Senate floor session, January 14, 2026 (legislative day 3)

Transcript

143 turns. Select a time to play that moment of the video.

1. 0:13:45

   And then go ahead and forget to turn it off.

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   First time in 70 years it's been touched. And, uh, since we built it. And it's mainly hewn from limestone.

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   Good morning. Good morning. Time for convening has arrived. The Senate will come to order. At this time, I will ask all unauthorized personnel to exit the building, or the chamber, I should say. Y'all, you can stay in the building.

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   That sounds good too.

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   Recognize the senator from the sixth for a good word of wisdom.

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   Good morning, Mr. President.

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   I heard you did a fine job this morning. Sorry I couldn't be there.

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   But I'm sad to report we have no pages today.

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   Oh.

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    But that's okay. So I'll take this opportunity to remind all our senators to please promote the page program back home, and let's get these young'uns introduced to our great government here in the great state of Georgia. Mr. President, the journal has been read and found to be correct, so I move that we dispense with the reading of the journal.

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    All right. That sounds good.

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    Now, we got a chaplain today. If y'all saw, our, my chaplain was here earlier, and, uh, he wasn't here to pray over me. We forgot to pay his per diem. So Chaplain, that wa- that's something we've forgotten. No, I'm just kidding. We didn't do that. Just playing.

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    Is there objections to confirmation of the journal? Hearing none, the journal is confirmed. All senators who have bills and resolutions introduced, please bring them to the secretary's desk at this time. First reading and references to Senate bills and resolution. Secretary.

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    Senate Bill 389 by Senators Jackson of the 41st and others, a bill to be entitled an act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 35 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to general provisions concerning-

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    Public safety

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    ... Senate Bill 390 by Senator Jones se- of the 22nd, a bill to be entitled an act to amend Part 1 of Article 1 of Chapter 2 of Title 38-

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    Veterans and Homeland Security

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    ... Senate Bill 391 by Senator Parks of the 7th and others, a bill to be entitled an act to amend Article 5 of Chapter 11 of Title 16-

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    Judiciary

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    ...

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    Senate Bill 392 by Senators Albers of the 56th and others, a bill to be entitled an act to amend Part 1 of Article 4 of Chapter 12 of Title 45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated known as the-

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    Appropriations

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    ... Senate Bill 393 by Senators Kemp of the 38th and others, a bill to be entitled an act to amend Article 6 of Chapter 3 of Title 44 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated-

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    Public safety

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    Senate Bill 394 by Senators Parent of the 44th and others, a bill to be entitled an act to amend chapter two of title 40 of the official code of Georgia annotated.

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    Public safety.

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    Senate Bill 395 by Senators Kirkpatrick of the 32nd and others, a bill to be entitled an act to amend chapter 2A of title 31 of the-

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    Health and human services.

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    Senate Bill 396 by Senators McLaurin of the 14th and others, a bill to be entitled an act to amend chapter one of title 34 of the official code of Georgia annotated-

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    Judiciary

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    ... Senate Bill 397 by Senators McLaurin of the 14th and others, a bill to be entitled an act to amend chapter one of title 51 of the official-

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    Judiciary.

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    Senate Bill 398 by Senators Hatchett of the 50th and others, a bill to be entitled an act to amend part one of article three of chapter 11.

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    Judiciary.

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    Senate Resolution 563 by Senators Robinson, Robertson of the 29th and others, a resolution urging the Georgia Secretary of State to immediately and fully comply with the request of the United States Department of Justice to securely produce Georgia's voter registration list in compliance with Georgia's obligations.

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    Public

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    safe-

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    Senate Resolution 567 by Senators Kirkpatrick of the 32nd and others, a resolution expressing support for the designation of the state parador Willie Syndrome Awareness-

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    Health and human services.

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    Thank you, Mr. President. That completes the order.

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    It is now time for the morning roll call. Are there any motions to excuse? Recognize the senator from the 41st.

42. 0:37:14

    Good morning, Mr. President, and thank you so much. I ask for unanimous consent to excuse the senators from the 5th, the 7th, the 10th, the 17th, the 33rd, and the 36th.

43. 0:37:30

    Did somebody miss a memo? I'm playing, Senator. Is there objection? Hearing none, we excuse the senators from the 5th, the 7th, the 10th, the 17th, and the 33rd.

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    The 36th.

45. 0:37:44

    And the 36th. Well, we're gonna get some things done today. All right. Any other motion? Oh, senator, I recognize the senator from the 29th.

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    Thank you, Mr. President. I ask for unanimous consent to excuse the senator from the 37th for business outside of the Capitol.

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    Without objection, the senator from the 37th is excused. Recognize the senator from the 49th.

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    48th.

49. 0:38:09

    That's it, my eyes. 48th. Apologize.

50. 0:38:13

    Speaking on behalf of the senator from the 49th, good morning, Mr. President, uh, ask unanimous consent, please, can, uh, please excuse the senator from the 47th for business inside the Capitol.

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    All right, without objection, senator from the 47th is excused. Recognize the senator from the 43rd, Rockdale County's finest.

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    And DeKalb and Gwinnett and Newton. Thank you, Mr. President. I ask for unanimous consent to excuse the senator from the 55th.

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    Without objection, senator from the 55th is excused. Recognize the senator from 30th.

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    Ask for uni- unanimous consent to excuse the senator from the fif- 51st.

55. 0:38:49

    Without objection, senator from the 51st is excused. Any other motions to excuse? Hearing none, secretary will unlock the machine. Vote.

56. 0:41:01

    It is now time for the mon- morning devotion. All senators, please take your seats and cease all conversation. I would ask that the doorkeeper secure the chamber at this time.

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    Like to recognize the senator from the 31st to introduce our pastor today and lead us in our pledge. Senator?

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    Yep, that's right.

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    Oh. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I pledge allegiance to the Georgia flag and the principles for which it stands, wisdom, justice, moderation, courage.

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    Good morning, Georgia Senate. I have the honor to introduce one of our beloved families from the 31st Senate district, Reverend Britt Madden. Reverend Britt Madden is a long-life resident of Polk County, where his family has resided on the family farm for three and soon to be four generations. Britt is the pastor of Cedartown First United Methodist in Cedartown, Georgia, which is also the church he grew up in and started his relationship with Jesus Christ.

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    His family, including his wife of 17 years, Amy, she's here, along with his two daughters, eight-year-old Anna and six-year-old Lily, who are here today to show their love for him. While being a pastor, Britt has served his congregation for over 24 years, with 24 years of experience in the pulpit, and 22 years was where he served as a bi-vocational pastor in congregations all over West Georgia. He also worked with his father in, in the encount- accounting and tax evaluation practice, which Pastor, uh, Madden, I will tell you, you may have to come back up here as we're eliminating the income tax, so maybe you can help us do that.

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    And also, too, Britt has been a leader in, leader in the education s- uh, space, where he just served his eighth year on the Polk County School Board and recently just ended his term as the chair of the Board of Education. With that, I will introduce to you Reverend Madden.

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    Thank you. All right. Good job.

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    Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Senator Anavitarte, for this wonderful opportunity, and I say to the room, good morning.

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    Morning.

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    I bring you greetings and glad tidings as pastor of the wonderful congregation in Cedartown, Georgia at Cedartown First Methodist Church.

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    And I also, those same greetings are extended from our God who is with us on days I tell you that it rains and on days filled with glorious sunshine, and whom loves us with a love that desires us and moves Him to seek us. I share with you this morning of two stories rooted with strong ties to the God talked about by the psalmist in Psalm 29. The first story goes back to the 1960s, and as I look across the room, a few of you definitely remember that time.

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    But there was a moment that I want you to know that occurred that really struck me. It was a moment when Admiral Hyman Rickover gave then President John F. Kennedy a small brass plaque, and it was engraved with a prayer. Kennedy liked it an awful, awful lot, and he used it actually at the dedication of a memorial to the people who were lost, missing at sea. And the prayer on that memorial actually said, "Oh God, thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small." And as I've had the short opportunity to stand before you this morning and look across the wonderful representatives in this room who go and represent communities from all around this state, and as I look around and see you this morning, as you populate these beautiful tables that are historic in nature, I see too that you are in a boat that's pretty small.

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    But not as small, though, as the life raft of a man by the name of Alex Friedman, whose story was actually published in The Atlantic just a few months ago. The first-time commercial fisherman, this is his first run after going through the Coast Guard little course they send you to local community college, where he got on a boat for the first time to try to be a commercial fisherman. Well, the first time he went out with another captain on just him and the boat off the Washington State coast, a massive storm came in, and he found himself in a life raft no bigger than a kiddie pool with a tent on top of it.

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    Mr. Friedman, with limited supplies, he went through an ordeal and saw him go through all types of emotions of which the psalmist in that 29th Psalm reminded us of throughout. He pleaded aloud for God, Friedman did, to save his physical self, while all the while the battering of waves were occurring on that little kiddie pool.

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    After a few days, he then started apologizing to God for every past transgression, for every injustice. He admitted aloud to breaking the Ten Commandments, and he simply just asked his God, our God, for forgiveness.

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    And I pause this story at this very moment to, for you to think for yourself. A moment just to ask your own self, what would you do if you were lost at sea?

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    Now that, that phrase lost at sea can be replaced as what would be more relevant to you. I can only imagine sitting where you sit, the questions where you might be lost at your proverbial sea when you're trying to figure out how this bill that's before you helps people the best. Or maybe the question can come about of am I voting the vote based on helping my people in my district, or am I voting on helping the people who just simply elected me?

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    Let's go back to the story, though, of Mr. Alex Friedman. After resolving in his own mind that he was going to die, he shared to the writer of the article that he didn't fall into despair, but he found, and he made an incredible statement, and I quote it for you this morning. He said he found a, "a peace I hadn't known to look for, and it found me."

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    Peace, my friends, found him. Because you see, when we're lost at sea, overwhelmed by the chaos of life, God finds us and gives us peace. Well, the very next morning, Alex woke up and saw a boat, and it was getting closer. He hollered out, and with his last flare lit and burning in his own hand, he was crying out.

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    And then he heard a voice from that very same boat that he saw was coming toward him, and the voice from the boat said, "We see you. We're coming. We see you."

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    The promise of scripture, my friends, is that God has power over the watery chaos of life. When we are confused or perplexed, I will share with you the comforting news that God is searching for us. When we're feeling lost, when we're feeling, feeling bewildered, disoriented, God hears your prayers.

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    When we are facing the most complex of situations, and I know this room can put out some bills that look pretty complex, but I tell you this, my friends, God offers us peace.

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    Let us pray.

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    Oh, wondrous God, I thank you for this opportunity to be in this place.

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    Oh, loving God, I tell you, it's amazing the historical significance from which I stand in this very moment, but you know all about it.

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    And Lord, you know about everyone in this room, and you know the sea that they're traveling on right now.

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    And some of them might think there is just nothing to see at all from my little boat.

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    But oh, God, help them realize that they aren't alone. We aren't alone. And help us to realize, oh, Heavenly Father, that it's your love and your grace that searches for us.

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    And we are so, so thankful. I pray that when we are found, bless this room, bless the work of this body, and bless us all. In your glorious name I pray, amen.

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    Amen.

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    Thank you.

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    That's good. Appreciate it. That was good.

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    Thanks.

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    You're welcome.

91. 0:59:55

    We, uh, have a doctor of the day we need to recognize, and I always appreciate our physicians coming down here and volunteering their time. And to introduce our doctor of the day, I call on the senator from the-

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    38th

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    ... 38th. I'm gonna get that down at one point in time before it's over with. Ain't that right, senator from the 41st? So, senator from the 38th. Senator.

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    Good morning.

95. 1:00:23

    Good morning.

96. 1:00:23

    Good morning, colleagues. I am honored to welcome back to the chamber, uh, our doctor of the day from Senate District 38, uh, Dr. Kelly DeGraffenried, who is a physician program director of appointment excellence and auxiliary access for Kaiser Permanente of Georgia. She is a specialist in adult medicine who believes that our bodies, minds, and relationships all have an effect on our health, our health, and encourages her patients to take time to celebrate their lives.

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    Dr. DeGraffenried is a native of Indiana, so I'm sure is happy about what's getting ready to happen here, uh, in next week. Uh, but she is a graduate of Purdue University with a pharmacy degree, and then she went on to complete her medical degree at Case Western University, which is in Ohio, and her residency here at Emory University. She is also very active in the Medical Association of Georgia as president of the Medical Institute of Excellence in Medicine and former task force chairperson, and is one of the board, is on the board of the Medical Association of Atlanta.

98. 1:01:32

    So I am very honored to welcome back to the chamber Dr. Kelly DeGraffenried.

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    All right.

100. 1:01:41

     Wow.

101. 1:01:41

     Wow.

102. 1:01:41

     Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You've been on my TV lately. I don't know, something about commercials. Uh-

103. 1:01:47

     No, we don't do that.

104. 1:01:48

     I'm sorry, sorry, sorry. Uh, I also want to thank the Medical Association of Georgia for providing an opportunity for me to hang out with Ms. Julia today, uh, and provide what I believe is part of my civil service. Um, I'd also like to give a shout-out to the Medical Association of Atlanta, who supported me in doing this new program for me called Georgia's Physicians Leadership Association, which there are over 200 plus graduates who are, are physicians who are really interested in, uh, doing this work of creating policy, uh, for the state of Georgia.

105. 1:02:23

     Um, quickly, I'm reminded of two things. As a Permanente physician, our medical director reminds us that we live in a VUCA world: volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. I know you all know a little bit about that. Uh, and physicians are uniquely trained for this VUCA environment. We deal with it every day in the exam rooms as we deliver healthcare. I was also raised by my grandma, so I'm reminded of something she said, that it takes all kinds. Uh, and our physician training teaches us that we need different specialties.

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     We need different support with nurses, pharmacists, associate practitioners. And so I want to say that we physicians are happy to join you guys as you serve the citizens of Georgia in creating policy. You'll see us in force on February 4th at Physicians' Day at the Capitol, but we want to offer, um, us as, uh, resources to you all to help as you're creating this policy. So again, thank you to all of you for all that you do. My fellow colleagues in the profession, Dr. Kirkpatrick and Dr.

107. 1:03:29

     Watson, um, appreciate you allowing me to be here to serve you today. Let me know if there's any other way I can serve you. Thank you.

108. 1:03:36

     All right. Good job. Good job. Good job. You did good. Oh, let me turn

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     this off.

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     Are there any unanimous consents?

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     All right. Any senator wish to rise on a point of personal privilege? Recognize the senator from the 40th.

112. 1:04:46

     Fellow senators, today I rise with a heavy heart to honor the life of a remarkable woman, a constituent, a supporter, and a friend, Anne Eisenhower, and her beloved son, Max Potawitz. Anne was a highly respected public relations professional, trusted by journalists, admired by colleagues, and known for her integrity and her generosity.

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     She made time to mentor young professionals, opening doors, connecting people, and lifting others up. What truly set Anne apart was her heart. She believed deeply in human rights, in decency, justice, and the power of civic engagement. She lived those values every day and she taught them to her son, Max. Together, they worked for causes that reflected their shared compassion and commitment to their community.

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     Anne was always 200% in, giving her time, her energy, and her whole heart. I remember Anne showing up to one of my meet and greets at my last primary campaign. She didn't have to. She knew me well already. When I showed her a draft of my final campaign, campaign piece, she took it, she marked it up, and she handed it back to me way better than it had been before. She wore my campaign T-shirt all over the country and sent me pictures of her in that T-shirt wherever she was.

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     She co- showcased a four foot by eight foot campaign banner in her front yard tied to trees on a very busy Dunwoody intersection. But Anne's greatest joy was her beloved son, Max. Not long ago, Anne wrote, "Everything I did was for him and every moment with him was joy." Max was a freshman at NYU, full of promise and creativity, a talented guitarist with a gentle spirit.

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     He shared many passions with his mother, including travel and a deep love of bunnies. Together, Max and Anne were members of the Georgia House Rabbit Society, bonded by their compassion for small creatures. Max's life was suddenly and tragically cut short in early December. The grief Anne carried was simply too profound and she could not imagine a path forward without him.

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     The only way I know how to make sense of this loss of both Anne and Max is to live by their example, to remember their love, their generosity, and their belief in a better tomorrow. I ask that we as a Senate honor Anne and Max today, and that we all recommit ourselves to the values that they lived by: dignity, justice, and care for one another. Would you please join me in a moment of silence?

118. 1:07:56

     Senator's asked that everyone stand and join us in a moment of silence.

119. 1:08:07

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

120. 1:08:34

     Does any other senator wish to speak f- any other senator, point of personal privilege?

121. 1:08:48

     Thank you.

122. 1:08:48

     You have a consent calendar before you of privileged resolutions. Does any senator wish to remove a resolution from the consent calendar? Is there objection to the adoption of the resolution on the consent calendar? Chair hears none and the resolution on the consent calendars are adopted.

123. 1:09:10

     Mr. President.

124. 1:09:10

     Se- senator from the 41st, for what purpose do you rise?

125. 1:09:13

     I ask for unanimous consent to excuse the senator from the 39th.

126. 1:09:16

     Without objection, senator from the 39th is excused.

127. 1:09:23

     Are there any motions to withdraw or, or commit?

128. 1:09:32

     I recognize the majority leader for a motion.

129. 1:09:36

     Thank you, Mr. President. I got for my new floor leader for the senator from the 42nd's trying to throw me off over here. Um, yeah, for now until you're gone. Um, I'm- Mr. President, I move that the Senate stand adjourned until 10:00 AM Thursday, January 15th.

130. 1:09:52

     The majority leader's moved. Secretary, read the announcements.

131. 1:09:57

     There are no announcements, Mr. President.

132. 1:10:00

     Majority leader has moved. Recognize the senator from the 24th. For what purpose do you rise?

133. 1:10:04

     Make an announcement.

134. 1:10:06

     Come on.

135. 1:10:23

     Thank you, Mr. President. To- yesterday I left it on your desk and tomorrow we'd love to have you to come down on the second floor and let's keep Georgia Wild Day and see some people from DNR. We'd love to have y'all tomorrow between 8:00 and 11:00. Thank you.

136. 1:10:42

     It's always a good day. Appreciate you letting everybody know that, Senator. Recognize the senator from the 19th.

137. 1:10:51

     You wave?

138. 1:10:52

     Just wanna say hello.

139. 1:10:53

     Okay. All right. Your light was on. Some of your neighbors are playing with you over there, I guess. All right. Any other announcements? Also remember tomorrow, tomorrow is the State of the State, so we'll be tight on time. Obviously we've gotta go to the House chamber for that, so but just remember tomorrow's the State of the State. So the majority leader has moved that we stand adjourned until tomorrow at 10:00 AM. All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye.

140. 1:11:23

     Aye.

141. 1:11:23

     All those opposed, no.

142. 1:11:26

     No.

143. 1:11:26

     The ayes clearly have it. Y'all have a good day.