It makes me emotional as a mother, as a parent, to have to worry about my kid's safety every single freaking day he walks to school, he gets on the bus or I drop him off at school because I want to be worried about his academics, not if he's gonna get in a fight and a kid pulls out a weapon, not if someone's gonna come shoot up the school, but those are realities that we deal with.

Tears from a parent and a lawmaker over school safety as the house tackles a variety of education bills today.

Good evening and welcome.

It's day 23 of the georgia legislative session.

Donna lowery in Atlanta.

Also tonight, tough conversations about public safety and public health, the new efforts to stop interstate sexual predators redefine incest in georgia law, and examine safe haven baby boxes.

Two house republican lawmakers join us to explain their legislation later two senate democratic lawmakers will explain their passionate efforts to put legal guardrails around what immigration and customs enforcement can do in georgia first as the second half of the session continues to heat up, our busy capital correspondent, sarah calls breaks down what happened at the capitol.

Hi donna.

Today at the capitol, lawmakers passed key bills dealing with schools and children.

It was an education focused day in the house.

Members debated and passed house bill 11 93, an overhaul of the state's literacy program.

I want you to imagine today yourself if you could not read.

Reading is not natural to you and your brain.

It's a skill you acquire.

And believe it or not, if you don't remember being taught to read, it's a difficult skill, not only for you to learn, but it's a difficult skill for a teacher to accomplish, to give to you and for then for you to carry on.

Hb 11 93 would place and fund literacy coaches in all georgia elementary schools.

It would also provide more materials to teachers on teaching literacy, allow schools to hold back kids if they are not meeting first and second grade reading levels, and lower the recommended age of enrolling a child in school to five.. We're not leaving anything to chance or family circumstances.

We are building a system that prioritizes literacy and early learning in reading for every single child.

The renewed push for literacy comes as the majority of georgia third graders are not reading at grade level.

Third grade is a key reading threshold for students to meet as it's the last milestone for kids to learn to read before they must read to learn.

The bill passed 170 to two house bill 1009 would ban cell phones.

In high school.

High school teachers tell us that half of their students are off task for large portions of the day colleagues outcomes matter and our students are suffering academically but are also missing out on meaningful social and emotional connections with each other.

House bill 1009 builds on the distraction free act from last year, extending the same bell to bell no cell phone policies to high school beginning with the 2027, 28 year.

A law that passed last session already banned cell phones for students up to eighth grade, but supporters say that educators and families want the ban extended.

House bill 1009 pass 145 to 20 and house bill 1023 requires weapons detectors at entrances to school buildings.

Keeping our students safe in georgia has been a top priority of the georgia house of representatives.

House bill 1023 is the next step in that important work by requiring all georgia public schools to implement one or more weapons detection system at points of entry into school buildings.

Schools will receive $50,000 each in school safety grants in the proposed fiscal year 27 budget.

F station says that they can use the grant to pay for weapons detectors.

This bill builds on existing school safety plans and legislation that's been passed to provide local school systems with available grants so that these decisions are made on the local level as to what the appropriate system is to utilize and how best it is to be funded.

Some democrats say that while well intended, the bill doesn't go far enough to address gun violence prevention and gun safety legislation is needed.

If we admit that the threat is real enough to put a medal detector at the schoolhouse door, then we have to admit it's real everywhere else those same children live their lives.

Let me be clear, medal detectors are not a victory, they are a mission an admission that we have failed somewhere else, and admission that the adults in the room have not done enough to stop the danger before it reaches the front door ultimately hb 1023 pass 151 to 11.

It was a harmonious day in the senate with unanimous support for four of the five bills brought to the floor.

Two of the more notable sb 171, will allow grade school students to enroll in advanced mathematics programs, eventually leading to high level high school math classes.

This will allow a middle school student to take a high school mathematics course while still in middle school and then prepare them for advanced mathematics in high school, which prepares them for more advanced mathematics as they pursue their degrees at colleges and universities.

It passed unanimously.

There was less bipartisan acceptance of senate bill 392 called the waste reduction act of 2026.

The bill puts in place a system called zero based budgeting, which would require state agencies to review and justify their program spending at least every ten years.

It also eliminates waste, duplication and obsolete programs.

We have to take a hard look to see is this program necessary as it was perhaps the day it was created.

Is there duplication in other areas of government?

Are there more efficient ways to provide the same services over time?

It reduces those structural deficiencies and drives to a leaner and better government.

Some democrats objected, saying that many of the state's programs are already underfunded and this bill will not help with that fundamental problem.

Now it may make sense if you were in a state that had a bloated budget with a lot of unnecessary expenditures, you know, if we were one of those liberal states right you know, something like this, I don't know, to maybe take a look and see if the expenditures that we were making with billions of dollars of taxpayer money really suited the ends of government.

But we are not in such a state.

We are in a state that has been variously described as fiscally responsible, fiscally conservative.

Let's be clear about what these euphemisms mean.

We live in a state with a starvation budget.

Despite the pushback, it passed with bipartisan support.

44 to seven.

Today was also ffa day at the capitol and healthcare workers day.

Lawmakers will be back tomorrow for day 24.

That's my capital report donna thank you sarah we kick off our interview segments with bills aimed at protecting georgia's most vulnerable from tracking sexual predators across state lines to strengthening incest laws and expanding infant safety devices.

Two republican lawmakers join us to explain their legislation.

Joining us is republican representative darlene taylor of thomasville.. She is chair of the house appropriations health subcommittee.

Some of her other duties include the special committee on healthcare and public safety and public community and community health.

That committee also here is republican representative mike cameron of rossville.

He is the vice chair of human relations and aging.

His other committee assignments include appropriations and agriculture and consumer affairs.

Welcome to lawmakers.

Thank you.

And you're on agriculture and consumer affairs too.

So early morning, I hear you have a hearing.

All right then.

So we'll try not to keep you too late tonight.

All right, chair taylor, let's get to these difficult but critically important issues you're addressing.

You have hb 421, the interstate sexual predator prevention act first.

What's behind that legislation?

We had an episode in an issue at home where someone had traveled from another state and it was the person was arrested.. Nothing had happened.

He actually met a young boy online and parents were unaware of it.

The man traveled from south carolina, but he had been in many states.

The father found them together and it was very intrusive to the family and what happened.

But once it went to court, we realized that there is not a law in the state of georgia charging because nothing had happened for traveling.

So I've been trying to bring this bill for several years and it's difficult because the issue is that he traveled, nothing had happened.

But today with the internet you have a track record where he had intentions that were not very honorable and our judges felt like we needed to have something.

So I've listened to my sheriff and the judges and law enforcement and they've asked me to bring this legislation yeah so I wanted to ask about his legislation, , which is difficult too, and then we'll get back with you about the bill.

You have another bill to protect the most vulnerable georgians, hb 57 crimes of incest to include step parent and step child relations.

What's behind that bill we had a situation in northwest georgia where a young lady went to live with her grandmother and step grandfather and the step grandfather took advantage of the situation.

And after it was determined what he'd done, there was the family wanted him prosecuted, but the young lady was of age in georgia, the legal aid, past the legal age.

So they were going to prosecute him under the incest law.

But they found out there was a loophole there where step grandchildren, step grandparent relationship was not covered.

So our da at the time called me.

We got with legislative council and drafted bill almost immediately wow so we'll find out more about what that is.

Tell us what your bill will do.

It's very simple.

It specifically states that if you travel from another state, it is a crime in the state of georgia now.

And this is making our folks at home very happy.

Our sheriff actually has testified in another state because this perpetrator actually went to another state and committed the same crime somewhere else.

So I'm very glad georgia has recognized this and we will not accept that kind of treatment and crimes in our state.

This is one of those where it always amazes me why you think this would have already been a law.

And people thought, and when I first brought the bill, they said oh we already do cover it, but no, it is not there traveling again.

It had no act had actually happened and so there wasn't a case for that.

But the intention was there.

They traveled for that purpose.

And with the internet today, there was a record of it and you could see what the intentions were.

What about yours?

Talk about what well, this is going to send a message that we're not going to tolerate this.

And I've had some people who counsel young people in northwest georgia tell me that passing this, they deal with people, young people that this happens to on a more than regular basis unfortunately so we're gonna we're going to tighten up the law and make it where if somebody does this, they better think twice.

Another one where you think, why wasn't that covered?

So I'm glad you guys have those bills okay let's get to some more.

You have also have a bill well you were on a committee, a study committee on public health to evaluate the spending in public health's correct.

And so tell us about that and why the speaker wanted this to happen.

It's very, very important what our public health is.

That's the backbone for our health in the state of georgia.

And we needed to see how the funds were spent, what do they need, what's working and what's not.

And I will tell you, if you've seen one health department, you've seen one health department, Our state is so diverse, each one has different needs, but the community needs the services.

We had some very great warriors during the covid time.

These were the people in those offices that worked very, very hard.

But I worked with doctor toomey and the staff and we were able to see what their needs were.

Staffing is very difficult for them.

And the first bill that we brought, we brought this year, I've already got it out of the house and it has to allow those that work in the local departments, if they've reached the top of their career ladder, they can now transfer and go into the state public health before they would lose their benefits.

And if they wanted to progress, they would either leave the department and leave public health altogether.

So this is going to help them and we'll do other things.

But this was the first one that we could get out the gate and get that done for the department.

Now as part of the problem, the funding is federal state, and then the local counties right.

That's correct.

That's how it is funded.

All three participate in it.

And there's different things that you do with the money and you earmark it.

Each one is in a separate bucket.

You can't commingle funds, things like that.

So it is very difficult.

You don't have one person in charge of everything.

Dr.

Toomey is great with leading the department of public health, but each county has their own autonomy, so it makes it difficult.

We do give directives and they for the most part regionally will obey them and do them, but we're still looking at legislation for some of that.

And it's very important now because of our fqhcs, our federally qualified health centers work very closely to make sure that people have somewhere to go for health care okay I want to thank you for that bill let's get into your bill dealing with baby boxes.

And I know that we've had this safe haven for babies in the past.

So what's different this bill establishes parameters.

If a fire hall, a police department, a ambulance service, or maybe even a hospital wants to put one of these devices in their area like in a fire department in a wall there the outside wall someone if they're going to surround a baby, they can bring it, put it in, they don't have to identify themselves.

And once the baby is there, there's alarms that let people know there's a baby there.

Then they take from there they'll take it to the hospital.

The hospital will examine the baby and make sure that everything's all right.

And then they go into the department of human services.

There's almost like I came out of the compliance world, so it's almost like an audit trail.

There's there's something that makes sure there's steps there that will make sure that the baby is safe and goes from one place to another and ends up where they should be instead of just the baby being abandoned on the street or wherever on a doorstep.. This will provide that the baby will be safely taken care of and get to the place where they go to foster care.

Yeah, I know I did a story years ago about these hope boxes, that they'll call them in some places where you put the baby in there and then the alarm goes off and somebody gets them.

But you're saying there was still something missing in terms of we didn't.

The ones that are there now are have electronic double safeties on them.

So they're if one alarm doesn't go off, another one will.

For example, the fire department is not answering a call, there'll be another alarm that rings over to like 911 and says there's a baby in there.

So somebody will come and get the baby.

They won't stay there very long and every day this this bill requires twice a day that they have to do manual checks and once a month all the alarms have to be checked.

So we're saying if someone does surround a child, it's going to go from there to the hospital to human services.

So we're going to make sure that baby is safe and is in a proper place.

And where is your bill now?

Like it passed out of the house, passed out of the house.

It's in the senate with the insist bill is in the senate as well.

So we look forward to working with the senate to move bills okay before crossover day and you, you still may see some bills.

You want to see some things that came out of your recommendations and your commit.

We'll be working on some more of those.

I know that some of them may not make some of the counties happy.

I think one recommendation is for them to put some more money in.

That's correct.

We need to do some of that adjusting okay you before we left wanted to say something about the okb yes I did.

I'm very grateful to the outdoor stewardship program has put some funds in dnr to actually have a wildlife management area on the ridge right next to the okefenokee and some of the protected land.

And I think that's a great beginning for all the people of the state of georgia.

So what kind of wildlife will we see?

There's all kinds there.

We will see all.

It will protect all of them and it will be open for the public to be able to use it and see it.

It's a wonderful idea.

And that's another one really yeah why not?

Why haven't we seen that happen?

That's right well thank you both for coming on.

I know it's the first time being on the set with both of you, so I appreciate that.

Thank you so much well coming up, we move to several pieces of legislation dealing with ice agents in georgia and a bill looking to restructure state income taxes.

Two senate democratic leaders join us to discuss all of that and more when lawmakers continues on gpb.

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It's a georgia thing Welcome back to lawmakers.

I'm donna loury.

On the second day of this legislative session, senate democratic leaders held a press conference to introduce a slate of bills relating to ice agents in georgia.

We're going to get into topics with democratic senator kim jackson of stone mountain.

She is a senate minority whip and her committee assignments include appropriations, children and families ethics and public safety.

They always have so many committees.

Also here is senator elena parent of Atlanta.

She is senate minority caucus chair.

She's also on appropriations and judiciary, education and youth, and government oversight.

Welcome to both of you.

Back to lawmakers.

The senate always has more committees for you to go through, but I appreciate it.

So let's talk about this.

You guys got right into it once the legislative session started.

You both are here to talk about bills that are part of a package that senate democrats have focusing on immigration and customs enforcement or ice in georgia.

And you held that press conference on that second day where you and other legislators were very passionate.

What s behind all of that passion yeah so I represent clarkson georgia which is a refugee resettlement location.

It's a place where there are people from all over the world who have come and made their place here as home.

There are also a number of latino and hispanic immigrants as well that are in my district.

And so for me, so much of my bill was about responding to my constituents saying, please do something, help us.

And then asking my other colleagues, are you getting similar things in your district?

And people saying collectively yes people are afraid.

They don't know if ice is behind them, if ice is at their door.

They want some clear identification and some protocols for how ice might operate in the state of georgia well we'll get to specifics in a second.

Your background.

Why are you so passionate about this well we know that americans want a secure border and they want a safe country, but what they do not want is the over far over zealous occupation of cities that destroy communities, terrify residents and have resulted in deaths that should have been avoided.

And I think we've been focused as a caucus and I certainly give great respect to my colleague senator jackson in making sure that we draw attention to the abuses that have been perpetrated that americans are disgusted by and to try to envision a different future for our immigration and customs enforcement officers okay let's get into specifics.

You have sb 483 would have ice agents wear body cams during public immigration enforcement functions.

Talk about that bill.

That's right.

Well back in 2024, president Biden actually signed an executive order that would allow federal law enforcement agents to wear body cameras, and ice as well as some other departments started to do so, but that was rescinded and sort of quickly abandoned under the big, you know, trump administration, pro immigration, you know, I'm sorry, anti immigration crackdown.

And the reason I think it is by far the better path forward for georgia is that it provides some accountability based on activities that are being conducted by law enforcement, both to make sure that protocols are being adhered to and to provide data for that can inform how policies are being rolled out by agents.. It also in that way can restore a little bit more public trust.

So it's a two way street and wearing the cameras should protect citizens, we hope, provide that accountability as well as lessen abuses from the outset.

That's critical too, a critical piece of wearing them, but also to provide some protection for law enforcement and just restore a more mutually respectful relationship.

So your bill would just be for ice when they're in georgia.

That's correct.

We unfortunately don't have the mandate to legislate for other states.

I get that.

So let's talk about one of your bills and that is sb 389 when it comes to ice agents identifying themselves.

And that's kind of more than just saying who they are yeah that's right.

So if you think about your local law enforcement officer when they come to your door, unless they're on an undercover mission, they have a uniform on that says clearly their name has the department that they come from.

I come from deca county right deb is written there.

It's very clear that they are police officers, they are law enforcement officers.

And so what my bill says is we all do the same.

We want ice agents to be clearly identifiable in the same way that our local law enforcement officers are.

We want to also be able to see your face, take down your mask so that we can see you, know who you are and perhaps, you know, be able to hold you accountable if something goes poorly.

But also law enforcement officers historically have been well respected in the state.

So why hide your face?

And so that's what my bill does.

It says, you know, identify yourself clearly.

Make sure it says I says federal law enforcement, something on it.

So people know that when you knock on their door, they answer because if you don't know, there's really nothing to compel you to open a door for somebody who is not identified well you guys enter, that's two.

You introduced four altogether.

What are the other bills yeah so the additional ones we have is a kind of a safe sanctuary type bill where what it says is if you are an ice agent and you want to serve someone, you have to have a judicial warrant, particularly to go into sensitive places.

So think your hospitals daycares school drop off zones.

If you're going to show up to take someone away there, you need to have a judicial warrant.

So that's one of the bills.

Another bill also says listen we are going to be holding our federal agents accountable in georgia right now today if we don't pass this law, if a federal agent abuses our constitutional rights, we don't have recourse as individuals in georgia to be able to sue them.

So sb 397, which is being carried by senator josh mclaurin, will say we're going to cause a, we're going to create a personal right of action where you as a citizen can sue that law enforcement officer for violating your constitutional rights so that we can hold some accountability.

And hopefully the goal here is to get ice agents to think twice before they do something as egregious as violating our constitutional rights.

So much of this is about prevention.

It's not about making ice unable to do their job.

We just simply want them to do their job in a way that is safe, accountable and that ultimately the entire state of georgia feels more comfortable in knowing how they're operating.

Anything you want to add to that no that's exactly right.

And honestly, these are common sense proposals that are well supported across the political spectrum.

People want to support law enforcement, they don't want law enforcement abuses.

What kind of reaction are you getting from Republicans well you know, I think that in all fairness to them, it is a signature priority of donald trump, who we all know has had a more of a strangle hold over the republican base than many modern presidents have.

So I think that they are in the unenviable position at times of having to tread extremely lightly for fear of retribution from white house.

How do you feel you're going to be able to get these bills through yeah unfortunately, I don't think there is a pathway for these bills to move forward.

I do think that this is actually really good policy and if we were living in kind of different political times, that these would be bipartisan bills.

You know, I want to remind our viewers that georgia has an anti masking bill that we passed many, many decades ago because of the klan.

And we made it clear in georgia that we want people to take their mask off so we can see their faces and not operate in the cover of darkness.. That's something we have consensus around.

And I think if we were in different political times, this would be a bipartisan bill.

But that's just not where we are today.

But you're getting the message out and that's important.

That's right.

I want to get to another bill.

You have changing topics a little bit.

You have a bill to revise the state income tax rates.

Talk about that in the middle of what we're all talking about affordability yeah, that's right.

So Republicans and democrats alike have been talking about affordability, the importance of making it so that georgians can actually afford to live here and thrive.

And so I have a bill, it's sb 520, that changes how we do our state income taxes.

And what it does is it changes the burden of the tax code in terms of instead of the middle class and poorer people paying more than our fair share, it asked those who were paying, who are at the 5% and the top 5% to pay their fair share.

And really the other piece that I think is really crucial to this in terms of affordability is that my bill creates a number of refundable tax credits that can ultimately change the lives of georgians.

For instance, we have a child tax credit that's refundable and an eitc, an earned income tax credit for a family of four, they could see as much as $4,000 come back.

We're talking about raising more than 25% of georgia's kids who are in poverty out of poverty simply by reframing our tax structure, making those who make the most pay their fair share and reducing taxes for the rest of us.

Where is that bill right now?

That bill is sitting in finance and hopefully maybe they'll talk to us it.

All right, we'll keep up with it.

Thank you both for coming here today.

That's our time for today on lawmakers.

We return tomorrow for day 24.

Join us then we hope and have a good evening