Sesión en el pleno del Senado, 2 de febrero de 2026 (día legislativo 10)

Transcripción

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1. 0:00:00

   Yeah. Good morning. Good morning.

2. 0:21:43

   Time for convening has arrived. The Senate will now come to order. All unauthorized visitors, please exit the chamber at this time. I recognize the senator from the 6- You can lower the tax rate for- ... for a recap of the journal. Good morning, Mr. President. Did you get any snow this weekend? We had a few flurries down in Cato County, and when I say a few, I mean very few.

3. 0:22:14

   But I hope our friends up north got through the mess, got to play in the snow. Mr. President, we got a great group of pages today. Out of Sandy Springs, we have Kristen Berner. Out of John's Creek, we have Kiana Chhabria. Out of Conyers, we have Jamora Harris. Out of Atlanta, Promise Hill. From Hogansville, Stormy Howard. From Milledgeville, Katherine January.

4. 0:22:47

   From Woodstock, Cohen Kirkley. From John's Creek, Aditi Kothari. From Marietta, Ava Paramore. And from Hampton, we have Alaska Tallant. Y'all give these pages a big round of applause. We appreciate you being here to serve this great state and this great Senate. Mr. President, the journal has been read and found to be correct, so I move we dispense with the reading of the journal.

5. 0:23:21

   All right. Thank s- thank you, Senator, and, uh, we do appreciate all the pages that are here today working hard for this chamber. Is there objection to dispensing of the reading of the journal? Chair hears none. Reading of the journal is dispensed with. Is there objections to confirmation of the journal? Chair hears none, and the journal is confirmed. All senators who have bills and resolutions to introduce, please bring them to the secretary's desk. First reading and references of Senate bills and resolutions. Secretary?

6. 0:23:53

   Senate Bill 438 by Senator Payne of the 54th and others, a bill to be entitled an Act to Amend Chapter 2 of Title 20 of the Official Code- Education and Youth ... Senate Bill 439 by Senator Still of the 48th and others, a bill to be entitled an Act to Amend Part 2 of Article 15 of Chapter 1 of Title- Health and Human Services. Senate Bill 440 by Senators Kirkpatrick of the 32nd and others, a bill to be entitled an Act to Amend Title 16-19. Health and Human Services.

7. 0:24:18

   Senate Bill 441 by Senators Harbin of the 16th and others, a bill to be entitled an Act to Amend Chapter 83 of Title 36 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to local government and- Thank you. Senate Bill 442 by Senators Dickerson of the 21st and others, a bill to be entitled an Act to Amend Chapter 5 of Title 40 of the Official Code- Public Safety. Senate Bill 443 by Senator Summers of the 13th and others, a bill to be entitled an Act to Amend Article 2 of Chapter 11 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to offenses- Judiciary.

8. 0:24:51

   Senate Resolution 662 by Senators Rhett of the 33rd and others, a resolution recognizing and commending Taiwan for its relations with the United States and the State of Georgia. Rules. Mr. President, that completes the order. First reading references of the House bills and resolutions.

9. 0:25:14

   House Resolution 1008 by Senator Smith of the 70th and others, a resolution to ratify amendments to a certain com- comprehensive statewide water management plan to provide for force and effect to provide for construction- Natural Resources. Mr. President, that completes the order.

10. 0:25:30

    Secretary will read reports of standing committee.

11. 0:25:36

    Mr. President, the Senate Committee on Regulated Industries and Utilities has had under consideration the following legislation and has instructed me to report the same back to the Senate with the following recommendation. House Bill 219, do pass. Respectfully submitted, Senator Cowsert of the 46th, chairman. Mr. President, the Senate Committee on State and Local Government- Governmental Operations General has had under the consideration the following legislation and has instructed me to report the same back to the Senate with the following recommendations. House Bill 244, do pass by substitute.

12. 0:26:07

    House Bill 521, do pass. Respectfully submitted, Senator Dixon of the 45th, chairman. Mr. President, that completes the order.

13. 0:26:20

    Secretary will read bills and resolutions for the second time.

14. 0:26:25

    Senate Bill 382 by Senators Hofstetler of the 52nd and others, ad valorem taxation. Make the statewide base year homestead exemption mandatory for all political subdivisions. Senate, Senate Bill 395 by Senator Kirkpatrick of the 32nd and others, Department of Public Health, eligble- eligible for the low-THC oil patient registry. Require a physician to submit certain information to the Georgia Composite Medical Board. Senate Bill 420 by Senators Echols of the 49th and others, license, permit, tag, and stamp fees. Fees for reef and migratory fish endorsement, provide.

15. 0:26:57

    Mr. President, that completes the order.

16. 0:27:06

    It is now time for the morning roll call. Are there any motions to excuse? Recognize the senator from the 33rd.

17. 0:27:15

    Thank you, Mr. President, and good morning y'all. I ask for unanimous cons-con-sent to excuse the senators from the seventh, 12, and 28. All right, without objection- Well, business outside the Capitol. Without objection, senators from the seventh, the 12th, and the 28th are excused. Recognize the senator from the 41st. Thank you, Mr. President. I ask for unanimous consent to excuse the senator from the 43rd. Without objection, the senator from the 43rd is excused. Any other motions to excuse?

18. 0:27:47

    Secretary will call the roll. Senators, signify your presence by voting to yay switch. Secretary, unlock the machine.

19. 0:28:33

    Yes, sir. Senator from the second. Thank you, Mr. President. I ask for unanimous excuse to excuse the gentlewoman from the 12th. She's already been excused. All right. Thank you. That's great.

20. 0:29:37

    It is now time for the morning devotion. All senators, please take your seats at this time. Cease all conversation. Would ask the doorkeeper to secure the chamber at this time. Like to recognize the good senator from Rome, Georgia to introduce our pastor of the day and lead us in our Pledge of Allegiance. Senator?

21. 0:30:01

    Thank you. We all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And the Georgia flag. I pledge allegiance to the Georgia flag and to the principles for which it stands, wisdom, justice, moderation, and courage. Thank you, Mr. President. It's, uh, great to have the pastor of the day here.

22. 0:30:33

    Uh, Mac Vendome is the chaplain at the AdventRedmond Hospital in Rome, Georgia. Has been there for six years, came from Florida. Now, one thing we do, and I, I work at both the hospitals in Rome, but one thing he does there in the morning, we have a hospital-wide prayer where we all stop, unless somebody's in an emergency situation, the entire hospital stops and prays. Now, it just seems to me like he spends an inordinate amount of time praying for me that I'm capable of doing my job, but maybe that's just me. I don, I don't know.

23. 0:31:03

    But, um, I, I seem to get a little extra attention sometimes. But he has, uh, served there as the director of mission and ministry for, uh, oversight at that hospital. He's a board-certified chaplain, and he tries to provide spiritual and support and comfort whole, uh, patient. Those are, as you know, very difficult times for, for patients and for families, and helps them navigate through the illnesses, the sometimes losses in the mans of healthcare. So he's been trained in crisis intervention and debriefing, and is really a, a, a passionate advocate for whole, uh, patient care.

24. 0:31:41

    With that, if the chaplain would say a few words for us and then lead us in a prayer. Thank you so much. Thank you, Senator Chuck. Um, this is the old bio. Um, I'm accompanied here with my fiance, and so it is good that man is not alone. And so she's here with me, and I just want to thank the senator. Um, thank you, Mr. President, and my man up there in the gallery, Scotty. Um, it's a joy to represent AdventHealth. Um, I serve as the director of chaplain services for AdventHealth Georgia.

25. 0:32:14

    And today, I just wanted to talk, uh, to you about the city that I now live in. Um, I came here from Florida not too long ago. I'm still adjusting to this cold. Um, when I came, I didn't have a beanie or a scarf. Now I have the full gamut in my closet. I am ready now. But today, I want to tell you about the three rivers that meet in Rome. In Rome, there are three rivers that converge, the Etowah, the Oostanaula, and you have the Coosa.

26. 0:32:45

    The Etowah and the Oostanaula, they meet to start to flow into the Coosa River, and this is known as convergence. Convergence is what I would like to talk about today as these three distinct rivers join together to form something that is stronger, that is life-giving. They do not lose their identity, however they meet to offer a new one. This reminds me of the four chaplains.

27. 0:33:13

    February 3rd, there were four chaplains, 1943, that would converge different faith traditions, different religions, different journeys. Yet in the most pivotal moment where there was a great crisis on the SS Dorchester, they would converge together to meet a common purpose: that they rather die and see others live than for them to live and watch others die, others die in silence.

28. 0:33:44

    There are moments in life that will call for convergence. Like the rivers that meet at one point, they choose unity over division, service over self-preservation. When the life jackets ran out, each of these chaplains gave their j- life jacket to someone else. Witnesses would later recall, as the ship was sinking, they prayed, they sung, and they encouraged those around them.

29. 0:34:14

    Hear me and hear me well, my dear friends. They didn't merge by abandoning who they were. They converged by offering the very essence of who they were. That is the heart oc- of convergence. Convergence is not sameness. It is shared purpose. It is many paths flowing together for the good of others. Today, I say to you, my dear Senate, may we also converge. Um, the reality is we all have different backgrounds, different political parties, different opinions.

30. 0:34:47

    But for the good of the people of Georgia, may we also converge. We all have different beliefs. We all, sometimes, I can imagine when you're cramped up in this room, it's hard to stand each other, but my prayer is may you always stand by each other. There are times, I can imagine, when you're going through a lot of delegation and you start to get i- impatient with one another, but my prayer is even when it's hard to like each other, may you live up to the creed from the Almighty to love each other.

31. 0:35:18

    And finally, on the days when your nerves begin to run a little low, I want to let you know that the Almighty's not just a giver of life. He's the creator. My prayer is that he'll give you more nerves to continue to encourage each other. As the three rivers in Rome flow to create one mighty river called the Cusa, may all the different little rivers in this room converge together to create a mighty river of healing, of hope, of restoration, so that Georgia will always be the ultimate and greatest state in all of the United States.

32. 0:35:54

    As the song goes, "Georgia, Georgia, Georgia on my mind." And I know that Georgia is always on God's mind. Dear senators, you not just have a position. You have a calling and a purpose. May you always live up to it. Let us pray. Dear God, as we pause for a moment, I pray for these dear senators. On the days when they're tired, may you give them strength.

33. 0:36:25

    On the days when the keyboard warriors want to just simply destroy, may you build them up. On the days when the opinions seem to be so loud, may they hear the voice of the Almighty saying, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." I pray, dear Lord, that all of the rivers in this room may converge and meet you, the Almighty, at a place where you will be able to flow through them, and Georgia will continue to be the light upon a hill, a place that shines the love of Christ every single day.

34. 0:36:59

    Be with us now. Guide this Senate. In Jesus' name I pray, and all of God's children said amen.

35. 0:37:06

    Amen.

36. 0:37:07

    Great

37. 0:47:44

    job.

38. 0:47:44

    If I could, uh, have everyw- everyone's attention. We always like to, uh, welcome our Doctors of the Day today, and we've got a good one from the Augusta, Georgia area originally. And I'll recognize the good senator from the 14th to introduce our Doctor of the Day. Senator.

39. 0:48:06

    Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning, colleagues. Uh, I'm so proud to start off District 14's domination of the Doctor of the Day space this session. Uh, with Northside Hospital on Georgia 400, we are renowned, uh, statewide for our Doctors of the Day. And today, I have the distinct honor of introducing, uh, Dr. Usama Hashmi. He, he went to the University of Georgia. Go Dogs. Uh, did the same program there that I did, in fact. We just missed each other. We were... He started right as I left. Um, and Dr.

40. 0:48:36

    Hashmi is a dermatologist in Atlanta. Uh, he, uh, is successful at business as well. He is the CEO of Empiricus, which was rated on a Fast Wa- 500 list as the number one fastest-growing company in the United States. So again, just underscoring that we can have medical, technical, uh, expertise and professionalism that couples very well with, uh, the growth of small businesses in a state, uh, that is friendly towards them. And I now will introduce Dr. Hashmi to share a couple words. Thank you.

41. 0:49:07

    All good.

42. 0:49:08

    Mm-hmm.

43. 0:49:11

    Appreciate.

44. 0:49:12

    Mm-hmm. Everyone, thank you for, uh, having me and looking forward to hopefully not seeing you all in the medical station. Just remember, I am a dermatologist, so there's some more qualified physicians- ... in this room. Um, just wanted to say thank you. Um, I am a Muslim. I'm an entrepreneur. I'm a physician. I intentionally have been born, raised here in Georgia, stay here in Georgia, despite having spent a lot of time in the Bay Area, New York. Uh, wanted to thank you for upholding, you know, Georgia's values of entrepreneurship, opportunity- Empathy, diversity, and most importantly, Southern hospitality, treating strangers like they're family.

45. 0:49:46

    Um, I don't have any Botox with me as well, but if you guys do wanna come down, um, I think we have some snacks, um, and happy to, to take care of y'all today. Thank you very much.

46. 0:49:57

    All right. Good job.

47. 0:49:58

    Good job.

48. 0:49:58

    We have, uh, some very

49. 0:50:04

    special guests here today from Clark Atlanta University. They are always welcome guests, and glad to have them here again today,

50. 0:51:07

    and I'd like to call on the secretary to read the resolution.

51. 0:51:12

    Senate Resolution 639 by Senators Orrock of the 36th and others. A resolution recognizing February 2nd, 2026 as Clark Atlanta University Day at the State Capitol and for other purposes. Whereas Clark Atlanta University was the nation's first four-year liberal cal- arts college to serve a primarily African American student population and whereas the university's four schools offer 40 academic programs to 3,920 students annually. Whereas President George T. French serves as the longest serving HBCU president in the country and has for many years provided dedicated service to higher education of Georgia citizens.

52. 0:51:49

    Now therefore be it resolved by the Senate that the members of this body recognize February 2nd, 2026 as Clark Atlanta University Day at the State Capitol. Mr. President, that completes the order.

53. 0:52:01

    All right. Is there objection to adopt a resolution? Chair hears none. The resolution is adopted. I'd like to recognize the senator from the 36 to speak to the resolution and introduce our special guest. Senator.

54. 0:52:17

    Thank you so much, and good morning, colleagues.

55. 0:52:21

    Good morning.

56. 0:52:21

    Uh, as we gather here on a cold Monday- ... we are happy to be back under the Gold Dome and ready to do business. And, uh, uh, it's such a timely, uh, opportunity to recognize a, an historic institution that we have here in Georgia, and we have with, uh, with us today the leadership, uh, of that institution. That is Clark Atlanta University. Uh, there's a, there's a history that goes all the way back to the Civil War when this, uh, college of higher learning was formed here in Atlanta.

57. 0:53:03

    Uh, and it has played an, uh, a critically important role in educating leaders and providing opportunities to those who had been locked out of access to higher education, uh, historically. Uh, so I am particularly proud today to, uh, have this opportunity to join with the leadership of the institution here, uh, on, uh, Clark Atlanta University Day at the State Capitol.

58. 0:53:33

    We have graduates of that institution, uh, with us, uh, that are members here in this, uh, Senate, and I will...

59. 0:53:43

    Thank you, Governor. Uh, I, I, I, uh, there's much hi- rich history here. Uh, we'd all be well advised to learn from the history of Clark Atlanta University. Uh, the es- esteemed leader, Dr. George T. Fr- French Jr., uh, is the fifth president of Clark Atlanta University. And Clark Atlanta University is, uh, the largest United Negro College Fund member institution in the country.

60. 0:54:15

    Uh, Dr. French is the longest serving sitting HBCU president. He's driven transformative advances in education, including, uh, under his leadership, securing gifts from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation of $16.5 million and Mackenzie Scott's foundation of $53 million, uh, for Clark AU. His strategic leadership has forged partnerships with major corporations such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft, uh, which has enhanced educational opportunities and techno- technological integration for Clark AU.

61. 0:54:50

    Under Dr. French's leadership, uh, the college has launched initiatives to improve access to higher education, expand research capabilities, increase student success rates. Uh, the university's reputation as a leader in innovation and social impact has been secured under the leadership of Dr., uh, French. He's recognized in Who's Who in Black Atlanta, Georgia Trend's 100 Most Influential Georgians, and he's actively engaged with other professional organizations as well. Uh, his, he was, uh, the president of Miles College for 13 years, where he significantly impacted the local economy and advanced educational programs.

62. 0:55:29

    And, uh, the, uh, there, there are, um, close to a dozen high-profile organizations, uh, in higher education, uh, that, uh, he, uh, participates in and has had roles in leading, being member or chair or president. Uh, he's, he's just... He's, he, he's just fits the bill of what the institution, Clark Atlanta University, uh, uh, was looking for when he came on board.

63. 0:56:00

    And he is, his, his educational background, uh, is a b- a BA in political science from the University of Louisville, a Juris Doctorate from Miles Law School, and a PhD in higher education from Jackson State University. Uh, he'll share with us, uh, both the illustrious history, uh, and today's enormous contributions that this institution, uh, continues to make. Uh, it is, it is my honor to, uh, bring him forward and present him with this resolution on Clark Atlanta University today, February the 2nd, uh, as we start a, a new month here at the Capitol.

64. 0:56:41

    Uh, it, it, it's a great honor to bring to you Dr. George French, the president, and present this resolution.

65. 0:56:49

    Thank you. Thank you. And I'm gonna let you introduce the staff. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you.

66. 0:57:00

    Oh, no, no, no.

67. 0:57:07

    Good morning.

68. 0:57:08

    Good morning.

69. 0:57:09

    To the president of the Georgia Senate, our friend Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, to all of our friends in the Senate. And I say that without qualification because, Senator, when I arrived in the great state of Georgia to take the helm of Clark Atlanta University six years ago- Mm-hmm ... immediately, Senator Orrock made sure that I was introduced to the Senate. And in these six years, you all have become our friends.

70. 0:57:41

    So when I come down to the legislature, both in the House and the Senate, we have friends on both sides of the aisle for which we are grateful. And I'm grateful for my vice presidents who have joined me this afternoon to include my chief of staff, to include, um, uh, Sherry Klingman, to include the senior vice president and provost, academic affairs, Dr. Charlene Gilbert, uh, Mr. David Faboni, vice president of institutional advancement, um, Dr.

71. 0:58:15

    Marshall, Dr. Marshall Taggart, uh, vice president for government affairs. And I don't think the lieutenant governor, you're not with us yet, are you? You gonna- But you have been.

72. 0:58:27

    You're welcome, man. We're joking.

73. 0:58:29

    And he has been with us. And of course, to President Pro Tem Larry Walker, Senate minority leader and our friend Harold Jones out of Augusta. And again, we, we thank, uh, all of our senators to include those to my right a- and Max Burns, who we saw in the back. That's right. Uh, Senator Anderson, Wicks, Moore, all of these up here. You all know who they are, so I don't have to go through those names. But I say to each and every one, every one of you, thank you.

74. 0:59:02

    Thank you for this recognition to stand yet again before this august body with convergence. We are converging. I heard the preacher say this morning, we are converging. So we converge on this, upon this great chamber to say thank you and to let you know that on behalf of the more than 4,000 students, and remember that we offer bachelor's, master's through the PhD. We're the only institu- HBCU in the nation that offers the PhD in cyber physical systems.

75. 0:59:34

    I want you to know there were over 4,000 students. On behalf of those students, we have three things. We bring talent to Georgia, we bring prepared training for the future workforce to Georgia, and we bring support for cutting-edge technology, research, and education in cancer prevention through our cancer, uh, CCRTD, Cancer Research and Therapeutic Development Center, and data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

76. 1:00:04

    We bring these things to strengthen one of the greatest states within the union, our great state of Georgia. Our great state of Georgia, our great state of Georgia is what we celebrate, and know that we've come to contribute to our great state, to our great economy. Thank you again, Mr. President, for this opportunity to represent Clark Atlanta University and to say thank you for your support. God bless America, and God bless the great state of Georgia 'cause Georgia's on my mind.

77. 1:00:38

    Good job.

78. 1:00:40

    Good job, George. Good job. Good job.

79. 1:00:43

    Thank you.

80. 1:04:11

    Are there any unanimous consents?

81. 1:04:16

    Does any senator wish to rise on a point of personal privilege?

82. 1:04:55

    I'd like, I'd like to go first.

83. 1:04:59

    Recognize senator from the eighth for a point of personal privilege.

84. 1:05:10

    Hey, that's my girl, isn't she?

85. 1:05:12

    What's that?

86. 1:05:17

    Good morning, colleagues. This is my first time in the well this session. I just wanted to bring something that came to my attention this weekend, and I wanted to bring it to your attention. You know, I tell people all the time that, uh, we've got our friends out in the hallway, um, you know, that lobby us, and, uh, you know, what is our job? Our job is to be a lobbyist for the common men and women of this state, the everyday Georgians that get up every day, work, pay their bills, and keep this state running. So today I'm going to lobby for Miss Mia.

87. 1:05:49

    Miss Mia is 20 years old. Miss Mia is working her way through school, and she has, uh, got a bright future, but she just went to go buy a used car so that she could get back and forth to school and to work. She was buying a 2023 Nissan Sentra. It was $17,500. The payment on that car is $338 a month. And she went to go get insurance, and she went to a very good friend of mine who's the insurance agent, and he priced it with everybody that he could price insurance with, okay?

88. 1:06:26

    The best he could come back with for a quote, I've got it right here, for six months is $3,417 for six months, okay? So for a year, those payments, those monthly payments are $600 a month for a $17,000 car that the payment is $338 for. And so I got to looking at it and I looked up the company that had quoted this price, and the company's gross profit for the 12 months ending September the 30th, 2025, was $14.335 billion, a 30.64% increase year over year.

89. 1:07:11

    Their annual gross profit for 2024 was $11.467 billion, a 106.72% increase from 2023, and their annual gross profit for 2023 was $5.54 billion, a 224% increase over 2022. So in two years, in two years, she'll almost paid for that car with insurance payments, and the third year she'll have paid for that car and have $3,000 left over. Her insurance, her yearly insurance cost is more than her tuition.

90. 1:07:45

    And so I just want to say this, I w- as we all seek to be a lobbyist for the people that we represent back home, I want y'all to help me. Let's put our heads together and see if we can't do something about this, because it's wrong. It is not right for somebody that's trying to get ahead in life and go to school. I voted for tort reform. I have been sued before. I know that we have frivolous lawsuits, but at the end of the day, we were promised that our insurance premiums would come down.

91. 1:08:16

    This is not happening by what I see here. So to everyone out there, just know that we in the general assembly are watching, and I'm lobbying on behalf of Miss Mia to let's see if we can't do better by the citizens of Georgia. M- Mr. President, I yield the well.

92. 1:08:38

    All right. The senator has yielded. I recognize the senator from the 13th for a point of personal privilege.

93. 1:08:55

    Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, colleagues, um, this is a little update what's coming up for tomorrow. The Gas Authority, as you all well know, they, they provide the, uh, cities with natural gas, and they are excited about the passage last year of Senate Bill, uh, SB 13. This granted GFFA the ability to provide funding for natural gas and infrastructure, especially in rural Georgia. The Gas Authority and its members are working hard to provide all these services m- needed to meet the demand in growing areas of our state. To highlight this work, the municipal gas systems on their behalf have asked me to invite you all to come to, uh, February 3rd at 8:00 AM, room 230 in the Capitol, and just show their appreciation.

94. 1:09:35

    Room 230 in the Capitol, 8:00 AM for the Natural Gas Authority. Mr. President, I yield the well.

95. 1:09:45

    Recognize the senator from the 9th for a point of personal privilege.

96. 1:10:03

    Good morning, Mr. President. I rise today to acknowledge a tragedy that struck our Gwinnett County law enforcement family yesterday, leaving one officer dead, unfortunately, and another officer critically injured in an unprovoked attack at a hotel. It was a routine call

97. 1:10:29

    that happened. Um, these brave o- officers were just serving their community and answering the call to predict- protect the residents of Gwinnett County when the tragedy occurred. Master Police Officer David M. Reed and Police Officer Senior Pradeep Tummang. To the family of Officer Tummang, I extend my deepest condolences. Words cannot express the pain of such a devastating loss.

98. 1:10:59

    I hope people find comfort in knowing that he will be honored for his selflessness and ultimate sacrifice. I think my colleague, the senator from the 45th, actually had a, uh, met Officer Tummang in person at one of his events. He was very young, a young officer.

99. 1:11:19

    I'm grateful that Master Police Officer Reid is on the path to recovery and heal- healing, and I stand with our community in continued pl- prayer and support of our brothers and sisters in Gwinnett County Police Department, acknowledging that the days ahead will be challenging. Our local law enforcement agents in Gwinnett County are truly the best. A matter of fact, this incident is pr- very rare for Gwinnett County to lose officers.

100. 1:11:53

     We haven't lost officers in the line of duty in a while. They do our-- They do their best to keep us secure and gain our trust. We're praying for them, and we thank them all, and be sure to keep doing that. To all the law enforcement officers, all our first responders, and anyone who has served this great community and our nation in any way, thank you for our s- your service and your sacrifice.

101. 1:12:24

     May the good Lord bless each and every one of them. And with that, Mr. President, I ask for a moment of silence for Officer Timmy.

102. 1:12:32

     Senator's requested every member stand and ask for a moment of silence.

103. 1:12:51

     Thank you, Senator.

104. 1:12:52

     Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

105. 1:13:00

     Recognize senator from the 52nd for a point of personal privilege.

106. 1:13:13

     Recognizing the senator from the 29th.

107. 1:14:04

     Just a little bit about the Gwinnett police officer who was murdered a couple days ago. This young man was 25 years old, had been on the job for eight months,

108. 1:14:22

     and called out early in the morning for what the average non-POST certified law enforcement officer would consider a routine call.

109. 1:14:37

     While all law enforcement officers, people that have actually done the job, understand there's nothing like a routine call. There's no such thing. If you go to the Officer Down website and you look at the number of officers who are killed on traffic stops, if you look at the number of officers who are killed on domestic violence calls, if you look at the officer that was just assaulted over in Warner Robins the other day on a domestic violence call, if you look at the tens of thousands law- of law enforcement officers that are assaulted every single year, there's one reason why more officers don't die every year, and I give that credit to the senator from the 1st and everybody in his profession, that we've gotten better at saving lives.

110. 1:15:39

     But for a young man whose future lied fully in front of him to go out there and do the job and to give his life for doing what's right is completely unacceptable.

111. 1:15:58

     And sadly,

112. 1:16:01

     I speak at a lot of memorials throughout the year, and I remind people each and every day that we all die two deaths. We die the death when our heart stops beating, and we die the second death when our memory fades. And so I'm honored to go to Washington, D.C. and look at the memorial there to the tens of thousands of law enforcement officers, men, women, White, Black, Brown, that come from all over the world and come here to this country to become an American citizen, and then to turn around and serve the community who accepted them with open arms.

113. 1:16:46

     I'm reminded that we can never let them die that second death. Please keep this young man in your thoughts and your prayers every May 15th. Thanks to President John F. Kennedy, we have a day to remember all of these men and women, but never forget that. So when you allow politics and ideology to build a cocoon around your brain when it comes to law enforcement, whether they are county, whether they are municipal, whether they are state, whether they are federal- understand you're doing more damage than that initial bullet did.

114. 1:17:30

     This officer will live a long, long life thanks to his memory, thanks to his sacrifice, thanks to his dedication. This is not about politics. This is about people and dignity. Thank you, Mr. President, I yield the floor.

115. 1:17:48

     Thank you, Senator. Recognize the senator from thirty-ninth.

116. 1:18:07

     Thank you, Mr. President. I rise to speak with both disappointment and concern about the direction of our nation's cultural center, the John F. Kennedy Center for per- for the Performing Arts. Yesterday's headlines confirm that the Kennedy Center will halt its entertainment and operations for renovations for approximately two years, beginning on our nation's 250th birthday on July 4th, a dramatic shift announced by President Trump, who in 2025 appointed himself chairman of the institution's board and recently oversaw a controversial renaming of the center itself.

117. 1:18:50

     The Kennedy Center was never meant to be just a building, nor reserved for a select few. It was meant to be a place where families brought their kids, where students sitting far from DC could still benefit from its education programs, and where tourists and working people alike could simply walk through the doors for free or with a ticket and see something meaningful on stage almost every single night of the week. The center is not a small or symbolic operation.

118. 1:19:22

     It houses multiple stages, is home to the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera, and anchors touring productions seen by audiences from every state. For more than 50 years, since opening in 1971, the Kennedy Center has remained open through changing administrations, economic downturns, and moments of national uncertainty, making any shutdown, let alone a multi-year one, unprecedented in its history.

119. 1:19:55

     When an institution of this scale shows signs of instability, the consequences ripple far beyond its walls. As President Kennedy himself once said, "The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction in the life of a nation, is very close to the center of a nation's purpose. It is a test of the quality of a nation's civilization." That vision was never about art for art's sake. It was about the role culture plays in a healthy, confident democracy.

120. 1:20:28

     I speak to this personally as someone who had the privilege of chairing the President's Advisory Committee on the Arts during the Kennedy Center's most recent $175 million capital campaign. That work was about stewardship, expanding the campus, strengthening the institution's foundation, and ensuring this national center would remain open, welcoming, and relevant to the American people for generations to come. Can you imagine if another administration were to decide that the money that we just put into building the new office building across the street didn't serve its purpose and we were to start all over again because new times, not good enough?

121. 1:21:18

     That is why I say with regret that the recent decisions at the Kennedy Center, the abrupt overhaul of its board, the departure of artists who no longer feel welcome, and now the announcement of a multi-year closure have not advanced the mission. When those doors close, literally or figuratively, we don't just lose performances, we lose a shared civic space that brings people together across backgrounds, beliefs, and income levels, and that weakens something far bigger than the arts.

122. 1:21:51

     Institutions like this survive on trust, public trust, donor trust, community trust. Once that trust is shaken, it is far harder to rebuild than any building itself ever could be. The board has a choice before it, to safeguard an institution that belongs to the American people or to preside over a decision that will diminish it for years to come. A multi-year closure is not an inevitability. It is a decision, and decisions like this require courage, especially the courage to say no, even when that pressure comes from the most powerful person in the room.

123. 1:22:33

     Thank you.

124. 1:22:36

     Senator from the fourteenth, you wish to point of personal privilege?

125. 1:22:50

     Thank you, Mr. President. I'm sad that the senator from the eighth is not here in this moment for me to boost him so enthusiastically. But did y'all hear what the senator from the eighth said just a few moments ago about a constituent whose car insurance rates... Thank you for coming back, sir. I wanna boost you, 'cause that's a crazy story, that those car insurance rates keep going up. And in fact, our insurance commissioner, John King, uh, said something to this same effect back in November. I don't know if you guys caught this, but our commissioner on insurance and safety fire, uh, did a tweet where he acknowledged that insurance company profits have grown and that rates seem to keep rising.

126. 1:23:28

     Uh, I'm curious if y'all remember the incident that prompted our insurance commissioner to say that insurance company profits should be capped. Capped by the way. You know, #capitalism. Our insurance commissioner said we should cap insurance company profits. And the reason he did that was not because he received constituent stories like this. The reason was not because he got a PDF from insurance companies showing their exact financials. No, the reason the insurance commissioner said that we should cap insurance company profits is because the day before, a Democrat won a State House special election in Athens, Georgia, in Clarke and Oconee Counties after he had lost that same race the year prior by 22 points.

127. 1:24:08

     So I think what happened was the insurance commissioner was trying to warn the Republican Party that if you didn't take real action on car insurance and other insurance rates, real action, not fake action, that you were probably going to keep losing elections, which it turns out is actually the hammer that has to drop for the political corps to change. Now, let's be very clear about what Democrats were saying during the entirety of the tort reform debate. We were saying that insurance companies make profits in the billions with a B, not millions with an M, billions with a B.

128. 1:24:41

     And that that threat that John King said was so present and real that the insurance companies had a gun to his head and said, "We will leave the state if you do not give us the sacrifice we require. If you do not sacrifice plaintiffs', uh, personal injury lawsuit rights on the altar of insurance company profits, then we will leave the state." As it turns out, that was probably baloney. And as it turns out, the only way that rates are going to come down is if insurance company profits are capped, which is exactly what your Insurance Commissioner John King said back in November in response to a loss.

129. 1:25:16

     The last thing I'll say is that we were, we were promised that even if the insurance rates don't go down, they will at least stabilize. I would submit to you that the reason the word stabilize was used is because it was so far-fetched that insurance companies would somehow pass along savings to consumers and that rates would come down, that they knew that that was too bold-faced of a lie to promise during the tort reform discussion. What happened in 2025 is that the Georgia Chamber of Commerce quarterbacked an insurance company-led effort to lie to the people of Georgia through the mouth of Brian Kemp to tell everybody that their insurance rates would go down or stabilize if we cut plaintiffs' rights at the knees.

130. 1:25:55

     Plenty of opposition told you that in other states like Florida and the Carolinas, which by the way, both Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. went on record saying that those were tort reform scams. We went on record telling you that every time tort reform had been passed, the rates didn't go down. So with the utmost respect for the senator from the 8th who is telling you what is admittedly and truthfully a sad story about rates continuing to go up, let's just do the most basic level of accountability in our political discourse and acknowledge that everything we heard from the pro tort reform camp in 2025 was a completely toothless and feckless scam.

131. 1:26:30

     Thank you very much, Mr. President.

132. 1:26:35

     Recognize the senator from the 34th.

133. 1:26:53

     Good morning, Mr. President, colleagues. Today I rise to recognize LaGrange Chapter of the Links Incorporated, chartered June the 30th, 1979. What began in 1978 as an interest group of 20 service-minded women has grown into a powerful network. Now 39 active members committed to enriching the lives of African descent through education, health, civil engagement, the service across multiple counties in Georgia and Alabama.

134. 1:27:31

     Their legacy includes youth scholarship initiatives, voter right efforts, programs like Link in Pink, Black Hair, the Dignity Project addressing period poverty, alongside partnerships with organizations like NAACP, the American Cancer Society. They were honored as the southern area of the Star Chapter both in 20- 2022 and 2023. Thank you so much.

135. 1:28:02

     I yield it well.

136. 1:28:07

     Recognize the senator from the 21st.

137. 1:28:23

     Thank you, Mr. Pres- President. I appreciate that. Good morning, colleagues. It's good to see everybody here today. I want to take just one quick minute and recognize my page for the day. Um, my page for today is Mr. Cohen Kirkley, and he's a ninth-grader from Etowah High School. I've known his family for 25 years, and it's been amazing to watch this young man grow up. Uh, he's been an ex- excellent student from elementary school all the way through middle school. Uh, this year he joined the Jo- JROTC program as one of the Raiders. And furthermore, he went and been the only ninth-grader this year to compete on the A-team for the JROTC for Etowah High School.

138. 1:28:57

     So as a lot of you are aware, I'm a huge veteran advocate. I always support our veterans. Uh, I also wanna make sure that I recognize all the veterans that we have here in the Senate today, both as senators and as staff members as well. There's quite a few of you. So I wanna make sure that, uh, that I say thank you for your service. Thank you for everything that you continue to do every day for our veterans. And I just wanted to tell Mr. Cohen Kirkley, uh, it's, uh, it's been a pleasure knowing you. I look forward to seeing all the great things that you continue to do and looking to see where your life takes you. Thank you so much. Mr. President, I yield the well.

139. 1:29:29

     Recognize the senator from the 54th.

140. 1:29:46

     Thank you, Mr. President. I will try not to be too long because I know we're going. Um, I just, I did want to rise this morning just to say that, uh, as this morning as we're mem- remembering those in public safety who give their lives to understand each and every one of us take a moment to realize that those in public safety do a job that the vo- those of us in this room, the majority of us in this room could not do. Could not do. Because there's a reason that you go through all that training, whether in the military or public safety, is because it's literally, the Bible says as Christ ascended into heaven, he gave gifts unto mankind.

141. 1:30:26

     And it's literally to have the heart of a liberator that we're gifted with, that allow some people to run forward toward their own demise when anybody else in their right mind would be running away. So let us always remember those men and women who put themselves on the front line each and every day in any regard that they do. And just part of that, I also want to let everyone know that tomorrow, Georgia Aerospace and Defense Day, will be Georgia's Aerospace and Defense Day at the Capitol, and you have another opportunity.

142. 1:30:58

     And also, if any of you ever want to be an F-35 p- pilot, fighter pilot, they will have a simulator here today and tomorrow in the rotunda, and you're welcome to take your turn as sitting in the hot seat and seeing how well you do. Mr. President, I thank you for the opportunity, and I will yield the will. Thank you, Senator. I recognize the senator from the 28th for a point of personal privilege.

143. 1:31:59

     Yeah, I'm doing fine.

144. 1:32:07

     Thank you. Thank you. All right.

145. 1:32:13

     Mm-hmm. I think you gonna stay up? I do. Good job. Good job.

146. 1:32:30

     You want me to get the senator? No. I want you to stay right there.

147. 1:32:35

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Today is a wonderful day here at the State Capitol. We have great people who have come to join us as we soon deliberate, I think, on some bills. We had Clark Atlanta already, and I had to mention them, even though I graduated from Morris Brown College. Two of my sisters graduated from there, and my father. My mother graduated from Spelman College, and my oldest sister.

148. 1:33:08

     So I think we made the round. Oh, and my late husband graduated from Morehouse. So I think we made the rounds, so I have to give honor to them for coming today. And already being, uh, Dr. French and Dr. Marshall Ta-Tagget, uh, always had me in the parade, so I didn't want them to kick me to the curb. All right. But the greatest thing that I can say today is that I'm proud to be the rep- one of the representatives in Cobb County, namely Mableton, Georgia.

149. 1:33:47

     And we have the other, um, members who are also Cobb County, and Kay is somewhere, but she's so busy. Raise your hand, Kay. Also represents Cobb County. Today, we have with us from the great city of Mableton, we have our very own mayor. Stand out a little bit. Come out. They might not let you come up here, but because I'm so proud that Mayor Craig Owens is with us.

150. 1:34:25

     Michael Owens. Oh, I said, "Well, why do I have Craig on here?" I know that didn't sound right. Anyways, excuse me. Uh, we get, we got you, we got you another name now. But Mayor Michael Owens. Also, we have the city manager, Bill Tanke. Where are you? And, uh, executive director of the Epicenter, Dr. Chris Boyd, also from Word of Faith.

151. 1:34:57

     That's my other church. Also, we have city council persons. Everybody please raise your hand on this side as well as this side. And, and, uh, Jaha, that's your twin, isn't it? Y'all look just alike. But I know you're probably not even, um, ouch. Councilman Michael McNeely,

152. 1:35:24

     Pro, uh, Mayor Pro Tem, Ron Davis, and the list goes on. We're recognizing today as Mableton Day at the State Capitol, and we had a resolution that's been dropped but not read, and it s-states, "Mableton, Georgia, is a vibrant community located in Cobb County. It was officially...

153. 1:35:51

     incorporated as a city following a successful ref- ref- referendum oh, I can't get it out, on November 8th of '22, making it the largest city in Cobb County with a population of approximately 47,000 residents. And whereas the city was named after Scottish immigrant Robert Mable, who purchased land in the area in 1843 and established a farm that would later become central to the community's growth with the historic Robert Mable House and Cemetery also now serving as an iconic landmark that hosts public performances and events.

154. 1:36:47

     Whereas Mableton's, uh, early development was shaped by the arrival of the Georgia Pacific Railway, and which, uh, is constructed a train depot in 1881, spurring economic growth and transforming the area into a vital commercial hub in then rural Cobb County. Whereas the community benefits from a strategic location along major highways, including Interstate 285, providing convenient access to Atlanta and supporting the city's economic and residential growth.

155. 1:37:32

     It goes on and on, but we will say whereas Mableton continues to experience growth and, uh, revitalization as well as uphold the commitment to fostering economic development. I wish you'd give me a few more minutes, uh-

156. 1:37:53

     Senator, your time has expired.

157. 1:37:55

     Okay. My time has expired, but please all the people from Mableton that's here and up in the gallery, please stand. And senators, let's give them a warm Senate welcome.

158. 1:38:12

     Please. Thank you for coming. And I wish I had put everybody else's name down so y'all could speak, too. Thank you.

159. 1:38:22

     Senator, we appreciate the people from Mableton being here more than you know.

160. 1:38:26

     Thank you.

161. 1:38:29

     Thank each and every one of y'all for being here today. Thank you, Senator. Appreciate you. Recognize the senator from the 36th for a point of personal privilege.

162. 1:38:45

     Recognize the senator from the 55th for a point of personal privilege.

163. 1:39:15

     My distinguished colleagues, I rise today because I am concerned with where our nation is going in the form of our democracy and how it indirectly affects something that happened in my district. Something happened yesterday in my district, and the whip is not here, but the whip acknowledged it. A law enforcement officer who fell that was in my district, that was in less than 10 minutes from my house, where this officer, whose name has not been called, his name is Pradeep Timang.

164. 1:40:03

     And I stand because of twofold, a twofold reason. He was a law enforcement officer who fell, and we gotta recognize that.

165. 1:40:13

     Thank you.

166. 1:40:14

     But I stand also because he was born in Nepal.

167. 1:40:20

     Thank you.

168. 1:40:20

     And if you saw him outside of his uniform, he may be one of the persons who have come up to me and said that they were so concerned that they were carrying around copies of their passport. In my district, I have so many diverse people, and Pranay Deep- Pr- Pradeep Timang was born in Nepal, but he was serving the people of Georgia.

169. 1:40:51

     And we have to give him respect not only when he's in a law enforcement uniform, and that's why I'm standing here because I depre- I depre- I, I despise any death, let alone a death of a law enforcement officer. But I want to say that our political violent speech, our hate speech, has gotten out of hand. It has created an atmosphere where people are not respected. The value of life itself is depreciated, and we must elevate our speech to statesmanship nationally and statewide.

170. 1:41:32

     And I believe Georgia can even lead the federal government in, in, in, in elevating our stance on how we speak to one another, how we respect one another. Why am I saying this? Because I noticed with great disappointment, in September we lowered the federal flags- For a man that I don't want to die, but I despise what he stood for. He stood for, he was a Christian right advocate for Christian nationalism.

171. 1:42:05

     I am a real Christian, and I respect Christianity. But there was a person who the, the flag was lowered for a person that, that espoused hate speech, a person who criticized the Civil Rights Act of 1964, without which I could not stand right here where I'm standing right now. But he was lifted up and the flags were lowered for him. When he criticized Dr. Martin Luther King, we lowered our flags for that same gentleman, as well as promotion of false allegations of electoral fra- fraud in 2020 and white genocide conspiracy theory.

172. 1:42:48

     We lowered our flag for that gentleman. And why is that important? That is important because very few of you, I dare say very few of you, can remember in June of the last year when a person who was the minority leader in Minnesota, the person's name was Melissa Hortman and her husband, who died because she was the Speaker of the House in Minnesota.

173. 1:43:21

     She was a minority in 2017 to 2019, but in 2019 she became the Speaker of the House. That said that the politics changed. Just because one party's in power, we should not shift our allegiances. But we don't know the name of Melissa Hortman. We don't know that name. We don't know the name of Pradeep Tamang, but we should respect everyone. And I say that we have to respect because I don't want us to stop respecting police officers and being afraid to open our door for a police officer, because you know what happened in Minnesota?

174. 1:44:04

     A police officer, that's who the killer posed himself as when he shot and killed Melissa Hortman. He posed as a policeman, and that was the only thing that we respected is that badge, and we gotta elevate that badge and elevate all human res- respect for human life. I yield the well as I call the name of Pradeep Tamang as well as Melissa Hortman, because all life is valuable, as well as our law enforcement officers.

175. 1:44:35

     Thank you, and I yield the well.

176. 1:44:39

     All right. Thank you, Senator. Does any other senator wish to rise on a point of personal privilege?

177. 1:44:47

     Senator from 36. I called on you earlier, Senator, but you, you, you were deep in conversation with somebody.

178. 1:45:16

     Colleagues, I rise today to speak about, uh, what's going on in our state and in our nation, uh, deeply, deeply troubling, um, set of facts that we are observing. Uh, a- and I, of course, uh, uh, join, uh, with, uh, the senator from DeKalb, uh, in lifting up the name of Melissa Hortman. I knew her. I served on boards with her. I kn- knew her leadership. Uh, I knew her inclusive approach to leadership, and I mourn yet and still, uh, that this impeccable public servant was shot down in cold blood at the door of her home, along with her husband, who both lost their lives, uh, at the hands of, uh, uh, uh, of someone a- absolutely bought into conspiracy theory and political violence as the appropriate response.

179. 1:46:19

     That, that's what that, that's what that, what that was there. And we are going down that dangerous road at an ever, ever-increasing pace. I'm from Fulton County. I represent Fulton County. Fulton County's, um, uh, voter center where we store all our ballots, where we, uh, uh, uh, administer the, the process of, uh, voting in our county, was raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

180. 1:46:54

     What world are we living in? What world are we living in when the FBI, using some Missouri official, deems that they have the right to storm our voting center here in Fulton County and to take all the records from the 2020, uh, elections?

181. 1:47:24

     And not to, and, a- and refuse to document for our local officials who were there on site. The FBI refused to document what they took, how much they took, uh, w- and, a- and it was not small. It was they wanted everything. Everything. And what are they gonna use it for? More spurious accusations about the 2020 election

182. 1:47:54

     And I say to you, what we're witnessing today should alarm every Georgian, Republican, Democrat, and Independent alike. Put yourself in our shoes, those of us in Fulton County. What if the FBI came storming into your county and seized, uh, voter records, seized ballots from an election? It's a terrifying escalation from the failing administration of a wannabe strongman, and we all know his name. So let's, let's be clear, and I doubt that anybody in this room disagrees with me.

183. 1:48:31

     Georgia ran a secure election in 2020. That fact has been confirmed again and again. It's been confirmed by Republicans. It's been confirmed by the Secretary of State, uh, who's a member of the Republican Party. It's been confirmed by Democrats. It's been confirmed by independent verification. Neither Trump, or Giuliani, or the MyPillow guy, or any of Trump's other weird conspiracy theorist buddies could find one actual piece of evidence to support their claims, contrary to what you've heard from this well, uh, last week.

184. 1:49:11

     And here we are, six years later, still arguing about the 2020 election, and why is that? Well, Steve Bannon's on the record of saying MAGA's core belief is they have to insist that the 2020 election was stolen, and we see that in action. They send in the FBI with, with the woman, uh, uh, oh my Lord,

185. 1:49:37

     the woman who's in, in, in charge of in- intelligence down here stalking out in front of our election center. These are perilous times. These are perilous times. I don't know if the red line's ever gonna be crossed for, uh, GOP members to say, "You know what? I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna have to break with you on this one, honey. This is, this is in- an invalid, and inappropriate, uh, and illegal use of executive power." Keep on thinking about that.

186. 1:50:11

     Keep on looking at, at that behavior. State and local officials run elections, not the president, not Washington bureaucrats, not law enforcement agencies. Uh, we all know that. There's a reason that they have unearthed the 2020 ballots of Fulton County, and the next, the next blow will be... Don't wait till it's too late. The hour is now. I yield the well. Thank you.

187. 1:50:39

     Thank you, Senator. Does any other senator wish to rise on a point of personal privilege? You have before you a consent calendar of privileged resolutions. Does any senator wish to remove resolution from the consent calendar? Is there objection to the adoption of the resolution on the consent calendar? Chair hears none. The resolution on the consent calendar is adopted.

188. 1:51:04

     Are there any motions to withdraw and commit?

189. 1:51:34

     Recognize the majority leader for a motion.

190. 1:51:42

     Mr. President, I move that Senate Re- Resolution 563 be engrossed.

191. 1:51:48

     Secretary, read the caption.

192. 1:51:53

     Senate Resolution 563 by Senator Robertson of the 27th. A resolution urging the Georgia Secretary of State to immediately and fully comply with the request of the United States Department of Justice to se- to securely produce Georgia's voter registration list in compliance with Georgia's obligations under the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960, and for other purposes. Mr. President, that completes the order.

193. 1:52:23

     All right. You beat me to it, Senator. We have objection. Senator Majority Leader, would you like to speak to the motion? You waive. Senator from the 41st, would you like to speak to the motion? Or the Minority Leader, would you like to speak to the motion? You waive. Just wanna vote it, huh? All right. You wanna do hands? No. You wanna put it on the board? All right. All right, the motion is to, the Majority Leader has moved that, uh, we engross SR 563.

194. 1:52:58

     There is objection to that, so we'll just put it on the board. All those of engrossment will vote yay. All opposed, nay. Secretary, unlock the machine.

195. 1:54:09

     On the motion, the yeas are 31 and the nays are 21, and this motion has prevailed.

196. 1:54:18

     Senator from the 25th, for what purpose do you rise?

197. 1:54:21

     Mr. President, I move that Senate Bill 239 be recommitted to the Committee on Rules.

198. 1:54:26

     Hold, hold, hold on, hold on, Senator. Just wait your turn on that one. Let's get this one through first.

199. 1:54:42

     All right, moving on to the Rules Calendar, and now, Senator, we're ready.

200. 1:54:50

     Secretary read Senate Bill 239, please.

201. 1:55:03

     Senate Bill 239 by Senators Walker of the 20th and others. A bill to be entitled an Act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 18 of Title 43 of the OCGA relating to funeral directors and establishment embalmers and crematories so as to remove the requirement that funeral directors be licensed embalmers to provide for related matters to repeal conflic- conflicting laws and for other purposes.

202. 1:55:27

     The Committee of the Senate on Regulated Industries and Utilities recommends that this bill do pass by substitute.

203. 1:55:35

     Respectfully submitted, Senator Cowsert of the Fourth District. Chairman.

204. 1:55:40

     Now read the substitute.

205. 1:55:43

     Senate Committee on Regulated Industries of- and Utilities offers the following substitute to Senate Bill 239, a bill to be entitled an Act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 18 of Title 43 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to funeral directors and establishment embalmers and crematories so as to remove the requirement that funeral directors be licensed embalmers, and for other purposes.

206. 1:56:03

     All right. Senator Williams of the 25th offers the following amendment. And then read the caption.

207. 1:56:10

     Senator Williams of the 25th offers the following amendment. Amend the Senate Committee substitute to SB 239 by replacing lines 14 and 15 with the following: Provide for responsibility of all funeral services offered at a funeral establishment, organic human reduction facility, or crematory to change certain provisions concerning the deposi- deposition of cremated remains and for other purposes. Mr. President, that completes the order.

208. 1:56:36

     Now I recognize my favorite mortician from Baldwin County right here.

209. 1:56:42

     Thank you, Mr. President. You know, you're my favorite lieutenant governor, too. Mr. President, I move that Senate Bill 239 be recommitted to the Committee on Rules.

210. 1:56:54

     All right, senator has moved that the Senate Bill 239 be removed from the, the point, the order and put back into Rules. Is that correct, Senator?

211. 1:57:07

     It is correct.

212. 1:57:07

     You morticians, y'all are, y'all are real, y'all are always the last ones to let us down, aren't you? So-

213. 1:57:15

     Oh.

214. 1:57:16

     Yeah.

215. 1:57:16

     Would you like to speak to your motion, Senator? Are you just, you good?

216. 1:57:20

     No, not at this time. Thank you.

217. 1:57:22

     Without objection, without objection, then we'll, uh, we'll move it back to Rules.

218. 1:57:34

     Secretary read House Bill 117.

219. 1:57:39

     What are we doing with this one?

220. 1:57:44

     House Bill 117, uh, by Representatives Petra of the 166th and others. A bill to be entitled an Act to amend Article 13 of Chapter 2 of Title 26 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to food service establishments so as to require notification of the country of origin of seafood items, to provide for a definition, to provide for related matters, to repeal conflicting laws, and for other purposes. The Committee of the Senate on Rules recommends that this pa- do pass by substitute.

221. 1:58:15

     Senator Brass, chairman.

222. 1:58:16

     Senator Brass of the 6th, chairman.

223. 1:58:20

     Mr. President, Senate Committee on Rules offers the following substitute.

224. 1:58:22

     Mr. President, the Senate Committee on Rules offers the following substitute to House Bill 117, a bill to be entitled an Act to amend Article 13 of Chapter 2 of Title 26 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to food service establishments so as to require notification of foreign imported shrimp, to provide for related matters, to repeal conflicting laws, and for other purposes. Mr. President, that completes the order.

225. 1:58:42

     This is the infamous shrimp bill here today, huh? Oh, wow. All right. All right, fine. I recognize my good doctor from the coast.

226. 1:58:55

     My favorite senator from Savannah, Georgia. Good luck, Senator.

227. 1:59:02

     Thank you so much, Mr. President. Let me just tell you, I am not here to talk about the Kennedy Center. I'm not here to re-litigate tort reform. I'm not here to talk about the incompetence or maybe even criminal activity in Fulton County elections. But let me tell you what I am here to talk about. What is affecting us here in the state of Georgia. 77% of the shrimp tested in Savannah, Georgia, was imported shrimp.

228. 1:59:38

     Places like China, India, and Vietnam, where they grow these shrimp in ponds, swimming in their own feces, given antibiotics and hormones. So in the state of Georgia, our native domestic shrimp, caught off the coast of Georgia, never has antibiotics, never has growth hormones. and are grown right here in the state of Georgia.

229. 2:00:11

     And that's what this bill ensures is truth in advertising. All it says is that you must post by the shrimp whether or not, or not whether or not, if it is foreign imported shrimp or you can have a placard, uh, visible, visible to your patrons there in the, uh, restaurant. That's all it does. And believe it or not, the Georgia Restaurant Association has stopped their opposition.

230. 2:00:42

     Now, why would they oppose such a thing like that? Well, I don't know. But I will tell you that our industry in the state of Georgia on the coast is better this year and last year than it was the year before. Do you think it has anything to do with the truth in advertising that is coming out about the shrimp in the state of Georgia? I think it does. Mr. President, I'll be happy to answer any questions, uh, relating to, uh, the shrimp in the state of Georgia.

231. 2:01:17

     I think we're clear, Senator. No questions.

232. 2:01:19

     Well, thank you very much. I ask for your favorable consideration for this matter for the state of Georgia and the shrimp industry. Thank you.

233. 2:01:28

     All right. Does any other senator wish to speak for or against the measure? Chair hears none. Is there objection to the previous question being ordered? Chair hears none. The previous question is ordered. Question is on the adoption of the committee substitute. Is there objection to the adoption of the committee substitute? Hearing none, the committee substitute is adopted. Is there objection to the agreeing to the report of committee, which is favorable to the passage of the bill? Chair hears none. The report of committee is agreed to. Is there objection to the main question being ordered? Chair hears none and the main question is ordered.

234. 2:01:59

     Question is on the passage of the bill by substitute. All those in favor of the bill will vote yay, opposed nay. Secretary will unlock the machine.

235. 2:02:53

     Just barely got by there, Senator. Just barely.

236. 2:03:11

     All right. On the passage of the bill, the yays are 43, the nays are eight. This bill having received requisite constitutional majority has therefore passed.

237. 2:03:32

     Secretary will read caption of SR 563.

238. 2:03:46

     Senate Resolution number 563 by, is Senators Robertson of the 29th and others. A resolution to urging the Secretary of State to immediately and fully comply with the request of the United States Department of Justice to securely produce Georgia's voter, voter registration list in compliance with Georgia's obligations under the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960 and for other purposes. The Senate Committee on Ethics recommends that this resolution do pass- By Senator Watson of the 11th, Chairman.

239. 2:04:20

     Mr. President, a minority report has been attached.

240. 2:04:27

     Recognize the senator from the 29th to speak to the measure.

241. 2:04:49

     Thank you, Mr. President. Colleagues, my time being in this, uh, this body, I've yet to become, um, surprised by the overreaction of small adjustments. I'm yet to be surprised by the fear and trembling I see at times when we have to address uncomfortable issues. And once again, it has played out exactly as I thought it might.

242. 2:05:27

     This resolution is very simple. It's very clean. Um, a lot of people have preconceived notions about me, about where my politics is and, and other things. And those who know me know my passion about funding Healthy Mothers, Healthy Baby programs throughout the state. They know my passion about adoption. They know my passions about foster care. They know my passions about lowering taxes, and they know my primary passion about public safety and my primary passion about following the law.

243. 2:06:08

     So, and I know there will be cackles from the From the body of people who disagree, and I've become accustomed to that. But something else I'm accustomed to also is following the law. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to serve on ethics, and we passed out SB 202. And as soon as SB 202 passed and became law, which to remind anybody, SB 202 was the voting legislation that created the greatest turnout in the next, uh, the election that followed that than any other election prior to that.

244. 2:06:51

     It's the one that clarified the rules on what good voting is, what fair voting is, what transparent voting is. And not long after that was signed into law, I, along with 20 plus other colleagues, were sued for passing SB 202. Not long after that, I received a telephone call from an attorney out of Pensacola, Florida, and I was told that this attorney had been hired to represent me in this lawsuit against SB 202.

245. 2:07:29

     And this attorney told me, he said, "Senator Robertson, I'm going to have to ask you for some information, and it may be uncomfortable." And I said, "What is that?" He said, "I need all of your senatorial emails." I said, "No problem." He said, "I'm gonna need all of your senatorial text messages." I said, "No problem." He said, "I need all of your personal emails." I said, "No problem." And he said, "Well, I'm gonna need all your personal text messages." And I said, "No problem." And then I said, "But wait, there is one problem." He said, "What is that?" I said, "You gotta give me time to go to local department store, local electronic store, and buy an external hard drive that is clean and never been used so I can download all of this information from my cell phone and from my computer and send it to you." And he got quiet, and I said, "Is that a problem?" He said, "No, that's not a problem at all." He said, "Just everybody else I spoke to were a little concerned about that information getting out there." And I said, "Well, I'm not concerned about it at all.

246. 2:08:43

     I grew up in law enforcement. I grew up in the courts. I understand what evidence is. I understand the requirements of the people I submit this evidence to, to protect what I submit." And I said, "Because you're gonna go through all of my personal and senatorial emails, you're gonna go through all of my personal and senatorial text messages, and you're gonna find nothing that this suit alleges." I said, "But please, never let any of the text messages from my wife to me on days when she wasn't really happy with me to get out into the public." And he assured me he wouldn't.

247. 2:09:30

     So I went and I purchased the external hard drive, and I downloaded all of that information, all of that information, and I sent it to the attorney because I understand the process. There was no conspiracy theory. There was nothing I thought that this attorney, who I met, by the way, over the phone, was gonna do anything unethical or anything that would impair his licensing in the Georgia Bar or the Florida Bar or any other bar which he may have been a member of, because I understood the law.

248. 2:10:07

     And if you read the resolution, you'll see that we are asking that the Secretary of State provide the information in compliance with Georgia's obligations under the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960. And if you read Georgia Code Section 21-2-225.1,

249. 2:10:43

     if you go down to Section C,

250. 2:10:49

     and if you integrate the definitions under 21-2-417, you'll see there's a section down there that says, "The information that's included in there, that any and all information relating to the birth dates or dates of birth, to be exact, Social Security numbers, and driver's license numbers of electors may be made available to other agencies of this state, to agencies of other states and territories of the United States, and to agencies of the federal government if the agency is authorized to maintain such information, and the information is used only to identify the elector on the receiving agency's database, and is not disseminated further and remains confidential." It's in Georgia law.

251. 2:11:48

     It's really clear. As far as I know, the Secretary of State and I have never had a cross word with each other. We've been in the room together. I knew him before he was Secretary of State. And what it says right here, if he were the Secretary of State saying I didn't want to cooperate, if he was the Governor of Georgia and said I didn't want to cooperate, if he was the Lieutenant Governor of Georgia and said he didn't want to cooperate, I would drop the same resolution The law is clear on what we're supposed to do.

252. 2:12:21

     Now, there's always gonna be the politics that surrounds this. There's always gonna be those who go around and start conspiracy theories on the right, those who start conspiracy theories on the left. What's funny is nobody will ever find a video clip that they can play showing me claiming that any election in Georgia has ever been stolen, but they'll use that. The first time I recall somebody claiming an election was done wrong or there were improprieties is when a guy named Gore ran for President of the United States of America, and it became a big deal.

253. 2:13:01

     And then after that, the next person I can recall is a former Secretary of State named Hillary Rodham Clinton that claimed there was election fraud. And then there was a lady running for governor of Georgia who lost and claimed that there were improprieties and that there was possible fraud in elections. And then there was a guy who was the President of the United States and ran for re-election, and he claimed that there was election fraud.

254. 2:13:44

     And they're all in the same boat. They're all there. But you know what? We have laws we have to follow. We have rules we have to follow in this state. It's not personal. It's not me against you or one party against another party. Is this uncomfortable? It is for some. Is this necessary? Well, it depends. Do you wanna do the easy parts of your job, or do you wanna do the full parts of your job? Our job is really simple.

255. 2:14:16

     We have a state constitution. We have laws and rules that we have to go by. Whether we're comfortable with the law or not, we don't get to deviate from it. Believe me, I put handcuffs on many people I weren't comfortable with, as I'm sure my friend from the 30th has also. We didn't love the law we had to enforce every time we enforced it, but you know what? We enforced it because this body or the federal government put laws down and said that. And so this resolution is very, very simple.

256. 2:14:51

     It's asking the Secretary of State to do what other states have done, and that is fully cooperate. Other states who felt uncomfortable about their information, they sat down at the table and they wrote and agreed on MOUs. They signed those MOUs with the Department of Justice, and the information was handed over. I've heard several people talking about how their information is private.

257. 2:15:21

     If you have a Social Security number that was not given to you by the federal government, I've got some bad news for you. You don't have a legitimate Social Security number. You can't buy them. You get them through a process. Usually, that process is birth here in this country. If you think your driver's license information is not out in the real world, then I've got some, got some cold news for you.

258. 2:15:54

     It's out there. And I can tell you it's inside of state computers, inside of GCIC. It's inside of federal computers. It's inside of N- NCIC. Your driver's license information's out there. And I can go to the white pages anywhere on internet, and I can find out where you live. Not only do I find out where you live today, I can find out where you lived 10 years ago, and that'll take me about four and a half minutes. I can tell you what your birthday is. It's not complicated.

259. 2:16:25

     And this information I'm getting fr- from you and about you is not information that is, is privy to me as a peace officer or privy to me as a state senator. This information's out there for everybody. I have friends that run private investigative agencies. I can give them your name, a partial of your name, and in a short period of time, I'll know what all your vehicles, the license plates on all your vehicles are. I'll know what the VIN numbers are.

260. 2:16:57

     People steal identification through banking information. They steal it through when we go in and we put our debit card in or our, uh, credit card in to a site where we're attempting to buy something and we don't realize that we're being phished for that information. That's what you have to worry about, about identity theft. And everybody in this room most likely has experienced some type of identity theft, which shocked me when somebody tried to do it to me.

261. 2:17:27

     I don't know why anybody else would want to be Randy Robertson, but they made that attempt, and luckily it was caught in time and we were able to stop it. But it's not because I was willy-nilly with my personal information that we're talking about here today.

262. 2:17:43

     So while many want to make this out to be some kind of battle for somebody,

263. 2:17:53

     I'm gonna hit you with a shocker.

264. 2:17:58

     I love the pledge to the Georgia flag.

265. 2:18:03

     My loyalty first lies with the state of Georgia.

266. 2:18:10

     People want to label me something. Had somebody come up today and asked me if I was a, a, a MAGA.

267. 2:18:19

     I don't think so. I think I'm a conservative state senator in Georgia who's a member of the Republican Party, who is a law-abiding citizen, who believes you stand up for what's right, not what's for, for what's comfortable. If you want to stand up for what's comfortable, then please, I heard somebody say it before, don't join the team with me and the senator from the 30th.

268. 2:18:45

     Because people looking for comfort don't do that. People wanting to follow law do that. Read Title 21

269. 2:18:58

     and tell me what you think. But today, all we're doing is urging an elected official to do what Georgia law says he should do. That's all.

270. 2:19:13

     It's that simple. Don't make it more than it is. But sadly, I know some will stand on a stage built out of political wood as they look to sell themselves, to sell a policy, or to sell the hate for a man that they've never met. And with that, Mr. President, I yield the well.

271. 2:19:38

     Senator has yielded. Recognize the senator from the 22nd.

272. 2:19:57

     Thank you, Mr. President. Obviously, I stand in opposition to this particular resolution. I will say this, there won't be any cackling in this situation because it's a very serious moment for Georgia history. Context matters with this resolution. On one level, the resolution may look clean and pristine, but context actually matters. And so let's kind of look at what that context is. There's two levels to it. The first is the stated reason for the resolution, which basically, if you break it down, is what the Department of Justice said they wanted the information for, which is to maintain voter rolls.

273. 2:20:35

     So let's deal with that first. The initial reason given by the Department of Justice was to maintain voter rolls and voter rolls, voter lists, et cetera, make sure that the maintenance of the rolls are correct. And that is basically what this resolution is trying to, uh, develop. The problem is context matters. And there was a recent court case that basically said, federal court, that said that this is not true, that what the Justice Department is saying is basically a lie. A case of the United States versus Webber, where the Department of Justice admitted, this just happened in 2025, admitted that they were handing over the voter information to Department of Ha- Homeland Security, and that the request of the Justice Department mirrored similar requests that had been doing by the Department of Homeland Security.

274. 2:21:26

     And the court stated very bluntly, "The court does not take lightly the DOJ's obfuscation of its true motive in the present matter. The acts relied upon by the Justice Department," meaning the Civil Rights Act that is in the particular resolution, "is to protect voting rights. If the DOJ wants to instead use those statutes for more than the stated purpose, circumventing the authority granted to them by Congress, it cannot do so under the guise of protectual investigative purposes." And that is what the context is.

275. 2:22:02

     So this resolution may seem clean and pristine, but when you understand that the DOJ themselves said, "We're handing this information over to Department of Homeland Security," that comes from them in a court case, and that a federal judge then said, "Basically what you're telling us, all of this stuff about Chris- pristine maintenance rolls is a lie." This is court. This is law. Second g- aspect of context is, is what happened last week.

276. 2:22:33

     So now we're about to pass something which is basically based on a lie, 'cause we know that it's based on a lie, 'cause they're going to hand this information over, by their own testimony, over to other organizations, to other agencies. It's not about voter maintenance. We already know that's true. Now, based on what just happened in Fulton County, this resolution takes even greater context because now it is the context of actually trying to shield what really is a true goal of this administration, which we understand is to undercut the 26 midterms and potentially even once again try to take those.

277. 2:23:10

     The truth of this intent is gone over many times, but I th- do want to point out one story that in other times 20 years ago would have been a major news story for years to come, possibly would have made a movie about it. But in our click days, it kind of go, comes and goes. The scene is January 4th, 2021, and a well-respected retired judge, Judge Luttig, who's now retired, is at home. He had been on the shortlist by George Bu- President George W. Bush, was beaten out by Samuel Alito to be on the Supreme Court.

278. 2:23:43

     So a very serious person. He receives a phone call from Vice President Pence's personal attorney, and he's asked immediately, "What do you think about John Eastman?" Luttig knew that John Eastman was one of the president's lawyers. He was understood constitutional law, and he said, "Well, basically, why do you ask?" And he's told that Eastman has now written and orally stated that the vice president does not have to certify the election. Luttig said at that moment he knew he was facing a signal moment in history.

279. 2:24:18

     He immediately tells Pence's attorney that no, Pence must certify because the law was clear. They hang up. The attorney calls back, but this time with a sense of urgency in his voice and says, "You have to do something either lo- orally or in writing." They go back and forth and finally determine that he would do in a t- tweet thread, talking about this day and age. Of course, 20 years ago it'd been an op-ed. Basically was a op-ed with then tweet thread, basically instructing Vice President Pence he must certify the election because the law was clear.

280. 2:24:55

     Vi- Vice President Pence, when he wrote a three-page letter saying why he had to certify the election, he referenced Judge Luttig's opinion, stating, "Based on Judge Luttig," because everyone in conservative circles knew who he was, he carried weight, "Based on his analysis, I have to certify this election." That's how close we were. That's how close we were, a phone call. The next day, Vice President Pence called Judge Luttig. The two had never talked.

281. 2:25:26

     First time they ever talked, and he called him and thanked him. A signal moment in history. Two men who had not spoken came together to help save our republic. Two men who are probably would not have the out- have very little in common with politically, but apparently we have a lot in common of wanting to a- actually make sure that the American experiment actually succeeds. And so today we are facing that signal moment in history. This is not a meaningless resolution. It is a statement whether you truly believe in our democratic values that we have struggled to obtain and struggle to, every day, to keep.

282. 2:26:04

     What America could be, she has not been, but we keep trying. This resolution has greater meaning because of the context to it, because it has given a Department of Justice, which a federal court has already said is lying. It has given a Department of Justice, whose persons in that administration support somebody who literally tried to take an election, and if it was not before certain things, one of those being a tweet from a federal judge, that might have actually happened. It has given them cover. In the context of today says that this body would agree with it.

283. 2:26:40

     And what's interesting about all of this is within this American experience, and many of my colleagues came up last week. We may not have as many come up today, but many came up last week. What's interesting about this when we talk about our values as America, those who come up, many are African American, many are women, and many are LGBTQ and African American. They have received less from this nation than any other group. But historically, they are always the ones that discuss and hope that the American experiment will actually succeed.

284. 2:27:15

     They are the ones who actually are consistently fighting to make sure that this country continues to go in the direction that it should. What also is interesting is where you stand today. Judge Luttig was appointed by President Bush. Judge Wilkinson, which I talked about last week, which talked about the fact there would still be time to save our democracy, was appointed by President Reagan. Both have sounded the alarms that our very democracy is at stake within this administration. But look who they're, were following.

285. 2:27:45

     One appointed by Reagan, one appointed by Bush, and although I probably disagree with Reagan and Bush on almost every political issue, I don't think there's any doubt that in their heart they wanted a better America, although we could disagree how to get there. Today, in your signal moment, you are choosing to follow a narcissist, a person who cares nothing about this nation, person who knows nothing about this nation, person who's never read anything about our institutions and doesn't care. So where Luttig and Wilkinson follow Bush and Reagan, real patriots, even though you disagree with them, real people who believed in America, even though you disagree with them, you have chosen to follow somebody who wants to burn it all down.

286. 2:28:29

     Today is your signal moment, and that is the choice and the path you follow. Congratulations. With that, I yield the floor.

287. 2:28:39

     Senator's yielded. Recognize the senator from 26.

288. 2:29:08

     Thank you, Mr. President. I wish I could speak as eloquently as the Min- our deleader talked about this.

289. 2:29:20

     But history teaches us what we've been through.

290. 2:29:29

     What we've been through.

291. 2:29:35

     Let me tell you a story.

292. 2:29:40

     When I was 13 years old, in the neighborhood I lived in, Highway 49 ran around it.

293. 2:29:51

     We used to get a basketball, and under the streetlight we'd play four square, get some sand and draw four square. And if you missed hitting the ball in the square, then the next person came up.

294. 2:30:06

     Well, I got picked up and accused of throwing a brick through somebody's window

295. 2:30:17

     I had on a pair of cut off seersucker pants that were blue and white.

296. 2:30:26

     The folks said that the person that threw the brick had on stripey pants. If you'd have seen the pants in the light, they would look like they were white. They put me in the back of the car.

297. 2:30:42

     I'm 13 years old.

298. 2:30:46

     Little guy gets out of the car, got in the backseat of the police car, put a gun to my head, called me everything but the child of God.

299. 2:30:58

     They stopped me at a handy end there,

300. 2:31:02

     which was about a mile from where I lived. There was a white clerk in there. We used to stop in there and buy snacks and stuff, and on Friday watch Have Gun - Will Travel, Gunsmoke.

301. 2:31:26

     A Black school teacher was in the store, walked out and saw me in the car, and skedaddled 'cause she was scared of the police.

302. 2:31:41

     The white clerk that was in the store came out and looked in the car and saw who I was and told the police, "I know that boy. He and his family come by the store all the time."

303. 2:31:56

     The police made the guy get out the car, and they took me in back to on the street where I was. But while I was sitting there crying, my mom and dad had run by the store in the car running 70, 80 miles an hour trying to find their child.

304. 2:32:24

     In 1967,

305. 2:32:29

     I left a predominantly Black high school and went to a school called Lanier High, which was a military school.

306. 2:32:44

     And when I went to practice, I went out for quarterback, and everybody used to park on the side of the street watching football practice to see whether or not I could throw a football.

307. 2:33:00

     I very seldom played quarterback. I played everything but quarterback, and did pretty good.

308. 2:33:10

     I left high school in '68 and went to a college called Tuskegee Institute. I wanted to play football. I used to watch Lenny Moore with the Baltimore Colts, and he would wear spats. And if you don't know what spats are, they tape your ankle and the shoe together,

309. 2:33:37

     and you look mighty sporty when you're running the ball and you scoring touchdown.

310. 2:33:45

     Well, when I went to Tuskegee, I told myself, "Gonna play quarterback." The trainer for the football team was my homeboy, and he told me, he said, "Man, don't do that. The coach told me to pick up your stuff after practice." I went to the coach and said, "Coach, I can't go back home." He said, "What you mean?" I said, "I can't go back." He said, "Well, what you gonna do?" I said, "Let me play defensive back." We had a star running back by the name of Ralph Jenkins, all S-I-C.

311. 2:34:17

     He had a pulling guard by the name of Truck Robinson from Mississippi, weighed about 260, ran a 4.7 40. That day at practice, they ran a sweep.

312. 2:34:29

     I hit the guy that was weighing 260, spinned around and hit the running back and drove him over to the bleachers. We used to practice on the baseball field sand. Coach jumped up in the air blowing the whistle, said, "Man, you about to kill my running back." I said, "Coach, you finna cut me." He said, "Come up to my office after practice." I went up to his office and he gave me a full ride to play football. While I was in school in 1969, I had a professor by the name of Njoka.

313. 2:35:05

     He was African. And we had

314. 2:35:12

     an assignment to go register Black folks in Barbour County, Eufaula, Alabama. And while I was down there trying to get folks to sign up and register to be voters, somebody shot a gun.

315. 2:35:37

     They were in a pickup truck. Almost got Luke.

316. 2:35:44

     The buckshots and stuff hit the side of the house while I was standing up there on the porch.

317. 2:35:52

     Got back to Tuskegee,

318. 2:35:58

     and we were having elections

319. 2:36:03

     in Alabama.

320. 2:36:06

     There was a guy by the name of Fred Gray who was a lawyer, and there was a guy by the name of Thomas Reed who owned what we call the Chicken Coop. We used to go in the middle of the night to get some chicken and come back to the dome.

321. 2:36:21

     Gray won and Reed lost

322. 2:36:29

     While I was at the courthouse, I saw a book,

323. 2:36:35

     and the people who were voting, some of them were 100 years old.

324. 2:36:44

     I took the book, put it up on my coat and went back to Tuskegee,

325. 2:36:52

     and we had them to look at it. And so we had a special election, and Reed ran as an independent and won. So they became the first two Black state legislators in Alabama.

326. 2:37:10

     Now, I say all of that to tell most of you, the thought of my little finger will bust your head wide open.

327. 2:37:24

     You come to Atlanta, Georgia, FBI

328. 2:37:30

     take all the voter lists

329. 2:37:34

     because the president said he won the election in Georgia.

330. 2:37:41

     And had it not been for the phone call that the secretary of state recorded, he'd have lied on him, too.

331. 2:37:51

     Ladies and gentlemen, we've got a president that a lot of you in here support. You don't say it out loud, but you support him 'cause he couldn't do what he's doing unless he had your support. And so what I say to many of you, get some intestinal fortitude.

332. 2:38:17

     You don't have to be a Democrat. You work. His money don't affect you. You send him money. That's how he win elections and pay all the lawyers that he's got defending him.

333. 2:38:36

     Epstein files, he's smart now. He do everything and start something where he in the news every day about something else except the Epstein files. Now, most of us in here assume what Trump already know.

334. 2:39:00

     Messing with them young girls. And many of you in here got daughters. And had it been your daughter, I know what you would have done. You'd have had his head. Here's a criminal being convicted and ran as president to stay out of jail.

335. 2:39:24

     To stay out of jail. Does not follow the law.

336. 2:39:32

     ICE agents everywhere. That is to intimidate folks and keep them from voting and change the narrative of the Epstein files to something else.

337. 2:39:49

     But here's a man that cares nothing about the law. The Justice Department does what Trump tell them to do.

338. 2:40:03

     Now, ladies and gentlemen, I'm a Democrat. There ain't no question about it. But I do have some dignity.

339. 2:40:16

     And as I said before, Donald Trump gets into the pants the same way David Lucas get in here, one leg at a time. But yet and still, you come and bring this because he's trying to prove at the last election that he lost

340. 2:40:41

     was a farce.

341. 2:40:46

     Secretary of State, I give the governor credit. They said there was nothing wrong with Georgia elections. Then Trump talked about the governor and his wife.

342. 2:41:03

     He talked about them.

343. 2:41:08

     But what we've got to do in this body,

344. 2:41:13

     in this body that I serve in with you. See, you can be ever so smart, but you can't pass a thing unless you got some friends in the body.

345. 2:41:29

     What we're about to do is allow Donald Trump to be Putin. When you talk about ICE agents killing folks, that's what Putin does when he has opposition. He take you out. Y'all remember the guy that was going toward Russia and Putin stopped him? And the next thing you know, he got blew up in the airplane?

346. 2:42:03

     Being a dictator is what dictators do.

347. 2:42:12

     Evidently, many of y'all forgot about January 6th.

348. 2:42:17

     I saw it on television. And you trying to tell me I didn't see what I saw? And then when he becomes president, he pardon all the thugs 'cause they did his bidding

349. 2:42:33

     And yet y'all bring this to this body about give them all the information. For what?

350. 2:42:45

     So they can come and intimidate folks, get their names? 'Cause that's what they do.

351. 2:42:53

     You're scared.

352. 2:42:57

     Stop being scared. If you're scared, y'all are not to run for office. We need folks who will stand up. That's why you got protests all across the country about this president. He's a criminal. That's what he is,

353. 2:43:20

     amongst other things that they keep talking about. And he's in it. They're just redacting everything where his name come up because he's the head of the party.

354. 2:43:39

     Well, ladies and gentlemen, let me say this to you.

355. 2:43:44

     Get some guts. Get some guts.

356. 2:43:52

     Do the right thing. That's how you get elected.

357. 2:44:00

     Many of y'all are worried about the coming up elections and how folks gonna vote.

358. 2:44:11

     But most of them thinking like me. I don't care who, who it is as long as it's a Democrat.

359. 2:44:20

     Come on.

360. 2:44:20

     You found that out in the public service commission election. You know, we went to court on that and the judge ruled against us 'cause we tried to draw districts on that

361. 2:44:36

     and it's statewide,

362. 2:44:40

     but two Democrats won.

363. 2:44:44

     That ought to tell you and send you a message. We are tired and we gonna fight. We are tired and we gonna fight for what's right. And so to all of you and all my colleagues in here,

364. 2:45:08

     get some insti- get some oomph in you. Don't let Donald Trump call you and tell you to do something and you ask him how high.

365. 2:45:26

     Get some intestinal fortitude. Represent the people that you are elected by. They are concerned about the grocery bill, how they gonna pay the house note, how they gonna pay the car note, how they gonna see about the children. And here we are in the Georgia Senate playing partisan politics

366. 2:45:57

     and acquiesce to a tyrant, a dictator, a person who doesn't even care about the law. He's trying to see how far he can go and what you gonna do about it. And that's the reason you see all these protesters across the country, across the country. Not in little small rural counties, but in big cities, little cities, folks who stay on the ocean, folks who stay at the Great Lakes.

367. 2:46:36

     They are tired and they're telling you they are tired, 'cause everywhere you see, the majority of the folks in the protests don't look like me. They look like you, the majority of you.

368. 2:46:53

     So y'all ought to get the message.

369. 2:46:57

     When it come time for re-election,

370. 2:47:04

     don't come up and tell the folks what you did. When Trump said jump, you jumped.

371. 2:47:14

     Be men and women with some intestinal fortitude to do the right thing.

372. 2:47:26

     All right. Senator has yielded. Recognizing the senator from the second.

373. 2:47:36

     Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, this morning, colleagues, we've got Senate Resolution 563, which is an urging resolution, and I would like to highlight that that's all it does, is it urges. But I want to talk for a few moments about what it's actually urging. Uh, it's urging the Secretary of State to comply with the request of the United States Department of Justice to securely produce Georgia's voter registration list in compliance with Georgia's obligations under the National Voting- Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1960 and for other purposes.

374. 2:48:13

     But the problem is, what it's urging and saying in one part of this res- resolution is a juxtaposition because the resolution is asking the Secretary of State to violate the law. Why? Because in OCGA 21-2-225 and OCGA 21-2-219, it restricts how voter data and information is to be shared And I've sat in ethics committee meetings and been at 7:00 AM, they've been at 5:00, they've been at 7:00 PM.

375. 2:48:47

     Uh, in fact, Mr. President, I got promoted on the committee and showed up to be the secretary. And I've been in these hearings and understanding that Eric and how we maintain lists, and one of the reasons we don't maintain our lists with the state of Florida is because they've got a full sunshine law, and that they transmit their voter information by not obscuring the Social Security numbers, but by displaying those Social Security numbers. However, Georgia law does not allow us to share information in that manner. And so since we can't share information, that's why we don't use the state of Florida to maintain our voter rolls and compare our data to theirs because of how we protect folks' information.

376. 2:49:28

     Now, when we talk about this resolution asking the secretary of state to comply, well, we'd have to change state law in order for that compliance to occur. We'd have to allow for the unredacted version of folks' personal and sensitive information to be made public. And I don't know about you, but I've got information that's online, but I don't want my Social Security number to be online. I don't want my information in the wrong hands because it's your personal information. Somebody can buy a house, they can take out a loan, they can do whatever if they got your Social Security number.

377. 2:50:01

     But when we talk about how we access this information and how we should share it, then maybe this body should have prescribed the manner in which we would determine how we would do that. But then I also read in this resolution where we talked about the NVRA and the HAVA, uh, and that it states the responsibilities. I wanna be clear, colleagues, the NVRA and the HAVA do not give the Department of Justice an unlimited right to demand full voter files in any format at any time.

378. 2:50:34

     And so now we say the Georgia Secretary of State has refused to comply with multiple requests for this information in full, and that is absolutely correct because he is abiding by Georgia law. And so refusal to comply is not because somebody doesn't wanna comply, it's because we have laws that say you can't do that. Now, when we talk about how folks break laws and how things go, and if they were so corrupt, well, we spent a lot of time investigating Fani Willis, but we didn't spend any time investigating Brad Raffensperger.

379. 2:51:10

     We could have done a special subpoena the same way you did there if it was serious enough. We've had time to do this since 2020 if we were serious about it. But this is nothing more than smoke and mirrors to make a political point that does not need to be made, but it's about protecting folks' information. And I wanna be clear, the federal government does not run adminis- ru- run election administrations, neither does the president. States run elections. And if we were serious about how elections would be run and the security, then we wouldn't have an unelected, unaccountable board making decisions about elections.

380. 2:51:48

     We don't put people on the pension board that can't count. So why do we have people on the election board that don't know anything about elections and how to administer them, how the process should work? If anything, we should have registrars and county boards of elections to be on the board to go through the technical intricacies of our voting system if we were serious about it, not political appointees or hack jobs, but this unelected, unaccountable board. And if we were serious about it, we would put them on the ballot then. We would make a constitutional amendment to empower them, because right now, in that little small book on my desk, elections and the manner in which, uh, the information is tabulated and processed comes to the secretary of state.

381. 2:52:28

     That's a constitutional officer. And I read in that same small rectangular book that said the secretary of state was a constitutional officer, not under the jurisdiction of this body. But this urgent resolution is just theater and performance at best. And so while we may want to, uh, urge the secretary of state, so I ask you the question, if you vote yes on this, are you urging the secretary of state to violate Georgia law? Because that is the question that I leave you with, and that's the juxtaposition of what is absolutely fundamentally right and what is fundamentally wrong.

382. 2:53:00

     And Mr. President, as I yield the well, I'm concerned about the soul of America and the soul of our democracy, but I will say this, what a tangled web we weave when we seek to deceive. And with that, Mr. President, I yield the well.

383. 2:53:18

     All right. Senator from the second, I don't worry about your soul, I can tell you that. Finally, you went, you almost went to preaching on us right there. I like it. Recognize the senator from the sixth.

384. 2:53:48

     Well, Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, I ain't no preacher.

385. 2:53:56

     And I don't have help to write speeches.

386. 2:54:02

     So I pulled out my little AI app,

387. 2:54:06

     and I put in, "Write me a two-minute speech on accountability versus hypocrisy." And it was interesting what I've, what came out.

388. 2:54:21

     Speech.

389. 2:54:21

     Very interesting. I'm gonna read it to you. It's so interesting. It starts with, "Ladies and gentlemen." "Today, I want to discuss the crucial contrast between accountability and hypocrisy, two concepts that influence our personal lives- our workplaces and society as a whole. Accountability is the foundation of trust and integrity.

390. 2:54:56

     It means acknowledging our responsibilities and being answerable for our actions. When we hold ourselves accountable, we foster an environment of honesty and growth. For instance, a leader who openly admits a project fai- failure not only gains respect, but also encourages their team to embrace transparency. This creates a safe space for everyone to learn from mistakes and contribute to success.

391. 2:55:31

     In contrast, hypocrisy, it undermines trust. It erodes relationships. It's the act of claiming to uphold certain values while failing to live by them. Think of a public figure. Now, I, I've lived a little bit of this. I'm gonna admit to that. Think of a public figure advocating for law enforcement while engaging in harmful rhetoric over previous weeks, months, and years toward law enforcement.

392. 2:56:04

     Or telling my party we should be holding our party accountable, yet not word, one word from them about three House members from their party being investigated and charged with pandemic em- unemployment fraud. And here we are today, Republicans holding our party accountable. We're doing what you've asked us to do. But that's still not good enough.

393. 2:56:35

     This misalignment of ideas leads to disillusionment and cynicism, damaging credibility and discouraging those who looked up to them. The impact of accountability versus hypocrisy extends beyond individuals. In our communities, accountability can drive social progress, while hypocrisy perpetuates injustice. Political leaders who promise reforms but fail to deliver create a disconnect that breeds distrust among citizens.

394. 2:57:10

     So how can we navigate between these two? Self-reflect. Regularly assess our actions against our values. Two, encourage open dialogue. Create environments where people feel safe expressing their thoughts, like we are today. Lead by example. Model accountability in your own actions.

395. 2:57:40

     And number four, demand integrity. Advocate for ethical practices and challenge hypocrisy. In conclusion, embracing accountability and cultivates a culture of trust and connection, while hypocrisy leads to disconnection. Together, let's commit to being accountable and making a meaningful impact in our lives and in our communities.

396. 2:58:10

     Now, that was all done, probably stored in a data center that may or may not get a tax credit. Ladies and gentlemen, today's about accountability. Is it a statement? Yes, it's a statement. It's a statement about holding each other accountable, no matter what party. What is wrong with that? There was nothing wrong with it last week.

397. 2:58:40

     There was nothing wrong with it the week before, and there's nothing wrong with it today. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

398. 2:58:52

     All right. Thank you, Senator. Recognize, uh, the 14th. You have the minority report, correct?

399. 2:59:01

     Oh,

400. 2:59:08

     sorry.

401. 2:59:08

     Yeah, I think we're pretty much... There's a couple of people not done.

402. 2:59:19

     Okay. Well then, my whole report should have, come after the previous question, so I can wait.

403. 2:59:23

     I'll hold until... Yeah.

404. 2:59:28

     Senator from the 39th.

405. 2:59:45

     Thank you, Mr. President, and good afternoon again, colleagues. So I rise to speak in opposition to SR 563, and I do so with seriousness because this resolution is being offered at a moment of real uncertainty and heightened concern. This resolution is presented as a review of voter rolls and election records, and let me say from the start that maintaining accurate voter rolls is important. Confidence in our elections depends on clear, transparent, and lawful processes for list maintenance, and Georgia already has those processes.

406. 3:00:22

     Our state has existing laws that govern how voter rolls are updated, how inactive voters are handled, how challenges are reviewed, and how local election officials manage those responsibilities. Those systems operate every day under state law, under federal law, and under established procedures. SR 563 does not improve those systems. It does not propose new standards. It does not add resources or clarity to the work local election officials are already required to do.

407. 3:00:56

     Instead, it layers on an additional political exercise that duplicates processes already in place and ignores allowing current questions to proceed through the courts. And colleagues, we cannot ignore the context of last week. Not only am I a resident of Fulton County, but I serve as the chair of the Fulton County delegation in this body. Reports of the FBI activity connected to the Fulton County Elections hub and offices have raised serious procedural questions, particularly when materials are removed from local custody and taken out of the control and state of the officials responsible for administering our elections to who knows where.

408. 3:01:40

     When records, equipment, or voter files are seized in bulk, seven hundred boxes at a time, issues of chain of custody, handling, and access are not minor details. They go directly to transparency, public confidence, and the reliability of any conclusions that may later be drawn. And I wanna pause here so we can remember that Georgia has dedicated professionals whose job it is to maintain accurate voter lists, Republicans and Democrats, lawyers and administrators, career civil servants who do this work quietly every day.

409. 3:02:19

     The processes aren't glamorous, and they don't make headlines, but they are how elections actually function. And those professionals need stability and clarity, not additional political crossfire. In that context, this resolution is simply not the right tool for this moment. It asks this body to conduct a parallel review of voter rolls at the very time new uncertainties have been introduced through the actions of the DOJ through the FBI, not by evidence presented to us, but by the manner in which those materials were removed from local control.

410. 3:02:58

     Oversight has a role, but it must be practical and forward-looking. This resolution does not clarify what happened last week, it does not resolve the questions created by those actions, and it does not strengthen confidence in how voter lists will be maintained going forward. Instead, it adds additional political heat to an already unsettled situation without improving transparency, accountability, or election administration.

411. 3:03:28

     And I'll add this. It also does nothing to address the issues people are dealing with right now. While we debate processes that already exist, the people we represent are living in the present. They are facing higher grocery prices, rising rents and mortgages, escalating insurance costs, healthcare that's harder to access, childcare that feels out of reach. They are asking us plainly to focus on affordability and stability in their everyday lives.

412. 3:03:59

     SR 563 does not help address those concerns. And given the unresolved questions raised by recent actions of the FBI, it does not provide a constructive or responsible path for oversight at this time. Let the courts who are already working through these decisions figure it out and do their work. For those reasons, Mr. President, I do not believe this resolution moves the state forward, and I cannot support it. Thank you. I yield the floor.

413. 3:04:30

     Thank you, Senator. Recognize the senator from the 37th.

414. 3:04:50

     Thank you, Mr. President. Ladies and gentlemen, I rise today in support of Senate Resolution 563, and I want to echo the words of the senator from the 22nd, um, who said that context matters. Context does in fact matter. And what this resolution about, is about, is about transparency. When the author of this resolution stood here about a half-hour ago and talked about how important it is to share everything, he shared a personal example of how under investigation, uh, with a broad number of people, he handed over everything, even personal messages.

415. 3:05:23

     He has nothing to hide. Ladies and gentlemen, the Senate, I propose to you that Georgia should have nothing to hide, and with this resolution, we're making sure Georgia hides nothing from full public transparency. I personally, uh, stand in a place, uh, and I'd like to thank Vice President Mike Pence for his bold and stand on January 6th certifying the 2020 election. That's where I stand. I stand with Vice President Mike Pence because given the information they had at the time and the timelines they had to certify election, that was the bold, high integrity move.

416. 3:06:01

     I stand there with many Republicans in, in making that statement. That's where I am today, with integrity and transparency. But I stand in support of Senate Resolution 563 because this is a resolution truly about transparency. Now, those who are watching this online or are here, here present with us in the Senate chamber have heard some attacks on this. You know, the s- senators can bring their own perspective, um, and they would avert their conscience as they see it. But if you read the words, the words on the page of Senate Reso- Re- Senate Resolution 563, this is a resolution of transparency.

417. 3:06:41

     Now, there may be an effort to twist and contort what that all means. There may be an effort to try to reframe this through some other words. Don't be deceived by that, though. Read the words on the page and read the efforts of this Senate in asking our Secretary of State to share information with federal investigators He should do that because I asked the question, if we have only valid voters in our system, what's there to hide? It's very important as a state if we have voters in our system that are not valid, who wouldn't want to know that?

418. 3:07:20

     Would interests not wanna know, but what interest would not wanna know if there were voters that are invalidly registered to vote and voting in our state? Who would wanna, who would wanna hide that? Who would stand to gain from that? This resolution makes it clear for everybody that Georgia has nothing to hide. Ladies and gentlemen, one of the most important principles of our election system from my perspective is the state control of elections. State control of elections.

419. 3:07:51

     I reject the premise that the federal government ought to have to come in and take over our elections. It's an important part of our compound republic.

420. 3:08:00

     Why is this, why, why is this resolution so important to that? 'Cause if we can't share openly what we do here, if we can't share our voter data openly for anyone in the nation to inspect that has access to this information as, as the, as the author said, this is not being shared to the public. This is gonna be law enforcement people who will gui- who will guard personal information. Social Security numbers. There's not a concern about that. They've already got that information. But if we can't share openly our voter data, I fear that someday some real tyrant, some true tyrant's gonna come in and try to nationalize our election system saying the states can't be trusted.

421. 3:08:41

     The states can't maintain their local lists. And somehow someday the federal government might come in and in a true act of tyranny try to take elections away from our states. In my opinion, in my belief, to maintain the integrity of state control of elections, having transparency of who, who our registered voters are is paramount to maintaining that state level independence. That is paramount to me, and that's paramount to the voters from Senate District 37. Ladies and gentlemen, this is an issue of integrity of voter data.

422. 3:09:16

     List maintenance is in question, and I think Georgia has nothing to hide. I stand, I ask every member of this body to stand with transparency, to stand with the perspective that we should share our voter lists with valid government entities to make sure there's nothing wrong with the data because we have nothing to hide. Share the voter list. We have nothing to hide. Share the Epstein list.

423. 3:09:47

     We have nothing to hide. That we can stand together. This legislature ought to be about sharing information publicly, 'cause if we care about the voters back in our district, they wanna see transparency. They don't wanna have people trying to hide the ball, trying to hide behind their positions and point fingers about things. They want transparency of public voter data, 'cause if voters are registered to vote in Georgia that are not valid, their vote is undermined. Their vote is compromised.

424. 3:10:18

     Friends, this is a voting rights state. This is a state we've cared deeply about the integrity of our elections. We've had, we've had a lot of attention over the years. I'm proud that this Senate stands with openness and integrity, not trying to hide the ball from anybody, not trying to play games. And I think the secretary of state, um, sh- should follow federal law. This is not a federal takeover. In my opinion, transparency protects the long-term integrity of state control of our elections, and that's why Senate Resolution 563 stands with transparency and integrity.

425. 3:10:55

     That's what I stand for. That's the context in which I support this, not the bogus narratives that you've heard from some f- some of our members. That may be why they're opposing it, but the reason I support it is for transparency so that all voters can see that the work Georgia's been doing and that we're committed to an open, fair election system for all, no matter where you come from, no matter what you look like, no matter what your zip code is, or no matter who you vote for. With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.

426. 3:11:28

     All right. Thank you, Senator. Senator from the 2nd, for what purpose do you rise? State your inquiry. Mr. President, did the heating bill suffer a lapse in appropriations for anything the senator of the 19th may or may not have done, uh, in this icebox in the chamber? So you're saying you're a little cold, huh? Frostbitten- Frostbitten ... Mr. President. Well, the senator from the 19th is, is known for being a cold-hearted individual, so- ...

427. 3:11:59

     he, he might, he might have just turned him- turned on the temperature, thermostat. Senator from the 9th.

428. 3:12:10

     And senator from the 9th, and then we'll have the minority report, and then, um, hopefully we'll finish up here. Oh, we might make it out of here, eat lunch, right? Thank you, Mr. President.

429. 3:12:29

     I rise today in opposition of SR 563, and echoing some of the sentiments some of my colleagues have already brought forward to this body. Here we are on legislative day 10, and this is where my Republican colleagues wanna waste time.

430. 3:12:51

     While Georgians are waiting for us to prioritize things that really matter, while their needs lay by the wayside, this is day 10-

431. 3:13:05

     Of what we're dealing with, not any real legislation. An urging resolution, which is not binding, by the way.

432. 3:13:17

     No res- legislation to move the needle on any of the priorities that Georgians care about. I know this wasn't on any top of the list that my constituents are asking me for.

433. 3:13:34

     But let's follow the path here. It's been happening since 2021, the setup to interfere with our elections here is Georg- in Georgia. As we know, Georgia, all eyes are already on, always on us.

434. 3:13:54

     Clearly, we run rent-free in Trump's mind.

435. 3:14:01

     But let's follow this path.

436. 3:14:07

     It was to first Trump asking our secretary of state to release those voter, that voter data. What was that, last month?

437. 3:14:20

     Then this week, we had the raid... I mean, last week, we had the raid on the Fulton County

438. 3:14:30

     Election Office.

439. 3:14:33

     Prior to that, in 2021, we had a bill, a voter registration, I mean, a voter bill, I call it an anti-voting bill, that gave power to an election board of a majority of Republicans to basically go after underperforming

440. 3:14:56

     counties, county elections, county election boards.

441. 3:15:03

     So it's no coincidence that now we have a raid last week on Fulton County. We don't know, we know it, a bunch of data was taken, but why was it taken? It wasn't about transparency. Caught everybody off guard. So why? So I want y'all to follow here what's happening. Here's the setup to start interfering in Georgia elections, and Republicans in this body should be concerned.

442. 3:15:40

     They wanna sit up here and talk about transparency, and we need to trust, you know, our election process, but right happening in, in our faces, the Trump administration is setting up to interfere with our 2026 elections. Don't get it, don't get swayed by that. So we have this petty resolution that we're dealing with today,

443. 3:16:07

     and I wanna be clear, the secretary of state is doing his job. He's protecting our data. He said no.

444. 3:16:17

     He's an elected official that is given the authority to protect our data and run our elections,

445. 3:16:26

     and he's remained clear that that is exactly what he's doing. And it's funny how the alleged winner of 2024 wants to look back to 2020. It's absurd. He can't accept that losing 2020 like he did, he can't accept the loss. And now we keep re-litigating it,

446. 3:16:53

     and voters are paying attention. And I think the more this stays out here, people are gonna start waking up, and Trump is gonna be responsible for some Republican losses in this next election, because Georgians aren't happy with these policies. They see what's happening.

447. 3:17:16

     So I, I, I find it interesting that Republicans in this body are co-signing on the possible interference.

448. 3:17:30

     The FBI raiding Fulton County Election Office is just one more alarming, terrifying exc- e- escalation from this failing administration of a wannabe king deflecting from his economic failures. People care about groceries prices going up right now. People care about housing. People care about being priced out of their healthcare.

449. 3:17:58

     And yet we have not dealt with one bill in this body to deal with any of those issues that people are asking us to, to, to make a priority.

450. 3:18:12

     State law is clear about what voter data can and cannot be disclosed, and there is no exception to that law because Donald Trump said so.

451. 3:18:25

     If Donald Trump wants Georgia's, Georgia voters' personal information, that's too bad, because presidents have to follow the law like everyone else.

452. 3:18:44

     I'm asking everyone in this body, including my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, as I, as, you know, my senator colleague has said, "Find some courage." I know y'all are following orders.

453. 3:19:06

     But sometimes you have to think, what's really happening here? Would you be okay if they walked up in your county and start stealing your voter files without you knowing about it?

454. 3:19:20

     Let's start looking at Coffee County. That might be where we really need to go

455. 3:19:26

     and do some investigations 'cause that's really the only alleged voter fraud that we know we have evidence that pro- that happened. Why isn't that county getting raided? But here we are raiding Fulton County, as we all know, is the largest, one of our largest counties.

456. 3:19:55

     And the move here is to delegitimize the authority of that county's Board of Elections to run their elections

457. 3:20:05

     and find cause to interfere with 2026. Pay attention, folks. What we should be doing is queuing up some lawsuits

458. 3:20:17

     because it's happening right in front of our faces, the interference in our elections. I'm urging no today, not to protect any party, and this d- shouldn't even be partisan, but it's to protect Georgia law.

459. 3:20:36

     Georgia voters... It's to protect our Georgia voters and the integrity of our elections going forward. With that, Mr. President, I yield the will.

460. 3:20:52

     Senator has yielded.

461. 3:20:58

     Recognizing the senator from the 35th.

462. 3:21:16

     All right. All right, thank you, Mr. President. I stand in opposition to SR 563, and in an effort to be clear-eyed and principle-based, it is my hope that a Democratic president, that if a Democratic president, say a President Obama or a President Biden, if one of their administrations kind of leaned on our constitutional officers here in Georgia, leaned on them to find the votes, if a Democratic president, say Obama or Biden, um, went around the country and around the world denying the election results from 2020, if a President Obama or President Biden's administration raided one of our county's, uh, voter ballots, I'd like to think that I'd have the courage to also say no in that circumstance.

463. 3:22:27

     Integrity demands it. This is an exercise that I welcome all of you to, which I'm sure you have. We would just say it as simple as if the shoe was on the other foot, how would you vote? And that can help us know how to vote in these type of situations. It is my hope that we aren't, we are not blinded by power, echo chambers, and group think.

464. 3:23:04

     It is my hope that we move with not the word integrity, but actual integrity. It also means that it's going to come back and be a challenge for us when a shoe is on the other foot. It is my hope that my fellow Democrats will see things the same way when we have to make a hard decision to vote that out of line with some heavy hitters in our own party.

465. 3:23:35

     That's when we'll see what we're made of.

466. 3:23:41

     That's when we'll see what we're made of. God is not mocked. I yield the will.

467. 3:23:54

     All right. Senator from the 14th. Oh, senator from the 55th, you have your question light on. Are you wanting to speak in the will?

468. 3:24:03

     I want to speak in the will.

469. 3:24:05

     All right. Come on. The will's yours.

470. 3:24:25

     Ladies and gentlemen, it is August Body, Mr. President. I rise in opposition to 563, hopefully as no surprise. I rise because I am troubled by our nation and where we are. If I have to stand as many that look like me, who have been kissed by the sun, have become the conscience of this nation to do what is right, I welcome the opportunity to stand, and I want to say that I rise simply because I did not really want to get up here.

471. 3:25:08

     But as I s- as I look, I don't want it to be said that I stood by when someone is quoting the Civil Rights Act of 1960 for the proposition of reversing history. This is preposterous. If you look at what was happening in 1960 when I was walking down the street with my grandmother in Griffin, Georgia, when little, when people on the back of a pickup truck screamed out and hurled

472. 3:25:43

     some words that I didn't even understand as a little kid. And I said, "Who is this disrespecting my grandmother? Calling her an N. Get off the road." This is what was happening in 1960, right down the street right here. I was n- no one of my color was in here, and you are gonna quote the 1960 Civil Rights Act to take my Voting Rights Act away, and me sit down and be comfortable with it?

473. 3:26:14

     I'm telling you, this is 1984 when you can, when it rains down and t- when you're doing something, call urine and calling it rain. Th- that we can't stand by like that. So the n- in 1960, it was to strengthen Voting Rights Acts, not to take voting away. In 1960, we, we were trying to help people vote, and here we are saying we are helping people vote by taking voting a right, a way to intimidate people.

474. 3:26:54

     There's a system to get data. Can you imagine, is this... I'm say- am I in Russia now? Does democracy stand for something? You are gonna forcefully come and threaten people? That's where we are. We have people living in fear. My colleagues telling me they are afraid that someone's gonna primary them if they, uh, stand for what's right. That's what we have evolved to. So I'm urging you

475. 3:27:30

     to not obstruct, to facilitate America being great. Make America Great means something. Mean, there are people fighting, dying in the water to get to this country because they see it as a beacon of faith, of hope for an American dream. Let that dream remain something. Rome did not die because of external forces.

476. 3:28:05

     It was internal forces, and this is too dangerously, too dangerously like Nazi Germany, when people refused to stand for what was right. As I quoted the other day, the pastor who said, "When the socialists, when they came for the socialists, I did not stand up. When they came for the unionists, I didn't stand up. When they came for the Jew, I did not stand up. And then when I finally, when they came for me, there was no one to s- to stand for me." And I'm saying to you, I'm pleading for you, whether it means anything or not, I want you to think about where we are headed in this country.

477. 3:28:50

     Dr. King said it, "Are we gonna live together? Are we g-" I mean, really, we are shooting holes in our own boat. We are no longer number one in, in, in literacy in America, in the world. Our students are not being able to compete with people in places we can't even pronounce.

478. 3:29:16

     Is this truly America?

479. 3:29:21

     Yes, I stand because

480. 3:29:28

     we are quoting laws designed to make voting easier and manipulating it to make people afraid to vote, manipulating it to have an excuse to come in in 2026 and try to take over our elections. I never thought it could happen. I never thought that the federal government, which was to protect us, would now be the instigator of taking our rights away because in 2026,

481. 3:30:12

     some people are afraid of the results. We are there now. And there were some people

482. 3:30:24

     that look like me who didn't wanna vote for a woman, who stayed at home. Look at the, look at the numbers. And I'm gonna call out people that look like me, called Black men. I, I didn't stand up here to say this, but I'm gonna say it and you can get on me later. If Black men had voted at the same level that they voted in 2020 when they put Biden in, when they elected the first person of Jewish descent to the Senate, when they elected the first African American to the Senate, one up.

483. 3:31:03

     If they voted at the same level, just at the same level as the population growth in 2024-

484. 3:31:12

     The election would not have been the same and we would not-- Georgia would not have gone the way it went. It would not have been him trying to convince someone to give him eleven thousand seven hundred and ninety votes. It would not. Why? Because young African men get this message. My men who are kissed by the sun, those fifty and under who did vote in twenty twenty, if you wanna look at the numbers, they did vote in twenty twenty and we elected those people.

485. 3:31:48

     But in twenty twenty-four, only seventy percent of men of African descent even voted again. Not talking about the ones that were not registered, not talking about the one who were registered and did not vote. I'm telling you, only seventy percent of the ones who did vote in twenty twenty came back and voted in twenty twenty-four on an election decided by a hundred and fifteen thousand votes.

486. 3:32:19

     Why is this all relevant?

487. 3:32:24

     Twenty twenty, let's get-- it's six years later and we're debating over and trying to justify taking an election in twenty twenty-six about what happened in twenty twenty. Look at the numbers. If African-American men came out last year, he wouldn't have won this time. So I stand because we can't call it

488. 3:32:52

     civil rights and take away rights. We can't take it help America vote and help America not vote. We can't double speech it. Thank you, Mr. President, because we need to strengthen voting rights. I hear there's something across the hall. First time I heard about it today. Again, trying to take my voting rights. Why?

489. 3:33:26

     Federal oversight was to protect voters. Now it's raiding voting voters. A federal government that people are afraid of. That's what we've evolved to.

490. 3:33:48

     I'm calling on people of real faith who really believe to come and take your country back because we're in trouble. We're in trouble because some of you,

491. 3:34:05

     you will vote for this, but I urge you, go take a cup of coffee. Thank you. I yield the will. Thank you, Senator. Senator has yielded. Recognize the senator from thirty-fourth.

492. 3:34:23

     I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Senator. Recognize the senator from the pro tem. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, there's been some vigorous debate here today. We've got a lot of committee meetings scheduled this afternoon, so I would a- respectfully call the question. Yes, sir. I, uh, I think this was the last speaker here.

493. 3:34:47

     Senator, do you waive? You waive? Okay. All right. So, and we were about to call the previous question as it is. So, um, we'll call the previous question, then we'll hear the minority report, then we'll hear the, um, the senator, the author of the bill will fi- close debate, and then we'll be ready to vote, Senator. So thank you. Um,

494. 3:35:11

     do you have the minority report? Close, close debate. Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate the office of the Secretary of the Senate for helping me with this visual aid.

495. 3:35:27

     Uh, on your desks this morning, you found this very rudimentary chart that I've, uh, provided for all the senators today, and I'll just in, just in a second I'll get into what this chart means. But the, the first observation I have today is that, you know, we all would like to imagine what we would have done under certain circumstances, whether it's historical events, or maybe it's the story of the Emperor's New Clothes. When we read that story in elementary school or middle school, we thought how ridiculous is it that there's a emperor who's naked and everybody in the royal court is pretending that the emperor has clothes?

496. 3:36:03

     But I think when you live through modern times like this, you get a much better appreciation for the types of social pressures that could convince a group of very serious people with badges and pins and ties or formal attire, uh, to, to lie about what their own eyes are seeing right in front of them. So let's start with the truth, and let me be very blunt and blunt in a way that I don't think any speaker heretofore has been. The reason that Senate Resolution 563 is on the floor is because the president of this chamber, who is, uh, standing about six feet behind me, is running in a primary against Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to be held on May 19th to determine the Republican nominee for governor of the state of Georgia.

497. 3:36:45

     And that's the only reason that this Senate resolution is on the floor. Now, that reason is complicated because it bears with it threads of other reasons that flow through it, such as Donald Trump is a narcissist who is still obsessed with the results of the 2020 election in Georgia. And his obsession runs so deep that it's 2026 and we haven't stopped talking about it. What that means for our state politics is that anybody who is a loyal Trump follower or acolyte is required to carry water for Donald Trump in every way that he sees fit

498. 3:37:19

     And in this election, that means continuing the baseless conspiracy theory claims that the 2020 election was somehow stolen or that Fulton County somehow had, quote unquote, "suitcases of ballots." The FBI raid that we saw is an outcropping of this. This resolution is an outcropping of this. And it, all it does is pit the Senate Republicans in this chamber against Brad Raffensperger for purposes of primary politics. That's 100% all that it does. And I think that most people in here and the people in the ante room and who are checking their phone over on this side as well are pretty tired of the normal political talking points on both sides of this issue, because we've heard them a million times, not just today, but we've been hearing them since 2020.

499. 3:38:03

     We're very dug in, in terms of the, the political narratives that are being used to describe the situation. So I thought it would be best to go to Psychology 101 when it comes to narcissism. You're familiar with the DSM, uh, which describes clinical psychological conditions that you can be diagnosed with. Clinical really just meaning it interferes with your daily life, right? All of us are a little bit egotistical and narcissistic when push comes to shove, but if you have narcissistic personality disorder, NPD, it means that you are clinically diagnosable.

500. 3:38:36

     Now, I do not have training, uh, as a psychologist, and I'm not qualified, uh, from a distance to diagnose the president, Donald Trump, as a malignant narcissist. But let's just assume, let's suspend your disbelief for a moment and pretend that Donald Trump is clinically diagnosable as a narcissist with narcissistic personality disorder. In that case, I would humbly submit to you that Donald Trump functions somewhat like a parent to elected Republicans. I say somewhat because obviously you all have your own parents.

501. 3:39:08

     You came from families, loving or not. You've walked a long path professionally and personally to become members of the Georgia State Senate. And so I'm not saying that Donald Trump is literally your daddy. What I am saying though is that for political hierarchical purposes, he functions much like your father in the sense that if he says something and you don't comply with it, there's a risk that your basic needs as an elected will not be met. Think about that from the family context, right? If a parent says, "This is the way it goes," and the child says, "No, I'm not okay with that," the risk always looming in the background is that the basic security and provision of needs that that parent provides will somehow be taken away.

502. 3:39:47

     I think there's an easy analogy to be made that in the elected Republican world, Donald Trump provides your basic needs at this point in history, or at the very least he could take them away. He could threaten you by targeting you like the Eye of Sauron, like a laser, to, to, put on Truth Social or on Twitter, you know, "Senator from the 30th, you've been very bad and now I'm gonna laser you and make sure that you get a primary opponent that is supported by Donald Trump." We have seen this time and time again, that Republicans have been terrified to cross Trump because their basic needs might be undermined as elected officials.

503. 3:40:22

     And I'll say more on that in a second because I think we need to unpack what your basic needs are as Republican elected officials and how Donald Trump actually is threatening them more than protecting them. But the literature is very clear. There are three basic types of adult children of narcissistic parents. So what I'm talking about is in the family context. When you're raised with a narcissistic parent, there are three personality types that develop among the kids who have the unfortunate circumstance of being stuck in that environment.

504. 3:40:53

     They are the golden child, the scapegoat, and the invisible child. I'll go ahead and cover the invisible child quickly because we should get them out of the way. They are invisible after all. The invisible child is the person who doesn't really fit the narcissist narrative about what's happening in the family. They're not useful to the narcissist. Because see, for the narcissist, everything's about them, right? For the narcissist, uh, they don't care about the needs of other people. All they care about is making sure that their very narrowly defined needs are met.

505. 3:41:25

     The NPD diagnosis has nine characteristics that float around. Quickly, grandiose sense of self-importance, right? It's the best. It's gonna be the best you've ever seen, right? Frequent fantasies about having or deserving, I don't know, Greenland, for example. Belief in superiority, America first. Need for admiration, my inauguration crowd was the biggest of all time. Entitlement, I can shut down the Kennedy Center for two years. I can re, you know, destroy the East Wing of the White House and put up gold gilded BS all over the, the, the Oval Office. Number six, willingness to exploit others.

506. 3:41:56

     Every single business deal that Donald Trump did before he became president and all the ways his family has personally benefited, you know, see Jared Kushner, uh, from his time in office. Seven, lack of empathy. Saying that, that places are s-hole countries and, and, you know, saying that, you know, Baltimore is a, is a crap hole or whatever. You know, just the absolute disregard for the human beings that live in cities of the United States. Frequent envy. Greenland again. And also, why didn't I get the Nobel Peace Prize? I would like the Nobel Peace Prize.

507. 3:42:27

     And nine is arrogance. Patronizing behavior, behaving in a way that's snobby or disdainful. I don't know, like having cabinet level officials buy new shoes because their shoes weren't good enough. Did you hear JD Vance crow about this? He was gleeful, right? That Donald Trump forced his guys to buy new shoes because of the optics of their shoes. This is the President of the United States, folks, that we're talking about. So I would say even without a psychology degree, I feel fairly comfortable diagnosing Donald Trump as a narcissist from a distance. So now let's talk about you, my favorite topic here, always talking about you, Senate Republicans.

508. 3:43:01

     If you are smart politically, if you are in line with the president's plans for his own election to the office of governor, which I think almost all of you are. I remember there were like three of you who didn't endorse the president for governor a few months ago, and I remember I texted somebody about that. I thought that was odd, and I was worried about the three of you. But all of you fit the category of golden child, or at the very least you're playing the role of golden child. Now, you notice the little golden crown. I did that for, in honor of Donald Trump, right? You know, that's, he loves gold. Being the golden child means something very specific relative to the emotional crisis that the narcissists face.

509. 3:43:36

     The golden child is the reflection of the positive, light-filled self-image that the narcissist has. I'll say that slightly differently. For the narcissist to cover up his bottomless insecurity, his bottomless sense of low self-esteem and low self-worth, he must concoct at all times a narrative that he is actually great, awesome. You could imagine like that SNL speech, you know, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like me," right? Your job as Senate Republicans who vote for this resolution is to help Donald Trump with this quest.

510. 3:44:10

     It's to help him reinforce his positive self-image. Now, obviously, there's a bunch of leaps that have to happen before you get there, right? He doesn't like that he lost Georgia. It's a red state, right? What a, what a smear on his public image that he lost Georgia of all places in 2020, two cycles ago. Really, really embarrassing stuff. So for you guys, and as Georgia Senate Republicans, the, the highest, best use of your lives, your attention spans, your work, is to help him fill that self-esteem gap, is to make sure that he doesn't have to look in the mirror and see a loser.

511. 3:44:46

     The scapegoat is Brad Raffensperger. The scapegoat is the member of the family who was raised to take all the blame for all the things that go wrong in the family. So let's say, for example, that the narcissist in the family setting, you're all going out to, to dinner, right? You've got the parent driving, the kids in the car, and then all of a sudden while you're in the car, the president illegally deposes the leader of Venezuela and abducts him and takes him back to the United States for a trial, right? Or let's say while you're in the car on the way to the Olive Garden, the president, uh, raises tariffs arbitrarily that crush small businesses and, you know, cause a lot of economic harm in the country.

512. 3:45:25

     Now, you guys as the golden child are in a pickle, right? Because you have to reinforce the positive self-image that the narcissist has. But how do you do that when the facts are so bad? How do you do that when ICE and Border Patrol are killing people in the streets, or tariffs are crushing small businesses, and I go... This is just me talking as, as Josh now. I go to an event, uh, for a group in Gwinnett County, and, and the leader of that group, um, which is, you know, represents an immigrant minority community, says, "We were with Kemp, but now we're with Democrats because the tariffs are crushing our small businesses." This is a challenge for you guys.

513. 3:45:58

     What do you do to reinforce the positive self-image of Donald Trump in these circumstances? Well, on tariffs, it's hard. On ICE, it's hard, right? I mean, you guys gave-- came up and gave some fairly circumspect speeches about the ICE or the CBP murder of Alex Predi. You acknowledge we should talk about it. It's tough. That's 'cause your Second Amendment folks are getting wedged on that, right? So, like, that's much tougher. But elections? Oh. You guys are ready to go on elections. That's been one of your favorite punching bags for the last few years. We passed SB 202. We secured elections. We made them more, you have more integrity.

514. 3:46:29

     This is easy for you guys. So this is actually a layup, right? A Senate resolution that says, "You bad Brad Raffensperger, you scapegoat. Why didn't you overturn the election?" Right? Well, I don't know, 'cause it was his job. Nobody in here had the job of certifying those elections. And I think if you guys were backed into a corner, many of you would not have taken the Jody Hice route. I think many of you would have done the exact same thing. You would have certified the election results 'cause it's your job, and you've got basic self-respect, right, when you look in the mirror and you do your job. Ah, but nobody in here had to do that job.

515. 3:47:00

     So what did you do? Sixteen state senators signed a letter that the president of the chamber took to DC. Didn't give it to Mike Pence. Did leave it in the Uber. But that letter was a golden child move to say, "We've got your back, Daddy. We've got your back. We're gonna pretend alongside you that the election was stolen, and we're gonna do tasteful, polite trims on Georgia election law, uh, so that we can corroborate your narrative that something is wrong with these elections." And the scapegoat just gets beat up, man.

516. 3:47:30

     Why are you always doing stuff, Brad? You know, the back seat of the car, right? Come on, Brad. Why aren't you going with the team on this one, Brad, right? And y'all hate it. I mean, some of you personally hate this, that Brad Raffensperger was on the cover of Time magazine with his hand up, right, like some defender of democracy. And the fact that there are ladies who live in retirement communities in my district, I, I saw them on No Kings Day. Guess what? They were holding No Kings signs because they vote Democratic, and they love Brad Raffensperger. And why? Because there was a bipartisan consensus that at least at that minimum level, that Brad Raffensperger certify the elections the way he was supposed to 'cause it was his job, and there are a lot of people who appreciate that.

517. 3:48:09

     Now, I'm, I'm not endorsing in the primary. I'm not endorsing Brad. I'm not endorsing the president of this chamber. I will be endorsing a Democrat for that race, uh, eventually. Uh, but I think it's clear that on the three steps here to freedom, you can think of this like three steps to freedom. This is sort of the most trapped part of this cycle on the conveyor belt. Scapegoat is still kinda trapped, right? Brad is still stuck in the back seat of the toxic Republican family car. Brad still has to do messaging such as a constitutional amendment to make sure that people can't illegally vote, even though that's redundant and it's already in statute.

518. 3:48:45

     Or Brad Raffensperger supporting SB 202, which limited Dropbox hours and early voting access and created a right for the state to take over local elections because, as Brad determined, that's not that bad. I should just go ahead and sign on to that. It m- may not make me a full golden child, but at least I can stay within this toxic family and not get completely kicked out. Even then, I can maybe run as a Republican. Now, th- this is not of interest to you guys because you guys wanna keep staying in office. Some of you wanna go to higher offices, but you wanna keep being Republicans.

519. 3:49:15

     I would humbly submit to you that the invisible child is happiest as a human being. The invisible child doesn't matter to the narcissist, and the narcissist doesn't matter to them. Now, granted, it's, it's hard to grow up as the invisible child because the invisible child learns the lesson that these other two also learn, which is, "My needs don't matter. My voice doesn't matter. Only the narcissist matters. I'm gonna say something difficult, but I think it's true and I think you need to hear it. I think that you have told yourselves that you can continue being dignified Republican elected officials who can survive the Trump moment if, you know, this too shall pass, and you can go back to representing your constituents the way that ideally you're supposed to.

520. 3:49:55

     We hear a lot in this chamber and in the building about how Georgia's different. We're not DC. We're not caught up in all that partisan hand-wringing. You know, we, we can represent our constituents on the ground level. To some extent, I think sometimes that's true. What I think you guys are chronically ignoring is that every day that this gets worse, that becomes less true. Every day that this gets worse, Donald Trump's narcissism becomes your main objective, and it becomes the impetus for you to, as I said a few days ago, minimize, destroy your own voices.

521. 3:50:27

     That is actually the real tragedy of this. I'll say it again. The destruction of your own voices and your own public consciences is the biggest tragedy in all of this. Georgia's gonna be like... Well, somebody will get elected. Somebody will be governor. The elections I think will happen this year, although if Trump thinks he can raid a bunch more local and state offices with the FBI, then some of that will be in question. But assuming the elections happen this year, this too shall pass. We will move on. Donald Trump will, will meet some kind of an end in terms of his time in office, and hopefully we can go back to our normal lives. But the damage that you have done for these last 10 years and on days like today to your own voices is gonna be very hard to recover f- from.

522. 3:51:03

     And I wanna name a couple arguments I've heard today that are golden child arguments. I was disappointed, senator from the 37th, to hear that the reason this resolution is harmless is because what do you have to hide? I was on a committee in the House with the senator from the 37th, where we addressed sensitive constitutional rights such as the Fourth Amendment, where feds, state government officials can't just knock down your door at your house and take whatever they want. The exact same arguments you heard from the senator from the 37th today could be used to justify limitless search and seizure authority by the federal government to enter homes.

523. 3:51:36

     Well, if you don't have anything to hide, then what's wrong? What's the problem with that? So that's not really a robust argument, I think, that, that, that gets out of this framework. I think that transparently shows itself to be a golden child argument that serves only one purpose. Or what about the senator from the 6th, the esteemed rules chairman, who ripped out his own voice box and threw it on the ground and replaced it with a machine? I mean, it was funny. Funny in a quaint or cute sort of way, but not necessarily funny to his constituents who want him to have a spine, to his constituents who want all of us who are elected to come here and actually stand up for what's true and what's real.

524. 3:52:15

     I thought it was one of the most deeply ironic presentations I've ever seen as a legislator in eight years, that he read a ChatGPT speech about honesty and accountability. I mean, he literally said, "We need to self-reflect." I was like, "Thank you for setting up my therapy talking points, senator from the 6th. We do need to self-reflect and be honest." And the machine spat out words like match our actions to our values or have open dialogue or an environment where people feel safe. So if you think this is too snowflake, just consider the s- the senator from the 6th robot, which said that we need an environment to genuinely and honestly reflect and that that's the way to serve our constituents the best.

525. 3:52:55

     Or let's go to the author's comments, senator from the 29th. Going back to that mirror speech, the self-affirmations. I am not a MAGA. I am a conservative Georgia state senator. It has the flavor of protesting too much if you have to look in the mirror and remind yourself that you're something other than a tool in a narcissist's toolbox. So I, I genuinely have been impressed over the years with some of the presentations that I've seen by the Republican majority to, to alter or distort the real purpose of a bill for public consumption.

526. 3:53:29

     But you should read the internet comment section if you haven't been recently. Nobody out there is buying it. Not a single Georgian is gonna buy that this, this resolution has anything to do with anything except for that guy. And as reality starts to close in from all sides, electorally, morally, practically on the failed arguments trying to prop up a narcissist, you will hear your own voices, the ones you're destroying, ring more hollow. You will hear yourself say things like, "Your Social Security number came from the federal government.

527. 3:54:02

     It's already in the federal government's possession. And let me tell you, if I wanted to white page search you and put-- stick a private investigator on you, your driver's license, your, your date of birth, all that stuff is in the public domain, so sit down and shut up, Georgians." All the constituent emails we got over the last few days about our voter, our sensitive voter information, not wanting it to fall in the hands of the federal government, all those people apparently, according to the majority, can sit down and shut up. And there are Republicans who are worried about data privacy too, but the message from Senate Republicans loud and clear today in this chamber is your data privacy doesn't exist.

528. 3:54:35

     Doesn't exist at all. Because it's already out there. It's already all shot, so why not tickle the narcissist? You could almost imagine at the back of the car nudging Brad. "Come on, Brad. Brad, what, what's the deal, man? Get with the program. They already have all this data. Can you just, can you just make the narcissist parent happy so that we can all live in peace?"

529. 3:54:58

     Brad is doing some good messaging today. Y'all see his Groundhog Day messaging? Pretty strong. I genuinely can't believe y'all brought this on Groundhog Day. I genuinely can't believe it. Because in that movie, is it Bill Murray? Good actor. Funny guy. He wakes up and lives the same day over and over and over again on February 2nd, and Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog, keeps getting trotted out. You know, six weeks-- more weeks of winter, whatever. And, and it's a, it's a hero's journey, right? A bildungsroman, you know? F- uh, Bill Murray has to learn how to laugh, love, and live in harmony with his community.

530. 3:55:29

     And until he does that, he keeps repeating the same day over and over and over again. It gets so miserable for him that he throws himself in front of a train. He ju- drives a car off a cliff. He'd rather die a million times than live this day again. Some of you may feel that way. Some of you might feel like that nothing is worth continually tickling this man's ego. The be- biggest vote of all time, right? Like s- it, it can't be worth it at some point.

531. 3:55:59

     But anyway, Bill Murray escapes the trap because once he realizes that the power is not worth it, that the humanity, the basic humanity of the people in that community that he looked down on, that that's the most important thing, whatever powers, you know, held him hostage set him free.

532. 3:56:18

     So I guess the message from Senate Republicans here on Groundhog Day is we are gonna live the 2020 election day in and day out, over and over and over again until we finally learn the lesson that if we really wanna represent our constituents as well as they deserve, if we really wanna be the people we look in the mirror and tell ourselves we are, then we have to cut this BS out. Thank you, guys, for your time today. I know it was a s- a long day

533. 3:56:43

     You, you do have questions, Senator

534. 3:56:45

     I'm happy to answer questions if you want

535. 3:56:46

     I know you wanna stay in the well a little longer

536. 3:56:47

     I'm happy to answer

537. 3:56:48

     Recognize the majority leader for a question

538. 3:56:52

     Thank you, Mr. President. Does the senator yield?

539. 3:56:54

     I do

540. 3:56:56

     Senator, is what you presented the minority report?

541. 3:57:02

     It is. It is the report of the minority as to a lot of things

542. 3:57:07

     Senator, will you further yield?

543. 3:57:09

     Probably as long as you'd like me to

544. 3:57:12

     That's up to you. Um, Senator, are you running for lieutenant governor?

545. 3:57:16

     Well, I wasn't gonna bring that up, but as a matter of fact, I am

546. 3:57:20

     Senator, will you further yield?

547. 3:57:21

     I would

548. 3:57:23

     Is this mockery of a presentation that you presented today a tryout to earn the support of George Soros or Stacey Abrams?

549. 3:57:32

     Uh, the, i- I don't know if, if I own the processing plant that had a canning line that I could can a more canned talking point than the one that you just used. What I will say is that voters want honesty. They want authenticity. This is something I actually care about. You know, 20% of Americans, it's estimated, have a narcissistic parent. The likelihood is that up to, what's divided by five, over 10 senators in here probably dealt with a difficult childhood environment for which a lot of this hits personally, right?

550. 3:58:02

     And it just so happens that there is this template that exists in a lot of our personal lives that is also extremely useful for understanding what the country is going through right now laid bare. So if you think this is a mockery of a performance or whatever it is you just said, I would invite you to consider the possibility that this is the truest thing that you've heard in a long time about Donald Trump and about your work on election issues in the Georgia General Assembly. So I'll defend this stuff till my grave, and it's really up to you whether you wanna really process this. And as the six robots said, uh, create a safe space for self-reflection

551. 3:58:37

     Does the senator further yield?

552. 3:58:38

     All day

553. 3:58:39

     Senator, I don't use AI and I write my own stuff, so thank you. Um,

554. 3:58:47

     as, going back to your, uh, your interesting comments, do you believe George Soros represents Main Street Georgia?

555. 3:58:56

     What I think is that... Somebody's calling me. Hold on. I should have turned this off

556. 3:58:59

     It's probably George

557. 3:59:00

     Yeah, it's probably... Actually, it was a journalist. So, uh, what I think the George Soros or Stacey Abrams or any names that we heard today, like the, "Well, I haven't heard a thing about the people across the hall. I haven't heard a thing about..." You know, in almost all of those s- hypotheticals you guys pose, there's a process in place. There's a process that resolves it. There's a ethics board that assesses a fine. There's a criminal process that leads to a conviction and, and a sentence. That's why we have institutions, to process problems. The problem with Trump is that because of you guys, because of the, the failure systematically for people to raise their voices in opposition to a would-be tyrant, we currently don't have the institutional strength to check this threat as it currently exists.

558. 3:59:39

     And so you guys are playing with live ammunition. You've been playing with live ammunition for 10 years, telling yourself as the walls have been closing in that it's never gonna be that bad. But the Second Amendment groups I think are giving you guys a canary in the coal mine, right? Which I didn't know how the Second Amendment groups would go, but after we saw the murder of Alex Preddy, and we see that the Second Amendment groups are starting to say, "Hey, wait a minute. Christine Oh, Kash Patel, we don't want you guys to be saying that you can't bring a, a gun lawfully to a protest," that should be a little bit of a hint for you that some of this whataboutism, the like, "Well, what about George Soros?" That people are gonna see through that transparently as a deflection, a, a move of whataboutism to distract from what you're really doing, which is what it's really all about

559. 4:00:19

     Senator, will you further yield?

560. 4:00:20

     I'm happy to

561. 4:00:21

     Senator, do you believe Stacey Abrams was elected governor?

562. 4:00:25

     No, I don't think she was. I think she lost in a free and fair election, and I think she knows that. I think we've all been saying that. So again, it's like, like, like, you know, I hope Georgians, I don't know... There are gonna be cameras. If, if Georgians are watching this, I hope that you are listening to the fixation of the Senate Republican majority. I hope that you're hearing that as the walls are closing in and Trump is, you know, annexing Greenland and deposing other, you know, heads of state and doing tariffs and sending ICE and CBP to terrorize people, I hope you hear that Georgia Senate Republicans, all they've got in the box is George Soros and Stacey Abrams.

563. 4:00:58

     Like, that's all they got. And so if you guys have a better way to meet this moment than to rehash five 10-year-old talking points, I will yield for as long as you wanna try

564. 4:01:08

     Senator, I, I appreciate you being cute with your answers, but at the same time, that is the reality of what's going on in this state and your party, and you can continue to nu- to deny it, but we know where your talking points are coming from, and I hope that does help you on your road to lieutenant governor

565. 4:01:24

     I think you've-

566. 4:01:25

     Mr. President, I yield the rest

567. 4:01:26

     I think you've carried water extremely well for your daddy.

568. 4:01:32

     Anybody else?

569. 4:01:37

     Recognize Senator from 56

570. 4:01:40

     Thank you, Mr. President. Would the senator yield? I do yield to my colleague from the 56th. Senator, are you familiar with the awful effects of Alzheimer's? I am. Senator, are you further yield? I do. Are you also familiar with the terrible effects of dementia? I am familiar with that. Senator, are you further aware of the, uh, effects adult children can have when their parents have dementia or Alzheimer's? Yes. In fact, my, my uncle is suffering from some of that, so some of this has affected me personally as well.

571. 4:02:11

     Uh, me as well. Thank you for being, um, so genuine in your answer. Knowing that the prior administration was suffering from both of those things clearly, and most of the time couldn't put two complete sentences together, I didn't see this same board up during that timeframe when you served in the Senate, where we probably would have seen someone as the caring child that wanted to just be there for mom or dad, or dad in that case. And I didn't see the one that said, "Let's just hide and pretend that dad really is okay." So Senator, isn't it a little bit disingenuous that you are now focusing on the current president, yet for four years when the other one wasn't capable mentally or physically to be in office, you didn't point that out?

572. 4:02:54

     Do you know the meme of the dog that's in the room where everything's on fire and the dog says, "This is fine"? You familiar with that? This is like a millennial Gen Z thing, so I apologize if it doesn't- Make the questions go the other way, but keep talking. Okay. Uh, so imagine a room's on fire, and we're in that room, and I'm saying, "Guys, we should get out. The room is on fire." This is the equivalent what you're asking me of saying, "You know, last week somebody farted in the room and it was very uncomfortable, but you didn't want to leave the room then, so I think it's pretty hypocritical that you want to leave this burning building now." That's what I think of your question.

573. 4:03:26

     Appreciate the analogy, uh, Senator. I'm afraid something smells and it's coming from the well. Thank you.

574. 4:03:34

     All right. All right. Thanks very much. Listen, I know that this has gotten rancorous, but we didn't want this. We really didn't want this, but you guys are insisting on it. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Senator. Senator has yielded the well.

575. 4:03:49

     Recognize the senator from the 29th to finally close debate.

576. 4:04:03

     Thank you, colleagues. I appreciate the attention y'all have given to this resolution. Um, dare I say I'm somewhat surprised. Not my intent. Maybe it's because, um, I carry a, uh, DSM-5 and the DSM-5 TR in my office, and I realize that, um, sadly to the assumptions of many, I'm not a toxic narcissist, but I have witnessed at least one here today.

577. 4:04:38

     Saw a lot of distractions, and I mentioned when we first spoke that we would see these distractions. What the FBI raids in Fulton County have to do with the surrender of, uh, records during a law enforcement investigation, don't quite understand. I heard a rant about partisan politics. The last time I checked, the Secretary of State and the senator from the 29th are members of the same party. Um, people saying that people do things to want to get elected.

578. 4:05:11

     Y'all may want to talk to the wife of the senator from the 29th because there's a lot of times I give my opinions at rallies, whether it's about election integrity or other issues that are not popular. But I said this the other day, the senator from the 30th and the senator from the 29th, the only unforgivable sin in our profession is to tell a lie. You stand up and you take it like a man or a woman, whether you made a bad choice or whether you made a mistake.

579. 4:05:47

     Somebody brought up the fact that here we are day 10 and no real legislation. I think it was day two I stood outside and talked about a wheelbarrow dump of legislation attacking federal law enforcement officers. Day two, not day 10, day two, people wanting to come out in the state to take actions regulating the policies, procedures, and requirements of federal law enforcement officers. Trust me when I say civics matter.

580. 4:06:23

     I heard somebody say that the current president is the alleged winner of the 2024 election.

581. 4:06:35

     Alleged winner. Let's talk hypocrisy. The 1960 Civil Rights Act, newsflash, it is applicable to every American, every single American, my six-year-old daughter included. Heard people come up here, recklessly throw out Nazi Germany, Russia. Throw out what you will, I'm a proud American citizen.

582. 4:07:08

     And that last word matters because today we're being encouraged not to be proud American citizens. If we tell somebody we're a proud American citizen, then we're disparaging those individuals who may not be yet but are working toward that, or that maybe I'm not open enough, or maybe I'm separating myself. And heaven forbid I bring up the fact that I'm a proud American Christian citizen. The same thing. So the rhetoric I heard coming didn't surprise me too much.

583. 4:07:42

     And I always hear people run down here talking about get spines and get guts.

584. 4:07:47

     Let me tell you, I've been in here for eight years and I think the first person that ever stood in this well and talked about the, the lack of spines inside this building was the senator from the 29th. And I'm, and I still speak of it today because I'm gonna tell you, my daddy left this world in 1999, and I don't carry anybody's water but the people I represent. Faith and facts are what drive me, in that order.

585. 4:08:21

     And then for somebody to come up here and talk about somebody looking in the mirror, I know theater when I see it. And when you do theater, you're there to entertain an audience. You're there for applause. You're there to be recognized. You're there to be grandiose. You're there to fulfill your fantasies. And those are the first two identifiers of a narcissist. So let's be clear.

586. 4:08:54

     This simple resolution is to urge Secretary of State to cooperate.

587. 4:09:03

     The DA of Fulton County got into due process, and I gotta give her credit there at the end with a subpoena from the senator from the 46, she showed up. The Secretary of State has been given multiple opportunities to testify in front of our ethics committee. And our chairman, the esteemed senator from the 11th, has bent over backwards to accommodate, and he has yet to show up. And the last time I checked, he was elected by the same people that elected us.

588. 4:09:35

     And you know what it takes to show up when you're right, when you're wrong, when you're scared, when you're not sure? It takes a backbone and it takes guts. And so I'm gonna ask you to support this resolution. Don't be afraid of your party. You're certainly not gonna be afraid of me. If you'll remember, I'm the guy that carried the Buckhead Bill. So it ain't about winning and losing to me, it's about doing what's right. And with that, Mr. President, I yield the will.

589. 4:10:10

     Is there objection to agreeing to the report of the committee, which is favorable to the adoption of the resolution? Chair hears none. Report of the committee is agreed to. Is there objection to the main question being ordered? Chair hears none. The main question is ordered. Senator from the 37th, what purpose do you rise?

590. 4:10:33

     Is there objection to the main question being ordered? Chair hears none. The main question is ordered. The question is on the adoption resolution. All those in favor of the resolution will vote yay. Opposed, nay. Secretary will unlock the machine.

591. 4:10:56

     Order.

592. 4:10:59

     Senator Stanley, Senator Burns. Jason. Hey, Burns, you gotta vote. Jason, you gotta vote.

593. 4:11:22

     All right. So we're done?

594. 4:11:48

     All right. On the passage, adoption of the resolution, the ayes are 31, the nays are 22, and this resolution is adopted.

595. 4:12:01

     Recognize the majority leader.

596. 4:12:05

     Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the Senate stand adjourned until 10:00 AM, Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026.

597. 4:12:11

     Majority leader has moved. Secretary, read the announcements.

598. 4:12:18

     The Rules Committee will meet upon adjournment in room 450 of the Capitol. The Public Safety Committee will meet at 2:30 PM in room 450 of the Capitol. The Health and Human Services Committee will meet at 3:30 PM at, in room 450 of the Capitol. The Finance Committee will meet at 4:00 PM in Mezzanine 1. The Judiciary Subcommittee will meet at 5:00 PM in 307 of the CLOB. The Ethics Committee will meet at 6:00 PM at, in room 310 of the CLOB. Thank you, Mr. President. That completes the order.

599. 4:12:48

     All right. Any other announcements? No other announcements. Recognize the pro tem for an announcement.

600. 4:12:59

     Thank you, Mr. President. Friday, February 6th is gonna be John Bullock Day. Um, wear your, uh, nice blue jeans if you'd like to, your nice pressed blue jeans. John Bullock Day, Friday. Thank you.

601. 4:13:14

     All right. Majority leader has moved. All those of, in favor of his motion, signify by saying aye.

602. 4:13:23

     Aye.

603. 4:13:23

     All those opposed, no.

604. 4:13:25

     No.

605. 4:13:26

     Ayes clearly have it. Y'all have a good day.

606. 4:13:48

     Wow.