House Bill 367
By: Representatives Holly of the 116th, Gilliard of the 162nd, Bazemore of the 69th, Clark of
the 108th, and Jackson of the 68th
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Chapter 12 of Title 50 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
commissions and other agencies, so as to create the Georgia Equity and Fairness
Commission; to provide for members and officers; to provide for meetings, quorum, and
compensation; to provide for the commission's duties and powers; to provide for reporting;
to provide a definition; to provide a short title; to provide legislative findings; to provide for
automatic repeal; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other
purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
This Act shall be known and may be cited as the "Georgia Equity and Fairness Commission
Act."
SECTION 2.
The General Assembly finds and declares the following:
(1) Millions of Africans and their descendants were enslaved in the 13 American
colonies and the United States, including the Georgia colony and the State of Georgia,
from 1619 through 1865;
(2) The institution of chattel slavery was constitutionally and statutorily sanctioned by
the United States government from 1789 through 1865;
(3) The chattel slavery that flourished in Georgia and the United States constituted an
immoral and inhumane deprivation of each African's life, liberty, African citizenship
rights, and cultural heritage, and denied them the fruits of their own labor;
(4) A preponderance of scholarly, legal, community evidentiary documentation, and
popular culture markers constitute the basis for inquiry into the ongoing effects of the
institution of chattel slavery and its legacy of persistent systemic structures of
discrimination on the living descendants of chattel slavery and society in Georgia and the
United States;
(5) Following the abolition of chattel slavery, governments at the federal, state, and local
levels continued to perpetuate, condone, and often profit from practices that continued
to brutalize and disadvantage the descendants of chattel slavery, including sharecropping,
convict leasing, Jim Crow laws, redlining, unequal education, and disproportionate
treatment at the hands of the criminal justice system; and
(6) As a result of historical and continued discrimination, the descendants of chattel
slavery continue to suffer debilitating economic, educational, and health hardships,
including having a high level of incarceration, a disproportionate unemployment rate, and
an average of less than one-sixteenth of the wealth, a disparity which has worsened, not
improved, over time.
SECTION 3.
Chapter 12 of Title 50 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to commissions
and other agencies, is amended by adding a new article to read as follows:
<ins>"ARTICLE 9
50-12-150.
(a) There is created the Georgia Equity and Fairness Commission for examining the
impact of chattel slavery on the descendants of chattel slavery and recommending
appropriate remedies therefor.
(b) As used in this article, the term 'commission' means the Georgia Equity and Fairness
Commission.
(c) The commission is assigned to the Department of Administrative Services for
administrative purposes only as prescribed in Code Section 50-4-3.
50-12-151.
(a) The commission shall be composed of 11 members who are citizens of this state and
shall be appointed as follows:
(1) Three members appointed by the Governor, one of whom the Governor shall select
as chairperson;
(2) Two members appointed by the President of the Senate;
(3) Two members appointed by the minority leader of the Senate;
(4) Two members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and
(5) Two members appointed by the minority leader of the House of Representatives.
(b) Members of the commission shall be appointed from persons recommended by
organizations concerned with the issues of civil rights; human rights; racial, social, and
economic justice and equality; reparations; and other issues concerning the
African-American community.
(c) Members of the commission shall serve for the duration of the commission. Any
vacancy shall be filled in the same manner in which the original appointment was made.
(d) The commission may elect officers, other than the chairperson, as it deems necessary.
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<ins>50-12-152.
(a) The commission may conduct meetings at such places and times as it deems necessary
or convenient to enable it to fully and effectively exercise its powers, perform its duties,
and accomplish the objectives and purposes of this article. The commission shall hold
meetings at the call of the chairperson.
(b) A quorum for transacting business shall be a majority of the members of the
commission.
(c) Legislative members of the commission shall receive the allowances provided for in
Code Section 28-1-8. Nonlegislative members shall receive a daily expense allowance in
the amount specified in subsection (b) of Code Section 45-7-21 as well as the mileage or
transportation allowance authorized for state employees. Members of the commission who
are state officials, other than legislative members, or state employees shall receive no
compensation for their services on the commission, but shall be reimbursed for expenses
incurred by them in the performance of their duties as members of the commission in the
same manner as they are reimbursed for expenses in their capacities as state officials or
state employees. The funds necessary for the reimbursement of the expenses of state
officials, other than legislative members, and state employees shall come from funds
appropriated to or otherwise available to their respective departments. All other funds
necessary to carry out the provisions of this article shall come from funds appropriated to
the commission.
50-12-153.
(a) The commission shall:
(1) Examine the extent to which the State of Georgia supported the institution of chattel
slavery in constitutional and statutory provisions;
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<ins>(2) Examine the state's laws that discriminated against chattel slaves and their
descendants from the end of the Civil War, through the era of Jim Crow laws, to the
present;
(3) Examine the lingering negative effects of the institution of chattel slavery on the
descendants of chattel slavery in Georgia;
(4) Recommend appropriate ways to educate the public on the commission's findings;
and
(5) Recommend appropriate remedies in consideration of the commission's findings. In
making such recommendation, the commission shall address the form, amount, and
eligibility for any restitution.
(b) The commission shall submit a written report of its findings and recommendations to
the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and
the minority leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives no later than three months
after the date of the last meeting of the commission. The commission shall also make such
report available to the public.
50-12-154.
(a) The commission shall have the following powers:
(1) To accept public or private grants, devises, and bequests;
(2) To authorize entering into contracts or agreements through the commission's
chairperson necessary or incidental to the performance of its duties;
(3) To establish rules and procedures for conducting the business of the commission;
(4) To hold public hearings; and
(5) To request the attendance and testimony of such witnesses and the production of such
documents as the commission deems necessary to fulfill its duties.
(b) The commission may request and receive information from appropriate state agencies
which the commission deems useful in fulfilling its duties. Such agencies shall cooperate
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<ins>with the commission with respect to such information and shall furnish all information
requested by the commission to the extent permitted by law.
50-12-155.
The commission shall be abolished and this article shall stand repealed on June 30, 2027."
</ins> SECTION 4.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.