When I was a boy.

Some of the best jobs on the coast were in the fishing industry.

I was an African American kid who saw African captains of shrimp boats, who owned their own shrimp boats, who made a great living and hired people to work on these boats.

The imports destroyed this industry, and people who were making a great living were unemployed.

And guess what?

We helped eat them into unemployment.

In the house today.

A big deal over a small crustacean, as they voted to make sure you know where your shrimp meal came from.

Good evening and welcome to Lawmakers.

On day 19 of the legislative session.

I'm Donna Lowry and Atlanta.

You want to know more about the shrimp bill coming up?

We're also digging into the biggest share of the state budget education.

Some of the topics.

Should there be mandatory kindergarten?

Does the state stop expelling students who are chronically absent?

How soon should some retired teachers be hired back into classrooms?

We'll get into all of those topics.

Plus, we'll look at legislation regarding forever chemicals in the air, water, and the products you use.

But as always, we bring you up to date on the action at the Capitol.

From correspondent Sarah Kallis.

Hi, Donna.

Today at the Capitol, lawmakers recognized nurses, midwives and Kennesaw State University before moving on to legislation.

Today in the House.

Members passed a couple of bills related to criminal justice.

House Bill 162 would seal and restrict the records of first time offenders for some crimes at sentencing, instead of after their sentence was completed.

We know that everything is on the internet now, and so that has become a problem for a lot of people who think they're fleeing first offender and are going to get get that second chance.

Um, but since their records are already out, out in the cloud, it's not the second chance they had been promised.

But if they do not complete the sentence, the record would be unsealed.

The bill was unanimously approved, and House Bill 177 would allow domestic violence victims to add pets to a temporary protective order against their abuser.

Nothing is worse.

Than a father, and it's usually the father.

Not always threatening to kill in front of the children.

A family pet that's something that stays with the child for the rest of their life, and seems like we are getting a meaner part of our society that is using this type of threat more often.

That bill passed 160 4-3 The House also passed HB 117, which would require restaurants to notify customers if their shrimp was imported from a foreign country.

Supporters of the bill say that it is harder to ensure that imported seafood is safe.

Some of us who served in Vietnam.

Saw the conditions that these shrimp came out of, and it has not changed.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, they remembered one of their own when they paid tribute to the former Democrat Senate whip.

Vincent Fort.

Fort served in the Senate for 21 years.

The former educator was known for his vociferous speeches from the dais and his passion to serve.

He cared deeply about people, all people.

And when I took his place as whip, I realized very early that I would not be able to follow his footsteps as far as coming to the well and maybe being as vociferously as he.

He talked about issues.

But what I did see is that I could follow in his footsteps.

As far as feeling, killing, caring about people.

He passed last December from cancer.

The business of farmland then took up most of the chamber's attention as a resolution, and two bills dominated the rules.

Calendar.

Senate resolution 56 would allow a statewide vote to change the state constitution, so that a single individual owner could double the amount of farm or timberland that classifies as a bonafide conservation use property.

US to increase that.

Due to the increase in our farms and our our farming operations, so that you're not penalized if you own more than 2000 acres today, you can put 2000 acres in your individual name, your spouse's name, and your your child's name.

And we just want to be able to try to clean that up and allow for an individual to put 4,000 in, in their sole name.

SB 45, a companion bill, would make those changes into law.

Both the resolution and bill were passed 51-1 SB 59 would make the same changes, but this time on leased land.

All we're wanting to do in this legislation is allow two family farm entities to come together to be able to go out and and lease land, to farm that land and keep it in conservation use and still get the benefit without having to worry about the fear of going into a breach of covenant.

That bill was also passed overwhelmingly.

SB 89 would increase the tax credit for family child.

It creates a tax credit for families with children under the age of seven to help with the cost of caring for kids that are not yet in school.

Most of the day, it expands an existing tax credit to help parents with childcare expenses and expands eligibility for an existing tax credit for businesses that offer childcare for their workers.

While there is more work to be done to help our working moms and dads, Senate Bill 89 recognizes that as a legislature, we believe that families shouldn't have to choose between having a career and being a parent.

It passed unanimously later in the day.

Reproductive freedom advocates spoke in favor of legislation to pull state funding from so-called crisis pregnancy centers.

These centers are nonprofit, usually faith based facilities dressed up as reproductive health clinics.

They do not provide, however, the range of services a medical provider would, including contraception, sexual health treatment or abortion services.

Instead, they counsel pregnant people against abortion.

They often engage in deceptive practices first to bring people into their centers, then to pressure or mislead them out of seeking abortions.

And the Carter Center brought their annual Mental Health Parity Day press conference to the Capitol, where they said more work is still needed on the topic.

It's fine to pass legislation, but if the legislation just stays on the books and is not implemented, we don't help anybody.

Also today, Donna, a Senate bill called the red tape rollback bill passed out of committee.

Republicans say it would reduce government regulations.

That's my Capitol report.

Thanks, Sarah.

Literacy rates in Georgia are troubling, and the Georgia legislature continues to try to get a handle on the issue.

One in ten adults are low literate, and a 2017 report estimated that low literacy costs Georgia more than $1.2 billion each year.

Literacy rates drop for students statewide during the pandemic and since 2020, the percentage of third graders reading proficiently has increased by just 2%.

Only 38% of Georgia's third graders can read proficiently.

Now, during the 2023 legislative session, the Georgia Legislature established the Georgia Council on Literacy and passed the Georgia Early Literacy Act.

It requires schools to screen kindergarten through third grade students for reading deficiencies, and two of the lawmakers who helped push through the that legislation.

In each chamber, they join us.

Republican Senator Billy Hickman of Statesboro.

He's chair of the Senate Education and Youth Committee and vice chair of economic development and tourism.

And Republican Representative Chris Erwin of Homer.

He chairs the House Education Committee and is a former school superintendent.

Well, welcome to lawmakers to both of you.

Lots to talk about.

I know you have a lot on your plate, so I'm going to start with you, Chairman Hickman.

Yes, ma'am.

Literacy is a critical critical workforce issue.

Of course.

So it involves a number of areas.

And one of them has to do with more getting more teachers in the classroom, keeping them in the classroom, maybe even bringing some more in.

So you have there SB 150, and it would allow more of the retired teachers to either come back or just stay and not retire as early.

Talk about that a little.

Yes, ma'am.

We realize that in talking to the professional standards director, uh, Jody Barrow, there's 5,800 vacancies in Georgia, 5,300 vacancies in Georgia for teachers.

In 2024.

That's the good news.

The bad news?

It was 6,000 the prior year.

So we've got to find ways to bring teachers back to the classroom.

And and if you think about this, you've got a teacher that a student graduates at age 22 and at 20:05 years, which a lot of them now are retiring at 20:05 years.

They're only 47-years-old.

So what are they going to do the rest of their lives?

And if they love to teach, this gives them the opportunity to come back.

And our bill will provide them to come back to the classroom to teach social studies, science, art, music would not would not allow them to do anything with athletics.

So, um, they will also draw a full time teacher salary and draw their retirement.

So no restrictions on where they teach or anything like that.

No, ma'am.

Not not because we got such a big broad across Georgia.

Lack of teachers.

Yeah.

So, Chairman Irwin, what are your what are your thoughts on this, especially after coming out of the classroom yourself as superintendent, too?

Uh, well, retention is an absolute need in this state.

We have some very educated, very good teachers that are leaving the classroom at an alarming rate and too early in their career.

And so whatever we can do to support teachers in, in this in our state, we've got to look at bills and opportunities to make that teaching attractive, especially to those that have been there for quite a few years.

We just don't need that brain drain.

Leaving the school system.

And the key is for them to some of them to get retirement or reach retirement age, be able to get the retirement and then be able to come come back and make money to explain that part of it.

Okay.

We there is a system in place where teachers can retire and they can come back and work.

Uh, less than 50% of the day, right back in the classroom and many school systems and many teachers take advantage of that today.

We've got to continue to communicate the importance of keeping those teachers engaged, even though they were retired.

And then what, uh, chairman is talking about here is the opportunity to return to work in full time.

Uh, opportunity for those teachers in critical fields.

And that would be an area where there is definitely a deficit in the people that have the certifications and that can teach those children something like a math, a Stem area or something like that.

So I want to talk about another area, a Senate pro tem.

Kennedy is leading an effort to change compulsory attendance, and whenever would keep students from being expelled based on absenteeism.

Can talk about that briefly?

Well, yes, ma'am, it's a critical issue.

And if you go to the Department of Education website, they define chronic chronic absenteeism as a student missing more than 10% of days a year.

And that's 10% of 180, which is 18 days.

That's three weeks and three days of school in the whole state of Georgia, according to the Department of Education, 21.3% of the students in Georgia missed more than 10% of days a year.

So you can imagine how their learning goes down.

Now, probably your children, if they missed that number of days you go, be able to bring them back up because you're going to.

But you got a lot of parents that will not do that.

Even in my area, my counties are around hovering around 20%, 22%.

So it's a it's a critical.

So, um, chair pro tem Kennedy's bill has has some has some provisions in there to bring these kids back into school.

It's a critical if if they're not in the classroom, Donna, they're not going to be able to read.

And there won't be good for the workforce either.

Correct.

Another area has to do with mandatory kindergarten.

And so I know this has been something that's been discussed before, but there is a chance that you might be looking at it this year.

Yes, ma'am.

Absolutely.

It's one of the situations where the we figured out the earlier that we can get to work with a child, the further we can carry them and the quicker we can carry them to that point.

So and that's an assistance to parents.

And let's look at that too as a workforce issue for us.

Because those parents obviously are.

If the child is coming to us now at 5-years-old at bigger numbers, not only are we able to teach them longer and and get them educated, but we're also able to let the parent get back in the workforce.

So for the state of Georgia, this could be a a really advantage not only to the financial stability of a family, but obviously to the workforce of the companies that are here.

Yeah.

Can I answer that?

Yes.

People don't realize in Georgia the age for to be in school is 6-16 and my date may be a little bit off on this, but my birthday is September 7 and I think the cut off date is like August or July, so my parents don't have to put me in kindergarten, so I.

So you go into kindergarten, I don't have to.

You're already a year ahead of me, right?

So you can read.

You can.

You can know your colors.

You can sit, sit still.

Maybe.

But September 1 I had.

I have a child who's in that?

She's October 1.

You see what I'm talking about?

Yeah, it was a it was a little different.

I want to talk about something you did today.

You recommended a book today.

We want to show some video.

You showed a book that you you told the legislators to actually read a little bit about.

So this book is what.

Well, today, first of all, was Georgia ready to read, write and capital.

And this is a book that we handed out today.

Put on all the senators desks.

And I had several of them said they want to take it home to their children tonight and read it.

And and they obviously want to read it themselves too.

So that's good.

Well, thank you for recognizing that.

Absolutely.

Um, chairman, let's talk a little bit about some other education related.

Public safety is the big issue this year, and I know there's a concern.

What would you like to see come out of public safety for schools?

We've got a very collaborative bill going.

And it's also we like short bills in in our session.

This is not a short bill.

Uh, it's very comprehensive and it's a must do.

We've got to secure the environment for our children.

And in this state.

And we've got to begin by being preventative, Donna.

And that would be with some mental health services that are provided in this bill for children that are in crisis.

Then, of course, a threat assessment to the school in a team, not just to be reactive, but to be able to to measure and rate that threat assessment.

And then, of course, the data reporting.

We need all agencies working to secure that environment.

So not just DOGE and not just Doe, but all the different agencies with Gemma coming in, Sheriff's department communicating and trying to secure the environment for our children.

Okay.

We're keeping up with that bill, that's for sure.

I want to touch on something else really quick though.

You were co-sponsor on the bill that would increase sick days for school personnel from three days to five days, and that sounds like a big deal.

This is, again, kind of, you know, we need teaching to be attractive for our our young folks to come in and do.

And you can imagine if they're starting a family and they're only given three personal days.

That's all year.

And it could be for it again, could be because of surgery.

But that's all year long during their they can only take three days.

They're given up to ten days.

They accumulate for sick leave.

But only three of those are personal.

And we have a bill out there right now trying to make it a little more comfortable for a teacher.

And it is converting two of those sick days to personal days that they could take as needed for themselves.

And this is just one measure of trying to look after our teachers in this state.

That's a lot going on with education.

I appreciate we've run out of time, but I appreciate you both coming on.

Yeah.

You have to come back.

That's what that means.

We always enjoy it.

Thank you for.

Keep up with those bills.

Thanks so much for coming on.

Well coming up, they are in the air, in the water and in many of the products you use every day.

They are forever chemicals.

And two members of the House join us to talk about their legislation.

You're watching Lawmakers on GPB.

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?

That's what I love doing.

Good.

I was thinking more.

A double whiskey.

Harriet.

Oh.

Freshly baked biscuits.

Always.

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

I got my head out the showroom.

Oh.

La da da da da.

Keeps.

But I don't no.

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.

Oh.

Oh, something 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.

Wide open.

Oh.

Oh!

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.

If history teaches us to honor the past.

We're jumping 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 love it.

You.

Welcome back to Lawmakers.

I'm Donna Lowry.

We're going to spend time now on legislation dealing with forever chemicals.

There are a group of 14,000 synthetic substances known as PFAS, that are resistant to breaking down in the environment and in the human body.

They can lead to potential health issues.

They are in every product, every day products, and this graphic shows how they can range from stain resistant textiles to personal care products.

The centers for Disease Control and Prevention has research suggesting exposure to forever chemicals can cause cancer, increase cholesterol levels and affect immune systems, and these chemicals can come into the body through the air, through consumer products, through drinking water and food.

So joining us to talk about forever chemicals and other environmental issues is the Republican Representative Casey Carter of Dalton.

He chairs the state, the state's creative arts and entertainment committee.

And also here is Democratic Representative Marvin Lim of Norcross.

One of his committees is Agriculture and Consumer Affairs.

So that fits right in.

So welcome to Lawmakers.

And Chairman Carpenter, let's start with you.

You're from Dalton, which is known as the carpet capital of the world.

And Forever chemicals became a concern in that area.

So talk about that a little bit.

What happened?

Yes.

So basically what you got going on is you have a couple of chemical manufacturers that sold products to manufacturers, not just in carpet, but across the United States, and sold a product that they said was safe.

Everyone used it.

The federal government and regulations said it was safe, and now it's changing.

And the federal government, over the last three or four years has greatly reduced the amount that's acceptable in water.

And what that that really started happening at the end of April of 24.

And since that's happened, we've seen a litany of litigation coming into the state of Georgia, particularly in northwest Georgia.

But it will be the entire state to sue pretty much every manufacturer in the area, even though they were sold a product that was safe at the time.

They were told it was safe.

They didn't have data that it wasn't safe.

And the federal government said it's safe.

And we should say the products were to for to prevent stains on carpeting or to be water repellent, those kinds of things.

Correct.

So you bought it at the store when you used to buy your Uggs.

If you have UGG boots, you buy the stuff to spray your UGG boots to protect them.

Water protectant.

It's literally in Teflon pans, mattress pads, contact lenses.

It's in everything.

And what's occurring is, you know, these manufacturers thought the product was safe.

And so they used the product and then they were told it wasn't safe.

And they haven't been using the product, but they're getting sued.

And I don't think this legislation would shield them from the lawsuits so that people could be made whole by suing the chemical companies.

But to leave the innocent manufacturers alone.

Yeah.

So that's what HB 211 would do.

And so instead of the carpet company being sued you, you say they should be suing the people who originated the product.

Yeah.

Go directly to the source.

You know, we've got a problem in our society that we want to sue everybody, right?

We want to sue everybody in Settle Hills, settle here, settle there to help finance it against the big guy.

And what I'm saying is, let's just go after the person that created the chemical that lied to everybody, and let's leave everybody else out of it.

Because at the end of the day, it's a northwest Georgia problem right now.

But it's a state of Georgia problem.

There's lawsuits in Savannah.

There's there's been lawsuits in Rome.

It's going to be it's in everything.

It's in your Teflon pan that you've been cooking in.

It's in your food wrappers.

So it's a chemical that one is everywhere.

Two is not going away.

So it doesn't make sense to sue everybody when there's a couple of companies that created these and knew about it being bad but didn't tell everybody.

Okay, so you're an attorney.

Representative Lim, your thoughts on all of this.

As Representative Carpenter knows, I love a good Dalton carpet.

I hoard them, um, I think it's a personal.

I think it's premature to shield manufacturers from liability.

And I was thinking about why I said why I was that was sitting with me a certain way, and I thought of the fact that it would have been premature.

During the opioid crisis, to say only the those who produced fentanyl and the ingredients that ultimately made it into the drug manufacturers drugs, it would have been premature to say we are only going to allow these people to be sued and not others.

Certainly not saying that anyone is guilty.

All I'm saying is it's a little bit premature.

And if a bill like this were to be passed, it would tip the scales in our judicial system in favor of one party and not the other.

And I just think it's too premature.

And I also think of the fact that we have talked a lot about tort reform this session and all of Governor Kemp's proposals.

We are talking about limiting damages, limiting fees.

Not one of his proposals, say an entire class of actors is immune from a certain kind of liability.

So I just think it's premature.

And we need to let this develop a little bit.

Your response?

Yeah.

I mean, I think the magnitude of the lawsuits that we're talking about here are.

It would be catastrophic to the to the northwest Georgia corridor and the rest of the state eventually.

And my point is, you know, when we found out tobacco and cigarettes caused cancer, nobody sued the gas station that sold them.

When we found out asbestos caused cancer.

Nobody sued the guy that built their house, that put the asbestos in the wall.

They sued the people that made the product.

And the people that made the product are the chemical companies.

And to sue everybody at the end of the day is going to cost Georgia hundreds of thousands of jobs, and it's not going to get anybody one step closer to a cleanup.

So I would love to have a conversation about what does what does cleanup look like?

Or, you know, what else we can do to move this issue forward.

But this is an issue that, yes, we're trying to get out in front of.

And it may be premature because there's not we would be out there leading the charge for the United States.

But I think if we don't address the issue now, so much money will be spent in court that the victims won't get near what they would, and the cleanup won't get near what it should.

And you don't know of any other states that have done this?

No, there's there's legislation going all around the country, but this would be this would be out in front.

Okay.

Representative Lim, you you did have something a bill a few years ago, 16 29 to prohibit the distribution, sale and and the food packaging, especially to juveniles that contain PFAS.

So I don't I don't think the bill went anywhere.

But this is an issue you know, about because you've been you've looked into it before in terms of PFAS forever chemicals.

I did practice this, but I learned what PFAS stands for.

It's polyfluoroalkyl.

I'm letting you say.

It.

And I we try to be I represent Carpenter joins me on this.

We try not just to be reactive.

We try to be proactive.

This bill was in 2022.

It was a different time.

There was less knowledge, but I knew enough about it to say, hey, we don't know enough.

We're certainly not going to try to ban it everywhere, but at least with respect to products that affect children, including babies, as well as food packaging, where this is proven to be PFAS, the most prevalent.

Let's look at limiting that in those perhaps most harmful contexts.

Sometimes babies will suck on something we don't know what what they're what they're getting into their system, that kind of thing.

I do want to ask you about something else changing subjects a little bit.

You have a nonprofit, the Lucky Shoals Community Association, and you received a $20 million grant from the EPA.

So talk about that.

Yes.

Um, we were very proud.

Um, I worked across my community to address their needs and what this 20 million would do would, first of all, certify those who are in construction and manufacturing around clean energy to be able to do jobs around home repairs, repairing weatherizing, weatherizing, commercial buildings again creating jobs, as well as also to acquire land, to build a park where everyone can come together.

In this time of division.

This was something that really united our community.

We got almost 1,000 signatures on a petition that supported this grant application.

It has been a little bit unstable.

If you've been following the federal news, this grant has been frozen, unfrozen, frozen, and then unfrozen.

Thankfully, as of yesterday at 4:51 P.M..

Exactly.

I'm there.

Believe me, I've been checking.

I started this nonprofit.

Actually, after I came into this position, I was a little frustrated with the pace of government.

But this is something that united my community.

We will be able to address issues like this, and I think these are the types of solutions that I would say that that we can agree on.

And I hope more of more of us can can unite on to to move things forward throughout the state.

Environmental protection, types of things.

I do want to get back to the topic a little bit in terms of the whole tort reform that we're seeing the governor lead, this actually falls into all of that.

So.

Oh, yeah.

And so I actually contacted the governor's team about this last in the summertime.

We had we had a visit from Erin Brockovich.

Wow.

And as they're trying to put together a class action lawsuit in, in Whitfield County, um, and I said, listen, you know, I want to protect my people.

I want to give them the opportunity to go after the chemical companies.

But when all these individuals from out of state are coming to the state of Georgia to sue people, that does Georgia no good.

They're not here because they're concerned about the water in Whitfield County.

They see it.

They see a landfall victory with big dollar signs.

And that does nothing for the health of my people.

And that does nothing for cleanup.

And so I think it's important that we address this issue sooner than later, because it's only going to get worse.

Well, the good thing is we're talking about it.

And I think that's that's an important part of it because I learned a lot about Forever Chemicals today and I didn't know about it.

I want to thank you both for coming on today.

And we'll we'll keep up with the legislation.

Thank you.

Thanks for having us.

Well, tomorrow we hit the halfway point in the session, day 20, and we'll talk about more education, including mental health issues and the need for more school counselors.

Until then, have a good evening.

See you Dunwoody.