One of the finest, finest Christian men I've ever met in my life.

So our prayers mind.

Do y'all's do.

Our support continues and we'll continue to go to go out with Terry.

It's going to be a few days recovering, but he'll be fine.

Terry and his wife has a long road ahead of them.

I'm going to ask that you not stand in a moment of silence, but stand in a moment of personal prayer and ask the Lord to raise him up.

Him and his family in spirits, and a quick recovery for Terry.

Both chambers send well wishes to the former House appropriations chair, Terry England, as he recovers from a heavy machinery accident on his farm in Barrow County.

Good evening and welcome to Lawmakers.

I'm Donna Lowry in Atlanta.

Terry England is currently chief of staff for Speaker Burns.

We'll have more on his accident and recovery coming up.

Georgia's immigration crackdown continues to spark debates on the show.

Senators weigh in on detention policies from both sides.

We'll also hear a senator's personal story about how Hurricane Helene changed his home for generations to come.

And in November, voters approved amendment one, the homestead exemption, and by about 63%.

It essentially ties home values to the inflation rate.

Last session, lawmakers approved putting the measure on the ballot to try to keep voters from dealing with large tax bills.

Tonight, we'll learn how the new law is playing out in Georgia's communities.

But first, let's get the latest from the Gold Dome from our Capitol.

Reporter Sarah Kallis.

Hi, Donna.

It was a busy day in the Senate and a late start in the House on day 14.

Four bills were voted on in the Senate today.

SB eight would clean up code in existing law to allow juvenile court judges to issue arrest warrants, just like other judges in the other court systems can.

Senate Bill 23 would increase the amount of funds that the Georgia Employee Retirement System could invest in alternative investments, raising the limit from 5% to 10%.

What happens if they take the money and when they invest it and the folks belly up?

Who's going to have to pay the difference in?

That's a great question, Senator.

Thank you for bringing it up.

It's really no different, though, that if you invest in the stock market, sometimes stocks fail and the goal is to have a balanced portfolio.

And I have very, very good confidence and trust that the folks that are managing those funds are picking safe and secure investments.

Nothing that's too far out there to do that.

This just gives them another tool in their toolbox.

And good news, if you have recently received some bad news from your insurance company about your homeowner's policy.

SB 35 would require a 60 day notice about any type of non-renewal of your policy that doubles the current notice time of 30 days.

And SB six would allow authorities to test controlled substances to see if they have been adulterated in any way.

Now there's a non-opioid drug called xylazine.

It's a horse tranquilizer commonly known as tranq, that's causing harm to Georgians and deaths.

There's a wide range of other adulterants and even industrial chemicals that are harming Georgians, and it's not known what the next adulterant or street drug will be, whether opioid or not.

This bill simply broadens the bill that we passed previously to include tools like Xylazine, test strips and test for other adulterants.

All four bills were overwhelmingly passed.

Some senators continued the day with a press conference to advocate for more funding for public schools.

Senator Jason Esteves spoke about his bill, SB 128, which would add $2 billion of funding for schools in low income areas.

Schools struggle to meet modern demands.

Teachers who are already not paid enough spend their own money for supplies, and in rural districts across the state, they face shrinking budgets unless they raise money through property taxes.

As a former middle school social studies teacher, I constantly found myself thinking about how to remove barriers for my students.

This antiquated funding formula shouldn't be one of those barriers.

On the other side of the Capitol, the House convened later in the day.

They began the afternoon by praying for a former member and speaker.

Burns, chief of staff.

Thank you, God, for blessing us with a good man like Terry England.

Help guide our thoughts and our actions, Lord, in so many different ways.

And we ask your your presence.

Be with him and with Cindy as he recovers.

Bring him back, Lord, in the next appointed time, as you would have him to be here with us.

We miss him and we love him.

Amen.

Terry England was injured in a heavy machinery accident on his farm over the weekend, and has undergone spinal cord surgery.

Also today, the house congratulated Representative Rhonda Burno on her 50th anniversary as a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

And members remembered a Roswell police officer killed in the line of duty on Friday.

Mr. Speaker and members.

Each of us woke up Saturday, February 8, safe in our homes because of the service and sacrifice of our first responders.

Will you join us now in a moment of silence for Officer Jeremy Labonte, a hero that gave his life to provide that very safety.

They also recognize Georgia Hearing Day.

Career technical education day.

International Epilepsy Day and Georgia emcees 85th anniversary.

Also today, the Senate Judiciary Committee held its first hearings on the Kemp backed lawsuit reform bills.

That's my Capitol report.

Back to you, Donna.

Thanks, Sarah.

Last September, 27th, Georgians from South Georgia up through the state went to bed, bracing for Hurricane Helene.

It blasted through the state with winds that sometimes hit 110 miles per hour.

In agriculture alone, the state lost a third of pecan production, a half 1 million bales of cotton and 8.8 million acres of timber.

Tonight, joining us is one of the farmers hard hit by the storm, Republican Senator Russ Goodman of Cogdell in Clinch County.

He's chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Consumer Affairs.

And we have another south Georgian with us, Democratic Representative Al Williams of Midway in Liberty County.

Among other things, he's on the powerful Rules Committee.

Welcome to you both.

Glad to have you here.

Thank you.

Chairman Goodman.

Let's talk about every structure on your property.

Was hit by the storm, plus timber.

Tell us.

Tell us what you lost.

Yes, ma'am.

It's it's it's Don.

I tell you, it's a really unfathomable when you think about it.

But the sun went down.

And when?

The night of the storm.

When the sun came back up, we'd lost a third of our number one industry in the state.

You know, the state of Georgia is about 38 million acres, 24 million acres of it is forest land.

And we actually lost 37% of those 24 million acres was was either damaged or destroyed.

Um.

And we're showing some of those pictures right now of your properties.

Yes, ma'am.

That's it.

It's, uh, you know, we were 11 days without power at my house.

I think it took 23 days for everyone in my home county to have power.

Um, you know, it is really just it's the largest natural disaster that our state's ever, ever experienced.

And, you know, our farmers were already struggling with commodity prices being what they are.

And this, this hurricane was just really, really devastating.

I saw I've spent a lot of time with farmers, and, you know, seen a lot of heartache.

Yeah.

So we're going to talk some more to you about that in a minute.

But I want to talk to you.

You're part of South Georgia.

What did you see and what have you seen even driving through?

Well, there was so much destruction.

And where I live in Midway, we had a lot of wind, lost some trees, but I could go 20 miles over into Tattnall County and you would just see wide areas flattened and roofs gone, and and Long County.

It was tough.

I have never seen a hurricane affect the areas like this one has not in this part of Georgia.

It really has.

It was unbelievable at times.

Yeah.

And it's amazing that you're still looking at all of that.

I mean, that September, it's February.

Let's talk about something you're looking to do to help farmers, especially in the timber industry.

You have SB 52, which is the timberlands recovery exemption and earnings Stability or Trees Act.

So clever.

Tell us about it.

Yes, ma'am.

Well, so you know, a lot of these, uh, smaller rural counties really depend on the timber tax to help fund local government, help fund our school systems.

And so, like my home county, the timber tax makes up 10% of the revenue of the county.

And so the timber tax is taxed on $1 amount, not on a volume amount.

And so really these rural communities are going to feel it for years to come.

But what the trees act does is for the last quarter of 24 and all of year 25, while we're harvesting this storm damaged timber, it suspends the severance tax that the landowner would pay.

And so normally, you know, when a landowner will be selling trees for, say, $25 a ton, they're selling it in today's market for as little as $0.50 a ton during these salvage prices.

And so not only is is it kind of insult to injury that the landowner is having to pay the tax when he's lost, you know, 90% of the value of it, but then also the effect that it has on local governments, school systems and also what what the Trees Act will do, it will suspend the severance tax for those five quarters.

And it also creates a way that the counties can apply to the state to get a grant.

And they would get it would be the last three years running average of what they've gotten in timber tax based across those those five quarters.

How are you feeling about that legislation at this point?

I feel very good about it.

We we passed it out of the Senate Finance Committee today.

Um, the top five co-sponsors besides myself are the majority leader, the minority leader, the pro tem.

I think we've got something like 40 senators, close to 40 senators that could have gotten more.

I just stopped at 40, you know, um, but I'm also thankful, you know, the governor, um, he put about $600 million in amended budget and hurricane relief.

The House is I know, in their budget they've put more money in the safety 24 Goma program.

I know I talked to my brother, who's a farmer as well, and he said he knew of three farmers right now that they were dependent on that GTA loan or they weren't going to be able to farm next year, you know, so I'm thankful for that.

And I also know that the governor has, uh, House Bill.

223 Cumming that's going to create a reforestation, uh, tax credit has well, has it will exempt, uh, any kind of federal disaster dollars that farmers would receive from, uh, from state income tax.

And, you know, we also lost 450 close to 500, uh, chicken houses, poultry houses in the state.

And so it will allow the gate card, uh, to extend to those poultry houses while they're being rebuilt and everything.

So I know you lost blueberry bushes and a whole bit.

So it's been a generational loss.

Yeah, it really has.

But, uh, tough times never last.

Tough people do.

Okay, I love that.

Let's let's talk about something a little bit different here.

And this.

You wanted to talk about the homestead exemption law?

It passed last year.

And in the House it was House Bill 581.

And then it was an amendment that went on the ballot that voters passed.

And then and now we're seeing things, people confused about it.

Some local governments, some school systems are opting out.

Explain all of this.

I think you pretty well summed it up.

People are confused about it, and seldom in my 22 years in the legislature have I seen a bill so confusing to so many.

I literally can talk to five lawyers and get five different explanations.

CPAs the same.

Nobody understands this except a very few.

Unfortunately, the people that have to pay the bills should understand it, and my feelings are that the state even now, should fund public service announcements and get information to people and explain something so important to every, every homeowner in Georgia.

You pass a bill like this and just throw folk and people don't know what it says or does.

So.

And there's a big deadline coming up, right?

March 1.

March 1 hopefully.

And I've heard what.

Happens.

Then march the first.

You either opt out or you're in.

You have the option of being able to opt out.

I've heard so many people around the legislature talk.

There's something afoot to try and extend that to May 1.

And it is needed because it is not properly explained.

It isn't understood.

And some of the jurisdictions opting out are going to doing that because they think they're going to be hurt in the end.

Certainly.

And especially boards of education, excuse me, but they think that they can't make up the difference in what it's going to cost them.

You have that on one hand.

On the other hand, you have homeowners saying, we got to have relief.

I think we definitely have relief.

But I think, uh, I don't know if the cure is any is not worse than the disease.

This time.

We ought to take another look at this thing and at least explain it where people are comfortable and they're not comfortable.

I see you on those public service announcements doing.

Some stuff.

How about that, huh?

Hey, I will I'm relatively cheap.

I'll give.

A small.

Okay.

We'll get you to do that.

Uh, Representative Goodman, I wanted to ask you about something.

I know that farmers received those FEMA grants, and we've heard at the federal level that the the Trump administration is looking to get rid of FEMA.

Would that hurt?

What are your feelings about all of that?

What FEMA grants.

Are you did weren't there some grants that that some of the farmers were able to get that helped them?

No, ma'am.

Those weren't federal.

Well, they were federal, but not through FEMA.

They weren't.

Through FEMA.

We did pass a federal disaster package, thank God, because if we hadn't of South Georgia would have been an economic depression.

Um, it was a $31,000,000,000, uh, disaster package passed across the entire country.

Uh, 10 million of it was economic assistance.

We haven't updated our farm bill in seven years.

So we have reference prices that were based on cost of production from from 2017, 2018.

Um.

If I might.

Yeah, I know, but we're running out of time.

Yeah.

And I just want to see gaming on the agenda this year.

83% of the people on the Republican ballot said, let us vote.

But the wise ones in the capital say they don't know what they're talking about.

We ain't going to talk about it.

The people have spoken.

They need to have the right to deal with gaming and put everything on the table.

Sports betting casinos don't piecemeal it.

83% of the people let them say yay or nay.

And where do you want the money to go?

The money should be in and that would have to be worked out.

Enabling legislation.

I think education is the big piece.

pre-K needs to be fully funded.

One thing we're never short on is politicians is a place to spend the money.

We'll find a way.

Okay.

So I'm sorry, did you did you feel that, um, you might farming, might get the money or anything like that?

I mean, how do you feel.

About that?

There is a as far as gaming, I don't know, as far as the federal disaster.

Program.

Um, you know, the legislation was passed.

It is it is passed into law, but it has to be got out to the farmers.

And so it won't be administered through FEMA.

Some of it will be administered through the USDA and the Farm Service Agency.

And I think a portion of it will come to our state Department of Agriculture in the form of block grants.

None of this is going to make the farmers whole.

I mean, but hopefully it's going to be a bridge to keep them in business is what we're hoping.

Any anything will help.

Well, thank you both for being on and being so passionate about what you do.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Coming up, a hot button issue immigration.

Tonight we're going to dive into Georgia's sanctuary policies.

Two lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle are ready to present their arguments.

That conversation is on the way.

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.

It's good to have everyone back together.

Good news indeed.

Put your feet up a minute.

It's beautiful.

How does that sound to you, man?

It's what I love doing.

Cup of tea?

She's thinking more.

A double whiskey.

Harriet.

Freshly baked biscuits.

Always.

Well, this is all proving rather cozy, isn't it?

I got my head out the sunroof.

Whoa whoa whoa whoa.

Ha ha ha ha!

Understanding the past gives a sense of the future.

Heart like a lion.

This is the first time that anyone has seen this in 2000 years.

Sunday.

Oh, stop.

The big is happening.

So hurry up.

We're diving in.

What?

This is amazing.

Well, I'm excited now.

Pompeii is a battle against time.

Eyes wide open.

Eyes open.

You think I'm joking?

But look at this.

It did really happen.

Don't let anybody tell you who you are.

Yeah.

I love this life.

History teaches us to honor the past.

Which in with our eyes wide open.

When you look back, you're like, wow, that was pretty special.

This is something that's actually altering the course of history.

You're charged with keeping these stories alive.

I want to know where you.

Welcome back to Lawmakers.

At the end of January, President Trump signed the Laken Riley act in a ceremony at The White House attended by Georgia lawmakers, including Governor Brian Kemp, House Speaker John Burns, and Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones.

The law requires homeland security to detain illegal immigrants and arrest them for specific crimes.

Tonight, we're going to talk about immigration with our guests.

First, Republican Senator Marty Harbin of Tyrone and Fayette County.

He chairs the government oversight committee and is vice chair of both the Insurance and Labor and Retirement Committees.

And Democratic Representative Nabilah Islam Parkes of Duluth.

Her committees include Senate, veterans, Military and Homeland Security.

That committee.

So a lot to it.

Welcome to you both to lawmakers.

I'm going to start with you, Chairman Harbin.

We've seen deportations and raids in Georgia taking place throughout the state.

You would like to see the state prohibit immigration, sanctuary cities and the policies that exist.

Talk about that a little bit.

Well, let's talk about what we've seen and what it does to our culture as a whole.

The first thing that we see at the legal issue of people coming in that don't belong here is the the use of our education systems.

Right now, our schools are having to bring people in who have many times don't speak the language they're having.

These are local schools having to to take that cost in the health care issue is the other issue that's affecting us.

Health care is a major, major crisis right now.

If we look at just the hospitals, we see locally with Impala, Impala, the federal law says you can't turn anybody down.

I had someone called me the other day just to complain.

They had spent 8.5 hours in the emergency room trying to get service.

When you have 11.5 million people that have come across the border over the last four years, it's put a great effort or a great taxing upon our own system to take care of the people that really pay the bills from that standpoint.

So I think this is that we've got to realize that we've got to deal with the issues, and if they've broken the laws, we need to deal with that.

And I know that's hard on some people, but it's a part of being legal or not being legal in that respect.

I know that we, um, you there is a bill that you're a part of that a lot of senators have signed.

I don't think there's anything similar in the House, but I wanted you to to respond to what he's talked about.

Undocumented folks in this state work, jobs, including, you know, they they work as a nanny, they'll work as a gardener.

They work everywhere.

They support our economy.

They're they pay taxes.

Their children go to our schools with our children.

They are just as American as I am, and they should be given the opportunity to a pathway to citizenship.

You know, these are people that are not criminals.

I understand the need to deport criminals, undocumented criminals, but folks that are working hard want to contribute to our society.

When we talk about having a labor shortage, these are people that can contribute and work among us and help us in in our industries.

And so what we've done now with these Ice raids is we're being very punitive.

And 48% of the Ice raids have captured folks that have not even committed any crimes.

Let's talk about Wilson Velasquez.

Cruz, who was at church with his family two weeks ago, and he was deported.

He was detained by Ice in front of his family, children 7-13 and he had to work.

He came to the border seeking asylum and he was given a court date.

He was in the process of seeking asylum, and he was then detained in front of his family to be and to be deported.

And so these are folks that have done nothing wrong to they haven't committed any crimes.

And I just think it's very punitive.

It's they're terrorizing our immigrant communities and they're ripping families apart.

And this we I expect more from our society.

This just isn't right.

I want to give you a chance to respond.

Well, I think this when you come in illegally, you're illegal from a standpoint of coming in.

And if we don't protect, first of all, our citizens, who are our first people, I believe that we need to protect.

Yes, I have my son's father in law.

He's from Colombia.

He went and has become a citizen.

He went through the process.

What I am getting from many people who have gone through the process legally.

They are very resentful that someone would just come in and not have to go through what they went through to be a citizen of this country.

I think that this, the other part is that there are jobs that are I agree, there's a need and I believe there needs to be a fast track process to get people in, because we do need workers and laborers.

That part I'm not against, but I think there's a legal way to do it, because when we don't, it just creates more and more problems.

As I talked about health care and the shortages that that creates with people who are not even able to many times pay into the system.

Our school systems are another part, and not counting the crime which you mentioned, the bill that was passed here for the young lady that was killed by someone who had been detained but did not.

They didn't keep him.

We need to really be aware of that, that those folks that came across that border and this is the cartels, we don't realize that much of this is being driven by cartels and the fentanyl issues that are coming across our border.

We need to stop because it's hurting our own people.

Then I think we fast track anybody we can that wants to come across legally.

I think we find ways to do that, and that's something that needs to be fixed.

I am totally about fixing that process, but I believe this if you're illegal, become legal.

Let's find a track to make that happen.

And I think this some of the finest people I know have worked their citizenship and come across, but they work through the process.

And I think that's the thing that's got to happen.

Okay.

I'll let you respond to that.

And then I want to talk to you about your bill.

I agree with you, Senator Hardeman, that we should figure out a pathway to citizenship.

And that's why I hope to see from the Trump administration that they do something like that.

But that's not what we've seen.

They've shut down asylum claims.

They're going around deporting people that haven't even committed crimes.

They're terrorizing our communities.

And it's just really sad to see that we are going after families and ripping them apart, instead of trying to figure out a path to a path to citizenship.

Poll after poll showed that Americans don't agree about ripping families apart.

They want there to be a path to citizenship.

And for DACA recipients to have a path to citizenship.

And so I think overwhelmingly, we both agree from, you know, Republican and Democrats that there should be a path to getting legal citizenship in this country.

Okay.

I want to ask you about a bill that you have.

Your parents are from Bangladesh.

We should mention, and that you were born in the U.S.

So tell us about legislation.

You have Senate Resolution 123.

It is affirming birthright citizenship as a constitutional right.

Tell us about that.

So as we know, President Donald Trump tried to end the right to, you know, ban birthright citizenship in this country, which has been part of our Constitution, the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment overturned the Dred Scott decision that said African Americans could not be citizens.

If you were born on this soil, you are an American citizen.

In 18 98, the United States versus Wong Kim Ark said, if you're the children of immigrants, you are a U.S. Citizen.

This has been a foundation of our Constitution in American society for over a century.

And now we are trying to say, well, if your parents are non-citizens, you you are no longer an American.

What makes you American is not the blood in your veins.

It is the commitment to making this country great and being committed to equality and justice.

And so I think what he's doing is extremely discriminatory and unnecessary.

Your thoughts on birthright citizenship?

Well, I understand her her position as far as what's going on there.

I think the thing about it is we've had about 11.5 million people come across our border, which is more than the state of Georgia.

And we look at those that have come across, and it's run that way for about four years.

How do we we've got to balance that back out, I believe, and we need to make pathways as far as that portion, the birthright issues.

I'm not as much on as far as that.

That's something that I've not done as much studies on.

But I think what we're dealing with here is our own citizens is making sure that we care for our own people first.

And I believe that.

And then we look at the other ways to bring people in from that standpoint.

But, for instance, I believe this is that when we see this, my my son's father in law became a citizen.

He had to do a citizenship test.

He knows about government.

He knows about the process.

And one of the things that's missing, if we do not teach them the rights that they have under the Constitution, they are missing a whole piece of citizenship, of being Americanized and normalized.

Here.

The teacher that I was talking about with students, she says, none of my students that she had in her class spoke English, had to find someone to teach them another language.

We've got to address some of those immediate things that have been going on for the last four, really four years, and we've got to address some of those if we're going to address the problems that have occurred.

And I feel from that standpoint.

But I was proud of my my son's father in law when he went through the process, and he talked about what he had to do to become a citizen.

And he was so proud the day that he went and swore an oath and went through the process.

And I think that's something to be said for those people who did it the right way, not to just degrade what they did.

We need to find a fast track, but to allow them to do that.

Okay, I'm sorry, but that's going to have to be the final on that.

I appreciate you both being here and talking about this, and we'll keep up with it.

Of course.

Thank you.

That does it for Lawmakers today.

We'll be back tomorrow with the lawmaker who has a bill to ban cell phones from Georgia.

K-12 classrooms.

Have a great night.