The days of Democrats putting their head in the sand and allowing you to say anything that you want to say are long gone.

So you talk about a debate.

This ain't your grandfather's Democratic Party anymore.

You want it, you're going to get it.

It was bare knuckle politics in the Senate today.

Good evening and welcome to Lawmakers.

It's day 33 of the Georgia legislative session.

I'm Donna Lowry in Atlanta on the show.

We'll talk about several consumer protection bills, including one to make sure Georgians know up front.

Exactly, exactly what they're paying for.

This would prevent surprise surcharges.

Also, an update on Georgia's top state for talent initiative.

How's it shaping Georgia's workforce, and what does it mean for families, students and businesses?

Plus, we'll learn about legislation that looks at the commonly known drug as magic mushrooms.

Should it be for medical use and not decriminalized?

And several bills involving Georgia elections.

First, let's find out what happened in both chambers today from Capitol correspondent Sarah Kallis.

Hi, Donna.

Today at the Capitol, both chambers passed bills dealing with schools and students, and the House passed a measure aiming to lower prices at the gas pump in the Senate.

Six bills and lots of politics.

Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones used time during the point of personal privilege to bring the politics of his current gubernatorial campaign to the Senate floor.

Jones called out his chief Republican challenger, Rick Jackson, and his company for driving up medical costs.

It does really kind of disgust me that you have one private company that's use taxpayer dollars to basically to, to basically triple the cost of health care in this state.

So I don't mind calling out Jackson Healthcare for being the culprit of our health care costs in this state, more than tripling when you allow a private entity to be monopolizing, monopolizing an industry like they have.

One of the more contentious bills, HB 13 79 would require K through secondary schools to report any financial donation of $10,000 or more they receive from countries considered foreign adversaries like China, Russia and Cuba.

This bill is a reporting bill.

It does not prohibit any nation from donating funds to Georgia educational environments.

It just means that if you receive the fund exceeds $10,000, it would be reported.

Democrat said that it was heavy handed and an overreach.

They also questioned who was going to be influenced by the donations.

Is it your contention that our system is being led by people who could be so easily swayed by the influence of a mere $10,000, which represents what 0.00 0-0 1% of the budget?

Is it your contention that our Chancellor would be swayed and influenced by $10,000?

Not at all.

As a matter of fact, I think that the Chancellor and the Regents and the university presidents and the technical college presidents, our school systems across the state are not influenced by such a nominal amount.

However, I think it is important for the citizens of Georgia to know who is contributing and what amount they contributed and for what purpose.

HB 13 79 was passed along party lines 31-20 The lieutenant governor wasn't the only one playing politics today.

Democrats tried to flex their muscles as well as they filibustered, debated and added amendments with Democrat priorities like increasing the minimum wage, making data centers pay for their own power infrastructure or pushing for fair taxation to many of the bills brought to the floor.

Days of Democrats putting their head in the sand and allowing you to say anything that you want to say are long gone.

So you talk about a debate.

This ain't your grandfather's Democratic Party anymore.

You want it, you're going to get it.

Thank you.

Real well.

In the house, the day was more harmonious.

The legislature gave unanimous passage to Senate Bill 399, or the Mason cells APD act.

First, it creates a map of the locations for automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, across state facilities, and provides those locations to our 911 emergency centers so that they can map those for future use.

And secondly, it creates, in collaboration with the Georgia Emergency Communications Authority and the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, a roadmap for the implementation of a training program for all 911 emergency services on the telephone, instructions for the use of AEDs for laypeople.

The bill was named after Mason cells, a Mercer University student who died from going into cardiac arrest after being hit in the chest with a soccer ball.

An AED kit was nearby and could have saved him cells.

Parents visited the Capitol to watch the bill pass.

We are extremely grateful for the bipartisan support.

We're extremely grateful for these two gentlemen standing beside us.

Today, we came to Senator Harbin a little over a year ago with broken hearts and a concern.

We know that we can't our actions today can't save Mason.

But they can impact future young people and their parents.

SB 399 now moves to the governor's desk to be signed into law.

Another bill dealing with students also received unanimous passage.

SB 523 establishes a procedure for dealing with religious and other harassment complaints in Georgia schools.

Supporters say those complaints aren't always being addressed in schools now.

In Fulton County, my county, a federal civil rights complaint documents dozens of incidents across the district.

I have the list of two dozen a student miming shooting at Jewish girls, a fifth grader told that Jews and Israelis should all be killed.

And when parents reported it, nothing happened.

So the harassment continued because the harasser was enabled.

And the House passed a new amendment to HB 11 99, the annual bill that aligns Georgia Code to federal revenue laws.

The new amendment suspends the gas tax in Georgia for 60 days.

We're also calling for a 60 day, pause on the gas tax.

Given the actions in the Middle East.

This is going to be some well received relief to our constituents and taxpayers, particularly as we head into the summer season.

The bill passed 160 3-4 and was immediately transmitted to the Senate for final approval.

Governor Kemp will also need to sign off on the gas tax suspension for it to go into effect.

Also today, Representative Dewey McClain gave his retirement speech to the chamber after 13 years in the House.

But, speaker, thank you for for doing that because during crossover I want to appreciate you for 1:00 because that's one of the reasons I am kind of leaving, because when you get to this age, you just can't hang out to 1:00 in the morning.

The Senate also passed SB 220, which would expand the legal use of medical cannabis since the Senate made some changes.

It now heads back to the House.

That's my Capitol report.

Donna.

Thanks, Sarah.

We're going to focus now on workforce issues and more.

Joining me is Republican Representative Matthew Gamble of Cartersville.

He is the vice chairman of the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee, and one of the governor's floor leaders.

Also here is Republican Representative Ron Stephens of Savannah.

He is chairman of the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee.

Some of his his other committees include appropriations Rules and Urban Affairs.

So welcome to Lawmakers for this season.

To both of you.

I appreciate this.

So let's get into some of these issues dealing with workforce.

You helped usher through an initiative called The Top State for talent.

And for those unfamiliar with it, bring us up to date.

Sure.

So House Bill 13 0-2 is the third iteration of legislation that we've passed as a part of the governor's legislative agenda over the past three years.

All of the pieces of legislation have built on each other, and the whole goal and purpose of it is to better align our workforce development programs in the state to make sure that we're meeting the demands of the industry here that are looking for high demand, high skilled, high wage that they have these jobs, they're looking for the students and the citizens to fill them.

Yeah.

So what exactly will it do for families, for students, for just everybody out in the workforce?

Well, this third bill deals with renaming the governor's Office of Student Achievement to the Governor's Office of Workforce Education, Workforce Strategy.

And so it will be better aligned to work between the technical college system, the Department of Education, the State Workforce Investment Board, and the Department of Labor.

As we submit to the state's federal.

Carl D Perkins Act plan and also the state's Workforce Investment Act plan.

And the goal, again, is to make sure that as we're putting those plans together, we're collaborating with industry, business leaders, schools, system folks, families, all types of folks to get input on what those plans should look like.

I remember when Gosha came around.

So what will the initials be now?

Well.

You haven't.

Figured that out.

Exactly.

Yeah, yeah.

That's okay.

We'll do more on that one.

We'll come out with one though.

Yeah.

So Chairman Stevens, your workforce bill is HB 317.

The workforce and residential infrastructure district for Georgia Act.

It's a lot.

Tell us what that means.

It's a mouthful.

We the idea, if you will, is on.

Georgia is now the eighth most populated state in the country.

We're heading in a New York minute to number 5 right behind New York.

So population explosion is going to be a problem.

More so in the urban areas of the state.

The other Georgia, if you will.

And we need infrastructure in the in the worst way.

So this is an ability for the landowners.

They're sometimes very large landowners to go in and place a bond, a debt on themselves that will stay there until it's paid off to put in infrastructure so that we can have development in those areas, so that we don't have tens of thousands of septic tanks and wells and that sort of stuff so that we're ready for development when it comes.

So and you've got maybe the meta plant, the Hyundai plant down there, and maybe somebody buys the land.

It's putting in the sewage system, it's putting in everything that infrastructure instead of a lot of different ones, little ones.

And even residential areas.

Okay, Florida has done this now for decades.

In fact, every single state around Georgia has done that.

And it's time for us to catch up because the people are coming and they're coming fast.

Okay.

All right, let's go into another workforce bill.

In a sense, it focuses on those who are at work and are employed in the state's biggest business, and that's agriculture.

So talk about this bill that deals with that.

Yeah.

So we had House Bill 11 59 that fortunately we passed today that will help our farmers.

It exempts state income tax from the Federal Farmer's Bridge Assistance program that was passed during the summer as a part of the one big, beautiful bill and the United States Department of Agriculture rolled that out.

And so this will be used to help these farmers as they deal with the uncertainty of farming and agriculture.

Of course, as you know, is the number 1 industry in our state.

And so we're always very interested in what we can do to make sure that we're supporting them, those that farm our farm families.

So this will give them that extra support they need when it comes to not having to pay state income tax on those federal assistance program funds that they receive.

And as you said, passed today.

Passed today of the Senate final passage.

So on to the governor.

All righty.

So back to you, Chairman Stevens.

We're going to change gears a little bit because you're a pharmacist and you have a bill dealing with the drug psilocybin, so commonly known and known as the magic mushrooms or shrooms.

So tell us about it and what you want to do with it.

And there's two drugs that we're talking about.

And one of them was research right down the street here at Emory University, which is going to help some folks with some PTSD.

Really a big problem for those in my generation that might have gone to serve in Vietnam and had to live with this debilitating disease.

And the, the lysergic acid drug that was researched there is going to help first time in decades, a brand new drug to come out and help these folks.

And they need help desperately.

The other one on the magic mushroom was for life threatening type of depression.

And both of these drugs should be available any day.

But we do a drug update bill every year.

And the problem we've got is, is these are moving from a class one drug, which is no medical use to a drug somewhere down the line.

That's a better class.

And it'll be available for these folks.

We'd have to wait a whole year without doing this particular bill for the drug update bill.

And I felt that the folks from Vietnam, those folks that have served and have post-traumatic stress syndrome, shouldn't wait 1 hour.

Before this drug is available for them along with these, these folks that have life threatening type of depression, which is the magic mushroom drug, we need to get these drugs as fast as we can.

So we're circumventing the action of the drug update that we do every year to try to get it to them sooner.

And that that would have happened next year.

And you're saying you wanted to bring it up.

So let's talk a little bit as a pharmacist, does that change anything in terms of how people get it?

There's still have to go to a doctor first, that kind of thing.

It will.

It's of course it's unavailable today because it's a class one drug in the same class as you might see heroin, that kind of stuff, because it has no medical use.

And we've come a long way with with drugs, as you've heard a little bit about marijuana and finding uses for seizures and things that really work for people and get them some help, things in the drugstore really don't work that well.

So we've come a long way.

And drugs that never had a use before were finding uses for them.

And we're really helping some people.

Okay, then.

Well, we'll keep up with that.

Where is that bill right now?

It is.

It's in the Senate.

Should be heard tomorrow.

Okay.

Well, we'll keep up with that one.

So then let's talk about another bill that you.

Well, let's talk first about your bill dealing with.

You were the one who helped usher through the income tax rebate that everybody is going to be getting.

Yes, that that was another priority for the governor.

House Bill 1,000.

It also was final passage this week, and it is the fourth time that we will provide income tax rebates to Georgians with $500 for married filing jointly.

And it tears the status down to 3.7 5-2 point 5-0, based on how you file.

But again, that's $1.17 billion in tax relief that we're putting taxpayers money back into their pockets this year.

Yeah.

And it was unanimous, wasn't it?

It was broadly supported.

Yeah.

It was very, very much supported.

So back to you, Chairman Stevens.

You want to establish professional health programs for nurses, professional counselors and social workers.

Explain a little bit about that.

You know, for years with pharmacists, physicians and dentists, there's been a program out there alternative to discipline so that if they get in trouble, whether it be a physical disability, but usually it's, it has to do with drugs and addiction and that kind of stuff.

We have got a program out there that helps these folks given, you know, you take your license, you suspend it temporarily and you get these folks from help.

We've never done that for nurses.

They were left out in the cold and we've tried for two years to get the very same program to get these folks some help and back to work.

That's what 219 does.

And it just passes on the way to the governor.

So the main thing is they would have lost their license.

This allows them to get it back after they've been rehabilitated.

And even more, the only option they had until now was just to get arrested, if you will.

So this gives them an option to know there's going to be help for them.

Get the help, get the rehabilitation you need and get back to work.

Yeah, well, you both have some good bills going.

Thank you so much for coming on the show and talk about them.

Thank you.

We'll be there when the governor signs them too.

That's right.

Yeah.

Well, coming up, legislation on consumer protections when it comes to booking a hotel room and cutting a clear picture of total price on goods and services that you pay, plus elections bills from a senator visiting us in the studio for the very first time.

Stay with us.

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.

Hi, I'm Bert Wesley Huffman, joining you from the set of Lawmakers, now in its 56th season, covering the Georgia legislative session.

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We came across this intriguing story.

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Are you prepared?

It is a golden opportunity.

It's not over.

It will be all that you've dreamed of.

We're going to talk about legislation to protect your money.

Joining us from the Capitol is Democratic Senator Sonya Halpern of Atlanta.

She is minority caucus vice chair and vice chair of urban affairs.

Her other committees include Appropriations and Finance.

And thank you so much for coming on the show from the Gold Dome.

When I know you're there for a late finance committee meeting.

I am glad to join you tonight.

Thank you.

Well, let's start with your bill to prohibit third party hotel booking sites from masquerading as official hotel websites.

So talk about what led to the creation of SB 416.

So SB 416 really is an answer to the problem that many consumers are having.

There are websites out there that are completely unaffiliated with official hotel websites, but when you do a search on the internet, it looks like the site.

It's got the same branding, the same colors, the same logo.

And if you were to actually book on that site, you think that you've got an actual hotel reservation waiting for you.

But when you show up at the hotel, you will find that they don't have a record of that reservation and your money is usually unaccounted for, and it leaves you and the hotel scrambling to find you a reservation.

So this bill really is a bill for transparency.

It will really kind of make sure that these deceptive and often fraudulent websites have actual disclosure, so that it's a key to consumers to know that they are on an unaffiliated third party website and not an official affiliated hotel website or a partner website like an Expedia or an Airbnb.

So it is it makes it very clear with the disclosure.

Yeah.

And that will keep people from getting scammed by that.

But we want to make it clear there are legitimate places, but we're you're going after the ones who are really trying to take your money.

Yes.

And this bill actually specifically carves out those legitimate partners of hotels and actual hotel websites.

And so that disclosure will only be required on those sites that are unaffiliated.

Okay, let's get to something else.

You want to study committee on what some see as an uneven playing field for local businesses and residents.

In some areas of the economy.

Tell us about Senate Resolution 890.

Well, free and fair markets are really important, especially as we're seeing more consolidation in industries that we want.

Competition, of course, but we also want to make sure that our small businesses are also able to thrive.

And the more consolidation we're seeing in industries, especially industries like health care, agriculture, housing all those play an outsized role, especially housing the number of private equity companies coming in, gobbling up our housing is problematic.

So this study committee would allow us to really delve in deeper on that question of fair and free markets, really making sure that the consolidation is not hurting Georgia businesses.

The other thing that we know is oftentimes that consolidation of big major corporations become they end up being international conglomerates.

So, you know, the money that's being spent is really going overseas and is not actually staying here in Georgia.

And while we do want to make sure that we've got all kinds of businesses from all over the world that, you know, want to come here and do business here.

We also need to make sure that Georgia businesses thrive.

All right.

We'll keep up with that.

Bill.

You also want to help consumers to understand the price they are paying for things.

Your bill, SB 583, wants firms to display the total cost.

This would make surcharges in consumer transactions illegal because, you know, up front, right?

Yes.

So as consumers are minding their dollars and their wallets and everybody feels that pinch in their pocketbook as costs are increasing, oftentimes there are these junk fees, what's known as junk fees or these hidden fees in purchases.

So yes, this bill would require all fees to be disclosed upfront at the top of a transaction instead of in the end, we see a lot of these hidden fees in areas like travel or entertainment.

And so we just want to make sure that Georgians understand what the full cost of something is going to be as they begin the transaction, rather than being surprised at the end with all of these additional costs that really add up and inflate the total cost at the end of the purchase.

We've all been there with that.

Well, I know you want to get back to the committee meeting, but I want to thank you for joining us.

Senator Halpern.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Well, with us now in the studio is Democratic Senator Randal Mangham of Stone mountain.

His committees include Health and Human Services, banking and financial Institutions and Retirement.

Welcome to the show for the first time.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate having you know, you have.

You have some elections bill.

So let's go through them.

You have a bill signed by nearly every Senate Democrat and it's SB 274, and it proposes implementing same day voter registration and voting.

Now, how would that work?

Well, what we want to do is make make elections make it easier to vote.

And I think that's the challenge in this whole, this whole atmosphere now where we have things like the Save act and other, other, other actions.

Yeah.

So how would it work that same day?

So you, you'd go in and the individual precincts would know that it's okay to come.

In and have your I.D., which, which is always the case.

For example, in India, you have a read, they vote and they have a little red spot and they can just go and vote.

And they know you've already voted because you got the red spot.

But as long as you're a citizen, you're not, you don't have a problem.

We want to make voting easier.

And you have moves afoot right now that would, for example, eliminate the ability of about 21 million people to vote.

And so we want to make it easier to vote rather than harder to vote.

Okay.

Well, let's talk about SB 562.

You want to make it possible for unhoused people to vote.

You want them to use the county registrar's office as their address for voting.

Yes.

There there are a number of persons who are unhoused who are not able to adequately participate in the process because they don't have a permanent address.

And without that permanent address, you want to, if people can get agreement by the various institutions, then they can use that address and participate in voting and participate in the process.

And hopefully the being unhoused is a temporary situation rather than a permanent status.

So the registrar's office in your area would be the your address, and it would only be used for voting as your address.

Only, only for purposes of voting.

And there's also some legislation even proposed that if a church or for example, churches that, feed homeless people, if they agree, they could even use that address, that's another proposal.

But we really just want to make it easier wherever we can for people to vote and participate in the democratic process.

Yeah.

Is this have you ever heard of this happening anywhere else with.

It?

Georgia is a leader and it is.

And it would be a leader.

And it is a challenge because it's amazing when you have remnants of SB 202, for example, where we're making it harder to vote, harder to even give people water to stand in line to vote, limit and drop off boxes, limiting early voting.

We're trying to go in the other direction, make it easier for people to participate in the system.

Okay, one more bill that deals with elections.

Tell us about SB 598.

It restricts changes to election rules close to an election date.

Fantastic.

Within 180 days, you cannot do any change in voting practice or procedure.

And that has remnants of what is called section five of the Voting Rights Act, if we have any.

If we recall, there's a case by the Supreme Court, case by the name of Shelby versus holder that eliminated the right to pre-clear changes in voting practice or procedure.

So what would happen is people would change the rules right before the election to favor one party or another.

And we've seen that in here in Georgia recently where you're thinking you're on the one set of rules, and then they'll change them to favor one side versus the other.

So this legislation would say you don't change it for anyone at least 180 days prior to qualifying for that seat.

And so then you would have an opportunity for people to adequately on the same set of rules and not favoring one side or another.

And that's what we're getting because we're getting so partisan in everything.

That's one of the changes in politics now.

People are getting so partisan and they don't listen.

And I was really honored this past week.

I think one of the first bills that the Senate really listened to each other, and there was some legislation, and we went back and forth and people literally passed some passed legislation on a bipartisan basis.

Okay, we'll see if we have some more of that.

Well, thank you for coming on the show for the first time.

I hope you'll come back.

We look forward.

Thank you.

That does it for Lawmakers tonight.

We'll be back tomorrow for day 34 when you'll hear what the Georgia business community is watching closely during this legislative session.

Have a good evening.