Central to the rule of law is the idea that no person is above the law's requirements or beneath its protections.

It's the idea that law applies equally to everyone and the courts apply it impartially and independently, and today, I can proudly report that the State of Georgia's judiciary is strong because Georgia's commitment to the rule of law is strong.

The Chief Justice of Georgia's Supreme Court, Justice Nels Peterson, gives his take on Georgia's judicial system before a joint gathering of both chambers.

Good evening and welcome to Lawmakers.

It's day 12 of the Georgia legislative session.

I'm Donna Lowry in Atlanta, Georgia's foster care system is in a funding The dream, Peach Advantage Loan Program is a new way of helping homebuyers coming up.

What you should know about qualifying for the bill.

But from the bill's sponsor.

And first, let's hear more about the day from Capitol correspondent Sarah Kallis.

Hi, Donna.

Today at the Capitol, the House and Senate heard from the new chief justice of the Supreme Court for the first time.

The House also unveiled new bills aimed at helping Georgia's families.

House and Senate gathered in the House chambers today to receive the state of the judiciary from Georgia's new Supreme Court Chief Justice Nels Peterson.

The Chief justice spoke to the general health of the state's judicial system.

Central to the rule of law is the idea that no person is above the law's requirements or beneath its protections.

It's the idea that law applies equally to everyone, and the courts apply it impartially and independently, and today, I can proudly report that the state of Georgia's judiciary is strong because Georgia's commitment to the rule of law is strong.

He also praised former House member Mandi Ballinger, who passed away last year for her work supporting children in the legal system.

I want to take this opportunity to publicly extend the condolences of the judicial branch on the passing of a remarkable woman who committed her time to serving on our courts Committee on Justice for children, and was a tireless voice for young Georgians.

Representative Mandi Ballinger.

The Chief Justice addressed the impact that artificial intelligence has had and will continue to have on the courts.

The good.

And in some counties, even if you can afford a lawyer, there may not be one to hire.

54 Georgia counties have ten or fewer attorneys and eight counties, up from seven last year.

Have no lawyers at all.

The rule of law cannot be available only to those with access to lawyers.

And as A.I.

Tools.

I agree.

And as A.I.

Tools improve, it may be that A.I.

Has a role to play in closing that gap.

And the bad.

The more significant risks that we know about anyway are things like fabricated evidence.

A.I.

's capacity to generate false recordings or images presents a serious challenge to the court system's historic approach to authenticating evidence.

We don't yet have answers to these problems, but we continue to work on them.

And he spoke about the continuing need to address judicial security.

The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals budget requests seek a modest increase for funding for a joint effort to enhance judicial security that, if funded, will pay dividends across the state.

I thank each of you for the support that you have given us in improving judicial security, and I ask that you continue to make it a priority.

He also warned about the fragility of the rule of the law and the importance of adhering to its outcomes.

The judicial oath calls Georgia judges to do equal rights for the poor and the rich.

In other words, for the weak and the powerful.

Of course, the rule of law is rarely tested when the powerful or the popular win in court results that go the other way can sometimes be a different matter.

The rule of law has always been fragile because by its very nature, it requires the strong and the rich to accept results in favor of the weak and the poor.

It requires popular majorities of all kinds to accept outcomes in favor of small, unpopular minority groups.

It requires the most powerful of all the government, to accept and obey limits on government power.

We are all in this together, and we all face those challenges head on because we care about our communities.

We care about the people we serve.

We care about doing the right thing.

And above all, we are committed to fulfilling our oaths.

After adjournment, speaker of the House Jon Burns and the Republican caucus announced a new policy initiative dubbed Putting Georgia Families First.

It is a great day for families from every corner of our state.

From strengthening access to affordable child care, child care, championing health care for women and children, increasing paid maternal leave for birth mothers, and prioritizing the safety of our communities.

House Republicans are committed to putting Georgia families first.

The initiative is made up of seven bills aiming to address issues that impact women and children in Georgia, bills in the initiative include one.

To allow pharmacists to prescribe contraceptives.

The creation of a domestic violence registry.

Funding for low income after school programs and more.

Both budgetary and legislative.

That will make a real difference in the lives of Georgians.

It demonstrates our continuing commitment to children, women, and families throughout Georgia.

But it didn't just start today.

We've been doing this for many years.

Tomorrow, the House and Senate will be back for day 13, and we will hear from the speaker of the House again on his new Early Literacy Improvement Act.

That's my Capitol report, Donna.

Thanks, Sarah.

We start this part of the show with information on a home loan program and get an update on disaster relief.

Joining us is Republican Representative Clint Crowe of Jackson.

He chairs the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee.

He's a former law enforcement officer and currently a second generation realtor.

Also here is Representative Derrick Jackson of Tyrone.

Among other things, he's a retired military officer with the U.S.

Navy.

His committees include Defense and Veterans Affairs, Budget and Fiscal Affairs oversight.

It's a long name, but welcome to the Lawmakers.

Thank you for having us.

I appreciate that.

We're going to start with you in this room, this Georgia Dream Peach Advantage loan program.

It launched last July for homeowners, homebuyers.

So tell us a little bit about what it's what it means and how people can get involved.

So so Georgia Dream program.

We're talking about the DCA, the Department of Community Affairs administers this.

And there's a lot of different programs to help provide loans, specifically loan programs for first responders, police, firefighters, EMS, teachers, military, veterans they have some down payment assistance programs.

And, you know, I've had some legislation last year that increased the cap.

So the way they fund these is by selling mortgage revenue bonds.

And it's actually authority, an authority with the state that's not backed by the full faith and credit of the state, but the authority that is set up through the that DCA manages.

And it's a fantastic program and they've really and I'll tell you one quick story.

We had a young firefighter and a schoolteacher trying to buy their first home this fall, and they were getting a USDA loan from the Department of Agriculture, right.

As they went to submit their paperwork, the federal government shut down.

No.

And they were in a real bind because the seller needed to move on.

And so we were able to move them over to the Georgia Dream program, and they were able to rush it and get them through.

And so they were able to buy their home.

And there's tons of stories like that that we've seen.

It's a real advantage.

Where do people go to get more information on it and to sign up?

So a lot of different lenders in the state, you talk to any mortgage broker.

Most of them can underwrite these through the Department of Community Affairs.

But you can also go to the Department of Community Affairs website and check out the Georgia Dream program, and they can help you find a lender that can walk you through the process.

Okay.

All right.

Then we'll I'm sure there'll be people getting on the phone or going on their computer right now.

Representative Jackson.

Jackson, we're going to completely change directions here because you're here to talk about legalizing cannabis.

Recreational cannabis, right?

Yeah.

Tell us about it.

So and I appreciate being on Lawmakers.

And for my bill, it spells out the difference between decriminalization and legalization.

Okay.

My bill is solely on decriminalization, simply meaning that if you have 2 ounces or less of marijuana, you're not going to go to jail.

Legalization is very different.

Legalization, much like alcohol, right?

I mean, the federal I mean, the state government will say we'll tax it.

You can buy it and sell it.

My bill is not addressing legalization.

It's only talking about decriminalization.

So that way those who have a need for personal use, less than 2 ounces, they will be able to enjoy themselves smoking marijuana.

How many states have something similar to that?

There are 24 states.

And so Georgia needs to catch up, right?

I mean, because when you think about this and I know my my dear friend on the other side of the aisle was in law enforcement by decriminalizing marijuana, now we won't be tying up law enforcement three or 4 hours to fill out paperwork because somebody has an ounce of marijuana and that, you know, in Georgia last year, 7,500 Georgians were arrested for having marijuana for less than an ounce with my bill that goes away.

It's simply like getting a traffic ticket.

You get a traffic citation, you have to pay your $100 and you're on your way.

And that's done.

Okay.

What do you think about it?

Well, it's.

Just hearing about it.

Yeah, I just heard about it.

That's it's it's obviously something that, I don't know that at first glance, it would be something I would, I would be a big supporter of I do think that there is a conversation to be had around that.

It is being used quite a bit, but there's also been alternatives.

Even when I was still policing, we had the option because it was misdemeanor possession.

You could always issue a citation for that and not have to make them post a bond.

So you've always been able to issue a citation for that.

And there was a lot of officers that used their discretion as to whether or not it warranted them needing to make an arrest.

So I do think there are some still some perils that can come from the recreational use of marijuana that can lead to other stronger drugs.

So you know, I don't know that I would be in favor of that.

Well, it sounds like it's worth the conversation.

Well, absolutely.

Because and I appreciate the discretion piece, because 3-4 times more often, black men and women end up going to jail because of subjectivity.

My bill would take that subjectivity out.

And so we do not want our law enforcement profiling those who actually need it.

As a retired military officer, some may need marijuana because they're dealing with PTSD.

They don't want something as harsh as opioids.

And so there are a lot of good health benefits from this particular plant.

And so by decriminalizing, we would not only standardize this across Georgia, all 536 cities or 159 counties, because you have counties and cities right now that are decriminalizing this.

This is a bold step.

The state that could take and say, we're going to decriminalize this across all of Georgia, okay.

Like I said, we'll continue the conversation.

Chairman Crow, you led the disaster Mitigation and Resilience Study Committee in 2024.

So bring us up to date on what's happening.

Yeah.

So several of the recommendations that we had from the committee we've already seen the fruits of some of those one of the recommendations was to move Georgia on to the next gen or next generation 911 system.

We've made a lot of headway towards that.

The governor in last year's budget, put some funding towards it.

We had 111 fee study committee in this off season that was chaired by.

A chairman from the north side of Atlanta.

Yeah.

He's going to kill me because I can't think of his name right now.

It's terrible.

But that committee, we looked at the the funding mechanism for the 911 fee and how we could take that and utilize that to implement next gen 911.

There was also some timber tax credits for South Georgia that got implemented last year.

And we're still working on adding a resilience officer, possibly within GEMA, to really focus on disaster mitigation and resilience, to try to increase funding for that and to increase our focus on that.

You know, we did that study committee during the season when we were having the hurricanes come.

Right.

The timing was everything.

Yeah, yeah, the timing was was was really you know, critical that we were having that.

But just these last two weekends, we've had winter storms.

And so.

And then when, when the power goes out and you don't have access to that 911 system, you really think about it?

You do?

Yeah.

It was Chairman Chuck Martin that chaired the 911.

So you got that in.

I'm so glad.

Chuck won't be mad at me.

I know.

You did a fantastic job.

All right, switching gears again today, Representative Jackson on the on the floor of the house, you recognize the 55th anniversary of the Thiokol chemical fire near Savannah, and it killed 29 people.

Yeah, talk about that.

A lot of us didn't know about it.

Yeah.

So this unfortunate tragedy took place right here in Georgia.

February 3, 1971, 55 years ago.

And 29 of these black women died.

And this, this plant was a plant where a significant number of majority of black men and women worked.

It gave them an opportunity to earn a living.

And in this plant was also helping our military during Vietnam or in the curing room, the the flare that they were manufacturing spark.

And they created a chain reaction.

And it devastated the plant.

And unfortunately, these 29 women that we recognize on the floor today not only to commemorate them, but to let their families that were also came from Savannah and the coastline, to let them know that we did not forget.

And we have more to do.

I know, I'm so glad you recognize them.

I want to get into something real quick and we don't have a lot of time.

I wanted to get your opinion on what's going on with ice.

I know there are some bills and you have one.

What do you think should should there be some things happening in in Georgia when it comes to ice?

Well, there's obviously a lot of conversation.

The majority of those bills have been assigned to the committee that I chair.

And we've gotten a lot of committee hearing requests for those.

And we'll be sitting down and having some discussions with the sponsors of those bills.

I'm having a meeting in the next day or two with our legislative counsel for the committee because, honestly we need to see what what role we can take as far as overseeing a federal law enforcement agency.

And what, you know, we can do legally to even do that.

What I will say, though, is that we've had a lot of conversations around Ice.

I think that that what ice does, the job that they do is critical.

I think we need men and women to do that job.

I think that we need to make sure that our borders are enforced, and that people who are here illegally do not remain.

And so it's critical we have them and we support them.

And with all of our law enforcement, whether it's local, state or federal I think the majority, vast majority of officers that work in those departments are good men and women who are trying to keep our community safe.

Okay.

Representative Jackson, you have one of the bills that may end up.

I do, I do, because I think the use of ice in Georgia is a misuse.

They're causing all this fear and disharmony in Georgia.

Last time I checked, Georgia's borders, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina and Tennessee.

And so we don't need our border.

Our borders are safe.

Having ice here in Georgia is a misplaced of use of the federal government.

And and and when you start to use anything that looks like the military and citizens are being intimidated and or ended up dead, that's a that's a that's a problem for me.

And so my bill is simply going to hold Ice accountable, because if they're going to do something in Georgia, we do have a right.

We have sovereignty in accordance with our Constitution to do something about it.

Okay, well, we're going to keep up with all of this, and we may have to have you back on to talk about it.

All right.

Thanks so much for coming on.

Coming up, we'll talk about the crisis in funding Georgia foster care and more.

Senator Kay Kirkpatrick has bills that offer solutions.

Stay with us.

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

It's a Georgia people, places and stories thing.

Morning edition on Georgia Public Broadcasting.

It keeps Georgians everywhere, dialed into home.

Tune in to GPB.

It's a Georgia thing.

Welcome back to Lawmakers.

I'm Donna Lowry.

We're going to focus now on Georgia's foster care system and how to improve it.

Some possibilities.

Joining us is Republican Senator Kay Kirkpatrick of Marietta.

She's a former physician.

She's chair of the Senate Children and Families Committee and vice chair of Health and Human Services.

Welcome to Lawmakers.

We've got a lot to discuss here because it really is a crisis in the foster care system, isn't it?

There's always been a crisis, and it's continuing, but we are working hard on making progress.

And we have been for the last few years since the Children and Families Committee was created in 2023.

Lieutenant Governor Jones was behind that.

And I'm honored to be the chair of that committee.

We've also had three study committees already, and we've got another one coming up.

There's so much to look into.

I talked to you in November about the work on the bipartisan Senate Study Committee, that chair that you chair that reviewed resources for children who age out of foster care.

And one of those gaps you found is with enrolling them in school when they were young.

Talk about that one.

It's not so much when they were young.

It's any time they change their placement and changed their school, they're supposed to be immediately enrolled.

And as a sort of an unintended consequence of the school safety bill that we passed.

Sometimes those enrollments are delayed while the receiving school waits for records, some of which are not even eligible to be released.

And so we've got a bill that is coming up that will actually insist that the school districts enroll them right away.

And I think that Bill is much needed because we heard testimony from some of the kids.

Some kids lost credits.

Their credits didn't transfer in a timely way.

They had to repeat classes.

We even had one young lady who had to repeat a year because of the delay.

So we just want our school districts to understand that foster kids are facing challenges that other kids don't have.

And that was one of the many things that we covered in that committee.

Yeah, I know you were focusing on aging out, but you found that talking to them, there were things that happened when they were young that affected how they aged out of the system.

That's exactly right.

In fact one of the things that we don't do a lot of in the legislature is prevention work.

And as a physician, that's important to me.

And we turned up some information that kids who are in the foster system are six times more likely to have autism.

And if we know that if you diagnose and treat those kids early, they do much better.

They have better outcomes.

And if the diagnosis are made late and it's sort of a vicious cycle, it's the kids have a diagnosis that hasn't been made and they haven't had treatment for they then have trouble staying in foster homes or being adopted.

And sometimes they are these kids who end up in hotels.

And so we've got a bill.

It's not my bill.

Senator Tillery's bill to try to expand a pilot that we did on that last year.

And Dr.

Michelle Zena is behind that and is doing great work.

So we're trying to gradually expand that to all the regions in the state.

Explain to people who don't understand what it means to for these kids to go into a hotel, it's because you can't find a foster home for them.

It's frequently older kids that are hard to place.

They can't go back home because the parents can't handle them.

The foster parents can't handle them, and some of them are full grown physically and have behavioral issues that make it very difficult.

And so they were ending up in hotels and on the floor defects offices and would require multiple people to be with each one of them because of the behavioral issues.

And Commissioner Brosch worked hard on that.

When she first got into office and uncovered this problem.

And for a brief time, we were down from like 75 kids in hotels to zero kids in hotels.

So we're working hard to find other ways to manage that.

And diagnosing and treating those kids early that have any kind of challenges, particularly autism, is very important.

Well, I know yesterday it was your committee that you had to talk about HB 431 and you just talked about and then you also discussed SR 622, because you need another committee because it's specifically you really want to look into the rising costs of foster care.

We know the Department of Human Services is projecting a funding deficit of $85 million.

Yes.

And that was already a problem.

And then the government shut down, just made delayed money coming in from the feds.

That really made the issue very acute.

And resulted because we balance our budget at the state level and don't spend money that we don't have, we ended up having to cut programs.

I don't I'm saying we but it's the agency that had to do it.

And there are multiple reasons why that happens.

Some of the people with complex needs.

And then there's also a problem with getting the medical care in a timely way that some of the kids need.

So we decided that it needed a deeper dive, and we're going to spend a lot of time this summer figuring out not just how we got here, but what are solutions.

How can we fix it?

Yeah, and I know when you say deeper dive, you really get into it.

Among the people who spoke yesterday was someone who was spent nearly 17 years in foster care and requested that someone like him should be on the committee.

So let's hear from him.

If Georgia is serious about understanding the true cost of foster care, then we must also be intentional about listening to the people who live those costs every day.

So full disclosure on that.

I've known Reginald Holloway since he was a teenager living in foster care.

When I was volunteering at a place where he was in foster care.

So how important is it to hear from someone like Reginald Holloway?

I told him before our committee met yesterday that he's making change.

He's going to result in a law change from the stories that he told our foster committee.

He wasn't the only one with lived experience that came and spoke to us.

But it is very important to hear from people who've actually been through experiences that some of which we really don't want to hear about because they're so awful.

But he's a very successful young man, and I'm very proud of him.

And yeah, the what I spoke to him about is it's a joint study committee with the House.

So the bills have to exactly match.

And so we're going to work with the House on how to make that happen.

Yeah.

He really is a success story.

He graduated from West Georgia College, mainly couch surfing.

Like, didn't have a place to go.

So we really are proud of him.

And thank you so much for what you're doing on this in this area.

Foster care.

There's so much more work to be done.

Okay.

You've got a bill tomorrow on the floor.

I do.

Okay.

I have a bill tomorrow that has to do with unclaimed property.

Okay.

All right.

Tell me briefly about it.

It we know that the state has over $3 billion of Georgia citizens money that they're holding.

And the Department of Revenue, and there are all kinds of problems with getting that money back to the people that it belongs to.

So this bill is going to clean that up.

And there will be a lot of interest in it.

I can tell.

I'm pretty sure their website is going to blow up.

Yeah it will.

Thank you so much for coming on the show.

That does it for Lawmakers today.

Join us tomorrow when we focus on consumer issues such as automatic renewal of subscriptions for things like streaming services.

Have a good evening.