Sesión en el pleno de la Cámara de Representantes, 6 de marzo de 2026 (día legislativo 28, PM, parte 1)

Transcripción

471 turnos. Seleccione un tiempo para reproducir ese momento del video.

1. 0:07:20

   All members, all members will please come to the floor.

2. 0:11:22

   All members, members come to the floor, please. Mr. Clerk, how about ring the bell?

3. 0:12:01

   All members, if you'll come to the floor. Take your seats. We're gonna do, uh, some privileged resolutions in just for a s- in just a minute.

4. 0:12:15

   Hey, we won't ever go home if we don't get started back to work, will we, Mr. Whip? You gotta get started if you wanna get finished.

5. 0:12:27

   Y'all wanna hear what it sounds like up here?

6. 0:12:40

   Y'all know we, uh, we form all lots, all sorts of relationships as we come here to do our work for the people of this state. And there are some people who do outstanding work and report, uh, what we do in a fair and objective manner. And I have two of them right here to my right. Maya and Michelle have been friends and folks who, uh, care about the truth. And, um, I wanna thank them.

7. 0:13:10

   Thank you both. Let's give them a round of applause.

8. 0:13:22

   I would tell y'all, they're a part of our family as well. Uh, they've covered this State House over the years. How many years now?

9. 0:13:31

   Nine.

10. 0:13:33

    Sounds like about 50 years to me. It's been a while. Y'all both are very well seasoned. But you know, I think the work we do here in, in the House is pretty important. I know y'all would agree with me on that. And the people in Atlanta and our state, all over this great state, deserve to know about it. Now, and that's, now how do we do that? I guess our friends and I mean our friends at AJC don't think the same, because this will be their last day, is their last day with us here in the Georgia House.

11. 0:14:12

    Oh. Boo.

12. 0:14:12

    Maya and Michelle, thank you. We appreciate the both of you, and I wish you all, both of you, all the best in whatever comes next for y'all. And let us know what we can do to be a resource for you, 'cause we appreciate you.

13. 0:14:33

    Thank you.

14. 0:14:34

    You're welcome. Appreciate it. Thanks.

15. 0:14:49

    Thank you, members. Mr. Clerk, will you read the caption to a group of privileged resolutions?

16. 0:14:55

    Recognizing and commending Natalie Pippin. Congratulating the American Red Cross in recognizing March 2026 as Red Cross Month. Recognizing March 19, 2026 as PACE Day at the Capitol. Commending the Morehouse Boxing Club. Congratulating, commending Carolyn M. Wright for receiving the 2026 Yellow Rose Tinky T. Randle Servant Leadership Award. Commending the wrestling program of Jackson County High School, Jefferson High School, Commerce High School, and East Jackson High School for their outstanding accomplishments during the 2026 GHSA wrestling season.

17. 0:15:34

    Honoring Dr. Karen Johnson Moore and Elder Howard E. Moore as recipients of the 44th Presidential-

18. 0:15:42

    Can you pause right there, suspend just for a minute? Members, Maya and Michelle will be in that south ante room. If y'all would like to get a photo with them, that would be awesome. They can probably use that on their resume.

19. 0:15:56

    For better or for worse.

20. 0:16:01

    Mr. Clerk, will you continue? I apologize, Mr. Clerk. We're testing your skills.

21. 0:16:06

    Honoring Dr. Karen Johnson Moore and Elder Howard E. Moore as recipients of the 44th Presidential Legacy Lifetime Achievement Award. Honoring and celebrating Dr. Sunny Badu and First Lady Annie Badu for eight remarkable years of ministry service in the state of Georgia. Recognizing, commending Pastor Nancy Kornegay. Recognizing, commending the City of Grayson on the celebration of its 125th anniversary. Commending the Boy Scouts of America and Georgia in recognizing March 9, 2026 as Scouts Day at the Capitol.

22. 0:16:38

    Commending the Women's Entrepreneurial Opportunity Project and celebrating its 26 years of service. Recognizing March 10th 2026 is Q Cells Day. Commending Empower Her Elevate All and presented by You Big We Foundation. Honoring C. Cinnamon Baldwin as a phenomenal woman of bold leadership, courage, and unwavering commitment to justice. Recognizing and honoring Micah Robinson Womack as a phenomenal woman of service, leadership, and community impact.

23. 0:17:10

    Recognizing and commending the Shia Ismaili Muslim community in commemorating the month of Ramadan and Navroz. Honoring Jody Thomas for her distinguished leadership and service. Recognizing March 9th, 2026 as Young Democrats of Georgia Day at the State Capitol. Commending and congratulating Retired Master Sergeant Lewis C. Graziano. Commending the Spelman Social Justice Program Health Advocacy Initiative. Recognizing and commending Fire Chief Tim Sweat for 37 years of distinguished service to Clayton County and the State of Georgia.

24. 0:17:49

    Commending the Vietnamese Women's Association of Georgia. Commending the Clarke County School District for preserving the historic and significant West Broad Street School campus. And celebrating Georgia's 100 Women of Excellence. And for other purposes, that completes the reading of the privileged resolutions.

25. 0:18:36

    Is there any objection to adopting the privileged resolutions? Hearing none, the resolutions are adopted.

26. 0:22:13

    Okay, Mr. Clerk, will you read the caption to House Bill 1112? 1112. House Bill 1112 by Representative Barrett of the 24th and others to be entitled an Act to Amend Chapter one of Title 10 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to selling and other trade practices so as to provide for rounding of total price of the sales of goods or services when using legal tender. This bill having been referred to the Committee on Banks and Banking, that committee recommends that this bill do pass by committee substitute.

27. 0:22:43

    Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Mr.

28. 0:23:02

    Whip.

29. 0:23:10

    Thank you.

30. 0:23:14

    Okay, members, we'll get started here with House Bill 1112. Representative Carter Barrett is recognized to pr- to present the bill. Representative Barrett. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ladies and gentlemen, House Bill 1112 is the penny bill. As you all know, the federal government decided to stop manufacturing pennies. It costs more to make a penny than a penny is worth today, so w- we are no longer making pennies in America. Um, this bill, uh, applies to cash transactions only and gives, uh, direction to those retailers out there that need to, uh, that have some confusion as to what to do.

31. 0:23:52

    Pennies are becoming more scarce because everybody's keeping them in jars at their homes. Um, this bill is very simple. When you go shopping, the retailer aggregates all of your purchases together, totals them up, adds the ap- appropriate sales tax, and then you have the number, and they round any, any odd number f- uh, to, to the nearest, uh, round down to the nearest nickel, and that's all it does. It's a very simple bill. Um, it applies only to cash transactions and blended transactions.

32. 0:24:25

    For example, if you had a gift card and cash, it would apply to that. But very simple, and I'd stand for any questions, Mr. Speaker.

33. 0:24:40

    I yield the will. I call the question. The gentleman has a question. Representative Gamble, well, he has a whole slew of questions. Representative Gamble is recognized for a question. Um, thank, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Um, call the question.

34. 0:25:10

    Hey. Y'all just think we didn't have that planned. That was planned, was it not? There we go. Representative Wilkerson, to your left in the back. Yes. Thank you. Does the gentleman yield? Yes, Representative. Um, it's, I should have asked this earlier. Does this only apply to cash transactions or all can tra- all transactions? This only applies to cash transactions and blended transactions. So if you had a gift card and cash, it would apply to that transaction. But that's it. Thank- Not to electronic transfer. Thank you. Thank you.

35. 0:25:42

    Representative Alan Powell, to your right. The gentleman's recognized. Gentleman Powell. The gentleman yield. To your right. The other right. In the back. I don't know how you can miss me. Will the gentleman yield? Yes, sir. Is it not true that this, uh, all the fun may be poked at it, but this is a very important piece of legislation for all the merchants in this state, because this way they can program their cash registers and all f- to show a balanced checking on their cash sales?

36. 0:26:14

    Yes, sir. That i- that is exactly correct. Thank you

37. 0:26:21

    With that, Mr. Speaker? Uh, ch- uh, Representative Gissler. Gissler is rec- recognized for a question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentleman yield? Yes, sir. Um, so as a retailer myself, I, I appreciate this bill. I do, because it's getting harder and harder to find pennies, uh, even at the bank. Um, I'm a little concerned about the disconnect between, you know, my accounting for my business and the accounting I have to do when I file my sales tax reports.

38. 0:26:51

    Is it gonna create complications for me? Because it says that the, we, we don't round, only applies to cash payments. State cannot tax small gains or losses caused by the rounding. Is that gonna create an administrative headache for me as a retailer? Uh, a man of your towering intellect I'm sure can handle that beautifully, Representative. I appreciate the compliment. Thank you, sir. Gentleman has one more question. Representative Bazemore, to your left. Thank you, Mr.

39. 0:27:21

    Speaker. Does the gentleman yield? Yes, I do. Thank you. Um, can you tell me, have there been studies done to show how rounding would affect low income or cash dependent families over time? The way this bill is written, it will be beneficial to low income families. Uh, the rounding is down, not up, so that'll be actually a, a benefit to those families. Thank you. Thank you. Gentleman has no further questions.

40. 0:27:52

    Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I yield the well. You did an excellent job in spite of the hackling, heck- heckling, so good job. Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered? Hearing none, the previous question is ordered. Is there any objection to withdrawing the committee substitute? Hearing none, the committee substitute is withdr- withdrawn. Is there any objection to adopting the substitute offered by the Committee on Rules? Hearing none, the Rules Committee substitute is adopted. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee, which was favorable to the passage of the bill?

41. 0:28:24

    Hearing none, the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall this bill now pass? All in favor of the passage of the bill will vote yes. All those opposed will vote no, and Mr. Clerk will unlock the machine.

42. 0:28:49

    Have all members voted?

43. 0:28:59

    All members voted? If so, Mr. Clerk will lock the machine. On the passage of House Bill 1112, the yays are 167, the nays are two. This bill having received the requisite constitutional majority is therefore passed.

44. 0:29:21

    Mr. Clerk, will you, will you read the caption to House Bill 1283? House Bill 1283 by Representative Panitch of the 51st and others to be entitled, an act to amend Chapter 13 of Title 19 and Chapter 16 of Title 17 in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to family violence and discovery respectively, so as to authorize the creation of family justice centers. This bill having been referred to the Committee on Juvenile Justice, this bill...

45. 0:29:54

    That committee recommends that this bill do pass by committee substitute.

46. 0:30:03

    Thank you, Mr. Clerk.

47. 0:30:16

    Representative, Representative Esther Panitch is recognized to present House Bill 1283. The lady's recognized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, colleagues. Today I rise to present House Bill 1283, the Family Justice Center Act. This is both a victim safety bill and a law enforcement safety bill, and I want to take a moment to tell you why. Let me tell you what's going on in Georgia. According to the Georgia Commission on Family Violence, there were 42,184 reported incidents of family violence in our state in 2024, a 12% increase from the year before.

48. 0:31:00

    70% of those victims are women. An estimated 129,000 adults and nearly 18,000 ju- 18,000 children were victims of family violence in Georgia in 2023 alone. And the FBI,

49. 0:31:19

    and the FBI has named Atlanta one of 14 cities in the country with the highest rate of child trafficking. Abuse strikes all corners of our state. Thank you. It does not discriminate based on age, religion, race, political party, geography, or gender. Whether we are aware of it or not, every one of us knows someone who has been touched by abuse. These are not someone else's constituents. These are ours.

50. 0:31:50

    They are men and women. They are children who witness violence in their homes and carry that trauma into adulthood. They are sexual assault survivors. They are trafficking victims brought to Georgia from out of state with nowhere else to go. They are seniors who have had to leave their medication behind and have no transportation without relying on their abuser. They are victims who will not leave because they cannot bring their pets safely with them.

51. 0:32:21

    The national picture is just as alarming. Last month, the FBI released its domestic relationships and violent crimes report.

52. 0:32:29

    Over the last five years, law enforcement reported more than 11,000 domestic violence murder victims and 1.1 million victims of domestic violence crimes, other crimes nationwide. One in four women and one in nine men in this country will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. My first job out of law school was with the domestic violence court in Miami. I have since practiced family law and criminal defense and where they meet together, which is usually domestic violence.

53. 0:33:06

    And I can tell you what a survivor's experience looks like having sat across hundreds, if not thousands, of survivors. A woman leaves her home with her children. She flees. She goes to one office to file a police report. She then has to drive across town to file for protective order. She has to go to yet another office to, uh, see a victim's advocate, and another one for counseling, and another one for housing.

54. 0:33:38

    And at every stop, she starts from the beginning. She has to tell her story again. Her kids have to hear her tell her story again. And too often, because she lacks transportation, because she can't miss another day of work, or because she doesn't have childcare, she gives up, she goes home, back to her abuser, and the cycle continues again. I want you to think what it takes for someone to walk through that first door.

55. 0:34:12

    Think about the courage it requires for a mother to pack her bag in the middle of the night with her children asleep in the backseat, not knowing where she's going, only knowing that she can't stay because she will be killed. She has made the hardest decision of her life, and she has chosen to live. And what we owe her, what our state owes her, is a system that doesn't make her regret that decision.

56. 0:34:42

    Family Justice Centers save, change that equation. They bring law enforcement, prosecutors, victims advocates, social services, counseling, legal aid, and community organizations together under one roof, one location, one intake. The survivor tells her story and help comes to her. She does not have to be brave six times. She has to be brave once.

57. 0:35:12

    And this is not theoretical. It is happening in Georgia. Waycross, Macon, and Cobb are already providing what Family Justice Centers can mean for our state. In Waycross, the Family Justice Center serves six counties: Bacon, Brantley, Charlton, Coffee, Pierce, and Ware, bringing life-saving services to victims who often have nowhere else to turn. In Macon, the center will primarily serve Macon-Bibb and is preparing to assist victims from seven other counties, including Bibb: Crawford, Houston, Monroe, Peach, Jones, and Twiggs.

58. 0:35:49

    Cobb County is holding down the fort for their almost 800,000 residents. These communities are not just serving victims. They are strengthening entire regions. This bill assures, ensures that what is already working in Waycross, Macon, and Cobb is protected, expanded, and replicated across Georgia. The results from around the country confirm what we are seeing here. In San Diego, where the first Family Justice Center opened, domestic violence homicides dropped by 90%.

59. 0:36:25

    Nine-zero. In Brooklyn, New York, intimate partner homicides fell 43%. Guilford County, North Carolina, has reported consistent reductions. This model works. And this is a law enforcement safety bill. Domestic violence incidents represent the highest number of fatal calls for police officers, 29% of officer line-of-duty deaths. When survivors have a safe place to go, when abuse is stopped, law enforcement lives and survivors live.

60. 0:37:03

    What HB 1283 does is straightforward. It authorizes counties, municipalities, and DAs to establish Family Justice Centers along with nonprofits if they choose to. It provides a governance framework. It positions the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council to administer funding. It protects victim confidentiality, and it ensures that co-locating services does not create unintended discovery obligations that could chill participation by service providers.

61. 0:37:36

    Now that I've told you what it does, let me tell you what it does not do. It is not a mandate. It does not create a new state agency. It do not, does not impose unfunded mandates on local governments. It gives the communities that wanna do better for survivors the legal framework to do it. We have the opportunity today to set Georgia on a path to not only help those who are victimized, but to lead the nation in a model with trauma-informed practices of, for our citizens, partnerships with dedicated nonprofits, and protections for our brave first responders.

62. 0:38:13

    Somewhere in Georgia tonight, someone will make the decision to leave. She will find the courage to choose her life and the lives of her children over everything she has known. The question before this body is simple: When she walks through that door, will we be ready for her?

63. 0:38:34

    I ask for your favorable vote on this measure. Will the gentlelady le- yield for a question? As long as my voice is still here, yes. Take a sip of water. I, it's not changing anything. It's not working? No. But thank you. Say a little prayer and maybe it'll come back. Representative Camps, to your right, is recognized for a question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentlelady yield? I do, for my chairwoman. Thank you. And isn't it true that when we were discussing this bill in committee, we had a number of individuals come from a variety of backgrounds, whether it be law enforcement, district attorney, um, even prosecuting a- and defense attorneys came and spoke.

64. 0:39:13

    And wasn't it resounding that this was a benefit to a community and to individual s- survivors? Yes. Thank you for the question. The, we had an hour and a half of testimony. Thank you. You wanna take one more from Representative Holland to your right? Sure. Lady's recognized, Representative Holland. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentlelady yield? I do, for my friend. So theoretically, family justice centers are a great way to serve not just survivors of domestic violence, but child abuse and sexual assault as well.

65. 0:39:44

    Yes. What, we only have like three test sites right now in Georgia. What authority is going to be able to audit, measure metrics, you know, sort of see how these family justice centers are doing so we know what to prepare for in the future? It will be done through the c- Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. So they will provide oversight for these agency, for these, not agencies, for these locations. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Representative Taylor has a question to your left, if you will accept.

66. 0:40:15

    Yes. Lady's recognized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentlelady yield? Yes, for my friend. I, I'm really glad that you brought this bill. I'm so proud of you. We worked on it. We put it together, and I just wanna say, just for clarification, this bill makes, puts everything under one roof, all the services under one roof. And we, you've also discussed creating a team that would go throughout the state to help implement these particular programs. Yes. And I know the teams are listening to me. They're watching this. And yes, they will go throughout the state to talk about the wonders of family justice centers as they have been doing trying to get this bill through.

67. 0:40:51

    Thank you for this bill. Thank you so much. Mr. Speaker? Lady has no further questions. Thank you. I yield the well. Lady will step right by me. Representative Panitch, I've got something for your throat.

68. 0:41:12

    Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered? Hearing none, the previous question is ordered. Is there any objection to adopting the committee substitute? Hearing none, the committee substitute is adopted. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee which is favorable to the passage of the bill? Hearing none, the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall this bill now pass? All in favor of the passage of the bill will vote yes. All those opposed will vote no. And Mr. Clerk will unlock the machine.

69. 0:41:56

    Have all members voted? For what purpose does Representative Holland rise? Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Rule 133, I ask to be excused from this vote. The lady has that privilege, and it will, the record will so reflect. Have all members voted? If so, Mr. Clerk will lock the machine. On the passage of House Bill 1283, the yeas are 163, the nays are zero. This bill having received a record of the constitutional majority is therefore passed.

70. 0:42:42

    Mr. Clerk, will you read the caption to House Bill 547?

71. 0:42:49

    House Bill 547 by Representative Cannon of the 172nd and others to be entitled an act to amend Code Section 48-5-7.4 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to preferential assessment for bona fide conservation use property and bona fide residential transitional property so as to permit the combination of multiple covenants of a single owner into a single new 10-year covenant. This bill having been referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, that committee recommends that this bill do pass by committee substitute.

72. 0:43:24

    Representative Chas Cannon is recogn- recognized to present the bill. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Uh, good afternoon, colleagues. I have House Bill 547 for you this afternoon, and I'm, I'm sure most of y'all are happy you haven't heard the word CUVA from up here this, uh, this year. You just heard it. Uh, this is a conservation use valuation assessment bill. Uh, and it's been on purpose. We've tr- we've had, we've had, uh, multiple bills in the past. We tried to put this under, uh, all these in one bill this year.

73. 0:43:55

    We've got three very, very minor changes we're proposing this year, and all of them are dedicated to the idea of reinforcing the idea of conservation and keeping land in agricultural production. Quick summary. In section one, we are just adding to the CUVA statute language that mirrors the same language in the FLPA statute. FLPA stands for Forest Land Protection Act as it relates to carbon credits for timber. We think that language already exists, but we're just, so we're just clarifying it. Section two, this has been an issue for a while.

74. 0:44:25

    You've, if you have multiple CUVA parcels at the local level, they're all on different 10-year timelines. What we're doing is allowing the oldest timeline to mirror the other timeline so that they're all on a single timeline for all parcels. That way, the local assessor's office can track it more easily, and the landowner can track it more easily. So it's less bureaucratic.

75. 0:44:46

    Easier for both sides to manage. So that's, that's been a recommendation for a while, just making that fix this year. And then the final thing in section two, we give a little bit of a grace period between a conversion from a CUVA parcel to a FLIPA parcel. Conversion is already allowed by the law, but this just gives a little bit of time to make sure we get the proper paperwork submitted to the assessor's office to keep the land in conservation. Uh, so the goal here is to prevent someone whose intent is to keep land in conservation from having to pay a penalty before they get a chance to file the paperwork to put it in conservation.

76. 0:45:17

    So just clarifies that a little bit. Very straightforward bill. A very important topic for our ag and forestry industry. Mr. Speaker, that's the summary and I'll take any questions. Representative Karen Lupton to your left is recognized for a question. Thank you. Does the gentleman yield? I yield. Um, my question is, do these parcels that one person might own have to be next to each other, or can they own conservation parcels- Anywhere in the county. Anywhere in the state? Anywhere in the county. Oh, anywhere in just a county. That's correct. Okay. Thank, thank you. It's a county administrator, yes.

77. 0:45:48

    Thank you. That's my question.

78. 0:45:52

    Uh, Representative Flournoy waves. Gentlemen has no further questions. I yield the will.

79. 0:45:59

    Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered? Hearing none, the previous question is ordered. Is there any objection to adopting the committee's substitute? Hearing none, the committee's substitute is adopted. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee, which was favorable to the passage of the bill? Hearing none, the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall this bill now pass? All in favor of passage of the bill will vote yes. Those opposed will vote no. And Mr. Clerk will unlock the machine.

80. 0:46:52

    Have all members voted? All members voted. If so-

81. 0:47:02

    Mr. Clerk will lock the machine. On the passage of House Bill 547, the yays are 169, the nays are two. This bill having received the requisite constitutional majority is therefore passed. Mr. Clerk, will you read the caption to House Bill 275? 275.

82. 0:47:23

    House Bill 275 by Representative Williamson and 112th and others to be entitled an act to amend Chapter 7 of Title 48 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to income taxes so as to change certain definitions regarding such taxes. This bill I referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. That committee recommends that this bill do pass by committee substitute.

83. 0:47:47

    Chairman Bruce Williamson from the great city of Monroe, Georgia, is recognized to present House Bill 275. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Chairman Williamson. Good afternoon, colleagues. I bring before you today for your consideration House Bill 275. It comes to us at the request of the Georgia Association of Assessing Officials and the full support of ACCG. And what it does is it reformats our assessment notices. If the messenger, could you slide that down just a... Our great, um... Anyhow, we're attempting to show you the easy, uh, much clearer to understand format up on the screens right here.

84. 0:48:24

    But what it's doing is it, we're taking the old assessment notice and putting it in a very, uh, taxpayer friendly, simple, understandable format that anybody can understand. It focuses the taxpayer's attention on three things, the market value, the exemptions and your appeal options. Again, it, it came out of, uh, committee with full support. Uh, it uses plain language. It shows both your new, uh, valuation. It's in the upper right-hand corner, if we can show that.

85. 0:48:56

    There we go. Shows your 2026 current value of 725,000 in this example. It clearly shows you your previous year's value. So we're not using that 40%, uh, uh, math or algebra to try to figure out what's going on with your tax bills. It does not touch anything to do with the taxpayer's bill of rights. And again, be happy to answer any questions. And, uh, having none, I'll be happy to yield the will. You have done. You did a great job. Thank you. I yield the will.

86. 0:49:26

    Yeah, they used to be in calculus, but that looks a little better right there. That one's in math. Appreciate you bringing the bill. Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered? Chair hears none. The previous question is ordered. Is there any objection to adopting the committee's substitute? Hearing none, the committee's substitute is adopted. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee, which was favorable to the passage of the bill? Hearing none, the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall this bill now pass? All in favor of the passage of the bill will vote yes. All those opposed will vote no.

87. 0:49:57

    And Mr. Clerk will unlock the machines.

88. 0:50:15

    Have all members voted? All members voted. If so-

89. 0:50:30

    Mr. Clerk will lock the machine. On the passage of House Bill 275, the yays are 169, the nays are zero. This bill, having received the requisite constitutional majority, is therefore passed. Mr. Clerk, will you, will you read the caption to House Bill 874? 874.

90. 0:50:49

    House Bill 874 by Representative Huddleston of the 72nd and others to be entitled an Act to amend Article I of Chapter 5 of Title 48 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to general provisions relative to ad valorem taxation of property so as to prohibit the disclosure of taxpayer telephone numbers in property tax records sold. This bill having been referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, that committee recommends that this bill do pass by Rules Committee substitute.

91. 0:51:17

    Representative David Huddleston is recognized to present the bill. Sir. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues, I bring before you today, uh, House Bill 874. This is known as the Georgia Taxpayers Privacy Protection Act. This piece of legislation aims at enhancing taxpayer privacy in property tax records. This bill would prohibit the disclosure of taxpayer's telephone numbers when property tax records are sold, transferred, or shared to third parties. The intent of this piece of legislation is to protect personal contact information from being publicly exposed or misused while still allowing government agencies to use the data internally for tax administrations.

92. 0:51:55

    That's the bill, Mr. Speaker, and I'll, I'll stand for any questions. The gentleman has a couple of questions. Representative Sanchez, to your right, is recognized for a question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentleman yield? Yes, sir. Thank you. Uh, I think taxpayer privacy is very important, but, um, it seems like the fine is up to $5,000 and it's treated as a deceptive or unfair act under the Fair Business Practices Act. Does it seem a little over-punitive or? Bas- basically, thank you for the question. Basically, uh, I, I work with the Attorney General's office, and basically what that does, uh, the key words in there is, uh, recklessly and knowingly disclosures, and basically this leaves the discretion up to the Attorney General's office by using, like I said, the, uh, Fair Business Practice Act.

93. 0:52:37

    Okay, got it. Do you further yield? Yes, sir. Is there a reason that this act is, uh, not in under the Open Records Act section of the code section? It is outside of it. I think basically, like I said, within that, like I said, basically, it, it is, it's public records. But basically, if the information is sold to third parties, basically the ultimate thing is to give you protection of all the fraudulent phone calls, scams, and things that we see that's related to seniors, and I think we receive those each and every day. So, like I said, I'm looking out for your personal protection as everybody else's. So thank you. Thank you. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield the well. Thank you.

94. 0:53:08

    Gentleman's yielded the well.

95. 0:53:12

    Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered? Hearing none, the previous question is ordered. Is there any objection to withdrawing the committee substitute? Hearing none, the committee substitute is withdrawn. Is there any objection to adopting the substitute offered by the Committee on Rules? Hearing none, the Rules Committee substitute is adopted. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee, which was favorable to the passage of the bill? Hearing none, the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall this bill now pass? All in favor of the passage of the bill will vote yes.

96. 0:53:43

    All those opposed will vote no, and Mr. Clerk will unlock the machine.

97. 0:54:05

    Have all members voted? All members voted? If so, Mr. Clerk will lock the machine. On the passage of House Bill 874, the yays are 166, the nays one. This bill having received the requisite constitutional majority, is therefore passed.

98. 0:54:39

    Mr. Clerk, will you read a caption to House Bill 1261? House Bill 1261 by Representative Huddleston of the 72nd and others to be entitled an Act to amend Part 1 of Article 2, Chapter 5 of Title 48 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to tax exemptions so as to provide for a level one free port exemption for certain goods and inventory for electric utilities. This bill having been referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, that committee recommends that this bill do pass.

99. 0:55:12

    I think you knew a little bit about electric utilities, don't you? It's what you've done. Representative, Representative Hud- Huddleston is recognized to present House Bill 1261. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues, I bring before you today, uh, House Bill 1261. Uh, this pr- piece of legislation proposes an amendment to Tor- Georgia tax code to create a level one free port exemption for certain goods held in inventory by electric utilities. This bill is designed to offer a targeted tax relief on qualifying inventory, establish an application process through the local county where the property is located, and updated any related provisions to state law to ensure proper administration and exemption.

100. 0:55:52

     Basically what this does is, as Speaker, uh, mentioned of my years with electric utilities, we talk a lot about in this chamber about reliability of service and, and, uh, savings to the rate payers. Basically, at the end of each year, a lot of times we was required to hold a certain level of inventory, uh, t- for basically service reli- reliability. Uh, you get to thinking year after year when you hold that inventory that, that, that the a- the cost adds up basically as much as the, the property itself. So this would allow your electric utilities to go before your government basically to negotiate a zero to 100%, uh, free port exemption to basically have a referendum to put on the ballot for the electors to vote upon.

101. 0:56:32

     So basically allows them to work within that to save dollars at the end of the day for the rate payer. That's the bill, Mr. Speaker, and I'll stand for any questions.

102. 0:56:50

     You have a couple of questions. Representative, um, Martin, to your right.

103. 0:56:59

     Gentleman yield for a question? Yes, sir. I'm just wondering, is this, this is the second of the, uh, Huddleston legislative package. How many more do we have today? I, I believe this is it, sir. So I'm, I'm ready to, uh, to, to, to work on it and keep on. Now, now a, a serious question- Yes, sir ... if the gentleman would yield. Yes, sir. So there's, um, removing these costs from the utilities will, uh, allow them to keep the prices down, as the gentleman stated in his, uh, presentation today and before committee. Isn't that correct? It'll- Save ... save folks on their utility bills. That is correct.

104. 0:57:29

     Thank you, sir. Representative Hud- Huddleston, when he has a need to know, we'll let him know, won't we? Yes. Thank you. We'll have what you're gonna be doing here. Representative Flournoy, to your left. Gentleman's recognized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the gentleman yield? Yes, sir. So just for clarification, uh, you mentioned that with Freeport, as long as everything is in the inventory, they are exempted. But once they begin to use those things out of inventory, they will be properly taxed, correct? That is correct. Basically, what they'll do is they'll get with their local county, 'cause a lot of times when at the, on your materials, you have 368 and 154 type of materials.

105. 0:58:06

     So that would be negotiated with those special type of, uh, equipment used with- within distribution, uh, of, of electricity. But once it's actually comes out of inventory and actually used on the line, then they actually pay a, a little tax on the infrastructure within each county. Okay. Thank you for that. Thank you. Representative Bazemore. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentleman yield? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Um, are there examples where inventory shortages delay repairs? Basically, in my days, that was one of the positions I held, was procurement materials management.

106. 0:58:39

     So basically, like I said, within that, a lot of times those inventories, you talk about transformer and special items like that, could be anywhere from 30 to 50 weeks out. So basically, I had to have a certain level of, level of inventory, uh, w- within, within, within the premises there for saf- uh, the reliability of service because of those lead times. So basically, sometimes within those special, uh, transformers, we may have to keep that one piece of unit that's special to a company for years and years, but we, we, we are required to, uh, to carry it. Thank you. Thank you. With that, Mr.

107. 0:59:09

     Speaker, like I said, I, I appreciate all y'all's, uh, uh, questions, and I yield the well, sir. Gentleman had a couple more. I'll try to answer them. I said...

108. 0:59:23

     Is the gentleman yield of the well? We do have a minority's, uh, excuse me, and a, a member opposed on the House Bill. That's Representative Drenner. The lady's recognized.

109. 0:59:34

     Uh, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to House Bill 1261. This bill expands Freeport exemption to include inventory held by electric utilities that will later be incorporated into generation, transmission, or distribution infrastructure. Members, Freeport was created to help Georgia compete for mobile inventory, goods that move through warehouses and manufacturing facilities, and could be stored in another state if we tax them.

110. 1:00:17

     Electric infrastructure is different. The equipment covered in this bill, transformers, transmission components, and substation equipment, is not moving through Georgia. It is being staged before installation as permanent infrastructure in our communities. When we remove value like that from the local tax digest, the impact does not disappear.

111. 1:00:48

     It shifts to the homeowners, small businesses, and local governments that rely on that digest. Electric utilities are regulated monopolies with guaranteed service territories. They are not deciding whether to move their infrastructure inventory to another state. So the question before us is whether expanding Freeport in this way is consistent with its original purpose.

112. 1:01:22

     I believe it's not. For that reason, I respectfully ask you to vote no for House Bill 1261. I yield the well. Lady has yielded the well. Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered? Hearing none, the previous question is ordered. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee which was favorable to the passage of the bill? Hearing none, the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall this bill now pass? All in favor of the passage of the bill will vote yes. All those opposed will vote no.

113. 1:01:52

     And Mr. Clerk, will you unlock the machine?

114. 1:02:16

     Have all members voted? All members voted. If so, Mr. Clerk will lock the machine. On the passage of House Bill 1261, the yays are 100, the nays are 66. This bill having received the requisite constitutional majority is therefore passed.

115. 1:02:40

     Mr. Clerk, will you read the caption to House Bill 880? House Bill 880 by Representative Blackmon in the 146th to be entitled an Act to Amend Article 2, Chapter 7 to Title 48 and Part 1 of Article 4, Chapter 12 with Title 45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to the imposition, rate computation, exemptions, and credits relative to income taxes and management of budgetary and financial affairs. This bill having been referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, that committee recommends that this bill do pass by committee substitute.

116. 1:03:16

     We will have the author to present the bill, and then we do have some folks that are opposed to the bill, and we have a minority report. Uh, Chairman Blackmon is recognized to speak to the bill.

117. 1:03:31

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Uh, fellow members, bring before you House Bill 880, um, which does a, a few things in, in tandem. The, uh, it raises the standard deduction by 50% along with the dependent deduction by 50%. It lowers the rate of income tax down 20%, all in one-tenth increments based on certain benchmarks, uh, that have been in code. And, uh, it also raises the senior exemption from sixty-five thousand to seventy-five thousand at age sixty-five.

118. 1:04:08

     And then it raises the, uh, revenue shortfall reserve fund, uh, percentage up from 20 per- 15% to 20%. Um, so at the end of full phase-in, a family of four would then pay zero income tax on their first forty-eight thousand dollars of income. It's a, it's a measured approach. It's reasonable. And if, uh, the benchmarks are all met, then more dollars can be returned to the taxpayer. Mr. Speaker, uh, happy to stand for questions.

119. 1:04:40

     Gentlemen, he does have a question. We have some speakers. Representative Park Cannon, to your left. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Uh, do you yield? Yes, I do. So how much does the average taxpayer under this bill save in comparison to a high income earner? Um, well, I think, I wouldn't know what numbers those are. I will tell you that I, I have some sheets here that I can tell you at, uh, one dependent, uh, married at sixty thousand dollars of income, they save, uh, eight hundred and eighty dollars a year.

120. 1:05:21

     Um, that same family at a hundred thousand dollars of income would save twelve hundred and eighty dollars a year. So, uh, once again, that's a fifty-five percent decrease at, at sixty, and then it drops down to about thirty-six percent decrease, uh, for a hundred thousand. Okay. So I'm looking at like, say, the third twenty percent of people. Um, we see that as about three hundred and eighty-four dollars as the median. Do you really think this bill gives the least to the people who need it the most?

121. 1:05:55

     Well, I, I think with, with the fact that we are raising the standard deduction and the dependent de- deduction both by 50% and the rate rolls down by 20%, I think it does an adequate job across all income levels. And everybody that pays income tax will see savings. Those at the bottom end, you will have a number of those that no longer pay any income tax at all. So it takes a number of individuals off the income tax rolls. Again, you see a twelve thousand dollar standard deduction moving to eighteen over time, and the dependent deduction moving from four thousand to six thousand.

122. 1:06:28

     Thank you. Do you further yield? Yes. Thank you. Last question. So why is it necessary to raise the reserve cap from 15% to 50%, which is far higher than most states do? It, it, it's 15% to 20%, is, is the, the way, uh, LC590364S would be the correct LC number, and it raises it to 20%. And that's based on what we were asked to do by appropriations, and I think it's, it's probably wise to keep, uh, some, some added reserves on hand.

123. 1:07:05

     Leader Hugley is recognized for a question.

124. 1:07:11

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentleman yield? Uh, yes, I do. Would you tell us how much money we can anticipate, um, losing in revenues? And I know you see it as returning it back to the citizens, but in terms of the impact on the budget, what do you anticipate that it will be on an annual basis, or at least the first year? Well, it, the, the three benchmarks that are, are listed in the bill that would rotate are, uh, the governor's revenue estimate for the succeeding fiscal year is not at least 3% above the governor's revenue estimate.

125. 1:07:51

     The prior year's fiscal net revenue collection was not higher than each of the pre- preceding three fiscal years. And then the revenue shortfall reserve does not contain a sum that exceeds the amount of the decrease. So you have those three benchmarks. And so again, that kicks it back a year every year that we don't have that. But a- as far as the per year roll down, it is give or take around six hundred million dollars. So six hundred mil- Returned, returned to the taxpayers ... six hundred million is what you anticipate for the first year?

126. 1:08:21

     Well, it wouldn't be the first year because in the first year the budget is cut kind of in, in proportion, so it'd be a five-month, uh, budget. So you know, you can prorate that down to a little less than half. So how do you anticipate that we would be able to address the rising cost of providing the essential services to the people of Georgia under this scenario? Well, again, I think the benchmarks ensure that the revenue is, is there before we r- you know, uh, uh, before these, these triggers are, are met before the roll down and, uh, rate of the increases in standard deduction.

127. 1:08:58

     But again, you know, people can afford more when they have more of their hard-earned dollars in their pockets. Does the gentleman further yield? I do. Isn't it true that, uh, I hope that you understand that based on our previous, uh, dismissal of benchmarks and triggers that we put in past, uh, bills that some may be a little bit skeptical of that?

128. 1:09:26

     Isn't that true? I, I'm sure the lady is speaking from the heart. Thank you. Um, gentleman, yield for another question or two? I will, I will yield for another. Representative Rice, to your left. This left. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentleman yield? I do. Is it not true that House Bill 880 helps seniors on fixed incomes by expanding their retirement tax relief so they can better afford basics like housing and medicine?

129. 1:09:57

     It does. I think it catches up with some inflationary measures that, uh, they have, have probably seen increase over time, and it, it's been a while since we've, we touched that number. Thank the lady for the question. Gentleman, yield for a couple more questions. I do. Representative Gessler, to your right, about halfway back. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentleman yield? I do. I- isn't it true that if we were not to pass this bill, we might have money that could be invested in the QBE formula to fully fund public schools that would then allow local school systems to cut property taxes in a more responsible way?

130. 1:10:34

     I think we can do all of the above. Thank you very much for the question. Thank you. Representative Crowe is recognized to your right by the doors. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentleman yield? Yes, sir. Uh, Mr. Chairman, uh, I believe you were asked a minute ago about the amount of money that we were gonna lose, uh, with this bill. Would it not be more correct that we would not lose anything because that money is not ours, and it would be staying with the taxpayers who the money actually belongs to? It would, uh, I believe the gentleman knows of what he speaks.

131. 1:11:05

     It would stay in the pockets of those hard, hardworking, uh, Georgians, and, uh, be up to them to spend how they see fit. Thank you, sir. One more question? Uh, yes. I yield. Uh, also with the tax cuts that we've had over the last several years, accelerating the tax cuts down to 4.99%, uh, have we not consistently seen revenues increase every year even though the, uh, tax cuts have, tax rate's gone down? Absolutely. I think we see money being reinvested in our economy, and our economy has grown, and we've been giving us the opportunity to return more dollars to the hardworking Georgians.

132. 1:11:39

     Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your work. Thank you. Gentleman yield? I'm happy to yield for one more. Okay. Representative Vance Smith to my right, your right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Gentleman yield? Yes, sir. Uh, isn't it true that I've seen our budget increase from 1993. It was about 7.7 billion, and, uh, this year we're about 42, 43 billion. Um, anytime we can give money back to our taxpayers, as stated by Representative Crowe, that is the taxpayers' money.

133. 1:12:17

     We just need to be, learn to be more efficient with that money. And it's just like our fa- isn't it true it's like our family budgets? Let's, let's control our spending, and let's give that money back to those people, and I think the state of Georgia has done pretty good over the years. Isn't it true? I believe the gentleman knows of what he speaks. Yes, sir. Mr. Speaker, uh- You had, you referenced one of our members in your comments. The chairman of the Appropriations Committee would be, love to be recognized. That's up to you. It, I, I'd be more than happy to yield to, to the chairman.

134. 1:12:47

     Chairman's recognized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentleman yield? Uh, yes, sir. Is it true that you and I spent several hours over the last months talking and considering different approaches to this legislation? Yes, sir, the gentleman speaks the truth. And is it true that over, I think, the last six or seven years, we have fully funded quality-based education? I believe that is accurate. I believe- And I think if those in this room would look at the thresholds that have to be met, we would still be in the great shape we're in now if this bill passes.

135. 1:13:25

     I believe the gentleman knows very well, uh, the finances of this state. I trust, trust his, his judgment. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, uh, I would just ask for this body's favorable consideration, and, uh, we yield the will. Gentleman yield, yield the will. Now we're gonna move on to those that are opposed to House Bill 880 and those that are in favor, and then we'll have the minority report and the chairman's time. Uh, Whip Park is rec- about, about 15 minutes for, I think there's three speakers signed up.

136. 1:14:00

     Is that adequate for you? The gentleman's recognized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to House Bill 880, which I believe to be incredibly fiscally irresponsible. I would encourage you all to take a look at the rule sub, uh, specifically lines 26, uh, to about line 42. That eliminates all the trigger mechanisms ref- referenced, uh, by the, um, by the chairman.

137. 1:14:31

     So let's look at the numbers, because the numbers tell the truth. Income taxes are the largest source of revenue for the state of Georgia. Last year alone, income taxes generated $19.5 billion, which accounts for more than half of our entire general fund budget. That revenue funds the things that actually make Georgia work: our public schools, our healthcare system, our public safety, and the basic services millions of Georgians depend on every day.

138. 1:15:03

     House Bill 880 would cut revenue by about 32% once fully implemented. 32%. That is not a small adjustment. This is a structural change to how Georgia funds the responsibilities entrusted to this legislature. Now again, let's look at the numbers. Under this bill, about 63% of the tax cuts

139. 1:15:29

     Go to the top 20% of earners and corporations. Meanwhile, the top 1% of Georgians, those earning more than $836,000 a year, would receive an average tax break of roughly $18,500 a year. More than $1 billion annually would go to the top 1% in Georgia making nearly $1 million a year. And what do millions of working class Georgians receive under this bill?

140. 1:16:03

     Less than $400 a year. 18,500 at the very top, less than $400 for work, for millions of working families. And we are paying for that disparity by shrinking the revenue base that funds the core responsibilities of our state. Georgia's Constitution requires a balanced budget. So when we reduce revenues by billions of dollars, we eventually have to make a choice. Either we raise other taxes, often taxes that fall harder on working families, or we cut the investments that help our communities thrive.

141. 1:16:41

     Education and health, healthcare make about three quarters of Georgia's spending. So when revenues drop dramatically, those areas, education and healthcare, will inevitably come under pressure. That means fewer resources for, for the very investments that made Georgia's economy strong in the first place. Georgia already has one of the lowest tax burdens per person in the nation. That's because we have to continue to ensure that we are investing in education and infrastructure.

142. 1:17:16

     So again, the numbers are 63% of the benefits under this bill go to the top 20%. The top 1% gets $18,500 a year, while millions of g- hardworking Georgia families get less than $400 a year. We must stop these tax cuts for the rich if we want to lift all Georgians up. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield the floor.

143. 1:17:48

     Gentleman's yielded the floor. Representative Sanchez, and then Representative Derrick Jackson's on deck.

144. 1:17:59

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise once again, this time to oppose House Bill 880, because once again, more legislation for the wealthy and nothing to actually address the affordability crisis that Georgians are facing. 69% of the benefits will go to the top earners. Out of the $4.1 billion this will cost, about 2.4 billion of that will go to the top 1%. Does that sound fair to you?

145. 1:18:29

     I know that there are members in this legislature who have some very wealthy donors, or are wealthy themselves, but can you at least try to hide your intentions a little bit better? You claim this is investing in Georgians, but there are much better ways to invest back into our people, like addressing the housing crisis by stopping these huge corporations and private equity from buying up all the single-family housing and driving up the price. Or how about healthcare, which we're facing huge cuts from the national level and hundreds of thousands of Georgians are about to lose access to healthcare.

146. 1:19:00

     Have to reiterate over and over again basic tax policy. A flat tax is not a fair tax. It is a regressive tax that disproportionately is negative impact on working class people. Just because the percent of the tax is the same does not mean the impact is the same. The bottom 20% is estimated to get $40 a year back with this bill. The median income will be about $380 a year. So la- last time I checked, that's not enough to save up for a house.

147. 1:19:31

     Maybe in 1,000 years. Last time I checked, you can't really afford healthcare premiums at this point with that money. Meanwhile, the top 1% get 20,000 a year. Very nice for them. So let's stop pretending like we're helping working people with legislation like this. You are, we are helping wealthy friends and donors with this bill. Good governance means planning for the future and making responsible investments in our people and our communities. Draining our funds and reducing the income tax rate may sound appealing in the short term, but it risks undermining the long-term financial health of our state, and more importantly, the long-term wellbeing of the people of Georgia.

148. 1:20:11

     So I urge you to vote no on House Bill 880. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I yield the floor.

149. 1:20:24

     Representative Derrick Jackson. Gentleman's recognized.

150. 1:20:30

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now, I've been told when I come up to this well, I scream a lot. I yell. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, I appreciate that, 'cause I love using my United States Navy commander voice. But here we are again. We are told that House Bill 880 is about growth. We are told it's about opportunity.

151. 1:21:02

     We are told that it's about affordability.

152. 1:21:08

     But I ask the questions, my dear colleagues, opportunity for whom? Affordability of what? For decades, we've been sold a bill of goods called trickle-down economics. That's what we heard- The author talk about trickle-down economics. We've heard that let's give the people the money back.

153. 1:21:41

     We often keep the same talking points. Let's carve out enough tax breaks for the largest corporations and the wealthiest 1%. The prosperity will eventually reach to some of us or the rest of us. But we've lived that experiment. We've seen the results. The trickle never reaches the kitchen table of working Georgians.

154. 1:22:12

     Instead, it pools at the top. You already heard my colleagues provide the facts, the data. Economists, not Democrats, economists. The economists said this is a $6 billion gamble that bets against our children and our seniors to pad the pockets to those who need no more money.

155. 1:22:44

     They have enough. Let's talk about that $6 billion, shall we? When you drain the state's revenue by 32%, as the whip already stated, you aren't just cutting taxes, ladies and gentlemen, you are cutting the strings that hold up our society. To our parents and our educators who are listening outside of these walls, this bill threatens the quality basic education formula.

156. 1:23:15

     It threatens the very funds that put the books in our classrooms and the mental health counselors in our schools, 'cause we pass one bill over here, pass another bill over here. We're playing the shell game. We're already seeing a crisis in student literacy and school safety. Again, pass a bill over here, pass another unfunded mandate over here.

157. 1:23:46

     How does taking billions out of our state treasury to help a third grader to learn how to read? How does it help a teacher purchase supplies? It doesn't. You cannot build a best state to do business when we continue to receive an F on healthcare, an F- for women's health in Georgia. By passing House Bill 880, we are telling our children, our women, our educators that they are not seen or heard.

158. 1:24:30

     Let's talk about our seniors for a second. See, I'm taking care of my 89-year-old aunt. She is on a fixed income, and not all seniors have the same level of fixed income. They're not all created equal because they have different medical and physical requirements and needs. House Bill 880 targets the funds that support Medicaid and the aged and the blind and the disabled.

159. 1:25:08

     Our seniors rely on these services from home care, from life-saving prescriptions, and for the dignity of aging in place. House Bill 880 would devastate this group that already paved the way.

160. 1:25:31

     These austerity cuts will negatively impact our seniors, the most vulnerable in our society, children and our seniors. It is a cruel irony to tell a senior on a fixed income, "Hmm, getting a little thousand dollar tax break, y- you should be okay for the next 365 days."

161. 1:26:01

     We are trading their safety for a soundbite. Leadership is about stewardship, ladies and gentlemen, and it's gonna take leadership right now to vote no on House Bill 880. When we look at the math, as the young people say, "The math is not mathing." We have to take care of the least of these and demonstrate it, and the best way you can demonstrate by taking care of the least of these is saying no to House Bill 880.

162. 1:26:36

     And with that, Mr. Speaker, I yield the well.

163. 1:26:40

     Thank you, Representative Jackson. The gentleman has yielded the well.

164. 1:26:53

     Chairman, we'll move on to those speaking in favor. Chairman Martin.

165. 1:27:02

     Representative Chuck Martin is authorized up to 15. I hope you don't take that long.

166. 1:27:09

     I won't.

167. 1:27:09

     Okay. Well, you're recognized then.

168. 1:27:14

     Ladies and gentlemen, I won't, uh, keep you long this afternoon. And, and I wanna thank the folks that have spoken in front of me. They, they kind of brought up a point I want to, uh, concentrate a little bit on. I'll let the, uh, chairman of Ways and Means come back and once again explain how the standard deduction is going up so that when the whip earlier today pointed out- That 20% of the benefits from this bill were going to 60, um, I'm sorry, 68% of the benefits from this bill were going to 20% of the taxpayers.

169. 1:27:51

     He, he, to top, the top 20% of taxpayers, he said, which would then tell you since this is a rate cut across the board, that means the top 20% of taxpayers in this state are paying 68% of the income tax. The math works both ways. And when this bill passes, the standard deduction goes up, the top 20% of the taxpayers in this state will be paying an amount in excess of 68% of the taxes.

170. 1:28:23

     'Cause the other day, y'all, I was joking around and said I was several semesters shy of a law degree. I'm not when it comes to mathematics. Math does in fact matter. We passed that earlier this year, and my math says when you raise the standard deduction, it helps those that make a lower wage and a lower income more than it helps those that make a higher wage. That's okay. That's in this bill. That's what the chairman did. The rest of the cuts are across the board, so if 68% of the savings goes to the top 20%, I'm gonna leave you with this, that means the top 20% of Georgians are paying 68% of the income tax.

171. 1:29:08

     Mr. Speaker, this fair absolutely to pass this bill and let hardworking Georgians keep more of their money. I yield the well.

172. 1:29:19

     Gentleman's yielded the well.

173. 1:29:24

     Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered? We have a minority report and a chairman's time. Both of those will be allotted 20 minutes each. Representative Romman is recognized to use as much of that 20 minutes as she would like to. The lady's recognized.

174. 1:29:43

     Do you mean that? I'm just kidding.

175. 1:29:45

     Look at your colleague right there. That's up to you.

176. 1:29:47

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Uh, colleagues, I don't know if you remember, but a couple weeks ago when I stood up and spoke against the last bill that was like this, I said that I had massive deja vu. The difference was a whole year had passed. This time we're bringing it down to a couple of weeks. And as y'all have heard earlier from other speakers, we continue to not meet the benchmarks that this body set, and I'm assuming the Senate voted on it, too, but that doesn't matter. Point is, we continue to set benchmarks we're not meeting in a time of massive volatility.

177. 1:30:19

     The solution to every problem cannot and is not a tax break. It's actually not going to fundamentally fix the issues, and you're not putting enough money back in the pockets of people that need it most to actually drive spending and to drive any kind of support that they desperately need. Because one thing I mentioned last time was, hey, these kinds of tax breaks and this kind of a tax code benefits those that make the most, and that there are other forms of tax breaks, like the earned income tax credit, that would benefit people that need help the most.

178. 1:30:56

     This is not going to put more money back into our economy. The jobs report this morning showed that we are now losing more jobs than we are gaining. There are massive red flags flashing everywhere, and austerity has never been a solution during times of recession. Because the reality is for Georgia specifically, places like the Financial Times have deemed that we are in a recession. And during times of recession, closing down is not the way to go.

179. 1:31:29

     We need to be making long-term investments that generate jobs and that help the community. But also, at a time when folks are having to wait sometimes hours for an ambulance to show up, they have to drive hours for a hospital, they have to sit in traffic, or even worse, they're going on their way to work and a pothole takes out their car, that's a form of a tax, and it's a tax that we are levying on them because we're not doing our jobs. And we're not actually paying for the things that they need because at the end of the day, we're putting objectively, dollar for dollar, more people in the pockets of the wealthy at the expense of the rest of us.

180. 1:32:09

     And I know we talked about percentages last time. Don't know if y'all remember, but we talked about how 5% for someone who's saving on $100 is not the same as 5% for someone saving on a million dollars. We keep trying the same thing over and over again, expecting different results, and that's the definition of insanity. Defunding critical programs is not going to work, and we are mandated to have a balanced budget. It's one of the most responsible and best things about our jobs. But in order to do that, your revenue has to equal your expenses.

181. 1:32:42

     And this is the equivalent of asking for a pay cut when you haven't even paid all your bills. We haven't paid all of our bills. We can keep bragging about fiscal responsibility, but when we have half the counties without an OBGYN and then the other half of the counties don't even have a clinic, that's a huge problem. We can't keep bragging about fiscal responsibility when we continue to rank one of the lowest when it comes to schools and hospitals and transportation and traffic. It doesn't work.

182. 1:33:15

     So I strongly urge you to vote no because we've already done this bill two weeks ago. We've already done another tax bill after that and a tax bill after that and a tax bill after that. Now is the time to think about how do we fix the problems of the, the present while we invest in our future. I now yield the rest of my time to Representative Wilkerson. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

183. 1:33:33

     Lady yields, yielded the will to Representative Wilkerson. Gentleman's recognized.

184. 1:33:39

     Th- th- thank you, Mr. Speaker. Um, today I rise to, in opposition to, uh, House Bill 880, and I just wanna confirm, I'm looking at LC 590364S. Is that the correct LC number? I just wanna make sure I'm talking about the same bill. That, that's it, right? Okay. Um, you know, for me, I am always gonna, I'm, I'm for giving money back to folks to m- as long as we can balance our budget.

185. 1:34:09

     Um, there is no fiscal note because what I tried to do was I tried to look at the fiscal note when it was done, and if you look up there, it's 5930... I can't quite read that, but that bill was never dropped. There is no fiscal note. So if you scroll down a little bit, go to the next page, um, there you'll see a bunch of numbers there. That's not this bill. We have no idea what this huge tax cut's gonna cost us. No idea.

186. 1:34:39

     You know, a lot of times when people, y- you know, this week, this last week when I was driving to the capital, I don't know about you, but I saw gas jump 70 cents a gallon in a lot of places. There are people that could not go to work this week. There are people that are not gonna go see their families over the weekend because they can't afford a tank of gas. Many times when people inherit a bunch of money, which is kind of what we did, we have a, a robust fund that we can decide what to do. The first thing they start doing is buying cars, buying clothes, going on dates, doing different things, and next they know, your cousin's broke when he inherited a bunch of money from his uncle.

187. 1:35:14

     This tax bill will take effect in 10 years. It is slowly getting to 10 years. Many of us will not be here. Some of us will be, but what we're doing is we're spending the money now that we may get back in 10 years. So again, I like parts of the bill, um, but instead of cutting the rate, I probably would just accelerate the standard deduction increase because that does, does help working people, which is kind of strange because we talked about this last week, and we couldn't afford to give them relief.

188. 1:35:48

     But I would accelerate that relief, and don't worry about the $10 you might give somebody or whatever for the lowering the rate if you are lower income. Um, lines 78 through 89 are a waste of paper 'cause we never regard them anyway. The reality is we always come back and say, "It doesn't matter. We're just gonna ignore them." So I would probably get rid of that. Um, the next piece, again, I would accelerate that. Um, any undesignated funds, we are, we're not even s- sticking with the 15%, so why go to 20?

189. 1:36:21

     Because last I checked, we had what? 14, 16 million. Um, there's not a lot to say except, again, we've done a lot of bills this session that deal with tax cuts that I don't think anybody's actually added up what it cost. We have no idea how much that we have s- allocated when people are paying more in gas. If you wanna give relief, suspend the gas tax for a little bit while we, while, while the gas price is super high. If you wanna give relief, look at so- doing something for those people that are paying rent, buying their groceries a- and, and, and, and don't have the hospitals that they can go to in certain parts of our state.

190. 1:36:59

     Maybe we can fund Medicaid. There are so many things we can do if we actually put pen to paper and try to figure out where we were. But to pass a bill that does not have a fiscal note when f- when the law requires that we do have a fiscal note, and I can't... I love Excel, but don't bring me an Excel spreadsheet and say, "This is what it means." We demand more from our local school systems, our local governments. We create an audit report because they were not complying with statutes. No auditor would take a Excel spreadsheet that doesn't tie to anything.

191. 1:37:30

     So my request is that we pull back, we send all these bills to a nice little study committee over the summer. We figure out the best way to give people relief and return part of that $14 to $16 million back to everybody to make sure that we can continue to function because we didn't create that money. The people that were here that left us this great opportunity, they worked with us, and many of us were here. But the reality is that to pass a bill that we have no idea what it cost, I, I, I don't know how we do that.

192. 1:38:01

     I, I, I, I can't. Again, if we, if we had a number, we raised the standard deduction, we quit lowering the rate, stick with what the governor did. We all supported that. We all supported the $500, or the 250, 500 for a family. We all supported the home, you know, the homestead relief because we actually had numbers for those. But with that, Mr. Speaker, I will yield the well unless there are any questions.

193. 1:38:26

     Gentleman has no questions.

194. 1:38:28

     Thank you. And with that, I will ask you to vote no on 880 until we get a fiscal note that tells us what we're gonna spend, but I would never give my family member a blank credit card, my family, anybody in there, and tell them to go spend. But thank you, Mr. Speaker. I yield the well.

195. 1:38:40

     Gentleman's yielded the well. That completes the minority report. We'll move on to Chair's time for up to 20 minutes. Chairman Blackmon, chairman of the committee from which you came is recognized to speak to the bill.

196. 1:38:55

     I'm gonna yield a portion of my time back to, uh, Whit Burchett, Mr. Speaker.

197. 1:39:04

     You got a little bit less than 20 minutes. Gentleman's recognized.

198. 1:39:09

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, I wanna just run through this bill real quick 'cause I think we've gotta be talking about a different bill. I don't think that we can fundamentally come together on this, um, a- apparently. Uh, I think, you know, the majority caucus believes that it's always good to give Georgians back their money. And, and, uh, we went through the whole process of discussing percentages. Yes, 1% is higher on $100,000 than it is on $10,000. That is accurate. But it is a reduction in the s- the income tax for every Georgian across the board.

199. 1:39:44

     We, we already got that established. I don't think that there's any convincing that I can do to, to get the minority party to come our way. But what I don't understand in, in this is that we're increasing the standard deductions for a dependent from $4,000 to $6,000. And then for a married filing joint, we're, we're going from $24,000 to $36,000. So the, so a family of four, two parents, two kids- the first roughly $50,000 of their income will have no taxes on it.

200. 1:40:20

     Zero taxes. We're giving them a deduction so they do not pay any taxes for the first $48,000 of their income. I don't understand how anybody doesn't like that policy. We're not taxing them for the first roughly $50,000 of their, their salary. And Mr. Speaker, I, I'm not gonna belabor the point, but we're also extending, um, to our retirees a higher deduction for their income.

201. 1:40:51

     Now w- we're in an affordability crisis, right? And so we're, we're, we've got folks that are going to be paying less taxes, both income, but with their income tax, plus they're gonna be paying less taxes with their standard deductions. I, for one, believe that we, this entire body, need to take note that our folks need some relief. This is the relief. We're not, we're not underfunding schools. We've, we've fully funded QBE for seven years in a row.

202. 1:41:23

     I don't understand where these arguments are coming from. I would ask you and implore you, the folks in the minority and the majority, to support the bill. This is a t- tax deduction and, or excuse me, a tax reduction for income tax, and it is a, an affordability issue for every Georgian in this state, particularly those that make $50,000. Mr. Speaker, with that, I'll yield the, the, back to the chairman.

203. 1:41:51

     Gentleman's yielded back to the chairman for whatever parts you have up to 17 minutes. Uh, I'll be, I'll be quick, Mr. Speaker. Uh, I think that, uh, minority whip would acknowledge that the triggers, just, uh, because I think it was mentioned that they were removed, they are reinserted on, uh, lines 82 through 89, uh, and referenced at each of the different parts, uh, for the one-tenth roll down. Those benchmarks and triggers are included in the bill.

204. 1:42:23

     Just to set that record straight, I'd also like to offer up the, uh, fiscal note, um, here if, if anybody would like to reference it. The only change from this is that it doubles the standard deduction and it doubles the child deduction from, uh, the version that is represented here, and that's why I adjusted the numbers that I, uh, mentioned earlier. Again, I think as the whip has stated and others have stated, uh, you know, we, uh, and the chairman of appropriations, we fully funded QBE.

205. 1:42:55

     We meet our constitutional obligations. We have raised our teachers' pay and law enforcement many times over in the last decade. We have a full rainy day fund and billions in reserve surpluses over and above that, and we have returned over $10 billion to hardworking Georgians over the last 10 years, and this gives us the opportunity to do the same into the future. Again, as Chairman Martin pointed out, to every taxpayer, particularly to those at the lower part of the income scale, such that a family of four, again, will pay zero, zero income tax on the first $48,000 of their income.

206. 1:43:47

     Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the conversation. I, uh, again ask for this body's favorable consideration, and I yield the well. The gentleman's yielded the well. That completes those in favor of, of those opposed. Minority report. The chairman's time on House Bill 880. The previous question is ordered. Is there any objection to adopting the committee substitute? Hearing none, the committee substitute is adopted.

207. 1:44:17

     Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee, which was favorable to the passage of the bill? Hearing none, the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall this bill now pass? All in favor of pass- passage of the bill will vote yes. Those opposed will vote no, and Mr. Clerk will unlock the machine.

208. 1:45:04

     Have all members voted? For what purpose does Representative Campbell rise?

209. 1:45:12

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Parliamentary inquiry.

210. 1:45:14

     State your inquiry.

211. 1:45:16

     Is it not true that I had hoped to ask the sponsor this, a particular question, but I will do so now. Um, is it not true that increasing our revenue reserve by an additional 5%, when we already have billions on reserve, while simultaneously economic forecasters predict that we're on track in the next 10 years because of more than a million Georgians not having health insurance, to have $10 billion in uncompensated care coming back to Georgians?

212. 1:45:53

     And is it further not true that this is like giving $2 back to your constituents today and ask, and then asking them for $2,000 next year? And is it further not true that it reminds me of that old Popeye's cartoon?

213. 1:46:12

     I know about Popeye, but tell me about that one.

214. 1:46:15

     That I'll gladly pay you on Tuesday for a hamburger today.

215. 1:46:24

     I loved watching Popeye. I think I remember that. Uh, my answer t- to you would be, and it's a great parliamentary inquiry, is that, you know, we've enjoyed great times in Georgia because of good, good conservative policy and good votes by this House of Representatives, but hard times will come again, and we'll probably need that backup. For what purpose does Representative B- Blackmon rise?

216. 1:46:45

     Inquiry. Parliamentary inquiry.

217. 1:46:47

     State your inquiry.

218. 1:46:49

     Isn't it true that Wimpy and not Popeye made that statement, Mr. Speaker?

219. 1:47:01

     I don't see this getting any better. Have all members now voted? If so, Mr. Clerk will lock the machine. On the passage of House Bill 880, the yeas are 102, the nays are 69. This bill, having received the requisite constitutional majority is therefore passed.

220. 1:47:21

     Mr. Clerk, will you read the caption to House Bill 1122, 1122.

221. 1:47:27

     House Bill 1122 by Representative Douglas of the 78th and others being entitled an Act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 24, Title 33 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to general provisions regarding insurance generally to amend Chapter 80 of Title 36 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to general provisions applicable to counties and municipal corporations. This bill having been referred to the Committee on Insurance, that committee recommends that this bill do pass by committee substitute.

222. 1:47:59

     Gentlemen, sus- suspend just for a moment. All the numbers guys are gathered in the center aisle for a photo op.

223. 1:48:11

     They may autograph each other's bills. I'm not sure.

224. 1:48:21

     Representative Douglas is recognized to present House Bill 1122.

225. 1:48:27

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Um, I have a small bill, but it's big for us folks that's getting up in age. I have, um, House Bill 1122. It's basically a test, a basic test for people over 50 up to about 64 that's testing for one of the great- greatest killers that we can think of here in our state and i- in the world.

226. 1:48:59

     Last year, 22 million people died for not having this test. And so I'm here today with this little quick bill. Um, it's a, it's called a PAD bill, which is peripheral artery disease, and this affects people in their lower extremitis, extremities that have, um, veins that have closed up. And I just wanna want you guys to bear with me for a minute.

227. 1:49:33

     We have a high amputation rate in our state, okay? And the two places that are amputated the most is Atlanta and Augusta, okay? Out of those two places in our state, we have over 22,000 amputations, either a toe, a leg, uh, uh, uh, a ankle. But it affects our, our lives dramatically.

228. 1:50:06

     I don't know if you have a loved one or anybody that has had amputation, but it requires them to sometimes lose their homes or move to a home that has access for wheelchairs, 'cause they can't get along, get around like they used to. I want, I want, uh, can you help me and put up this picture? I just wanna tell you guys about a little story about my seatmate when I first got here, who taught me how to be a legislator when I was a freshman, and I learned so much from this guy, and I just wanted this House to appreciate what we have while we have it.

229. 1:50:50

     Whoo. Thank you. This guy taught me everything I need to know about being a legislator. He told me, "Don't come down in this well unless you have something to say." this is not a place where you come play. This is a place where we come and change lives and make our communities better. He said, "So when you go down there, have something to say or just don't go down there at all." And I've learned that, and his name was Mr. Wayne Howard.

230. 1:51:22

     And, uh, if I can name this bill after him, if you guys would vote for it, um, I would call it the Wayne Howard Bill because if he had this, I guess, simple test. And the test is just like taking a broo- blood pressure test, but it's around your ankle. And they just take the test. It takes every bit of two or three minutes, and you're done. And it gives them the ability to see if your arteries are clogged or, or closing up, and you can save your toe, your leg, and it can prevent you from having a shorter life than what you already have.

231. 1:52:02

     So I see the faces and, and the people here in this room. I see a lot of people over 50 or heading toward 50, and we're gonna need those tests. But I want these tests for our constituents also, not just for us. We want a better quality of life here in the state of Georgia. So I'm gonna stop right there and ask. Give us a, a moment of s- silence for my seatmate, Wayne Howard.

232. 1:52:30

     Thank you. And I would ask for your consideration on passing this bill. And, uh, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Chairman Hawkins, for allowing me to present this bill in your committee. And Mr. Speaker, uh, if there, I'll take any questions if you have any.

233. 1:52:47

     I think that'd be appropriate. If my als- If I may also add, Representative Demetrius Douglas, uh, that was a fine, fine man right there.

234. 1:52:54

     Thank you.

235. 1:52:55

     Knew him well. Sat beside with him as well. And I know y'all sat next, close to the... And you room at the back.

236. 1:53:01

     Yes, sir.

237. 1:53:02

     But, uh, I know he, uh, he persevered through some really difficult physical times to be here and do the people's work and represent those people he represented. And his father be- ho- before him, uh, Mr. Henry, was also a, a great legislator as well. Um, Representative Hawkins, Chairman Hawkins, uh, right up the center aisle is recognized for a question.

238. 1:53:22

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Uh, does the gentleman yield?

239. 1:53:24

     Yes, sir.

240. 1:53:25

     Isn't it true that most of these amputations are caused by, caused by diabetes?

241. 1:53:30

     That is true, sir.

242. 1:53:31

     Uh, does... You further yield?

243. 1:53:33

     Yes, sir.

244. 1:53:33

     Isn't it true that a lot of these amputations could be avoided by early detection?

245. 1:53:38

     Absolutely.

246. 1:53:39

     And that's what your bill's doing.

247. 1:53:41

     Absolutely. Thank you.

248. 1:53:41

     Thank you, sir, for the bill.

249. 1:53:43

     Thank you, sir.

250. 1:53:44

     Good bill. Uh, Representative Baker, uh, is recognized to your left, Representative Douglas.

251. 1:53:50

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentleman yield? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Could this bill help save money in the long run by catching problems early? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you for bringing this bill. Can I add to that? Yes. This is, test is only given once a year, okay? You only have to take it one time a year. You don't have to take it anymore. And it should help pr- save lives and prevent the quality of life. Thank you for your question.

252. 1:54:18

     Let's take two more if the gentleman will oblige. Um, Representative Glaize, to your left. Way, all the way around. Representative Glaize.

253. 1:54:26

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentleman yield?

254. 1:54:30

     Yes, ma'am.

255. 1:54:31

     Is it not true that my father-in-law is one of the amputees in Atlanta and his quality of life has substantially gone down? And isn't it true that maybe if he had early detection we could have saved that li- that leg and we, he probably could have a better quality of life? And thank you for bringing the bill.

256. 1:54:55

     Thank you, ma'am.

257. 1:54:56

     Gentleman, you have one more. I think you wanna take this one.

258. 1:54:59

     Yes, sir.

259. 1:55:00

     Representative Carlton Howard in the back to your left.

260. 1:55:03

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Representative, for the bill. Of course, we're grateful for the presentation. And I do, I do like the bill for it. I was just thinking about it when you, when you presented it and talked about it. Maybe I wouldn't be in this seat right now if we would've had this bill in place, uh, maybe years ago before that, that disease, uh, captured my brother. So thank you so much for the bill.

261. 1:55:30

     Thank you.

262. 1:55:32

     Gentleman has no further questions.

263. 1:55:34

     Thank you. And I ask for your consideration for this legislation, and, and I yield the rest.

264. 1:55:40

     Thank you for having the insight and the care to present this bill. We appreciate it. Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered? Hearing none, the previous question is ordered. Is there any objection to adopting the committee substitute? Hearing none, the committee substitute is adopted. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee which was favorable to the passage of the bill? Hearing none, the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall this bill now pass? All in favor of the passage of the bill will vote yes.

265. 1:56:10

     All those opposed will vote no. And Mr. Clerk will unlock the machine.

266. 1:56:33

     Have all members voted? All members voted. If so, Mr. Clerk will lock the machine. On the passage of House Bill 1122, the yays are 167- ... and nays are two. This bill having received requ- the, the requ- requisite constitutional majority is therefore passed.

267. 1:57:05

     Well done, House. Mr. Clerk, will you read the caption to House Bill 1324? 1-3-2-4.

268. 1:57:17

     House Bill, House Bill 1324 by Representative Ridley of the 6th to be entitled an act to amend Article 4, Chapter 11 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to dangerous instrumentalities and practices so as to repeal the prohibition on possessing a silencer. This bill having been referred to the Committee on Judiciary Non-Civil, that committee recommends that this bill do pass pursuant to Rules Committee substitute.

269. 1:57:46

     Representative Jason Ridley is recognized to present House Bill 1324. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, body. This is, uh, House Bill 1324. It's a suppressor bill. I think I have talked to everybody in this House on both sides of the aisle and in the hallway about this bill. So currently right now, um, this, any of you have a suppr- a silencer or a suppressor, it's under the National Firearms Act. Whenever the tax stamp, the $200 tax stamp was canceled, you still have to have the tax stamp, you just don't have to pay the $200.

270. 1:58:18

     Um, they have filed lawsuits, so us and 16 other states have to kinda do a little preemption work in case that lawsuit, that lawsuit goes through, 'cause if it does, it comes off the National Firearms Act. So it'll come back down to the states. So all this bill does is just change that and set that up. If that lawsuit does happen, then it'll come down into the state, and we have to have that structured. Um, federal law still overrides state law, so right now you still gotta go and, and you'll still have to get, uh, approved for it through the ATF.

271. 1:58:49

     Each one of these has a serial number that's only assigned to you. It can't ever be sold unless you have it in a trust, and then they can just transfer those people into trust. Um, and Mr. Speaker, that's all the bill does, and I'll take a question if there is any, but I have talked to everybody about this bill. Well, let's, uh, if you yield, we'll let you talk to Representative Berry again, to your left about halfway back. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Gentleman, do you yield? Yes, sir. So I just have a question, 'cause we've done a lot of good work in this body about school safety, and then, uh, pushing forward meaningful solutions to end gun violence.

272. 1:59:24

     What is the impetus behind this bill? Why do we need this bill? So this is already legal. It's, you've, you've always been able to have, you've always been able to have a suppressor. The problem is, is the lawsuit that's pending, um, the federal government, if they take it off the National Firearms Act, which is a federal law that it has to be under, then it has to come down to the state. And us and 16 other states have to do this, have to do this, uh, language in this bill in order if that, in case that does happen.

273. 1:59:54

     It doesn't expand it. It don't change. You still have to go through all the same process. Nothing changes. It's just you have to change some language in the current law, in, in the state law. Thank you. All right. G- gentleman yield? Does... Representative Cannon, Park Cannon's recognized for a question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Do you yield? Yes, ma'am. So are you framing silencers as a ear protection method, knowing that they actually are less effective than ear muffs?

274. 2:00:25

     Help me understand why this, why now? So a silencer, anytime you shoot a gun, you're, you're gonna lose some hearing. So if you're a, if you're a hunter, you can't really have ear protection on because then you can't hear if animals are coming or, or whatever. So with a silencer, and also you gotta think about your neighbors if you're shooting. So with a silencer, it does not take all the sound off, and I've got some numbers that I can t- that I can tell you. If you take a 30-06, anything like that, you've got a, they've got somewhere around 160 to 177 decibels is what they put out whenever you shoot without a silencer.

275. 2:01:00

     With one on there, it drops it down to about 125 to 135. So it's only about a 40% or a 40 decimal difference between having it on there and having it off. But it's enough to not hurt your hearing, and it's also enough that the sound, 'cause it extends the barrel out, the sound's a little m- a little further away from you. So thank you. Do you further yield? Yes. So is that a yes or a no? What? Yes. What's it... That was a yes? Yes. Okay, so you are considering this to be a hearing safety mechanism?

276. 2:01:32

     Yes. Thank you. All right, Mr. Speaker, if there are no other questions, I yield the well. Gentleman's yielding the well. Now, we have, um, a number of folks that have signed up to speak that are opposed. And I'm gonna recognize there's four of you, Representative Au, Representative Panitch, Representative, Representative Lisa Campbell, and Representative Jasmine Clark. Y'all are gonna have 15 minutes to divide amongst yourselves, and then we also have a minority report and a chairman's report.

277. 2:02:04

     Both of those will have 20 minutes. So I'm gonna recognize Representative Au to, um, take up to 15 minutes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to speak in opposition to HB 1324. I actually, I actually can't believe we have to talk about this bill. This is... So when I was preparing remarks against this bill, I actually was having a little bit of a hard time, uh, not because I didn't know what points I needed to make, I know what I needed to say, but because of how obvious these points are.

278. 2:02:39

     And, and frankly, I really resent having this bill put in front of us and having to say these most obvious elemental things because it shows where the priorities of the majority party are when it comes to guns. And it shows how aggressively negligent the majority is willing to be in order to promote the purchase of easy access to and the fetishization of guns and gun paraphernalia.

279. 2:03:07

     But if you want me to make these points that should really be pretty obvious to every single person sitting here, then, you know, let's go. First, we talk a lot in this chamber about public safety. We talk about giving law enforcement the tools and the resources they need to keep our community safe. So it should be easy for all of us to recognize why this is a bad bill on both of those fronts. Because a gunshot is loud by design, and that sound is not just a fun noise, right?

280. 2:03:42

     It's a clinical warning sign that alerts people nearby that something is wrong. It prompts witnesses to call 911. It prompts bystanders to run away. It helps police identify the location of a threat so that they can respond more quickly. And when a silencer is added, that warning is reduced. Again, I have to say, I cannot believe how stupid it is that I need to make these points here.

281. 2:04:16

     With a silencer, gunfire becomes harder to recognize. It's harder to locate. It's easier for someone with violent intent to use without immediate detection. So for first responders, who we talked about a lot today, this delay can be the difference between life and death. In active shooter situations, we know every moment counts, and the ability to hear and locate gunfire is essential. Silencers undermine that ability.

282. 2:04:50

     Now, some, we heard, uh, argue that silencers protect hearing. So first of all, I just want to note one thing, is that the sponsor of the bill noted that silencers drop the sound of gunfire down to, I think he said, 135 to 145 decibels. The level at which hearing damage happens is 85 decibels. So using a silencer by itself does not protect hearing. But aside from that, there are safer, more responsible solutions to protect against hearing loss.

283. 2:05:25

     The body is surely aware that, um, earplugs exist. This body is aware that noise-canceling earmuffs exist. And these options safeguard the hearing better without compromising the ability of the public or the police to identify gunfire. And again, if your intent was to make legally owned firearms safer, I am bewildered why you would refuse to entertain something like a safe storage law, like HB1, the very first bill filed this term.

284. 2:06:04

     I think we've spent a lot of time in this session talking about school safety, and I think we know why. Silencers would make school shootings more deadly. Again, the fact that I even have to say these things that everyone should readily understand should be galling. Students may hear the sound of gunshots with a silencer on and not recognize it. Right? They may not know to run or to hide or to call for help. This confusion allows a shooter more time and results in more injuries and fatalities.

285. 2:06:39

     Keeping silencers more tightly regulated is not about restricting responsible gun owners.

286. 2:06:50

     Silence. Beautiful. It's about preserving the crucial early warning signs that protects the public and guides emergency response. And I frankly find it deeply offensive that a bill like this would even make it to the House floor. By the way, the sponsor did not speak with me about this bill. When not a single gun safety bill has received even a hearing this session, let alone a vote, let alone to be put on the rules calendar.

287. 2:07:21

     So with all apologies to the bill sponsor and the groups that conscripted him to carry it, I'm sorry, this is a dumb bill. But even more than that, it is a dangerous bill. And I have no idea how people can, in good conscience, justify a yes vote. Protecting our communities means ensuring that when a gun is fired, everyone, especially those who need to act, can hear it.

288. 2:07:54

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I yield the well.

289. 2:07:58

     The lady has yielded the well. Representative Panitch is recognized. You have about 10 minutes.

290. 2:08:04

     Thank you.

291. 2:08:05

     That you need to divide up, please.

292. 2:08:09

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If y'all will vote no, you don't have to listen to my voice for the next five minutes, but... Hearing no takers, I'm going to continue. The sound of a gunshot is not just noise, it is a warning. It is a signal that tells people to run, to take cover, to call 911. It's what allows law enforcement to locate an active shooter and respond. When you suppress that sound, you suppress the community's ability to protect itself. On May 31st, 2019, in Virginia Beach, a gunman armed with a .45 caliber handgun fitted with a suppressor murdered 12 people in a government office building.

293. 2:08:49

     A survivor of that massacre said she thought she was hearing a nail gun. She later said if it had been a regular gunshot, they would have known sooner. Even 30 or 60 seconds could have allowed more people to barricade, to hide, to survive. 30 seconds. That's the difference the silencer makes.

294. 2:09:12

     I've heard the argument, frankly, it's the only argument, that silencers are merely hearing protection. But let's be honest with ourselves and with our constituents. There are already highly effective hearing protection options available to every hunter and sports shooter in this state. Earmuffs, earplugs, and sophisticated electronic ear protection that simultaneously amplifies ambient sound while blocking harmful noise. They protect your hearing without compromising anyone's safety.

295. 2:09:42

     A silencer is the only form of, quote, "hearing protection" that also makes it harder for police to find you.

296. 2:09:51

     I guess I should thank the majority party for giving us a talking point for the midterms, because the majority party is clearly choosing the, the convenience of hunters over law enforcement safety.

297. 2:10:14

     You have a Second Amendment right to bear arms, but fear, there is no Second Amendment right to silence. If you can't handle the sound of a gun, don't shoot one. There is no constitutional guarantee that your neighbors should not hear you fire a weapon, and there is no good reason, none, to make it harder for our police officers to do the job we ask them to do every single day.

298. 2:10:44

     This is a bill because some people are too afraid to stand up to, for their, to their further right. Please vote no.

299. 2:11:00

     Representative Lisa Campbell is recognized. You have about six minutes. Okay, thank you.

300. 2:11:07

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

301. 2:11:16

     I wanna talk about a gap. Not a gap in philosophy, I'll get to that in my close, but a gap in enforcement, and a gap that this bill creates. A bill that I vehemently oppose. Right now, Georgia law has its own prohibition on unlawful silencer possession, and it prohibit- that pr- prohibition sits aside federal law, as you've just heard, the National Firearms Act, which requires registration, a background check, a $200 tax stamp, and a lengthy federal review process.

302. 2:11:54

     These two layers of law work together. They back each other up. When someone has a silencer they shouldn't have, state and federal law both apply, and that means we have two avenues for accountability. HB1324 removes Georgia's layer, and the bill sponsors want you to think that's fine because we still have the federal law and it applies. And they're right, the federal law still applies.

303. 2:12:26

     But what they're not saying, and what we are saying, is that the FBI and the ATF are not your county police department. Federal agencies set their own priorities, and these priorities involve large scale terrorism, national drug networks, and organized crime. An individual with an unregistered silencer is often below that threshold. Our federal system was never built to held every illegal weapon in every county in Georgia, and that is exactly what Georgia law has been doing.

304. 2:12:58

     It fills that gap. The bill sponsors say the remaining penalties are enough. They point to enhanced sentences if a silencer is used during the commission of a felony. But here's what it means in practice. By the time Georgia law can act, someone, often a child, has already been shot. The possession charge, the tool that lets law enforcement act before the worst happens, is gone. This is backwards. Every prosecutor and officer in this building knows that the best enforcement happens early.

305. 2:13:31

     It happens at the point of discovery, at the point of contact, before a situation escalates, and the possession charge is it, that early tool. Removing it doesn't modernize Georgia law. It doesn't protect us. It disarms the people protecting our communities.

306. 2:13:50

     I've been talking about an enforcement gap, and f- I wanna wrap up because I fear we not only have an enforcement gap presented with this bill, but I think we're having a memory gap from mass school shootings and the number one killer of our kids. We are having a m- morality gap and lacking moral conviction to protect Georgia's children. As I said, it's unconscionable in my view to spend even one minute, one minute of our time here, making guns easier and more deadlier to use in crimes against our families.

307. 2:14:31

     And rather than working on gun safety, this body has decided to take the exact opposite path.

308. 2:14:44

     In the words of our youth poet laureate, I quote, "Our motto should not be one nation under guns." Vote no on HB1324.

309. 2:15:01

     Thank you, Representative Campbell. Ladies, yield to the will.

310. 2:15:16

     Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered? We'll move on to the minority report and the chairman's time. Minority, minority report will have up to twenty minutes. Representative Roberts, you're first, then Representative Neal, and then Chair Lady Miller. Ladies recognized.

311. 2:15:34

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker, members of the House. I think it's no surprise that I rise today to speak in opposition to HB 1324. Let's be very clear about what this bill does and what it does not do. HB 1324 deregulates sound suppressors under Georgia law and eliminates the enhanced penalty for using a sound suppressor during the commission of a crime. That is the heart of this bill. Supporters will tell you that this is about hearing protection, but suppressors are not even the most effective method of hearing protection.

312. 2:16:11

     Public health experts note that hearing damage can occur at eighty-five decibels, while firearms produce sounds over a hundred and forty decibels. With the most effective suppressors, they suppress the sound of gunfire by only about twenty-eight decibels. In contrast, noise reductions from muffs and plugs used together are in the forty to fifty decibel range and remain the gold standard to protect hearing. Supporters might tell you that law-abiding citizens should be able to possess them. Guess what? They already can pursuant to the National Firearms Act if they register them, which requires a background check and fingerprinting.

313. 2:16:48

     This state law deregulation will not change federal law. HB 20-- 1324 does not make that process easier. It does not reduce federal penalties. It doesn't expand access for hunters. So if this bill doesn't change federal law and doesn't help protect hearing better than other methods, who benefits from passing this bill? The only people who benefit are criminals. Right now, under Georgia law, if someone illegally possesses a sound suppressor, they face state penalties, including up to five years in prison.

314. 2:17:27

     And right now, under Georgia law, if someone uses a sound suppressor during the commission of a crime, they face an enhanced penalty. That enhanced penalty exists for a reason. Sound suppressors make it harder for law enforcement and bystanders to identify a shooter by masking muzzle flash and reducing the distinct sound of gunfire. And before you look at me and roll your eyes, I understand they do not completely silence a weapon. They dis- they diminish auditory detection and can delay response time.

315. 2:18:01

     In an active shooting scenario, seconds matter, direction matters, sound matters. Why on earth would we eliminate the enhanced penalty for making that situation more dangerous? The, this body has spent hours this session debating school safety. We have debated metal detectors. We have debated school resource officers. We have debated mental health supports. And yet today, we are being asked to remove a penalty that applies when someone makes it harder to locate a shooter.

316. 2:18:36

     If you use a firearm during the commission of certain crimes, there are enhanced penalties. If you use a weapon in a way that increases danger, there are enhanced penalties because the law recognizes that how a crime is committed matters. We're not talking about criminalizing hunters. Hunters today can legally p- possess a sound suppressor if they comply with federal law. We are talking about removing a state-level consequence for criminals.

317. 2:19:07

     And I've heard supporters say, "Well, federal law is enough." But if that's the standard, why do we even have state criminal law at all? And today, we're choosing to lower that standard. Who feels that first? Our hardworking law enforcement officers, the victims, communities already struggling with gun violence. We hear from Georgia families, Georgia families whose lives have been permanently altered by gun violence in this state. Families like those impacted by the tragedy at Apalachee High School, survivors of domestic violence, and victims like Amy St.

318. 2:19:42

     Pierre, who was shot in a midtown doctor's office. And then we turn around and advance legislation that reduces penalties connected to the use of a device in the commission of a crime? What message does that send? The National Firearms Act has been on the books since 1934 and has made it difficult for dangerous individuals to obtain sound suppressors. In the Buffalo mass shooting in 2022, the shooter reportedly sought a silencer but couldn't obtain one because of existing laws.

319. 2:20:16

     In Lewiston, Maine, in 2023, the shooter attempted to purchase a suppressor but was denied just weeks before killing eighteen people. But when dangerous individuals do obtain suppressors, they have been used in targeted deadly attacks. In the Virginia Beach mass shooting in 2019, the gunman used a suppressor while killing twelve people in a city building. Survivors reported they initially thought the noise was a nail gun, not gunfire, which delayed their response.

320. 2:20:48

     That is exactly the danger suppressors create. And despite the regulations already in place, ATF recovered more than four hundred silencers from crime scenes in 2023 alone. This is not a Second Amendment bill. Law-abiding citizens' constitutional rights are not dependent on eliminating enhanced penalties for criminals. This is not a hunting bill. Hunters already have a pathway, so if HB 324 passes, the only people who benefit are the criminals.

321. 2:21:23

     A no vote will not remove deterrence without compelling public safety reason. HB1324 does not make Georgia safer. It does not solve a problem. It creates one. If y'all wanna vote for the criminals, giving them, taking away an enhanced penalty when they use it to commit a crime, vote yes. But the people of Georgia who have suffered gun violence for years because we keep it, expanding gun rights, this is a slap in the face to them, so please vote no.

322. 2:22:02

     Ladies yield to the well. Representative Neal. Lady is recognized.

323. 2:22:10

     14 minutes, I'm sorry.

324. 2:22:15

     Thank you to the speaker, members of the house. Today I rise in opposition to House Bill 1324. I respect the author, but today I rise to speak about officer safety and about giving our law enforcement officers the best possible opportunity to save our children if they are ever forced to confront a school shooter or any shooter in or outside of a building. House Bill 1324 proposes to repeal Georgia's prohibition on possessing silencers by striking the definition in 1611-121 and revising several related sections of law.

325. 2:22:48

     In plain terms, this bill moves Georgia away from its current protections and opens the door to broader civilian possession of firearm suppressors. Now, I want to be very clear about why I'm standing here today. This is not theoretical for me. I've served in law enforcement. I understand what it means when officers are responding to chaos, to gunfire, and to life and death situations where seconds matter. I've completed the active shooter training. It is loud, it is complicated, it's chaotic, it's stressful, and all we have to chase is the sound.

326. 2:23:22

     The stress of gliding through school hallways and listening for the sound only is deafening. And when officers respond to an active shooter, one of the most important tools they have is the sound. The sound of gunfire helps officers determine where the shooter is, what direction the shots are coming from, and how fast they must move to stop the threat. It also helps students and others find their way out of harm's way and into safety. In committee, I said something that may sound blunt, but it's the truth. If someone cannot handle listening to gunfire, they probably should not engage in the sport of shooting.

327. 2:23:58

     Because when you decide to shoot a firearm, the sound is part of that responsibility. It is an unfortunate reality, but it, it is also an occupational hazard of shooting. Now, I understand the argument being made, and I know some suppressors do not truly silence a firearm, and you can still hear gunshots, especially with higher caliber rifles, and that is true. But let's be honest about something. Even when muffled, any attempt to reduce the sound of gunfire creates an officer safety concern.

328. 2:24:30

     Because in a real emergency, thank you, officers are not standing calmly by on a range with ear protection. They are running toward danger through hallways, buildings, through confusion, trying to locate the source. And the louder that sound is, the faster they can find the threat. I have had law enforcement officers reach out to me about this bill, and what they told me was simple. They would prefer that we not move forward with this change because they want gunfire to remain loud and iden-identifiable so they can locate a shooter faster, no matter the circumstances inside or outside.

329. 2:25:06

     Members, when the people who run towards danger for a living tell us something affects their safety, we should listen. Now, the author mentioned that this bill is really about hunters and protecting hearing as well, and if that were truly the goal, perhaps the legislation could be specifically carved out and tailored to hunters. But that's not what this bill does. This is a bigger policy change. And I say this as someone who is a frequent shooter myself. I, I'm used to the sound by now. And when you shoot regularly, you become accustomed to the sound of gunfire.

330. 2:25:40

     It no longer overwhelms you. And responsible shooters use ear protection, proper ear protection, when they are on the range or while hunting. But public policy cannot be written solely around comfort or convenience. It must be written around public safety. Let me give you a real world example that I gave in committee. During the first assassination attempt of the current president, it took just four seconds for local law enforcement to locate the shooter and return fire. Four seconds.

331. 2:26:11

     And it took approximately 12 seconds for the federal author- federal authorities to neutralize that threat. That's 16 seconds. That response time mattered. Now, imagine if identifying the direction of those shots had taken longer. Imagine if locating that shooter had been delayed. Seconds can become minutes, and when we're talking about an active shooter situation, especially in a school or outside, minutes can save lives. Now, members, we have to ask ourselves a serious question: Does making gunfire harder to detect help law enforcement stop a shooter faster, or does it give bad actors an advantage?

332. 2:26:49

     Because while this bill may be framed around sporting use, we cannot ignore how tools can be misused by people with violent intent. Policies that reduce the ability of law enforcement to quickly locate a shooter puts officers at risk and potentially your children at risk, and that risk is not a risk that I'm willing to take. So it is our job to make sure that if the worst day ever comes, if an officer is racing down any hallway trying to stop a shooter, we have given them every possible advantage to locate that threat immediately, not fewer.

333. 2:27:23

     Every advantage for officer safety, for the protection of our communities, and most importantly, for the safety of our children. And for those reasons, Mr. Speaker, I respectfully urge this body to vote no. I yield the will.

334. 2:27:38

     Lady's yielded the will. Chair Miller.

335. 2:27:42

     You have about eight minutes, ma'am. Lady's recognized.

336. 2:27:47

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Um, I rise obviously in opposition to my colleague's bill. Um, I think as we talk about the effect of silencers, you understand why there are so many regulations on them at the federal level. Um, they are inherently dangerous in the context of public safety. Now, I was a prosecutor. I've talked about this before for many years. Before I came down to this body, I was a homicide prosecutor.

337. 2:28:21

     Everybody in this room knows and understands that the number one killer of children is what? Guns. And so it tracks that the vast majority of the cases that I handled as a homicide prosecutor dealt with guns. And when you are putting together a case against a person who has used a gun to kill a child, to kill a wife, to kill a father, you rely on a lot of things that happen on the scene.

338. 2:28:58

     Number one, you rely on eyewitnesses. Eyewitnesses. Can everybody say eyewitnesses?

339. 2:29:04

     Eyewitnesses.

340. 2:29:04

     Number two, you rely on earwitnesses. Earwitnesses. Did you all know that the shooter of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare was shot with a gun that had a silencer on it? I know. It's boring stuff, right? We're gonna chitchat about sausages in the anteroom and gummy bears and, and mints and stale pizza, but what I just said was that the CEO of UnitedHealthcare was murdered in Central Park by a gunman with a silencer.

341. 2:29:39

     Do we remember how long it took us to track that killer down? Hearing a gunshot not only is critical when we are dealing with emergent situations like active shooters at concerts or schools or public places, courthouses,

342. 2:30:00

     it is also important when you are trying to build a case and solve crime. Because sometimes there are no eyewitnesses, and all you have are gunshots that rang out at a certain time at night. So I would ask you that as we consider the comfort of hunters, and I am truly, um, empathetic to that. I, I want hunters to wear ear gear. I don't want their ears to be harmed. I want y'all to understand that unless some police officer organization or some prosecutor organization came down here and told y'all that it makes public safety easier if we loosen silencers,

343. 2:30:42

     then why on Earth would anybody support something like this? It's all fun and games until somebody you know gets hurt, until it's your child.

344. 2:30:56

     Has anyone here ever attended an autopsy of a child whose body was ripped to shreds by a gun and tried to catch that bad guy who did it? Yeah. You need all the evidence you can get, don't you? Yeah. Uh, for that reason, uh, Mr. Speaker, I'm gonna yield the will. I'm gonna ask that if you care about public safety, if you're unwilling to do something to promote sensible gun ownership, that's on y'all.

345. 2:31:28

     Y'all are the majority. Y'all set the agenda. Y'all don't find it important enough to do, that's, that's not on me, that's on you. I would ask respectfully that you don't make it harder for police officers to catch bad guys and you don't make it harder for prosecutors to send murderers where they belong. With that, I yield the will.

346. 2:31:52

     Lady has yielded the will. That completes our minority report. I believe we have waived the chairman's time.

347. 2:32:04

     Sir. The gentleman has waived the chairman's time. The previous question is ordered. Is there any objection to adopting the substitute offered by the Committee on Rules? Hearing none, the Rules Committee substitute is adopted. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee, which was favorable to the passage of the bill? Hearing none, the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall this bill now pass? All in favor of the passage of the bill will vote yes. All those opposed will vote no. And Mr. Clerk will unlock the machine.

348. 2:33:28

     Have all members voted? What purpose does Representative Giss- Gisler rise? Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker. Uh, state your inquiry, sir. If, if the purpose of this bill is to protect hunters' hearing, sportsmen hearing- ... it should not be necessary to remove protect- or, uh, enhanced penalties for use of silencers with or a firearm-equipped or silencer-equipped firearms.

349. 2:33:59

     Is that not true? I'm sure the gentleman believes what he says. For what rep- for what purpose does Representative Byrd rise? Yes, parliamentary inquiry. State your inquiry, ma'am. Is it not true abortion kills more people yearly than silencers?

350. 2:34:19

     Lady has her heartfelt opinion. For what purpose does Representative Westbrook rise? Y'all give the lady your attention. She has a- Par- ... parliamentary inquiry. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Actually, I waive. The lady's waived. For what purpose does Representative Ridley rise? Parliamentary inquiry. Representative Jason Ridley. State your inquiry, sir. Mr. Speaker, is it not true that all we're doing is matching s- uh, federal law, which was advised by the Department of Justice, that us and 16 other states has gotta do that in case this lawsuit goes through?

351. 2:34:52

     We're not changing anything. This is what we were told that we'd have to do.

352. 2:34:59

     I'm sure the gentleman has studied this issue and he knows of what he speaks. For what purpose does Representative Oliver rise? Parliamentary inquiry, sir. State your inquiry, ma'am. If your child or grandchild were a law enforcement officer, would that child or grandchild be safer if the criminals had silencers on the guns they stole?

353. 2:35:22

     I'm sure the lady has, uh, studied this very closely. For what purpose does Repres- Representative Parsons rise? Parliamentary inquiry. State your inquiry, sir. Is it not true that if a criminal wants to use a silencer in violation of the law, he can print one out with a 3D printer?

354. 2:35:42

     Uh, I'm not sure, but I'm sure the gentleman knows what he speaks. Those things do a lot of things.

355. 2:35:49

     All, all members voted? All members voted? If so, clerk will lock the machine.

356. 2:36:02

     On the passage of House Bill 1324, the yays are 87, the nays are 76. The bill having failed to receive the requisite constitutional majority is therefore lost.

357. 2:37:17

     Mr. Clerk will read the caption to House Bill 892. 892. House Bill 892 by Representative Holcomb of the 101st and others to be entitled an act to amend Article 1 of Chapter 24A of Title 43 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to massage therapy practice generally so as to prohibit ma- massage therapy businesses from operating during certain set hours. This bill having been referred to the Committee on Regulated Industries, that committee recommends that this bill do pass by committee substitute.

358. 2:37:54

     Representative Scott Holcomb is recognized to present House Bill 892. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Um, human trafficking is a scourge, and this General Assembly and, and this House have passed a number of measures to address it. What this measure does is it limits the hours of massage establishments to operate from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM. We have a number of them that are 24 hours, are open 24 hours, and candidly, they are dens of human trafficking.

359. 2:38:28

     So what this will do will be to hurt them financially because they won't be able to stay open 24 hours. Um, I've spoken to law enforcement officers, and interestingly, these cases aren't easy to bring forward. They require considerable manpower, um, to investigate, and it's also, it also puts the officers in, in situations that are really uncomfortable. And so this is just another way, another lever that we can apply to try to address human trafficking, and I have several spas that are open 24 hours, and we know what's happening there.

360. 2:39:08

     It's terrible, and we should stop it. So that's what this measure does. Happy to answer any questions. The gentleman has no questions. Gentleman is yielded the well. Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered? Hearing none, the previous question is ordered. Is there any objection to adopting committee substitute? Hearing none, the committee substitute is adopted. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee, which was favorable to the passage of the bill?

361. 2:39:35

     Hearing, hearing none the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall this bill now pass? All in favor of the passage of the bill will vote yes. All those opposed will vote no. And the clerk will unlock the machine.

362. 2:40:12

     Have all members voted? All members voted? If so, Mr. Clerk will lock the machine. On the passage of House Bill 892, the yeas are 158, the nays are six. This bill having received the requisite constitutional majority is therefore passed. I want that back.

363. 2:40:48

     Members, if you'll come into the chamber, we're gonna have our road naming bill. Come in and give Chairman Jasperse your attention, please. Mr. Clerk, will you read the caption to House Resolution 1300?

364. 2:41:08

     House Resolution 1300 by Representative Ford of the 170th and others. A resolution recognizing the Honorable Penny Houston and dedicating a roundabout in her honor. This resolution having been referred to the Committee in Transportation, that committee recommends that this resolution be adopted by committee substitute.

365. 2:41:39

     Chairman of Transportation, Representative Rick Jasperse, is recognized to present the road naming resolution.

366. 2:41:46

     Okay, members, uh, first before I get started, we're gonna do 10 resolutions right now in a second, but you also still have time to get your ins- get yours in. I know, uh, we talked about getting the news, uh, uh, ads and get all that done. You still have time. You got a week or two, but please, uh, be persistent and get that done. You know, you might wonder why I'm doing this for Representative Ford, but this is a bill that, that comes from the Transportation Committee. And I'm very fortunate in my office to have great help.

367. 2:42:20

     Uh, Danny Nicholas, who's our, our policy analyst, Carmen Champion, Elliot Atkins are in my office, who've helped many of you do your road dedications, and I really appreciate their work. But it is your honor to recognize a Georgian, and I take it very seriously. You know, 'cause you, when you take time to look in your book and read the contributions that the 10 people that we're gonna honor today have done, it's impressive.

368. 2:42:51

     Some more than others. The, uh, this bill is named after the, the wonderful lady Penny Houston, who sat right there for many years and was a joy for anybody who sat and worked with her. But there's eight of the 10 are memorials. So if I could get all of our members to stand as we recognize

369. 2:43:13

     these folks.

370. 2:43:18

     We'll start off with Penny Houston. We're, we're naming a roundabout in Cook County as the Penny Houston Roundabout. She'd love to be here, but she's, she's a busy woman these days. Next is the a interchange in Cook County is the John L. Williams Memorial Interchange. Then a bridge in Chattahoochee River, on Chattahoochee River in Cobb County is the John A. Williams Memorial Bridge.

371. 2:43:48

     An interchange in Cherokee County is the Cara Jayden Atkins Memorial Interchange. A bridge in Douglas County is the Andrew "Drew" Keith Slay Memorial Bridge. An interchange in Cook County is the William Brown Lovett Memorial Interchange. A portion of US 78 in Augusta and Richmond County is Master Sergeant Gary L. Gordon Memorial Highway.

372. 2:44:19

     A bridge in Clinch County is the Edna Sermons Sissons Memorial Bridge. And an intersection in Paulding County is the Xander Treyon Whatley Memorial Intersection. And lastly, an interchange in Twiggs County for Representative Bubber Epps Interchange. Members, thank you for taking this role serious. You- we have that great opportunity to recognize Georgians, and we'll just pause for just a moment of silence and the eight people who this is a memorial for.

373. 2:44:54

     Thank you, members. Thank you, Speaker. I yield the floor.

374. 2:45:01

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Some excellent names and road namings honoring these folks.

375. 2:45:06

     1334.

376. 2:45:07

     Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered? Hearing none, the previous question is ordered. Is any objec- is there any objection to adopting the committee substitute? Hearing none, the committee substitute is adopted. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee, which was favorable to the adoption of the resolution? Hearing none, the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall this resolution now be adopted? All in favor, favor of the adoption of the resolution will vote yes. All those opposed will vote no. And Mr.

377. 2:45:37

     Clerk will unlock the machine.

378. 2:46:09

     Have all members voted? All...

379. 2:46:17

     All members voted. If so, Mr. Clerk will lock the machine. On the adoption of the resolution, House Resolution 1300, the yays are 170, the nays are zero. The resolution having received, received the requisite const- constitutional majority is therefore adopted.

380. 2:46:54

     That was pretty cool. I just, uh, got re- was reminded that Penny House's district was 170. Got 170 votes. Did y'all plan that? Good stuff. Good stuff. Mr. Clerk, will, will you read the caption to House Bill 1434? 1-4-3-4. House Bill 1434 by Representative Jenkins. An 136 to be entitled an act to amend Chapter 3 of Title 6 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to powers of local governments as to air facilities so as to provide for identification of airports affected areas.

381. 2:47:33

     This bill has been referred to the Committee on Transportation. That committee recommends that this bill do pass by committee substitute.

382. 2:47:44

     Representative David Jenkins is recognized to present the bill. The gentleman's recognized.

383. 2:47:52

     Mr. Speaker, members of the House, today I rise to present House Bill 1434. This bill creates a system in Georgia to manage the protected airspace that lies above all of our general aviation airports. This air space is defined by 14 CFR Part 77, and it contains all the air routes that flow into and out of all of our, uh, airports in the state. Our Georgia airport infrastructure is largely funded by federal grants.

384. 2:48:24

     And in order to receive these grants, we're required to, uh, to provide or to abide by federal safety regulations and not obstruct this airspace, the consequences of which are the loss of federal grant money. Uh, it could also cause the loss of, of r- of, uh, infrastructure, causing runways to be shortened, moved, or closed. So basically, what this legislation does is it requires the airport to notify adjacent, uh, counties and cities that this airspace lies above.

385. 2:48:57

     Uh, it assists these governments in defining this airspace. It tasks GDOT with providing technical expertise so that this airspace can be defined, and then it can be interpreted into, uh, zoning and, uh, local ordinances. And then as a pr- enforcement mechanism, it authorizes GDOT to withhold LMIG from a, uh, a government that violates this airspace and allows obstructions to penetrate it. And it also creates a variance procedure.

386. 2:49:29

     Uh, the FAA will allow this, uh, airspace to be obstructed in the event that the obstruction actually doesn't, uh, affect an airway in that airspace. So this creates that procedure where a, uh, a local government can request through the airport a variance. This measure was brought by over 100 Georgia airports represented by two trade organizations. It, uh, measures like this have been passed by 47 of 50 states.

387. 2:50:00

     All surrounding states have adopted a management procedure to manage this airspace. Uh, this is a proactive management tool that will encourage maximum economic development around our state's airports and protect our valuable airport infrastructure. Uh, that concludes my presentation. I stand for your questions. Would the gentleman yield to a question from Representative Jasperse to your right? I will. Thank you. Does the gentleman yield? I do yield. Is it not true that you have taken what is a very complex issue that has really plagued our local airports, all of them, for many years, worked very hard to come up with a sustainable solution, uh, and I think a very reasonable one for those airports?

388. 2:50:50

     Well, I appreciate your kind words. Thank you, sir. Our Transportation Committee thanks you for taking this on and solving this problem. Thank you, sir. Gentleman knows a little, little bit about air travel. You have no further questions? All right. I yield the well. Gentleman yields the well. Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered? Hearing none, the previous question is ordered. Is there any objection to adopting the committee substitute? Hearing none, the committee substitute is adopted. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee, which is favorable to the passage of the bill?

389. 2:51:24

     Hearing none, the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall this bill now pass? All in favor of the passage of the bill will vote yes. All those opposed will vote no. And Mr. Clerk will unlock the machine.

390. 2:52:17

     Have all members voted? All members voted.

391. 2:52:26

     If so, clerk will lock the machine. On the passage of House Bill 1434, the yeas are 170, nays are zero. This bill having received the requisite constitutional majority is therefore passed.

392. 2:52:51

     Mr. Clerk, will you read the caption of House Bill 334? House Bill 334 by Representative Crawford of the 89th and others being entitled An Act to Amend Article 7 of Chapter 4, Title 49 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to medical assistance generally so as to require the Department of Community Health to conduct an annual review of medications and treatment for sickle cell di- disease for Medicaid recipients. This bill having been referred to the Committee on Public and Community Health, that committee recommends that this bill do pass.

393. 2:53:26

     Representative Omari Crawford is recognized to present the bill. The gentleman is recognized.

394. 2:53:36

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Friends, today I present to you House Bill 334. Thank you. Friends, I present to you House Bill 334. It is legislation that is very important to this state. It would require our Department of Community Health to conduct an annual review of the medications and treatments that are available for people impacted by sickle cell disease, which is a very prevalent blood disorder in our state. It impacts about 15,000 people, making us one of the top states of people with sickle cell disease.

395. 2:54:11

     What it would do is allow input from experts, people impacted, and doctors to look at the medications that are prescribed as our treatments evolve to treat sickle cell. This is legislation that matches the governor's efforts to address sickle cell disease. It was heard by people from the Department of Community Health, and they support the legislation, and I'm asking you to do that as well. So I'm asking for your favorable support. That's the bill, and at this time I'll stand for any questions if there are any.

396. 2:54:44

     You have a couple. Representative Driner, to your left, is recognized for a question.

397. 2:54:50

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentleman yield? Yes, I do, for my friend. Isn't it true that the speaker says frequently that a story not told is soon forgotten? And this is really the story of former Representative Gloria Frazier, who championed this bill repeatedly. And let me say thank you to my colleague and friend for bringing this bill forward, and a shout-out to Representative Frazier.

398. 2:55:21

     Thank you. Representative Frazier was a sickle cell advocate, and I'm happy to carry the baton forward. Thank you. Representative Karlton Howard, to your left, is recognized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentleman yield? Yes, I do. Let me thank you for this bill as well. Uh, my grandson was, uh, uh, passed from complications from sickle cell, and we need this type of attention given to this disease, and your bill brings great attention to that, and we need even more.

399. 2:55:52

     But I do wanna thank this body for supporting sickle cell in the past, and I hope we continue to do so. Thank you.

400. 2:56:02

     Representative Anissa Jones, to your left, is recognized. Thank you, Speaker. Does the gentleman yield? I do. Isn't it true that sickle cell disease not only is prevalent in African American cultures, but it has been documented in people in several ancestries from those with Greek, Italian, Turkish, Spanish, Middle Eas- Middle Eastern, and Indian Latin American background?

401. 2:56:35

     The lady knows of what she speaks.

402. 2:56:39

     Y- you yield for another one? Yes, Mr. Speaker. Representative Sanchez, to your right, is recognized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentleman yield? I do. Thank you so much for this bill. Uh, when new medications for sickle cell d- disease are developed, would an annual report just like this help ensure that we push this forward and adopt these treatments more quickly? A- absolutely. This legislation would make sure that we're not standing still as medications and treatments evolve. The last medications were introduced in 2023. There will be more, so we wanna make sure that we have an opportunity to give input.

403. 2:57:12

     Thank you. Thank you. One more. Representative Holly, to your left. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the gentleman yield? Yes. Um, I would like to know, uh, from your standpoint, because you've been such an active, uh, runner state to state, do you yourself, uh, contribute so much of your giving of your time to focus not only on the necessity for the YMCA and, and certainly, um, for your own journey, but is there something particularly for you special about your own journey, uh, that you commit to victims of sickle cell anemia?

404. 2:57:50

     Uh, thank you for that question. And yes, I serve on a board that helps people impacted by sickle cell, so speaking with the families often lets me know the help that they need. So thank you.

405. 2:58:05

     You want one more? Y- yes, Speaker, and, um- Well, okay ... then I will, yeah, the. Uh, Representative Inga Willis, recognized for a question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. She's to your right. She's your seatmate. Yes, Mr. Speaker. Come on. Does the gentleman yield? Yes, for my seatmate. Is it not true that this is a horrendous disease that cripples many from several cultures, including one of our hometown favorites, Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins from TLC, who has exceeded her life expectancy and is in full support of your legislation today?

406. 2:58:43

     Is that not true? The gentlelady knows of what she speaks. Thank you. And with that, Mr. Speaker, I will yield the will, and I ask your, for your favorable support, friends. Thank you. Good job. The gentleman's yielded the will. Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered? Hearing none, the previous question is ordered. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the, report of the committee, which was favorable to the passage of the bill? Hearing none, the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall this bill now pass? All in favor of the passage of the bill will vote yes.

407. 2:59:15

     All those opposed will vote no, and Mr. Clerk will unlock the machine.

408. 2:59:41

     Have all members voted?

409. 2:59:46

     All members voted. If so, Mr. Clerk will lock the machine. On the passage of House Bill 334, the yays are 159, the nays are seven. This bill, having received the requisite constitutional majority, is therefore passed. All right, members, we're gonna take up... Congratulations. And thanks to our former Representative Gloria Frazier. She always did a really good job of being supportive and, uh, advocating for sickle cell.

410. 3:00:16

     And this body has invested lots of dollars in, especially in the Augusta, with the Medical College of Georgia and the research they're doing there. Done great work. So thank you, Representative Crawford. We're gonna take up this one, then we're gonna take a break.

411. 3:00:33

     Mr. Clerk, will you read the resol- read the tit- excuse me. I should take a break now, I guess. Mr. Clerk, will you read the caption to House Resolution 1000? House Resolution 1000 by Representative Efstration of the 104th and others, proposing an amendment to the Constitution so as to eliminate the ad valorem tax assessment on certain timber at sale or harvest. This resolution having been referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, that committee recommends that this resolution be adopted by committee substitute.

412. 3:01:10

     Leader Efstration is recognized to present the resolution. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ladies and gentlemen of the House, I bring to you tonight H.R. 1000, a constitutional amendment addressing, um, a reform to the severance tax that we have in Georgia. I wanna begin by thanking the chairman of Banks and Banking, who carried H.R. 96 in 2024 and has been a tireless advocate on this issue. Georgia's a national leader in forestry, and the timber industry is a cornerstone of our state's economy.

413. 3:01:43

     Over the past year, Georgia timber farmers have faced severe economic hardship across the state. This follows a closure of multiple paper mills and sawmills, and many t- family timber farmers are still experiencing significant losses in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. These setbacks are straining these family timber farms and the rural communities that depend upon forestry jobs and timber income. I've introduced House Resolution 1000, which is a bipartisan measure to propose a constitutional amendment to eliminate the ad valorem tax assessment on standing timber at harvest or sale when that timber comes from a qualified conservation use land.

414. 3:02:26

     This is CUVA, FLP or another qualified classification. The relief is tied to an active covenant requiring the owner to keep the property in forest land conservation use. As many timber farmers are deciding right now whether they can afford to remain in operation, this resolution provides an incentive to keep family timber farms in production by limiting the benefit to land kept in conservation use. Now, a concern that's been raised in the past on this measure is the impact to local governments and local school districts.

415. 3:03:01

     They, through this measure, will be reimbursed as a backfill from any resulting revenue loss if this constitutional amendment is made effective. House Resolution 1000 is a targeted, necessary step to support Georgia's timber family farms and to protect our rural communities, while also keeping our forest land in long-term conservation use. I have a letter that I put out on the desk from the Georgia Forestry Association providing some very helpful details.

416. 3:03:32

     It looks like this. And also, I have, uh, just for your recollection, we passed a very similar measure in 2024, H.R. 96, which passed almost unanimously. Mr. Speaker, I'd be happy to answer any questions.

417. 3:03:48

     The gentleman yield for a question. Representative Park Cannon is recognized for a question to your left, right in front of you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Do you yield? Yes, ma'am. Um, how much would this cost the state? So the fiscal note is $10 million to $12 million, which I'll note is almost half of what the fiscal note was for the bill that, um-

418. 3:04:11

     That members voted for in 2024.

419. 3:04:17

     I yield for one more question if there-

420. 3:04:18

     Representative, Chairman Dickey to your right is recognized for a question.

421. 3:04:22

     Does the gentleman yield?

422. 3:04:23

     Yes, sir.

423. 3:04:24

     Uh, thank you for bringing this bill. Um, is it not true that relieving land owners of this, uh, tax would better enable them to, uh, pay the higher cost of reforestation that, uh, is essential to keep our, uh, forest industry strong and, uh, going for the next, uh, uh, future. Uh, and so thank you, uh, for this help, uh, for the long-term viability of our, uh, state's forest.

424. 3:04:51

     Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the question. Uh, pa- payment of this tax is, um, is unique. No other farming product is taxed, uh, like timber is taxed in Georgia right now. I believe that this is a necessary reform. It's als- it also makes sense. If, uh, the land is in conf- conservation use, there's going to be replanting that occurs. It's consistent that we would not tax, um, at, at the time timber is harvested. With that, Mr. Speaker, I know that we're up on the dinner break.

425. 3:05:21

     I'll yield the well and ask for the body's favorable consideration.

426. 3:05:26

     Gentleman's yielded the well. We have a couple of folks signed up to speak in favor. We'll give you up to 15 minutes, not each, total. Representative Buckner, you lead it off, then Representative Williams, and Representative Glaize. Ladies recognized. Give the lady your attention, please.

427. 3:05:45

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ladies and gentlemen, um, I feel like we need a little levity, so, um, I'm thinking that some of you may have watched Golden Girls sometime in your life, and you remi- might remember Sophia. And her favorite line was, "Let me tell you a story." And then she would say, "Picture this." So let me tell you a story. The year was 2008, and FLPPA passed, and FLPPA is the Forest Land Protection Act.

428. 3:06:15

     And as most bills, it was mostly good, but there were some things that were in the bill that have caused us a little bit of heartburn. It was aimed at preventing the conversion of working forest land into commercial developments, and it provided much needed tax relief so that tree farmers, of which are individuals, they're not big companies. 94% of all the forest land in Georgia is individually family-owned.

429. 3:06:45

     But it was designed in a way to help them be able to continue to afford to plant, grow, and harvest trees. And to receive the FLPPA tax savings, there was a severance tax added so that when you cut your trees, y- you had your harvested timber, you would have to pay the severance tax. Now, the severance tax is based on things removed from the land, but it's a little bit unfair because trees are the only thing that we have severance taxes for in Georgia, especially when you compare them to agricultural products.

430. 3:07:26

     Blueberries, when you take them off the bush and they're severed, are not taxed. Corn is not taxed. No agricultural product that is severed from the ground or from the land is taxed. So picture this. When trees are cut, the severance tax is then charged at 100% of the value. Now, other taxes are usually 40%, so we're paying 100% severance tax on something that is renewable and that most people will harvest, and then they will go and clear the land, prep it, buy tree seedlings, and replant.

431. 3:08:15

     What I love about this bill is that it is geared towards us replanting because the cost of the severance tax is almost always equal to the cost of the trees you plant. And the severance tax, I mean, the, this bill is saying, "If you are going to replant, you don't have to pay the severance tax. If you are clear cutting for development, then you pay the severance tax." And what I want people that don't live on a tree farm to know is, um, and as Sophia would say, picture this again.

432. 3:08:57

     While the trees are growing and nurturing,

433. 3:09:04

     people forget that they are filtering our air, they are storing and absorbing car, uh, CO2, they are releasing clean oxygen, they prevent soil erosion, they filter water, they provide wildlife habitats, and they simply provide beauty to our land. This is a improvement to the tax structure for t- tree farmers because their crops that are harvested are severed from the land, but they are almost always replanted, and can be if this bill passes.

434. 3:09:51

     Replanting may not occur if this severance tax remains based on all the other things going on in the industry right now. So I ask you to please favorably consider making the change in the law and to vote for- this because I don't wanna have to come back one day and say, "There's no trees. Picture that," um, as Sophia might say.

435. 3:10:22

     It w- does come at a really good time when Georgia's economy in the forestry industry is weakening, and the competitiveness is a problem, and we are the national leader, and we need to stay that by continuing to plant trees in Georgia. So I ask for your favorable consideration. Thank you.

436. 3:10:43

     Thank you. L- ladies, yield to the well. Representative, Representative Al Williams. Gentleman's recognized.

437. 3:10:57

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The gentle-

438. 3:10:59

     You have up to 10 minutes, sir.

439. 3:11:02

     The gentle lady from Junction City has done an excellent job of explaining the nuts and bolts of House Resolution 1000. Now, if anybody needs some good news, it's tree farmers in Georgia. 2025 was a year of bad news, continuous bad news. 2026 had started out with more bad news.

440. 3:11:36

     The toughness of it is that 90-plus percent of small landowners, of the small landowners that own 90% of the property, are up against a rock and a hard spot. They literally have a commodity that it takes, even with new scientific ingenuity, 12, 15 years to harvest. And when the mar- bottom falls out the market, and you don't have an outlet because you can't export the chips because of some fumigation requirements that the EU has put in place, you can't sell it to paper mills that have closed and moved to Alabama, and you certainly can't make a living letting hunters use it as a stand to hunt deer.

441. 3:12:35

     It's a difficult time. And this bill, or resolution, will supply some relief. Only crop that there is no break when you harvest it, and that's a difficult time. Now, sometimes it's a little difficult for us to realize it when we see pine trees only when we go to visit Big Mama or on television.

442. 3:13:11

     But those very same trees that are found primarily in rural Georgia plays a vital role on the environment. And when you think about the fact that if we don't help this industry from the bottom to the top, hurts. I grew up in a community where at one time every community had one to two people that were in the pulpwood harvesting business.

443. 3:13:43

     Unheard of now. Then all you needed was a Ford tractor, small truck, and some sticks to hold your pulpwood on the truck. Now you need about $3 million worth of equipment to just be a small operator. We need this desperately in southeast Georgia, and we need to send some good news to property owners that have gotten nothing but bad news lately.

444. 3:14:17

     In the area where I live, and as vice chairman of RISE, it represents eight counties from Screven County to Liberty, and the tri-county development of Liberty, McIntosh, and Long Counties, 5,000 property owners were affected by the closing of our mills, and all of a sudden they don't have a market. Send some good news to Georgia, one of the country's largest producers of pulpwood and chips.

445. 3:14:50

     With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield the well.

446. 3:14:55

     Thank you for your presentation. The gentleman knows of what he speaks. Uh, Representative Glaize is recognized to speak to the bill.

447. 3:15:02

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I would ask everyone in here, is it, to raise your hand if you have a cousin. If you have a cousin, raise your hand. Well, I just wanna talk to you about my cousins. See, my cousins and my uncles live in Liberty County, and for many generations, timber has been their staple on how they lived, how the community thrived, and how they thrived. We're in generations, almost down to the fifth generation, and now my cousins, who are your cousins, because they're rural Georgia Georgians, and they need our help.

448. 3:15:46

     They need our help not just because they're beggars. They need our help because they were workers, and they lost their jobs because International Paper moved from Riceboro, from Savannah, and there, I believe there's only one place where there's chipping wood n- right now in the, in the state. I believe that is true. And so several p- paper plants closing across south Georgia.

449. 3:16:17

     continues to be an urgent need to support our family, our cousins in rural Georgia. They need this tax break to rebuild their communities and to recover. Supporting this resolution sends a clear message that we will not forget our cousins in rural communities. You see, all of Georgia is connected. And when we leave South Georgia out, urban Georgia is affected.

450. 3:16:51

     House Resolution 1000 recognizes this importance and we want to stand with that community and those rural Georgia communities. Members, please vote this yes so that all Georgians succeed. And Mr. Speaker, with that, I receive your votes yes, and you can have the well back.

451. 3:17:17

     I appreciate that.

452. 3:17:21

     Lady has yielded the well. The best to your cousins. That concludes our discussion on House Resolution 1000. Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered? Chair hears none. Previous question is ordered. Is there any objection to adopting the committee substitute? Hearing none, the committee substitute is adopted. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee, which was favorable to the adoption of the resolution? Hearing none, the report of the committee is agreed to.

453. 3:17:53

     Shall this resolution now be adopted? All in favor of the resolution will vote yes. All in favor of the adoption of the resolution will vote yes. All those opposed will vote no. And Mr. Clerk will unlock the machine.

454. 3:18:29

     Have all members voted? All members voted. For what purpose does Representative Jason Ridley rise?

455. 3:18:38

     Parliamentary inquire.

456. 3:18:42

     Parliamentary-

457. 3:18:42

     State your inquiry.

458. 3:18:43

     Mr. Speaker, do you think if we made suppressors out of wood, I could get this many votes on the next bill?

459. 3:18:49

     Possibly. Chance of slimming none for you. Uh, for, for what purpose does Representative Stinson rise?

460. 3:18:57

     Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker.

461. 3:18:59

     State your inquiry, ma'am.

462. 3:19:00

     Mr. Speaker, is it not true that, um, International Papers is housed in Oglethorpe, Georgia, which is in House District 150, which is still going strong. But even though it's, that facility is still open and, and employing workers, I sympathize with, uh, other parts of the State of Georgia. And so I proudly support this bill. Isn't that not true, Mr. Speaker?

463. 3:19:23

     I know the l- lady, uh, knows what she speaks to. She's a good neighbor, and thanks for being that. All members voted? If so, Mr. Clerk will lock the machine. On the adoption of House Resolution 1000, the yays are 166, the nays are four. The resolution having received the requisite constitutional majority is therefore adopted. Thank you, members.

464. 3:19:55

     We have a couple of announcements, announcements, then we're gonna recess for dinner. Chair Lady Camp.

465. 3:20:11

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Uh, we have been graciously invited. Anyone in this room who eats gluten-free, specifically for health or for whatever reason, there is a gluten-free pizza party downstairs in room 133. Thank you.

466. 3:20:28

     Is ch- Uh.

467. 3:20:35

     Chairman Parrish.

468. 3:20:38

     There's still work.

469. 3:20:39

     Gentleman's recognized for an announcement.

470. 3:20:49

     Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask the members of the Rules Committee to meet me in 341 at 6:30. 6:30, room 341. Thank you.

471. 3:21:13

     That concludes our announcements. Uh, members, y'all have everything you need to know about the remainder of the next hour for dinner, supper, on your email, but we will be standing recessed until 6:45. 6:45.