Georgia House Republicans believe no one should ever face the loss of their home because they can't afford to pay rent to the government, which is why we're proud to be championing the championing the Georgia Home Ownership and Market Equalization Act of 2026, which will which will enable the elimination of homestead property taxes in this state by 2032.

Speaker Jon Burns unveiled a Republican plan today that would eliminate your property taxes within six years.

Good evening, and welcome to Lawmakers.

It's day eight of the Georgia legislative session.

I'm Donna Lowry in Atlanta.

It's been six months since the so-called bell to Bell ban became law, preventing kindergarten through eighth graders from accessing their cell phones during school.

Now there's a move to prohibit electronic devices for high schoolers.

We'll discuss the pros and cons tonight and give you the results of a recent study of teachers on the issue.

Also, a look at a few pieces of legal legislation, including should joint custody be the default in Georgia, divorce cases?

And should Georgia allow judges to revisit certain life sentences without parole?

And for nonviolent crimes?

Lawmakers are in the studio to discuss all of those issues tonight.

First Capitol correspondent Sarah Kallis brings us a wrap up of the day under the Gold Dome.

Hi, Donna.

Today at the Capitol, House Republicans filed legislation that could significantly change property taxes in Georgia.

And we heard more debate about the Georgia impacts of the Minneapolis shooting in the Senate.

A second day of Democrats lined up to criticize the Trump administration over the shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

We do not support the running amok of a federal government at the orders of one man who is installed only lieutenant minions to carry out his orders within his administration, trampling, destroying the rights of Americans and killing them for exercising those rights.

And that's why everyone is angry, and that's why everyone's scared.

This is not what they wanted and not what they voted for.

The Constitution is not a page of suggestions.

It is a foundation for our society.

I've stood in the chamber for years defending all rights.

I've fought to defend them while serving in our armed forces.

And today I, along with a lot of others, mourn the ease with which we set aside those rights when it suits our political convenience, especially when it's benefits our president, Donald Trump.

Republicans say that the criticism is misplaced and that the focus should be more about protecting Georgians from crimes committed by immigrants here illegally.

But what I haven't heard in the last year, which just baffles me.

Is the illegal criminal aliens who did the following in Georgia, brought enough fentanyl into this state to kill half the state's population?

I didn't hear anyone come up to the well and talk about that.

The hundreds of drug traffickers that we took off the streets that are not poisoning your communities, your families and your children.

Senator Randy Robertson, a former law enforcement officer, says that due process needs to occur before anyone should judge what happened that day.

Until I see you sitting in a use of force class with me, until I see you rolling around on the ground training with me until I see you try to handcuff me and realize that three of you can't without it becoming extremely violent.

And I'm going to get my licks in.

Then please do not judge my brothers and sisters while they're out doing their job.

Ask all the questions you want to ask, but do not judge.

That's for a jury to do.

Not you?

The Senate also revisited some bills.

SB 148 would allow teachers to have outdoor classes, but the house added hunting safety training, additional teacher sick days and made defibrillators more available in schools.

It passed unanimously.

SB 170 would have created an interagency council to study and help the homeless, but the House substituted the bill to provide money to rural hospitals for backup generators that failed to pass in the House.

Members approved Senate changes to House Bill 443, which lays out fishing license fees for various species.

After gaveling out, the speaker of the House announced at a press conference a new bill he is backing aimed at reducing the burden of property taxes.

This landmark legislation will not only mandate the elimination of of property taxes on primary residences by 2032, but will also provide immediate relief for homeowners by doubling or more than doubling the state homestead exemption every year until the mandate takes effect, and providing homeowner tax relief grants to Georgia families.

On average, a return of $500, all while keeping other other established exemptions intact.

Lawmakers passed a bill in 2024 to increase the homestead exemption, but hundreds of local governments opted out of the program.

Local governments rely on property taxes to fund schools and community projects.

The bill would require a constitutional amendment and a two thirds majority vote of the legislature, which means Democrats would need to agree to the plan.

Always my main concern.

We'll talk about property tax relief is how do schools supplement their funding?

As a teacher, we know that our schools are already underfunded.

They're historically underfunded because we have yet to update our Qbi formula to take into account poverty rates that our state needs.

And so I know APS Fulton County, those are larger systems that will probably have the money, likely have the money, maybe.

But our rural districts that would already get absolutely decimated by things like this sometimes.

Also today, Lawmakers and autism advocates pushed for a new bill that would allow people with autism to choose to have a special symbol on their driver's licenses.

They say it would help police interact with people with hidden disabilities.

So I had a conversation with Eric.

I said, Eric, if you're ever stopped by law enforcement, put your hands up.

Don't reach for your phone.

That could be very dangerous because he calls me for everything.

Yell out, I have autism.

Yell out my number and yell out, someone call my mom!

Eric started to cry.

He said, mom, I could do that.

But the police might shoot my friends that have autism and other disabilities because we're all different on the spectrum.

Some of my friends have ADHD.

They can't keep still.

Some of them have sensory issues where they are sensitive to light and sound.

Also today, the house kicked off their eyeglasses drive and asked members to donate old pairs of glasses to support Lyons Lighthouse Foundation, which provides vision services for underinsured Georgians.

Tomorrow, both chambers will be back for day nine.

That's my Capitol report.

Back to you, Donna.

Thanks, Sarah.

We're going to talk about legislation involving the legal issues.

Georgians sometimes face.

Joining me is Republican Senator Ed Setzler of Acworth.

He chairs the Senate Science and Technology Committee, and his vice president of state and local government operations and secretary of Health and Human services in the Senate.

He's also on Senate appropriations.

Also here is a member of appropriations in the House.

Democratic Representative Scott Holcomb of Atlanta.

A few of the other committees he serves on include Defense and Veterans Affairs, Judiciary and Public Safety, and Homeland Security.

Welcome back to Lawmakers to both of you.

I appreciate this with you.

Yes, chairman.

Ed Setzler, I'm going to start with you.

Let's start with your bill.

SB 404.

It flips the traditional approach to child custody in divorce cases.

Tell us about it.

You know, Donna, if we're going to if George is going to be the best place to live, work and to raise a family, we've got to make sure that no one is left behind in that process.

And we think about the challenges we face in more than 40% of kids in Georgia are born out of wedlock.

In all those cases, there's going to be a child custody arrangement that's put in place by our court system.

And then, of course, as you see, even kids who are the families where divorce happens, what can we do to set conditions for both parents to be involved in those kids lives, to make a difference in their lives?

We recognize that both parents have an important role in parenthood.

And in Georgia, the average kid spends only 20% of the time with their non-custodial parent.

We recognize the importance of having both parents in their lives is very important.

And when this has been done in other states, from Kentucky to Florida, even Massachusetts has done this for years, we see domestic violence go down.

We see the outcomes for kids be dramatically better.

So, child, the default is child is a joint custody.

And then the judges will make the decisions from there.

If they want it to be one parent or the other.

Judges will always make the decision for what's in the best interest of the child.

But what we're doing in Senate Bill 404 is we're simply saying that the default would be a 50 50 sharing between mom and dad.

That if there's a if there's evidence that suggests one parent shouldn't have as much time as the other, the judge can make that determination exactly like they can today.

But the default, the starting point would be 50 50 sharing of time.

And we've seen again, we've seen in other states that have done this a real benefit for kids, a reduction in violence and just overall better outcomes for the family.

Okay, I'm going to get back with you on that a little bit.

Representative Holcomb, you have a bill that would allow a Georgia judge to take a second look at certain life sentences without parole.

And after 20 years, but it's kind of narrow in that certain defined cases not considering murder or rape or other violent crimes.

So talk about that a little bit.

That's right.

It's something that I think is worthy of a conversation.

It was brought to me by Kelly Burke, who is a former district attorney from Houston County in the middle of our state.

And he was a very accomplished prosecutor.

But he's very much committed to trying to fix a case that he worked on.

And specifically, there was a young man who committed an armed robbery, very significant offense.

It was at the time that Georgia was moving to a tough on crime approach, and he was caught in with statutes of recidivism.

His other incidents weren't particularly severe and grave, but because he was caught under that statute as a recidivist, he received life without parole.

The other individual, and nobody was hurt.

There was no violence that was part of this.

The other individual received ten years.

So this person is now served 28 years in prison for a felony that did not involve violence, that did not result in a death.

And the idea is to to open this up so that individuals can petition the court and potentially have their sentence relooked at.

And I think it's important both from a corrections standpoint and from from a morality standpoint.

We know things today that we didn't know 20 years ago when we had the policies that he was captured under, and it preceded a lot of the good work that the state has done with criminal justice reform.

So I really hope we can.

Right now, judges can't revisit those cases.

They can't, not even at the 25 year mark.

Correct.

Considered life.

And and there's limited activity that comes out of the Board of Pardons and Paroles.

And I think if you think about the criminal justice system as a system.

It's a fair conversation to have of whether or not we want to spend state resources on the great cost of incarcerating older inmates, as opposed to potentially putting more resources at the beginning, solving crime, deterring crime.

And so for those that have have really served consequential terms of 20 years, it just gives a potential path to have a second look at it.

And certainly this is one instance, but there are others out there.

Okay.

I'm going to talk to you a little bit more to Chairman Ed Setzler.

Back to SB 404.

How would it address conflicts in marriages that lead to divorce?

Domestic violence?

Maybe problems with the child abuse?

Yeah.

What we find is that when you look at states that have done this before, we see a decrease long term domestic violence of about 20%.

And during the period in which custody is in dispute, we see a decrease in family violence of about 33%.

So there's a big step down.

What it does is it de-escalates some of the conflict between mom and dad because there's there's shared time.

You know, dad's able to pick the kids up at school.

Mom drops them off.

Dad picks them up.

It's a it's a more harmonious relationship with respect to managing the kids as opposed to dad having her mom having just a very narrow amount of time.

So we've seen a de-escalation in violence.

But again, as we said before, Don, it doesn't change the standard.

Judges are still going to make decisions based on what's in the best interest of the child.

It just gives the judges a starting point of 50 50, from which they would have to find facts that say, because of this fact or this fact, we're going to award more custody to one parent or the other.

But the starting point is still 50 50 to, again, deescalate some of that conflict.

With child support, be involved at all in terms of determining who gives child?

Does the child support or helps one family side of the family or the other?

Yeah, the time the kid spends with each parent is going to have some impact on child support.

But interestingly, what we found is that the custodial parents that that bear the brunt of the cost in shared parenting arrangements, we've actually seen their careers and incomes do quite well because because you're sharing time with the kids, they're able to have they're able to be able to pursue career opportunities for themselves.

So long term, the financial outcome of both parents is better.

But it does.

It does that through the parents means, not through, you know, a court ruling that could take one parent that maybe, maybe has another family, another marriage, that's that's having to send money back and forth.

It just creates a lot of conflict and the kids don't benefit from it.

Yeah.

But the judge in the end makes that decision.

Judge makes.

The call.

Okay.

We're going to get to another bill.

You have you have a bill that deals with improving data tracking for crimes.

Tell us what that's all about.

I'd be happy to.

We live in a big data world.

However, when it comes to the criminal justice system, we do a terrible job of tracking arrests, indictments, prosecutions is that there's a real void of information, which is important for us to understand how we're doing in terms of the trend lines and solving crimes.

We've really give a lot of attention, rightly, to murders, and we have very high clearance rates of murders, meaning that they're solved and people are held accountable for it.

But so many crimes below that, we have clearance rates of less than 10%, like rape, sexual assault and a lot of property crimes like people, their neighbors get robbed and then nothing happens.

We all know about that.

So what I want to do is really get the data out there so we can see where the incidents are happening.

And also longitudinally, how are we doing in terms of addressing it and reducing it.

Because we really work in this void.

That's unacceptable.

Okay.

I want to get to something real quick with you.

You have you want to protect home ownership through creating incentives for Wall Street to sell homes to original do the original families through single family homes.

I guess you want to do that.

We don't have a lot of time.

So we've seen an issue around the metro area of big corporate interests, Wall Street interests, buying up single family homes, especially in the lower half of the price bracket so young families can't find a home.

We're going to have a bill this year that's going to create both kind of a carrot and a stick approach to encourage investors to sell their homes to first time home owners, to get people back into the housing business so folks can own their own homes again, particularly people at the lower income levels who want to own their first home and get become a first time home buyer.

We're going to get you back in when you get that bill ready, and we'll talk more about it.

I do want to get something in real quick.

You guys have known each other for a long, long time.

You were very excited that he was going to be on with you in the talk.

Talk about what?

What the connection is.

It's the infantry.

Senator Setzler and I served together more than 20 years ago in the third Infantry Division down at Fort Stewart.

And so we have a bond that goes beyond politics.

And while we're in different parties, we have a close friendship because of that.

Yeah.

It's amazing that you guys did you stay connected over those years?

We did.

And we kind of reconnected through politics.

But you know, it's just funny how life kind of brings you through the people you run into.

No matter where you go.

It's been been been kind of fun to watch that.

I bet it has been.

I appreciate that we did put a picture up of what it looked like for the 15th Infantry Regiment.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you for serving.

And in the military and in the Georgia Legislature.

Well, coming up, will teenagers have to deal with giving up their first love while in school?

Two Lawmakers join us to talk about extending the ban on cell phones during the school day to high schoolers.

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It's not a mountains thing or a coastal thing.

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Morning edition on Georgia Public Broadcasting.

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Welcome back to Lawmakers.

I'm Donna Lowry.

We're going to talk about education issues.

Today's teenagers don't remember life without cell phones.

Once they get to high school, most have them.

And in some cases they've had teachers even encouraging them for assignments.

On July 1 last year, Georgia law took effect to ban them for children in eighth grade or younger.

The author of that bill joins us.

Republican Representative Scott Hilton of Peachtree Corners.

He chairs the House Committee on Information and Audits.

He serves as secretary of the House Education Committee.

Also here is Democratic Senator RaShaun Kemp of Atlanta, who works in education.

He is on the Senate Education and Youth Committee, along with Government oversight and urban affairs.

Welcome to you both, I appreciate this.

Great to be here.

So let's let's start with some numbers.

It's been six months, as I said, since state law went into effect to ban students in kindergarten through eighth grade from using cell phones.

A recent survey conducted by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, or Page with Georgia Southern University, found that nearly 72% of educators believe the Distraction Free Education Act will improve student learning.

About 71% of teachers indicate a similar ban on personal electronic devices are needed in ninth through 12th grades, and that number climbs to 83% among high school teachers.

So apparently they really want this.

Chairman Hilton, you sponsored Bell to Bell for the younger students.

What has led you to keep this going?

What kind of response have you received so far?

Well, you highlighted the data, but the response from parents, teachers, administrators has just been overwhelming and frankly, life changing for a lot of students who are now realizing, man, I can learn in a cell phone free environment, we are seeing grades improve, fights in the class go down, and students socializing.

And, you know, really a lot of improvements to mental health.

So just all around a tremendous impact K through eight.

And it's just the next logical step is to expand that to high school.

33 states plus the District of Columbia have done a cell phone free legislation, bipartisan collection of states.

Georgia is the only one that did K through eight.

I'm proud of us for doing that.

I think we put our toe in the water and help get folks and parents used to it.

And now I think the next logical step is, is to include high school.

So a phase in worked you think?

I think so.

Your thoughts?

Well, look, I'm a former high school teacher and principal and I can tell you, my teachers, what poll that same amount.

You know, I think it is critically important that we extend this up to high school.

Having been in a high school environment, we know a lot of what Scott referred to.

You know, the fights and the bullying and just the distractions are, you know, they don't stop at eighth grade.

And so it's important for us to bring that up to the high school level.

Okay.

So it's HB 110-09-1009.

Yes.

Tell us exactly what would it be?

Exactly the same.

It's similar to the K through eight.

With a few exceptions.

We wanted to carve out.

High school is different.

We recognize that.

And so there's a lot of different off campus activities that students participate in.

Dual enrollment jobs.

We want to make sure kids have the flexibility.

Parents have access to them for those type of activities.

But the science tells us that a bell to bell works best.

The reason being is we want teachers to get out of being the cell phone.

Police allow them to teach and students to learn, so it will look similar to K through eight, with a few exceptions.

And we want the community.

We want teachers, parents, please reach out to us through this legislative process so we can perfect this and get it right the first time.

Where are you in the hearing process?

Yeah, we expect to get a hearing in the next couple of weeks.

Again, would encourage folks to reach out to their lawmaker.

Let us hear your feedback.

We'd love to know that we want you to be a part of this process with us, okay.

We you have another education bill, SB 381.

And that would direct education funding through the the Qbi, the quality basic education formula to help students living in poverty.

Students in foster care, students who are in unstable housing.

So tell us a little bit about that.

Yeah.

You know, Georgia's one of only six states that does not, you know, account for poverty when we're funding students in our funding formulas.

So it's time that we update.

It hasn't been updated since I was 5-years-old.

It's time that we update our Qbi formula and account for the things that are impacting students and education now, and I truly believe that when we better invest in students that are in poverty from Atlanta all the way down to Valdosta, we're going to see improvements in educational outcomes.

We are in a state in which 30% of our kids are reading on grade level, are not reading on grade or reading on grade level, meaning 70% are not.

So we have to do more to invest in public education.

And I think addressing poverty is the way to go.

So how would this work?

So what this would do was give would give additional 25% of what we currently do with QBE to school districts that have high students, amount of students in poverty.

And it also directs them how to spend the money to make sure we're investing it properly.

We can't just pour money without some oversight and expectation that we're investing properly in educating our students, okay?

And so any where's that bill right now?

Same with Representative Hylton's bill.

We need a hearing.

So people reach out to your folks in the Senate and tell them to hear Senate Bill 381.

Yeah, you're you're feeling really good about things with this.

You did get pushback last year, though, didn't you?

We did.

Some parents were concerned about school safety.

As a dad of three kids that I share that same concern.

We talked to the safety community, who all said this was the best decision.

In case of an emergency, you want kids focused on getting to the right place, but yet we feel good.

I appreciate the speaker lending his support and just all the things we're doing around education to promote literacy and really help our kids advance in Georgia.

It's a great day.

We're moving the right direction.

And each school district has done this differently.

Talk about the different ways they have stopped having the kids.

You know, some some are putting them in packages or, you know.

Little pouches.

Every school district knows best.

And so they ought to be able to design a program that works best for them.

What's neat about the K through eight bill is a lot of high schools said proactively, let's go ahead and do a cell phone free classrooms on our own.

And so a good majority of systems have already implemented this without even needing a law, because they see the benefits firsthand.

I'm curious.

I mentioned the fact that I remember doing stories about how teachers were using the cell phones to help kids learn, so that takes that out altogether, right?

It does.

Yeah.

What we found is, you know, some when you do that, you know, the kids immediately you know what's going to happen.

They do the school activity and then they're back on social media.

And so we definitely want to allow for school devices, think Chromebooks and tablets and things like that.

But for your personal device I know for me, it's just so tempting to, you know, start surfing the internet and things and that's, that's a distraction from from learning.

Okay.

And the teachers still have them.

Too.

They they're still allowed to have them.

I want to get to another bill that you're looking at.

You plan to drop a voucher accountability bill.

What is that?

Yeah.

You know, all public schools, they are expected to have students perform at grade level or are they face repercussions.

The same with charter schools.

And, you know, I believe that if we're going to give public dollars to private schools, the same expectation should be placed upon them.

And so this bill would require them to show some academic success with their students or face losing the ability to have student students come in with a promise scholarship.

So accountability in in what way?

So just tracking the data or academics.

So you know, all all of the schools that take advantage of this program, they have to give a norm reference test.

And so now we're saying let's take that a step further and say that students should be performing at grade level on those tests.

If they're not, then you give them some opportunities over four years to improve.

If not, then you could face losing the opportunity to bring students in on the Promise scholarship.

Wow.

Interesting.

Okay, I wonder, I know you're on education in the house.

Talk about anything else that we may see come up.

You know, I've got a really important bill that I'm working on, especially for our community in regards to what's called this red shirting.

You know, a lot of families, especially those with summer birthdays, want to hold their child back just to give them more time to develop, mature and enter school at the right age.

And so state law is kind of silent on this issue right now.

So I introduced legislation that says to empower parents in that decision making process to say you can decide when you first enroll your child into school.

And so that helps parents give them the certainty and be able to plan that that process for their child.

So it's it's not using the age.

It's not saying six or what is it, six right now.

Right.

Yeah.

Right now Georgia has to offer public education at age six.

Some parents, especially of boys in the summer, are enrolling their child at six in kindergarten, which some of the science tells us that's best for that child.

So I believe that the parent knows best what what path that child ought to take.

And so, again, this legislation will empower them in that decision making process.

And I would think you like that too.

Yeah.

All right.

To learn more about it.

All right then I love that.

Well, thank you both for coming on the show.

And it's always good to have people talking about education.

Where does the biggest, biggest portion of our budget education.

So thanks so much for coming on.

Well that does it for Lawmakers tonight.

Join us tomorrow for a special show focused on inspiration and determination.

We'll share the story of Terry England, the former House appropriations chair who was severely injured in a farming accident and was not expected to walk again.

It's a story of reverence and unwavering support from his loving wife, Terry England and the show producer will be joining us.

Have a great evening.