirds majority, and was not passed.

SB 605 expands the list of offenses for which district attorneys and general solicitors can be removed from office.

We learned through the case where Fani Willis was removed from the election interference case based on an appearance of impropriety that many of the prosecutors wanted more clearly defined standards of conduct.

They wanted more of a bright line rule.

Tell us exactly what is not permitted before we're taking off of cases or disciplined in some way.

But denied that it was aimed specifically at Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for her attempt to prosecute President Donald Trump after the 2020 election.

This is to help her in the future that there has to be a bright line rule, a clear guardrail of what's permissible.

So this is in no way any action against her.

And it applies to all prosecuting attorneys.

That bill passed along party lines 34-18 The House took up a bill that failed earlier this week.

HB 717.

The bill would put up guardrails on ketamine clinics, including who can own them.

The original bill required doctors to have a 51% stake in the clinics.

Opponents said that cuts some nurses out of the business.

The new version of the bill changes that requirement.

There is a letter on your desk with the Crnas insignia on it, saying that we are in agreement on this.

The changes to the bill are the basic ones that you wanted, which was due to ownership.

The bill now allows for Crnas to own ketamine clinics and for physicians to own ketamine clinics.

The bill passed this time 1:50 5-8 House Bill 12 93 also received approval.

The program allows high school dropouts a chance to get their diploma, alongside another certification or diploma, making the state's original pilot program now permanent.

They offer specialized services primarily to students 18-22 Currently, to obtain their high school degree and to obtain their high school degree.

These are.

These are students who dropped out in high school.

They have to work towards two certifications an associate's degree or a diploma from their technical college.

The program will be refined and expanded statewide.

Currently, there are only five locations at the Technical College system has found is the program has been so successful, they're ready to work on taking it throughout the entire state.

It passed unanimously.

Income tax was on the calendar again in the House, this time, representatives debated HB 880, which lays out a plan to reduce the state income tax by a tenth of a percent annually until it reaches 3.99%.

It would also increase the standard deduction for dependents by $200 a year.

It is a reduction in the income tax for every Georgian across the board.

We already got that.

The established.

I don't think that there's any convincing that I can do to to get the minority party to come our way, but what I don't understand in this is that we're increasing the standard deductions for dependent $4000-6 thousand, and then for a married filing joint, we're going 24000-36 thousand.

So, so a family of four, two parents, two kids, the first roughly $50,000 of their income, will have no taxes on it.

Zero taxes.

We're giving them a deduction.

So they do not pay any taxes for the first $48,000 of their income.

I don't understand how anybody doesn't like that policy.

Some Democrats oppose the measure and said that they need more information on how HB 880 will impact the state's revenue.

We demand more from our local school systems, our local governments.

We create an audit report because they were not complying with statutes.

No auditor would take an Excel spreadsheet that doesn't tie to anything.

So my request is that we pull back.

We sent all these bills to a nice little study committee over the summer.

We figure out the best way to give people relief and return part of that 14 to $16 million back to everybody, to make sure that we can continue to function, because we didn't create that money.

The people that were here that left us this great opportunity.

They worked with us and many of us were here.

But the reality is that to pass a bill that we have no idea what it cost, I don't know how we do that.

The bill passed 100 and 2-69 And earlier and earlier today the Senate passed SB 591, which makes disrupting a religious service an aggravated misdemeanor.

And the House voted down HB 13 24, which would have repealed the ban on gun silencers.

That's my Capitol report, and I'll be back shortly with live interviews with legislators at the Capitol.

Absolutely.

We look forward to it.

Sarah.

Now I want to introduce our guests in the studio who will offer analysis of the legislative action.

First, Martha Zoller is a columnist, author, the host of The Martha Zoller Show on WGN radio.

And in 2012 she ran for the U.S.

House of Representatives in the ninth Congressional District.

Next.

Bill Crane is the owner of the corporate communications firm CSI Crane, a political analyst and commentator for TV, and he has a syndicated column called One Man's Opinion.

Welcome to Lawmakers to both of you.

Thanks so much for being here.

So let's start with your thoughts on these first 20:08 days of the session.

And Martha, we'll start with you.

Well, I think you're seeing a couple of things.

You're seeing the impact of the governor's last session.

Okay.

And the fact he's not running for the Senate.

And there is, you know, there has been not as it's been a little more difficult getting his agenda through.

Let's just say that also, what you're seeing is because of that decision, there are so many more current legislators that are running for offices that are going to be doing different things next year.

We know this legislature is going to look very different next year, regardless of who wins what.

And I think it has really had an impact on the legislation as well as what is actually getting through.

Yeah.

Bill.

I agree with Martha, particularly state Senate.

It's going to be a near empty chamber in terms of freshmen this time next year.

I think Frank Ginn will be the senior member of the body, who's a high school classmate.

The biggest issue has been, how are we going to cut taxes?

It's an election year.

And so the state Senate has a very aggressive proposal that would eliminate phased out over several years, the state's income tax phased in starting this year.

The state House had a proposal that would substantially give property tax reduction.

But that's essentially other people's money that cities and counties and school boards, they got a lot of pushback there.

And that proposal went down in flames earlier this week.

There are two different bills that they're trying to get across today.

I think it will probably be part of the horse trading that goes on with the Senate and will be part of what is eventually the Senate's income tax bill, but that's been the heavy lift.

And the big surprise for me of this session is when you're taking that much off the table, we're talking as much as $5 billion out of the state budget.

Nothing about gaming, nothing about.

I was thinking about that today.

Well.

They talked a little bit about it this morning.

Yeah, a little, a. Little, a little peeps on in hearings.

But you know, we were going to the governor had said he would get out of the way and he would let the state's voters have a constitutional amendment vote if they passed it.

And that's not happening.

When I spoke to Speaker Burns earlier this week and asked him that question and it was like, you know, crickets, you know, as far as things coming through.

So again, the election coming up, they want to make sure very little controversial comes forward.

But what I don't understand is, is especially the minority parties view of how giving people more of their money back is controversial.

I mean, you heard the legislator speaking about how the first $50,000 of income was going to be tax free as far as state income taxes.

That's a lot of people in this state that's going to get some relief.

And what have they been talking about the last few years is how much the rainy day fund is.

And now we're starting to try to spend some of that.

But it's differences in how to spend it.

Yeah.

And they've been talking a lot about the counties and the school districts and how they will be able to manage without that money.

The home, the bill, the Homestead Placement Act or homestead.

I can't remember the full name.

It would allow, would allow them up to $0.05 in new sales tax to put in place and complete flexibility on how they spend their Splost dollars, which are now limited to one time expenses.

Things like construction projects.

But if you're a county commissioner or school board member city council person, that means you could lose the biggest chunk other than sales tax of your revenues overnight in a couple of years.

And sales tax is pretty elastic, particularly in a recession.

It goes down very rapidly.

And so it's hard.

Don't you think, to bill that, that the confusion over that property tax bill that they did, what was last year.

That everybody opted out of.

Yeah, I think that has kind of laid a pox on all of these other ones.

Well we're hearing that property tax bill that was voted down earlier this week.

We may see that again tonight.

We're going to head back to the Capitol where Sarah has a guest, Sarah.

Okay.

Thanks, Donna.

I'm here with Representative Olaleye.

Hey, Sarah, how are you?

How are you doing today?

Tired.

It's been a long day.

We've still got a few more hours to go, but just head on a swivel and try to finish strong.

And tell me a little bit about the Democrats priorities for Crossover Day.

It's pretty simple.

It's just cost of living and just making things more affordable for our families, as well as increasing opportunity.

We know that from health care to groceries to strengthening our teacher pipeline, there are many investments that we can be making to increase the quality of life for all Georgians.

In your first bill passed this year, tell me a little bit about it.

So HB 310, the Student Teacher Promotion Act, would finally provide some financial assistance to our student teachers who are working full time in classrooms, unpaid.

And so this is the future crop of our teachers across the state.

We know we have a significant teacher shortage.

Well over 5,000 teacher vacancies across the state.

And this bill would provide them with the financial support to get to and through the program, as well as keeping our homegrown educator talent based here in Georgia.

And are there any other bills that you supported that didn't make it out of committee that you would have liked to see crossed the hurdle?

A few focused on early childhood.

We know that it's a great cost for families.

I have 2-4 year olds, and I cannot afford to keep put both of my sons in child care because it's a whole 'nother mortgage on the backs of my wife and I. And so being able to expand pre-K forward to include three year olds would be a huge step in the right direction.

That is House Bill.

11 46 as as well as providing a more financial subsidy to help lower income and working parents who have children who are part of the Caps program.

It's I think we're only covering 10-15 percent of all eligible families and children who could have access to care and a head start on building a strong education foundation.

And so Democrats voted against a constitutional amendment that would have significantly reduced property tax in the state.

Do you feel like you've had all been punished for your vote on that?

Well, we'll see.

There's still time on the clock.

It's a big debate.

I don't think you hatch tax policy overnight.

It requires time and thoughtfulness.

And I know Democrats have been keeping an open mind to make sure that we are exploring all options to provide targeted to relief to those most financially vulnerable populations who can stand to benefit from some property tax relief without hollowing out our local governments who fund and provide critical services.

Our firefighters, our police departments, our schools, our libraries, our parks it's a balancing act.

We don't want to solve one problem by creating another problem, and we definitely don't want to be defunding our local governments and our public safety.

All right.

Well, thank you, Representative Donna, back to you and your guests.

Thank you so much.

So let's talk a little bit here about what he talked about.

I mean, you talked about what the Democrats have been doing this year.

But I want to hear it from you.

I feel like there's some energy that they've had this session that they haven't had for a while.

Well, you look at the national scene and what's happened with President Trump and his polling numbers and a midterm that would traditionally would favor the out of party power, meaning the party not in power in the white House or in Congress does better in a midterm election.

So there's reason for optimism.

I think it's pretty safe bet at this point, the U.S.

House swings in the Democratic column.

So that plus the Public Service Commission wins and some pickoffs that have happened out in state legislative seats that have been special elections, have given the party some, you know, wind at their backs or wind underneath their wings.

I'm not sure when we get into the general primaries, the runoffs and the general election that's sustainable here in Georgia.

But it certainly got them smiling and thinking their chances are better in the fall than they have.

Been, and not as much frustration as we've seen in past years.

Maybe.

No, I think you're right.

And I think as we we also were finishing up the qualifying week this week and we are seeing more Democratic candidates than we have seen in decades.

And even in Up, where I live, the ninth district of of Georgia, which is a plus 26 Republican district even today, two Democrats have qualified for the Democratic primary, which has not.

I mean, we usually have one, but to have an actual Democratic primary in that race with a sitting congressman, it's not an open seat.

It's something to see.

And next Tuesday's special election for the Marjorie Taylor Greene seat.

And there are 14 or 15 Republicans, one Democrat who's really shining a second that is less known.

And Sean Harris, who's a former brigadier general and who ran against Marjorie Taylor Greene before.

I don't think he wins, but I think he's got a shot at getting in the runoff.

Well, and this.

Special election with all candidates and all parties.

Lots of people.

Well, this is going to be a test to about the Trump endorsement, okay?

Because it has been strong in places like Texas, but it hasn't been as strong in Georgia.

Okay.

Well, we're going to head back to the Capitol where Sarah has Senator Chuck Hufstetler with her.

Sarah, you ready?

Okay.

I'm off straight here, I guess.

Hi, Donna.

I'm here with Senator Chuck Hufstetler.

How's your night going, Senator Huffstetler?

Well, all the bills that I had are taken care of, so it's kind of a relaxing thing for me, but there's still some things to vote on, so glad glad to be done with my part and looking forward to the evening being over.

And so one of your bills that got a lot of debate this year was SB 34, which dealt with data center tax credits.

Can you talk to me a little bit about that?

Sure.

I had a version that prohibited the cost from going on to the ratepayers.

And even Senate research says the version that we passed out does not prohibit the cost going on to ratepayers.

And so I'm certainly disappointed that we didn't get that language in there to protect our ratepayers from future costs.

You know, President Trump even talked about this in the state of the Union that we needed to protect them.

And he even said that they should build their own.

Well, you can do that in Texas.

But in Georgia, in our regulated market, they're not even allowed to build them anyway.

But I do worry that this could be an A.I.

Bubble.

Contracts could go away, and then our ratepayers are left with this speculative build out that should be borne by the shareholders.

So I'll continue to work on that.

So SB 34 was combined with SB 410.

And some critics said that that bill didn't go far enough to protect consumers from these rate hikes.

What do you say to that?

I absolutely agree with them.

It doesn't go far enough.

And in fact, it does not protect them.

So I'm hoping that the House bill that comes over here, we can perhaps work on or that bill when it goes over to the House, can be strengthened because right now the protection is not there.

That should be for our citizens.

Georgia, you know, I would say this is a 90% issue.

I've had everyone from the Democrats to faith and freedom, Americans for prosperity, the Freedom Caucus, everybody supports this.

It's it's a bipartisan issue.

And I'm disappointed that we're letting the corporate lobbyists keep from happening.

What should be happening here.

And is there any other legislation you're hoping to see cross through tonight?

No.

As I said, my stuff's taken care of, so I'll keep an eye out for the rest and look out for mischief.

Amendments.

All right.

Well, it sounds like you might have a busy day ahead of you.

Thank you so much, Senator Donna.

Back to you at the studio.

Thanks, Sarah.

So we knew going into the session that anything about regulating data centers was going to be huge.

And so and we're seeing that and I don't know, I kind of feel like the power company lobby had a lot to do with some of the changes that happened.

Oh, I think they absolutely did.

I do think that this is going to be something people continue to be concerned about.

I know that even in in my county, in Hall County, they've tabled the request for data centers for, I believe it's nine months, but for a period of time to look at that.

But there has been some good things that have happened.

You know, there's been some some tightening up of the literacy bill that was passed a couple of years ago, and that has already passed through.

It's not in Crossover Day.

It's going to pass and it's going to be signed.

And there's also been some women's health issues like increasing maternity leave for state workers and things like that.

So there's a lot of work that's been done.

And the women got together, the women legislators got together, the Republicans, and really pushed for things that we may not have seen if they didn't exist in the legislature.

So that was good.

I want to get back to data centers a little bit, though, because I think there's going to be people who are disappointed if we don't see something.

More done.

Work for Georgia Power and Southern Company.

I'm a teeny tiny little shareholder, but if there is a more effective corporate group of lobbyists.

That's true.

Down at the Capitol with the history that Georgia Power has in economic development and other areas that can call in chits and favors, I can't think of one.

Maybe the poultry industry.

When Abbott Massie was still with us.

So I wasn't surprised.

I do think that there was some pretty good ground in in SB 34.

It's substantially eliminated the tax credits and the land giveaways that counties have used to lure these projects, and they are going to be built.

I liked what I heard out of Newton County, where the county commission was basically saying, we'll let you build here.

Stanton Springs has two massive metadata centers and two more that are owned by meta that are labeled Facebook.

But you're going to basically pick up more of the property tax bill for the school system instead of building out your own power capacity.

We're going to let we're going to shift more tax burden to you to compensate for the loss of land and our water use.

So I think there are ways to go at it.

But I agree, I think the bill and the Public Service Commission's earlier regulation on Georgia Power haven't gone far enough in most consumers eyes.

Yeah, I think that the PSC also has spoken in all of this and said we've already taken care of a lot of this, so there's no need for legislation.

So that may have had a factor.

I think it had an impact, but I also think it is still really important to do this under local control to see different ideas that are happening, like in Newton County and other counties, because you might have different needs in different places where you might want the data centers or the people that are building the data centers to pay up a little bit more.

So, you know.

It's very lucrative.

They pay some substantial property, unless again, they get the tax waiver.

Yes.

Yeah.

So the main thing is that that could make a difference in what we're seeing with the property tax bills.

If they're if the money is coming out of these data centers, I the one thing I can say is people a few years ago I talked about them on this show.

Nobody knew what data centers were.

So people understand.

Them now, primarily companies like Amazon.

I'm blanking on all the names.

Had excess computer capacity.

And when we built up the cloud, you were buying access and time and space on the cloud, as opposed to having that in your own corporate headquarters.

It's shifted.

And so that that purpose is still there.

That's what they originally conceived for.

But now they're massive and they're there for 5G and for A.I.

And as, as Senator Dolezal said, we may end up with more capacity than we need.

And if it bursts, that's a lot of real estate.

It can be converted to other things, but that's a lot of water and electric capacity and a higher rate base to build out that gigawatt generation capacity, we may not need.

Well, And people understand.

The implication is that you are somehow going to get your property taxes.

Abated somehow this way.

But it never happens.

It didn't happen with with sales taxes.

It didn't happen in other areas.

Your houses still keep going up.

Now, I always say I would never sell my house for what it's assessed for, so I don't mind property taxes so much.

But at the same time, you've got to make sure that that you're not overpromising and underdelivering.

Yeah.

And it was clear that Hufstetler is very disappointed in things.

And, and expected a whole lot more, especially given all the information we knew coming in how people felt about them.

So I would say it's one of those rallying issues.

You don't see much.

Many that get 75% or more voter support.

90 is the number that I've seen in most polling that would like to see some restriction.

Okay.

Well, we're going to go back to the Capitol, but this time we have Lieutenant Governor Bert Jones, who is standing by.

How so much I know it's a busy day for you today as the president of the Senate.

So thank you for being with us.

Well, it's good to be with you, Donna.

Always a pleasure.

So how do you think Crossover Day is going so far?

It's going really smooth, actually.

Today we we've actually had a lot of cooperation from both sides of the aisle.

We've gotten some things done that were important to the both the majority caucus and the minority caucus.

And a lot of it, a lot of it had to do with more things that were locally centered.

But but so far, it's been kind of a quiet day, and, but we're getting a lot of work done.

You had 57 bills at the top of the day.

By the time you went to dinner, there was down it was down to 32.

Still a lot to do tonight.

Well, we'll just keep working until, until until it looks like the the Senate doesn't want to go anymore.

But but they had pretty good spirit about them.

We just came out of dinner, and they and they were getting a few bills done.

We had some property tax measures that we were hoping to get done.

They were constitutional amendments and and they didn't we didn't quite get enough votes for that.

So but but we're going to keep working hard and and hopefully, hopefully we'll, we'll wait and see what the house is doing over there and, and and you know, they always, they always, they always get so upset when we leave early, you know, but we don't have as many people as they do.

So so we're going to try to hang around and you know, keep them company.

Which bills are you the most happy about at this point that actually moved on?

Well, I'll be honest with you.

There was there was a couple of I'm I had a couple of animal bills that that, that were very obviously, as you well know, my wife runs a organization called Butts Mutts, and it's a foundation that helps out with you know, foster dogs, spay and animals and things.

And, and there was a bill that I believe Senator Steele carried earlier today that that actually people who abuse animals, you put them on a list, you know, as far as people who should not own animals anymore in the future.

And that's something that I know that that group fought very hard for, that I'm talking about the animal.

Community fought very hard for that.

And so I was happy that that got passed.

But the rest of the things, you know, the things like cutting, lowering state income tax, things I've been passionate about on capping property taxes backing public safety and educational opportunities, those are things we've already gotten done.

So earlier in the session.

So, so what we're doing today really is just basically, you know, what senators rank and file senators like to see in their communities.

So that's really what we're doing, because the big issues we've we've already gotten across over to the house and, and that's what we're waiting on now.

So how long do you think you'll go tonight.

Don, I don't know.

Well, y'all must have a pool or something.

Y'all got a y'all got a betting pool over there.

We may.

Have.

To start one or something.

Or what?

Because.

Because, I mean, you need to let me in on this now, you know, tell me.

Tell me when we need to get out of this, and we can go.

But but.

But no, right now right now, we're just working through bills.

We're going to try to get through as many as we can.

And like I said, I really I really look to the body and just kind of I usually can get a pretty good read on when when most of them have checked out and when that point comes and I'll, I'll adjourn.

Okay.

Well, we thank you.

Given all that's going on tonight for joining us tonight okay.

All right.

Appreciate it.

Donna.

Have a good evening.

Always appreciate you.

Thank you.

Well, coming up, more of our special 1 hour crossover day Lawmakers special.

So stay with us.

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Welcome back to our 1 hour Crossover Day Lawmakers special.

I'm Donna Lowry, joining me for analysis are Bill Crane of C.S.I.

Crane and WSB TV.

And Martha Zoller, columnist and host of The Martha Zoller Show on WGN radio.

So we we last heard from the lieutenant governor.

So I want to get your your opinion on what he talked about.

Some of the things he discussed.

There were some pretty impressive things in the supplemental budget that the governor signed into law on Wednesday, that one time expenses for a first time, needs based Hope scholarship, essentially $325 million, plus additional money that they didn't expect to get out of the lottery.

So that could be $400 million of $409 million.

Mental health hospital, probably going into middle Georgia to deal with the jails that are overpopulated with mentally ill and addicted inmates.

He's running for governor.

I would have expected a little more bragging on what they've already gotten done.

I know that we were talking to him about Crossover Day, but as Martha said earlier, it's been a pretty productive session.

And if you look at that supplemental budget because they forecast revenues very conservatively, we overshot revenue by more than $2 billion of what the expectation was.

And they got to spend a lot of that earlier this week.

So you know I would have talked a little bit about that.

The governor helped them out with that.

He did.

He did that money that extra money.

He seemed like he was ready to go.

Yeah, I think it was like, okay, we've done our.

Work a long day.

It's been a long day.

They always are really long days.

You know, I kind of I used to hear the stories about how they'd unplug the clock, you know, so they could go longer on sine die and things like that.

But honestly, a lot of the big work has been done, and, and the some of the big things like the tax proposal and the, and the property tax aren't going to happen, I don't think, unless, you know, some miracle happens, miracle happens in the next 5 hours.

So I think they're going to be regrouping a bit.

I mean, I'm not saying at all this has not been a good session.

It has been a good session.

But I think that there'll be a little regrouping.

You know, we'll know qualifying has finished.

Everybody will know who they've got running for them.

Then they've got the stage really for the next 12 days since we moved it up to 28 days from being it used to be 30 days.

So I think it could be really interesting.

Final 12 days of the session because of how this crossover day has gone.

Less manic, maybe.

So we'll see.

Well, we're going to head back to the Capitol, where our correspondent Sarah Kallis is with Senator RaShaun Kemp.

Position.

Speech.

Say that that might have a. Senator Kemp for being here.

How's your night going?

So, Bill, that you've sponsored that would protect.

We may have to go back to Sarah in a few minutes.

We're having some technical issues with all of that.

I wanted to talk.

You mentioned qualifying.

So let's talk a little bit about that.

Some surprises.

There.

Some surprises on who qualified and several surprises about people we expected to run for reelection who decided not to, but a record.

I mean, 14 candidates for governor.

We have for several of these offices, like lieutenant governor, a record number of office holders seeking other offices more women, more minorities.

And as Martha mentioned earlier, more Democratic candidates than we've seen qualifying in decades.

Yeah.

And then some people, like Senator Elena Parent choosing not to run, which surprised people.

That was a surprise and kind of at the last minute, you know.

And so we'll see.

And I think didn't she endorse her somebody somebody.

Immediately supported Representative Saira Draper.

I'm going to be sorry to see Jan Jones go.

You know what I mean?

I think she's done a great job.

I think she's done a great job for the state.

She has been the highest ranking Republican woman for years, and she was the only woman to hold the speaker's gavel for a period of time.

So I'm going to be sorry to see her go.

And also a mentor to a lot of those Republicans in the in the suburban.

Including me, including me, who she was always a great friend.

Quite figure out how to run for reelection.

The way the demographics were shifting.

She's really helped a lot of them out that way.

Yeah, I have I have really enjoyed working with her.

I'm going to miss her a lot, but I'm sure she's got great things ahead.

She made history, too, so that you, as you mentioned.

So we're going to head back out to Sarah and Sarah.

I hope you can hear us now.

Sarah.

All right.

All right.

Thank you so much, Donna.

And I'm here again with Senator Kemp and Senator Kemp.

Talk to me a little bit about your bill that protects students who want to protest.

Yeah.

As a. Former principal, I think it's very important for students to be able to express themselves not just in the school, but outside of the four walls of the school.

And so this would just ensure that students are given a excused absence if they are going to engage in civic discourse.

And I think, what better way for students to learn about civic engagement than to do it firsthand in real time?

And we've seen a lot of those student protests over the past few months.

Yeah.

You know, and this bill would protect students no matter where you land.

On the ideological ideological spectrum or what you believe in, you can support Donald Trump or Barack Obama.

You should be respected as a student to express your voice.

And that's what this bill would give them an opportunity to do.

And talk to me a little bit about some of the other priorities for the Senate Democrats tonight.

So our priority is ensuring that folks have affordable, you know, opportunities to live and live happy lives and also to protect our vote.

We're seeing that, you know, folks on the other side of the aisle are doing doing things to attack the vote, make voting more difficult, and that's unnecessary.

We need to be making sure that we make it easier for folks to vote and express themselves.

And how does Senate Democrats balance making sure you get what you want across, while also being in the minority party?

It's difficult.

You know, folks are going to try to, you know, make deals and, you know, pull us away.

But I think we are a United team, 23 strong, and we're going to stand firm on the ideals that we believe in and work across the aisle when we can to get things done that improve people's lives.

And education related bills have always been a priority of yours.

Are there any specifically that you're excited about this year?

Well, of course I'm excited about my own bill.

I have Senate Bill 475.

That brings some parity for public charter schools that are locally approved to ensure they have access to facilities, funding, and also opportunity to make the election process easier for folks that want to possibly consolidate school districts.

Well, thank you so much for being here tonight.

Donna.

Back to you at the studio.

All right.

Thank you, Sarah.

So let's talk about a few things.

He talked about.

One of his pieces of legislation is to protect students who protest.

What are your thoughts on that?

So I'm the ninth district representative for the Georgia State Board of Education.

Okay.

And so this is something we've thought about not on the board, but we have supported our school systems.

I, you know, it's if kids want to protest, that's great.

But they should not be leaving during the school day to go out and protest.

I do not think that is appropriate.

I agree with our superintendents in our district that said, this is instruction time and you're not going to leave school in order to protest.

So I would disagree with him about that.

Bill, I'm not saying you shouldn't be able to do it, but it shouldn't be during the school day.

Well, there's also liability concerns.

Children leaving and coming.

Back, coming back, going off campus, taking cars during the school day.

And I've got a high school student in the family now leaving the camp, and I'm I support the idea of free speech, but they can do a lot of that on campus when they get up and leave and go into another downtown area, or go across a major thoroughfare, which a lot of our high schools are on we can have a lot of unintended consequences.

Yeah.

And I didn't get a chance to talk to the lieutenant governor about his bill that he really pushed.

And we're the first in Georgia to have one, and it inspired it is inspired by Charlie Kirk and is to allow political speech, free speech on school, in schools, public schools.

Absolutely.

And also having the clubs I mean, we seem to fight this battle about what clubs we can have in high schools every few years, you know, but I mean, you should be able to have a club.

I love that idea.

Or and I am a little bit of a color in between the lines kind of person.

I'll admit that I love the idea of of being able to have these groups in schools so that they understand how to put this kind of activism together.

Okay, let's talk about some of the elections legislation.

Your thoughts on what what what is out there, some that have has passed.

So some of it has.

Passed.

In the early 2000, the Georgia Republican Party had taken over.

They created voter I.D.

Law.

They significantly expanded absentee ballot to no excuse absentee voting, three weeks of early voting.

And then there's one election where one outcome in 2020 wasn't what the party would have liked to have seen.

And it seems like they are overreacting in terms of.

But I want to basically take away no excuse absentee voting in one bill.

We want to go back to paper ballots, and I'd like to spend 30s on that.

What an administrative nightmare that is for the counties and the election superintendents.

We want to restrict access to early voting, and you can only early vote in the location that you're assigned to as opposed to countywide, which is the current law.

Further restriction on the drop boxes.

And I just don't think laws that are aimed at affecting outcomes are appropriate, but specifically on the paper ballots, if you have to, if you voted via absentee, you might get ten or 13 page paper ballot.

Especially with the number of candidates we've got.

Now, like in Fulton County.

And you fill that out by hand, you will now have to have that preprinted because the printers would burn out trying to do it at the precinct level.

And then you take it to a scanner, you coming in from the rain with wet hands.

You're coming in with dirty hands.

You haven't had a chance to clean your hands up from a working man's job.

You smudge the ballot.

All of those things can cause errors versus a very well functioning system.

We have now that the GOP has literally killed it in 2020, 20 20-20 24, with the exception, again, of one presidential election.

So I think it's much ado.

And I think the party does itself a disservice there.

And with in the and I'm not saying this to speak ill of the lieutenant governor, but endorsing a candidate for nominee before the primaries are held, I think hurts the party and I think hurts that candidate.

Okay, Martha.

So I think what's interesting when you look at something like this where every time they go back to the future and I had this conversation with Senator Dolezal, they go back to the future and they they look at this, that, that there are squishy Republican women all over north Atlanta that go, oh my God, I can't believe they're going there again.

I think it's a big mistake.

I think Senate Bill 202 did a great job in tightening up the rules.

I think there did need to be more rules around lockboxes.

There did need to be more rules around absentee ballots.

But what we saw on.

Absentee ballots, what we saw from that was the highest turnout of all types of voters that we had ever seen.

So I don't agree with the paper ballots.

I think that, you know, I get very frustrated with this, but I feel like they have to certain parts of their base, they have to respond to.

And I realize that sometimes I'm out of step with the Republican Party on this, and I do not think the Republican Party should be involved in endorsing candidates.

You know, I was in a multi-candidate race for Congress.

I certainly wouldn't have wanted my Republican Party to take sides in it.

Okay.

So one of the things I think the big issue was we were supposed to see the end of the QR codes by the end of.

You got it, you got to give funding if you're going to require that the mandate was passed and then there's no funding.

So you have to have new scanners.

You have to completely rework the ballot.

And I understand that there are people who look at the QR code and don't understand it, even though every retailer your phone you pay with, you know, a lot of people bank that way now.

But there's a cost.

And the last election equipment system that we put in with Dominion Voting Services, the equipment and the training was about a $250 million line item.

And you have to the counties in the cities cannot afford that on their own.

Well, and it's funny, because of the QR code, the problem with that, and I think the Secretary of state said he didn't get the funding, which he did not get the funding.

And if you go all the way back to Cathy Cox, for some reason, the legislature likes to make the secretary of state pay because they'll require him to do things and then they won't allocate the money.

I don't know, because it happened under Democrats and it's happened under Republicans.

And I don't know if it's a power struggle.

I don't know if it's because he's running for governor.

But it is very interesting that this is not just been a problem with this secretary of state, where he hasn't.

Gotten all the way back to Cleveland.

I can go all the way back.

Yeah.

I forgot about that with Cathy.

Cathy Cox in 2004 when we first got electronic voting.

Yes.

That's true.

Okay.

Well, we're going to head back to the Capitol, where Sarah has an interview with Representative Akbar Ali.

Sarah.

Thank you.

Thank you, Donna, and thank you, Representative Ali, for being here.

This is your first crossover day.

Tell me your impressions so far.

So everything has been going quite smoothly so far.

This is actually technically my second crossover day since I used to work in the state Senate.

Once upon a time.

Imagine this would be different being a representative versus being on the staff side.

All 100%.

Yes, it's a lot more fun this way.

And I mean, once again, I'm just very grateful to be a part of this process.

And so tell me about some bills that have passed that you're looking forward to, that you're excited to possibly become law.

So I'll actually speak on one that didn't pass, that I'm glad did not pass.

There was a bill to remove the prohibition on silencers within this state.

And I know that's a very contentious topic of when it comes to gun rights and gun violence.

However, being around 20, 25 minutes away from the Apalachee High School shooting, I am I am relieved that we were able to block that silencer bill because in in a way, it also impedes law enforcement's ability to do their job, but it also allows for the number one slayer of children within our state, which is gun violence to be combated more, in a better way.

And are you supportive of any other legislation dealing with gun safety?

Absolutely.

I mean, I voted for the metal detector bill that was passed earlier this session in our In the People's House, but also, I would like to see further gun violence prevention being done within this state.

I think that's just something where, you know, speaking as a younger, a younger man myself, I was part of the generation that grew up with gun drills.

And so I want to see a reality where our students don't have to be in fear every time they go to class.

And you're the youngest representative.

Tell me a little bit about how your young perspective is contributing to the house.

Honestly, I feel that a large portion of this is a symbiosis between the old and the young generation.

I'm not I think that we need some institutional memory, but along with some fresh, young ideas working in synergy to make the people's House and the state Senate work.

Yeah, we'll see how those ideas turn out the rest of the night.

Thank you for being here.

And thank you, Donna.

Back to you at the studio.

Thanks so much, Sarah.

So he's the youngest.

He actually was on this show and turned 22 that same week.

So he but he has a lot of energy and a lot of ideas and and the the fact that he's talking about public safety because, I mean, he just got out of school basically, and he's he really cares about some of the things that didn't get through.

Well, you know, and I'm, I'm kind of more of the a little more hard line on, on gun rights because I think the problem is more a mental health problem than it is necessarily availability of guns.

And I'm more disappointed that we have had a lot of promises and a lot of bills passed.

Remember 1013 a couple of years ago, that kind of thing.

And yes, we've just gotten the injunction lifted related to our mental health hospitals that was lifted after many years.

And so we're going to start seeing, I hope, the kind of help that families need.

Because what happens is, is a family gets to where a young person is, you know, we focused a lot on Apalachee, which that young man was 14.

But there are so many families that I talked to that have an 18-year-old or a 19-year-old, and technically they're adults and the family can't really do anything.

So there's nowhere for them to go.

There's nowhere.

For.

Them to go.

So adolescents, there's no more bed.

It's the mental health side of this and dealing with that and not that we we shouldn't have responsible gun ownership.

I believe that you ought to have you ought to have you ought to be registered.

You ought to know how to use a gun.

I mean, I don't we have guns, but I don't use guns because I don't know how to use it, so I wouldn't use it.

But it's it's something we have to be careful about.

Yeah.

And as far as public safety, I don't think the metal detector bill passed or has it may have come.

Out, hasn't got funding in it.

Now.

I passed out of the House.

I believe the General Assembly in the last two cycles has put a lot of money in public safety and mental health to help the school system, school counselors, grants for them to make improvements.

But the bill is going to require metal detector at every public entrance.

Every single one.

And you have to staff that.

And and not to say there aren't enough employees to move around in a given school day, but all the students don't arrive and depart at the exact same moment.

And, you know, even a 15 minute window at the beginning and end of the day.

So if you're going to have multiple entrances and exits, you're going to have to camera them, you're going to have to have staff on them, and you're going to have to maintain the equipment.

And that's millions of dollars.

So well, and there's other programs in Hall County, for example Will Schofield has a program that he's put together where where they have taught conflict resolution to the entire school system, not just the students, but all the way down to janitors and people that work in the cafeteria.

And they have drastically reduced the violent interactions where people argue and fight and things like that.

And so so it's something that it's got to be a combination of things, is what I'm saying.

And I think conflict resolution and problem solving is at the top of the.

List, including enforcing truancy, because we've got a lot of kids who will disappear for a month or two and then come back to school.

Yeah.

And where.

Did they go?

And then they bring problems when they come back in.

Okay.

Well, now we're going to head back to the Capitol where Sarah has an interview with Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones.

Sarah.

Thank you, Donna, and thank you, Speaker Jones.

So this is your last crossover day.

How are you feeling?

I'm feeling good.

I've had 20.

This is my 24th crossover.

So I've had a long time to prepare for my last one.

Yeah, it's certainly a long career and service here at the Capitol.

And so one of the highlights is earlier today, your dual achievement program bill passed.

Can you talk to me a little bit about the need for this bill and the impact it might have on the state?

Yeah.

So we know we still have Georgians who don't make it over the finish line to graduate from high school.

And so this bill will take a pilot program and make that program statewide so that young adults ages 18-22 can can receive special counseling services and support to help them get over the finish line at our technical colleges.

And there is a technical college or branch within 30 miles of every Georgian in Georgia.

Wow.

That's impressive that everyone is so close to one of these tech schools.

Yeah, and so going back to today being your last crossover day, what's next for you as you look to life after the state legislature?

Well, I'm going to find out what life is like after being elected so long, but I will still be in office until January of 2027.

So I've got about nine months to figure that out, and I'm looking forward to that process.

Well, thank you so much for making time to be here tonight.

Thank you, thank you.

Thanks so much, Sarah.

Donna.

Thank you.

So let's talk about, first of all, any comments on what, with the speaker Pro tem Jan Jones had to say.

Well, she'll be missed.

She'll be missed.

But, you know, when it's time, you know, and I didn't realize she'd been around 24 years.

I mean, so that is a very long time.

She led a lot.

You know, we like to talk about things in terms of the fact she was the first woman speaker pro tem, the first woman speaker, but she was a darn good legislator, regardless of whether she was a man or a woman.

And I think that that's been that's going to be her legacy.

She also helped the Republican Party hang on to not only north Fulton County, but to congressional districts, and helped counsel and mentor a lot of candidates.

And now incumbent and longtime House members, about holding the line on certain issues within the Republican Party.

They'd probably call her a rhino if they don't already.

But also being able to listen to your constituents and have strong positions that aren't necessarily party dogma.

And I think that's one of the tributes to Jan Jones career in politics.

Well, it turns out we're going to get one more interview in from Sarah.

So we're heading back to the Capitol, and she has an interview with Representative Chris Erwin Sarah.

Thanks, Donna.

Representative Irwin, you're the chairman of the House Education Committee.

A big push that we've seen in education is the literacy bills this year.

Tell me a little bit about why those are so important this year, especially.

Well, as we know, reading is foundational to all learning that takes place.

So we've got to do a better job at teaching our kids to read by third grade.

We know that's a good checkpoint to be checking to be sure they're on grade level reading at that time.

Make a difference for all of their subjects.

And we always say that's the last year to learn to read before you have to read to learn.

And what are some other highlights that have come out of the House Education Committee?

Well, we've done a bill recently trying to support our educators and the learning that takes place at high school with a cell phone or cell phone band that is out there, that that's a great one.

We got a math matter.

So we're beginning to look at math in the state of Georgia, just like we have literacy out there.

And then of course, a lot of safety bills that we have going trying to keep our schools safe.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for being here with me and hope you have a great rest of your crossover day.

Great.

Thank you Donna.

Thank you Sarah.

So we don't have a lot of time, but I want to get your final thoughts.

We'll start with you.

Bill.

Surprised?

Nobody mentioned it but the high school bell to Bell band bill at high schools passed one chamber going over to the other.

And I think it'll be a tremendous benefit to educators and students, even though there'll be some unhappy parents that won't be able to reach their kids every moment of every classroom day.

But I think it's a popular one in terms of, you know, what we're hearing from teachers, too.

Yeah.

Yeah, I would say ditto on that, because I am so surprised at the parents that are opposed to it.

That's going to be I predict there's going to be, you know, some parent groups there saying how they need their high school kids to have their phones, number one.

And then number two, I'm really looking for the other education bills to go through and to really support literacy.

I'm all for these literacy screeners that we've approved, but you still have to have eyes on these kids to teach them how to read.

And we've got to have that support there.

And the fact that they're talking about doing it when they're young, I think there was even a bill today that dealt with getting them into pre-K and kindergarten earlier, and that has been important.

So big priorities this this year that we'll see what happens in the next.

You never know what will happen in the next 12 days.

We still can have some things happen.

Bills and bills.

That's where they take those bills that have.

Already been.

Passed over.

Sometimes they got them completely and put something else in there, and it comes as a shock to whoever had the first bill.

Thank you both for coming on the show.

I really.

Appreciate it.

You're always welcome here.

Please know that.

Well, that does it for Lawmakers.

We'll be back on Monday when each chamber will start looking at legislation mostly passed on the other side.

That's when we begin to see which bills could become laws.

And as they head to the governor's desk, will know, will know a little more.

But right now we see what's happening in the Senate.

A total of three, because a lot of times the standard one you get, you can't go take a shower, you can't go work out, you know, doing other basic things.

So this is just allowing based on that doctor and the patient to talk about what's best for them to just live a normal life.

Thank you.

Do you further yield?

I yield.

And so you mentioned prosthetic devices.

Perhaps to be able to go to the showers.