Georgia Needs a Reset

Georgia is one of the most incredible states in the nation. I’ve spent my entire life here and seen everything this place has to offer, from its natural wonders to its kind, supportive people that you can find in any corner of the state. I have been lucky enough to visit many other parts of the world, but my heart has always stayed right here in Georgia.

Photo credit: contributed

That is why I believe so strongly that we can do even better. Georgia’s 2025 legislative session is just around the corner, which means elected officials will soon be convening for a 40-day session to pass our budget, pass new laws and determine the future of our state. I go into every session with high hopes that our most pressing problems will be addressed. But in the last decade, I have been disappointed by how few of the bills that make it to the governor’s desk have a meaningful impact on Georgians’ lives.

We need to reset this year. We have been bogged down by harmful, partisan arguments over transgender high school athletes (of which there are few), religious freedom (which continues to exist unabated) or library books (which are already carefully curated). In the meantime, millions of families are struggling because there are those who would rather score political points with their base than unify around our common challenges.

For 11 consecutive years, Georgia has been named the best state to do business, a title many leaders are proud of and take credit for.

It is worth noting, however, that our state has never been ranked the best place to live, the best place to work or the best place to learn.

State legislators have the power to fix that. Let’s start with being the best place to live. Many factors go into measuring quality of life, including transportation-related policies, per capita income and healthcare. In some surveys, Georgia ranks near or in the bottom half of the country in those metrics, with healthcare that is too often unaffordable or inaccessible and a minimum wage that is even lower than the federal standard. The Georgia rate is stuck at $5.15 an hour, although employers subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act must pay the federally mandated minimum of $7.25. Still, having a lower wage on the books reflects how little we value the people who build our economy every day.

That brings us to the fact that Georgia is one of the worst states in the country to be a worker, ranking third from the bottom above North Carolina and Mississippi, according to a 2022 report by Oxfam America. The right to unionize has been consistently chiseled away into nonexistence. As recently as the 2024 legislative session, the state Senate passed a law that withholds state incentives for businesses that hold union elections unless they do so by secret ballot.

The state Department of Labor’s unemployment insurance is underfunded and could become insolvent in a future recession, according to the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute (GBPI). Despite our proclaimed love for family, we don’t require enough paid family or sick leave for workers.

Our education system is struggling as well. According to the GBPI, for decades we have chronically underfunded public education, which more than 1.6 million Georgia children rely on. Class sizes are too big, we don’t have enough teachers, and in just the last four years, multiple laws have been passed that seem intentionally designed to make life harder for what few teachers continue to work out of love for the job. Those laws have done nothing to support education, either, with recent Georgia Milestones scores indicating that fewer than half of our eighth graders are proficient in math.

We can do better. We must do better. With this legislative session, we have the power to make real, generational investments in our state, from the Department of Education to the Department of Human Services. We are sitting on a massive reserve of over $19 billion, including a $5.5 billion rainy-day fund. We should use more of this funding to support countless people in our state who are hungry, homeless and sick.

No matter what party is in power, we need to pass laws that give workers, renters and families more power, rather than leaving them at risk. Work-life balance is essential to creating a desirable lifestyle for Georgia citizens. We can make life better for millions of people across the state – but only if legislators remember to work together for the citizens who elected them.