I'm here this morning to welcome your latest member of this special fraternity.

Chairman Stan Gunter and, Stan, if you could come up here.

His wife Rita shared with us that Stan was declared cancer free of Friday.

It's something to celebrate.

I asked Rita if he got to ring the bell.

He was outpatient.

Didn't have that chance.

So I'm asking Stan to ring this bell right here in celebration of his cancer free diagnosis.

A joyous sound as Representative Stan Gunter of Blairsville joins fellow survivors at the house.

Well, to celebrate his cancer free diagnosis.

Good evening, and welcome to Lawmakers.

It's day 15 of the legislative session.

I'm Donna Lowry in Atlanta tonight, a chance to focus on issues of interest to women from four female members of the legislature.

One bill would guarantee health coverage for state employees, for hormone replacement therapy, for those going through menopause.

Also, there's the menstrual Data Privacy and Protection Act that would protect data collected on apps from pharmacies and retailers.

Another bill is a rewrite of certain areas of the Georgia law on Abortion and Reproductive Health.

And we'll also find out about legislation to, among other things, create a domestic violence offender list for someone repeatedly charged with a crime.

First correspondent Sarah Kallis gives us the latest on the day at the Capitol.

Hi, Donna.

As the session begins to ramp up this month, both chambers passed multiple pieces of legislation.

On day 15.

The House took up several bills today.

House Bill 957 allows miniature vehicles usually imported from Asia on county and municipal roads.

We are adding many trucks and allowing them to be driven on county and city roads.

Vehicles have to be older than 25-years-old.

This is very similar to what we did with side by Sides.

A few years back.

We're just adding we're creating a definition for mini truck and adding that word into the section.

That bill passed, 160 2-5 Another bill passed HB 657, creates a definition for certified peer specialists who work in addiction recovery residences.

House Bill 657 provides consistency of care and quality of support for a person or family in substance abuse recovery by defining certified peer specialists and laying out requirements for recovery, community organizations.

And I don't know if y'all knew this, but Georgia has the second largest number of rcos in the nation.

That bill passed 160 7-2 Other bills passed include a more streamlined professional licensing process for healthcare professionals, a quick day in the Senate as they zoomed through four Senate bills, SB 146 would codify law around cemeteries, defining what they are, who controls them, and rules around abandoned sites.

But it sets out something this uniform throughout the state for rural counties, where people are trying to set up a cemetery on their property, they cannot sell these spaces.

This would be for a family only if it was, cemetery spaces for sale.

Then they would register under the Secretary of State's office through securities Division, to form a perpetual care cemetery.

It passed unanimously.

SB 150 will address a shortage of teachers in public school classrooms by allowing retired teachers to return to the classroom full time, even if they are receiving retirement benefits.

A teacher can return to work after teaching 25 years and retiring.

But now there's a one year waiting period.

They have to stay out of it, stay out of school for one year.

However, they can come back and do that 49% that all of us are aware of.

Okay, so they will receive their retirement and receive the salary for teaching in the classroom.

Some Republicans had concerns over teachers being allowed to double dip.

Are we creating an incentive unintentionally here to to allow people to retire at 25?

Year 25, come back at year 27, essentially double dip in the system?

Well, the senator we Maye and that's what I'm highlighting for our colleagues, is that I realize we have a situation with shortages in the classroom.

So I'm willing to support this and move forward.

But I want someone to put a flag in it, put a pin in it so that we evaluate it in two years, three years, whatever the time frame needs to be.

Because if we've not closed that gap, if we've actually unintentionally made that gap worse, we need to realize what code section we changed when we did that.

Despite some concern over long term budget impacts, the bill passed 48-1.

SB 411 will open up who can perform dry needling in the medical community.

This, after many, many months of compromise language and all these different groups and being given the final approval by the Georgia medical Association, ensures that our physicians, our physical therapists, our occupational therapists, and our acupuncturists are all on the same page and understand who does what by how much training and what they have to do.

It was passed 49-2, and SB 170 is a perfect example of a bill being gutted and stuffed with new language.

Those watching at home.

This is kind of a peek behind the curtains of what happens a lot of times on signee die in here.

If you look in your notebook, you'll see our original Senate bill 170 dealt with homeless people.

Well, that got hijacked a little bit on day 40.

And by the time it came back to us from the house, it had nothing to do with homelessness.

And it's now a bill to establish a grant for rural hospitals to have backup generators if they need them.

But federal legislation in President Trump's big, beautiful bill had already been earmarked to help rural hospitals with these types of needs.

Let's use the federal money from the big bill to pay for these generators as needed.

And it also limits it to only people that need generators.

As of the time this bill is signed.

So this isn't a brand new generator bill for every hospital in rural Georgia.

It's the ones that need one that don't get funded through the federal government.

Despite the changes, the bill received bipartisan support and was passed unanimously.

Also today, gun control advocacy group Moms Demand Action rallied in support of a bill that would ban switches which turn a handgun into a machine gun.

Today, I'm horrified to witness the young lives taken by rapid rate on the weapons of lethal destruction by uncontrolled hands in this country and in this state, as you as you are, hear from our speakers today.

Our streets are flooded daily with guns that have been converted to a machine gun with the tiniest and a cheap device known as a switch.

With a few minutes and $25, a switch can be altered from a normal pistol to a to a machine gun that will fire 1,200 rounds per minute.

Tomorrow we can expect to hear discussion about vehicle registration in both chambers and property rights in the House.

That's my Capitol report.

Back to you, Donna.

Thanks, Sarah.

In 1922, two years after the 19th amendment passed, giving women the right to vote, Georgia elected its first women in the General Assembly.

Currently, 13 out of 56 state senators are women and more than 60 out of the 180 members of the House are female.

These dynamic women they wield influence, and some of them are in leadership positions.

Tonight we'll hear from four women.

First, Republican Representative Beth Camp of Concord.

She chairs the judiciary, juvenile and her other committees include Ways and Means and Agriculture and Consumer Affairs.

Also with us is Democratic Representative Shea Roberts of Atlanta.

Among her committee assignments are judicial Non-civil Governmental Affairs and Creative Arts and Entertainment.

Welcome to you both.

To lawmakers this year.

So I'm going to start with you.

Chairman Kemp, you have a bill to provide state employees who are biological women with hormone replacement therapy.

Why do you think this legislation is needed?

Well, it codifies that the state health care plan would provide coverage for women needing HRT hormone replacement therapy with the black box label warning removed from hormone replacement therapy.

I think it's important just to make sure that women who are in the state health care plan, which are a lot of women teachers, are included, state employees, a lot of others.

It gives actually an opportunity for those women to make sure they have what they need.

As we age, our hormones change and we're not all built up to be 25 forever.

And bone density and muscle density and cognitive ability, there's, you know, incontinence, there's all kinds of things that are very important for women's health, that hormone replacement have shown time and time again to be helpful with.

And right now, state insurance doesn't cover that.

It does not fully cover it for some aspects, yes, but not all aspects.

So what would your bill do?

Cover all of it.

It would cover all of it, yes.

Okay.

All right.

We'll talk about.

You have more to talk about coming up.

Representative Roberts, you and five other Democratic female lawmakers want to gain once again.

A big one.

Sweeping, sweeping rewrite of the Georgia law on abortion and reproductive health.

This is something you've fought for, for, for years.

Every year since 2019.

And the heartbeat bill.

So, yes.

Isn't it still an uphill battle?

What do you think.

It is an uphill battle.

But I think it's really important that we continue to fight because I just believe that every Georgian should have the freedom to decide when and if they want to have a family.

I mean, we are facing affordability crisis right now and forcing women to have children that they're not ready for, can't afford.

It's just one more thing that we need to look at.

And then there's the whole health crisis.

You know, doctors and lawyers have to confer at critical care times.

When women are in the middle of miscarrying and we've got bad health outcomes.

We know Amber, Nicole Thurman, Adrianna Smith you know, these stories are real, and the people are real here.

And so I'm I will continue to fight for it because you know, I've told my own abortion story publicly.

I was pregnant, and my baby was incompatible with life.

We wanted it but I was able to make that choice because my doctor and my perinatologist said, you're 37, and it's hard on your body, and you have two little ones at home.

And so you know, we recommend that you terminate.

And my husband and I had a hard decision to make, but we did.

And my daughter's now 22-25 can't make the same health care decisions I can.

It's time for us to put these decisions back in the hands of women and their doctors.

Okay, we I know it's personal for you.

And so thank you once again for sharing this.

We'll talk about more specifics in a moment.

I want to switch to a hearing you had today on one of your bills.

Tell us about the bills bill.

It deals with contraception.

Yes, it is actually a great bill because it gives accessibility to women.

So women can make some more choices in their lives.

For example we don't have we have 82 counties that do not have OB GYNs in our state, which is astounding.

So this bill allows pharmacists to operate at the top of their licensure and prescribe contraception, including Depo-Provera.

And so most individuals and communities have there's a pharmacy if there's not a doctor in town, there's generally a pharmacy.

Even box stores have pharmacies.

Grocery stores have pharmacies.

So it's a wonderful opportunity for people to have more access to that health care.

This bill also would allow individuals to get more than just a month at a time, and their insurance or Medicaid cover it so they could get up to 12 months at a time.

So someone who's unbanked, someone who's a gig worker, someone who doesn't have transportation.

There are a lot of opportunities for individuals to be able to get contraception and have that discussion with a healthcare professional, a pharmacist.

Are there any other states that have done the same thing where you bypassed the doctor, essentially?

Well, it's not bypassing.

You still have to go to the doctor.

Well, they still recommend you have a pap smear and get all the checkups that anyone else would normally get.

But 36 other states have provisions that allow pharmacists to prescribe to prescribe contraception.

And there's things that was one of the questions today.

There are medical reasons why a pharmacist might not be able to.

If you have a family history of breast cancer or ovarian cancer, if you have a history of blood clots, if you're a smoker if, you know, perhaps you don't have a lifestyle that you might need to get another form of birth control, maybe you're not going to remember to take the pill every day or something along those lines.

You need to talk to your gynecologist to get perhaps an IUD, or make other decisions about contraception.

So you'll have to give your medical history to your pharmacist.

They probably already have it.

My pharmacist knows a lot about me.

They know every medication that I've taken for the past 15 years.

And they have a lot of information on me, and I'm sure yours does as well.

I'll think about that.

You may be right.

Representative Roberts, your bill would mean a legal shift in investigating and prosecuting pregnancy outcomes.

So how how would that work?

Well, it would take criminalization of doctors and women out of the mix so doctors could go back to practicing the standard of care that they and follow their oath.

A lot of times they're feeling like they're being asked to deny the standard of care that they were trained to give their patients.

And so that's put them in really difficult positions.

I mean, there are hospitals that have teams of people that meet to discuss whether or not care can be given.

And we know women have died in this state because of the lack of quick care.

And so it's just really important that we remove the prosecution side of things.

We tend to be trying to to criminalize a lot of our professions these days.

I was in lots of hearings this week about librarians trying to criminalize them.

So it just seems like we could support them and make sure that we're not as legislators, we're not practicing medicine without a license.

I feel like that's kind of what we've been doing a little bit.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yeah.

I want to ask you about your contraceptive bill, contraception bill.

Would it what, you're going to follow other states, but would you, would you still need to to have some doctors involved at some point?

Yes.

The state Composite Medical Board and also, I'm sure the Department of Public Health would be involved to some degree.

And the pharmacy board, they're all going to come together.

And other states, they set up a protocol of what questions are to be asked and what facilitates a yes and what facilitates.

You need to go see your doctor.

So everyone is going to be very deeply involved.

There's going to be continuing education for the pharmacist.

The Georgia Association of OB GYNs came in today.

They support this bill because I know you look shocked.

They support this bill because they going back to there are 82 counties without an ob gyn and out of 159 they can't get to everyone.

They need to get to.

And they they deal with complex pregnancies.

They deal with other women's health care needs.

Someone simply needing to be put on the pill or a patch that doesn't always necessitate going to the doctor.

And so they recognize this could be a great partnership to make sure women get the health care they need.

Our licensing and our state, our pharmacists are doctors.

And so this would allow them to operate at the top of their licensure.

Okay.

So there did you have any of them talk about the bill today.

Pharmacist or.

Pharmacist pharmacists.

No.

But they are supportive of the bill of the measure.

It's not a mandate.

All pharmacists do not have to do this.

If you're at home.

You do not have to do this.

If you're a pharmacist.

That's what I was thinking.

But but it does give them an opportunity.

And I know talking to my pharmacist, I'm able to get a lot of information and advice.

And so I would feel comfortable doing it.

And I think a lot of people would.

Okay, well, we're going to keep up with your bill and your bill, too.

I want to thank you both for coming on the show.

Now, coming up, more on our focus on women's issues.

We'll continue with two lawmakers as they tell us about bills that help protect women when it comes to legal matters, including in domestic abuse cases.

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.

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 look now at legislation to help protect women through the court systems.

Joining us is Republican Representative Leesa Hagan of Lyons.

She is chair of the House Rural Development Committee.

Her other committees include appropriations, agriculture and Consumer Affairs and Transportation.

Also here is Democratic Representative Stacey Evans of Atlanta.

Some of her House committees include appropriations.

Judiciary.

Retirement and rules.

Welcome to Lawmakers.

To both of you.

Thank you.

Thanks for being here.

All right.

Chairman Hagan, you have HB 11 42.

It would tighten how Georgia handles domestic violence offenders.

The offenders in particular.

How did you come up with the need for this bill?

Well, actually for me it was a young lady that that I worked with at the Capitol who first brought the idea to me.

And we also heard that there is a young woman down in Savannah who started a petition because she heard about the bill that just went into effect, the law that just went into effect in Tennessee in January.

So it's the first in the country like it.

And so if we can accomplish this here in Georgia, we would be the second.

And so it just seems like something that is timely.

We're concerned with public safety.

We're concerned about families.

Women in particular and their children.

And so it just seems like something that makes good sense.

And it's the right time for it.

Okay.

We'll dig into it a little bit more.

Representative Evans, your co-sponsor on HB 460.

And that would exclude from evidence certain communications made between attorney and clients with the client when the client is in prison.

So tell us how you got involved in that one.

Sure.

So House Bill 460 I think really sets the record straight to how most people thought it was.

When you ask most folks about this bill and they say, what does it do?

And we say, well, it protects conversations between folks that are in prison and their lawyers.

And most people look shocked and say, I can't believe that's not already the law.

So Esther Panitch is the lead sponsor on this.

It's bipartisan.

Chairman Tyler Paul Smith is also a cosigner.

And this just sets back what we think is probably the policy that the legislature always meant it to be, that whether you're incarcerated or not, your conversations with your lawyer are confidential.

And so it would create an unrecorded line, because right now, all the calls that are going in and out of the prison are recorded.

And this would set up a system where you have a special line for conversations with your attorney.

So it's bipartisan, bipartisan.

Okay.

We'll talk a little bit more.

Chairman Hagan, the bill would link diversion programs to future accountability.

Explain what the diversion programs would be all about.

Sure.

Well, currently, a prosecuting attorney can agree that someone who is charged with domestic violence offenses could go into a diversion program.

And upon completion of that program he or she would be it would not be a conviction.

However in the current language of this bill, that would be included as a first offense, the way the language is written currently is you would not appear on this domestic violence offender registry until your second offense.

However, the exception is made for someone who's who's been through the diversion program that that it's not a it's not a conviction, but that that second encounter would, would require them to appear on the registry.

So let's talk about the registry then.

What exactly would it be?

Sure.

This this bill would create a persistent domestic violence offender registry that would be maintained by GBI.

And upon the second conviction or exception, you just spoke of, a person would appear on the registry.

And the goal is just to create another resource for people as they make decisions about who they want to associate with and who they want to be in relationships with.

I know that there are people who have been in domestic violence situations, and then they the person maybe is charged.

The person moves into a different domestic violence situation, and another woman or man is affected by it.

So that's what you're trying to prevent.

Exactly.

That's what we're trying to to prevent.

Okay.

All right.

We'll get into that a little bit more.

Let's talk a little bit about another bill.

You're a signer on.

Representative Mekyah McQueen bill, the menstrual data Privacy and Protection Act.

What is the reason for that legislation?

So when Roe versus Wade was when that decision was overturned, obviously that was an earthquake across the country and rights that women thought were fundamental.

Our privacy, our right to make decisions.

It rocked.

And so across the country, you've seen a couple of states.

George is not one of them yet.

That has passed bills to try to make sure that when women might want to go across state lines where abortion laws are less restrictive, that any kind of period tracker, menstrual tracker, ovulation tracker, that that information wouldn't be used against them to potentially be prosecuted in their home states, where there may be more restrictive laws.

So that's sort of why it started.

But I think there's also a more fundamental, maybe more simpler thing to think about.

We all use apps, we all use technology, and technology is great until it's not.

And this is just another way to make sure that technology is useful to those who want to use it to make their life easier, but that it doesn't become a weapon against them.

And so this bill also would say that apps and others that track this information, that they can't sell it, and that if you decide you want, you want that information right from the system, that they have to do that right away, that it wouldn't be subject to third party subpoenas and things of that nature, just a way to protect privacy in a world where we feel like less and less is sacred and private and very happy to support representative McQueen, who's spearheading this legislation this year, and also Representative Park Cannon, who's spearheaded it in prior sessions.

This is something that has been talked about for a couple of years now.

And so the there are probably people who don't recognize that the apps that they may use for menstrual periods and that kind of thing that people can get your information if you're in another state there.

Have there been any people prosecuted or I guess I'm just unfamiliar with it.

Well, there are only a few states that have passed laws, like like the Menstrual Data Privacy Act.

And it does have provisions in it for civil monetary penalties, for example, for app technology corporations that might misuse the information, that might sell it.

But as far as criminal prosecutions for misusing folks information, not so much, but it is it is very real right now.

There are essentially bounties out on women who their suspicion that maybe they missed a period and they went out of state to get an abortion, and so much so that if you were trying to serve a third party subpoena right now in certain states to get I mean, it could be innocuous as phone records, you have to and this has happened in my law practice.

You have to sign an affidavit that only in a few states that have done this that you have to testify in an affidavit that you are not seeking information to use against a woman who might have been seeking to exercise her reproductive freedom, rights that might exist in other states but may not exist in her home state.

So this is newer because Roe v. Wade being overturned is still it's been several years now, but it's still a new phenomenon.

And I think the laws are trying to catch up to make sure that as much as possible, we are protecting women in this new environment.

Okay.

We'll keep up with that.

Bill, I want to ask you, Chair Hagan would would name stay on this domestic violence registry forever?

No they wouldn't.

That's a good question.

The way it is written right now upon multiple convictions or additional convictions at that time, would, would increase.

But after a period of time with no additional convictions for domestic violence offenses, that person could be eligible to roll off of the registry and be removed by GBI.

Yeah.

So GBI would keep all the records on all of this all over the state.

So that's right.

Right.

Upon a conviction, the clerk in the county where the conviction occurred would submit that information to the GBI, and they would maintain that registry.

What kind of reaction are you getting?

I'm getting very positive reactions to people from people, victims.

Survivors, advocates directors of domestic violence shelters and sexual assault centers have been very supportive.

My fellow colleagues in the legislature have been very supportive about it.

It seems like it's especially with the advent of dating apps, things happening online, it seems like it's the right time to take care of that.

Well, I want to thank you both for being here.

We'll keep up with your bills.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That does it for Lawmakers tonight.

We'll be back tomorrow with a show focusing on education issues.

And you'll see you.

That day will be legislative day 16.

Have a good evening.