Georgia Trend Daily – March 29, 2023
March 29, 2023 Georgia Recorder
Georgia Supreme Court justices hear arguments in challenge to state’s 2019 anti-abortion law
Jill Nolin and Aaleah McConnell report that Georgia Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical of the argument that the state’s six-week abortion should be tossed out because it passed while Roe v. Wade was still standing. That’s one of the key arguments plaintiffs made when they challenged the law last year in Fulton County Superior Court, where Judge Robert C. I. McBurney called the provisions of the law “plainly unconstitutional” because they were enacted in 2019 – three years before Roe v. Wade was overturned – and temporarily blocked the law.
March 29, 2023 Georgia Trend – Exclusive!
How health plans can improve the maternal well-being of black women in Georgia
Dr. Seema Csukas reports that the statistics for maternal health for Black women in Georgia are shocking. Pregnant and postpartum Black women and their babies are at increased risk for poor health outcomes up to and including death.
March 29, 2023 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Downtown Atlanta’s newest hotel aims to defy pandemic’s challenges
Zachary Hansen reports, on the site of the old Georgia Dome, the 42-story Signia hotel on the Georgia World Congress Center campus, was pitched as a sure bet for conventioneers, sports fans and concert-goers. Then COVID-19 hit, cancelling conventions and upending business travel and sports.
March 29, 2023 The Center Square
Bill would let Georgia hospitals form police departments
T.A. DeFeo reports that Georgia lawmakers have signed off on legislation allowing hospitals to start police departments using certified law enforcement officers, similar to the approach many colleges take. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle overwhelmingly voted in favor of House Bill 383, the Safer Hospitals Act, to send the measure to Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican.
March 29, 2023 Newnan Times-Herald
Local U.S. rep introduces bill to prohibit mass student loan cancellation
Laura Camper reports that one local congressman is trying to block Pres. Joe Biden’s proposed student debt relief even as the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing the plan. U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson, along with Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, introduced the Student Loan Accountability Act.
March 29, 2023 WABE
Faith leaders and a Georgia family explain their opposition to SB140
LaShawn Hudson reports, Reverend Leo Seyij Allen, a transgender Baptist minister, understands firsthand what it’s like to experience suicidal ideation. Allen says when he was a teenager, he struggled with his identity, and with the support of his chosen family, he made it through.
March 29, 2023 Athens Banner-Herald
Athens area local bills move forward as session winds down
Abraham Kenmore reports that the legislative session is heading into Sine Die on Wednesday, the last day of the year for the Georgia House and Senate to consider bills absent a special session. For Athens, a number of local bills have already moved forward and some have already headed to the desk of Gov. Brian Kemp.
March 29, 2023 Valdosta Daily Times
Senate tables plans to pay wrongfully convicted men
Asia Ashley reports that four men recently exonerated for crimes they didn’t commit will have to extend their hope for pay from the state until next year. While four resolutions to compensate the men passed with majority support in the House of Representatives in early March, a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Compensation voted last week to table the measures until next year to gain more clarity on each case.
March 29, 2023 GPB
Lawmakers: Elections board donations, DA oversight, literacy efforts pass legislature on day 39
Sarah Kallis reports that the Georgia Legislature tackled donations to election boards, district attorney oversight commissions and more on the penultimate day of the 2023 legislative session.
March 29, 2023 State Affairs
Last day, last chance this legislative session for a host of bills: A preview
Jill Jordan Seider reports,a bit of horse-trading and hostage-taking typical of the waning days of the legislative session has been happening on the homestretch to Sine Die (pronounced “sigh-knee dye”), the 40th and final day of the state’s legislative session. Here are some bills we’ll be following on Wednesday during the fast and furious work that will take place in each chamber of the General Assembly through at least midnight.
March 29, 2023 Capitol Beat News
General Assembly passes two bills aimed at improving Georgia’s reading rates
Rebecca Grapevine reports that the state legislature has passed two bills aimed at boosting early literacy rates in Georgia. The Georgia Early Literacy Act (House Bill 538), sponsored by Rep. Bethany Ballard, R-Warner Robins, a former teacher, aims to improve the quality of early reading instruction.
March 29, 2023 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Jolt: Last minute moves set up tense final legislative day
Patricia Murphy, Greg Bluestein and Tia Mitchell report that it’s a do-or-die day at the Gold Dome as the final countdown to the end of the legislative session is finally on. The notorious procrastinators we elected as our lawmakers have left a full slate of pending bills on their calendar for Wednesday’s final gasp.
