Senate floor session, February 10, 2026 (legislative day 16)

Transcript

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

1. 0:00:22

   Yeah, that actually can.

2. 0:00:27

   Or if you just happen to-- if you happen to, like, see her, like, at, at sessions or... Well, you, you need to be here anyway so you might as well.

3. 0:00:42

   She'll be rangling people.

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   One, two.

5. 0:00:44

   One.

6. 0:00:44

   I'm good with it. I love Katie.

7. 0:00:45

   It is nice to have you. Good morning, Senator Mallow.

8. 0:00:58

   Can we go over a

9. 0:01:07

   few items?

10. 0:02:00

    Yeah.

11. 0:02:00

    Yeah.

12. 0:02:01

    You got my attention because you're just off being the-- pulling everything.

13. 0:02:04

    Absolutely. Just great. Um, yeah. Yeah. We'll figure it out.

14. 0:02:09

    Recruited Evan and others to help with the microphone setup.

15. 0:02:13

    Yes. Interesting.

16. 0:02:16

    You cannot have Randal Mangham, Nan Orrock, and Billy Hickman all speaking-- trying to speak at the same level of microphone. It's not going to work.

17. 0:02:22

    It's not gonna work. Absolutely. And thank you for doing that and for getting that. Um-

18. 0:02:27

    Whether Dolezal and-- whether Dolezal and Evan can do anything about it.

19. 0:02:31

    Sure.

20. 0:02:32

    To, to the-

21. 0:02:33

    To me. Just put them on me. Yeah. Do whatever makes us talk.

22. 0:02:38

    Uh-huh.

23. 0:02:39

    Yeah. Yeah. Um-

24. 0:02:40

    Yeah, he-- we were talking about, um, the microphones earlier, and he was asking, "So are the, the well and the LG eyes or the..."

25. 0:02:48

    Um.

26. 0:02:48

    Yeah, we tried-- We looked at the dynamic, but-

27. 0:02:50

    Yeah. Yeah

28. 0:02:51

    ... didn't feel good about it.

29. 0:02:52

    Yeah.

30. 0:02:52

    I got some street cred with him and said, "Ooh, you, you can speak a little bit of tech."

31. 0:02:56

    That's good for you.

32. 0:02:57

    Just enough to be dangerous.

33. 0:02:59

    Yeah, just enough to be dangerous.

34. 0:03:00

    Is, is it a manual board or is it a digital board? Did you look at it at all?

35. 0:03:03

    Digital. Digital sound processor. Uh-huh.

36. 0:03:07

    Like I said-

37. 0:03:07

    Absolutely

38. 0:03:07

    ... just enough to sort of sound like I know what I'm talking about.

39. 0:03:09

    If we ever can find his microphone, he's wanting to... Even if there's nothing that we were doing, but he's curious about microphones, let me know, and I will come by with it so he can take a look and see.

40. 0:03:22

    Let's wait till after we have some resolution to the LG's very soon now 'cause, uh-

41. 0:03:26

    Yes. You know-

42. 0:03:27

    Could you imagine an LG trying to ride the sound system while presiding?

43. 0:03:32

    You know, and if anyone would try-

44. 0:03:37

    All right, so we're gonna have some weird and goofy today. Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. Let's just do everything clean.

45. 0:03:46

    Yes.

46. 0:03:46

    And we'll get through it.

47. 0:03:47

    Clean, steady.

48. 0:03:48

    All right. Let's get our order checked, gentlemen. First and foremost, do you have a proposed first reader?

49. 0:03:54

    That's right.

50. 0:03:55

    All right.

51. 0:03:55

    Yes. Two pages in.

52. 0:03:57

    Yep.

53. 0:03:58

    Got three pages in here that I've been talking about.

54. 0:04:00

    All right. Uh, you have a House first reader front and back.

55. 0:04:04

    House first readers front and back.

56. 0:04:07

    All right, make sure you're keeping them in order.

57. 0:04:12

    Then next will be a finance report.

58. 0:04:15

    Yep.

59. 0:04:15

    Then next will be a rules report.

60. 0:04:17

    Yep.

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    Then next will be a SLOGO general report.

62. 0:04:22

    Yep.

63. 0:04:23

    Then next-

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    What's that where-

65. 0:04:26

    No second readers

66. 0:04:27

    ... it takes-

67. 0:04:28

    Correct? No second readers.

68. 0:04:31

    No second readers.

69. 0:04:32

    All right. And here's your three resolutions.

70. 0:04:36

    That's it for me. Let's take a look-see here. Farm Bureau.

71. 0:04:42

    I'm trying to cut them down even more, especially since we didn't get-

72. 0:04:47

    Federation.

73. 0:04:48

    This one, you're skipping two whole pages.

74. 0:04:52

    Oh.

75. 0:04:52

    Just cutting out the entire middle section.

76. 0:04:54

    Okay. Well, they shouldn't have made that their four papers.

77. 0:04:58

    Oh, good. Is that where everything was? Yeah.

78. 0:05:03

    And I will give you a heads-up on the order as we get there. As AC tells me.

79. 0:05:09

    Something that might be usef-

80. 0:20:16

    Good morning. Good morning. The time for convening has arrived. Senate will come to order. All unauthorized visitors, please exit the chamber at this time. Chair recognizes the senator from the 6th.

81. 0:20:32

    Good morning, Mr. President. Y'all heard the man. If you ain't supposed to be here, get on out. Mr. President, we got a great group of pages here today. Out of Atlanta, I got Rohan Bernard. From Marietta, we have Thomas Bonfini. From Smyrna, Alexander Clayton. Also from Smyrna, we have Nolan Kline. From Buford, Mary Margaret Cooper.

82. 0:21:05

    From Perry, we have cousins James Goff and Sarah Golden. From Atlanta, we have Malachi Goodman and Bryce Holt. From Decatur, we have Lily Kelball. From Atlanta, Kingston McDonald. From Duluth, Arjun Pasham. From Alpharetta, Violet Purcell. From Powder Springs, Dominic Story. From Mapleton, Eduardo Todd.

83. 0:21:38

    From Clarksville, William Warnock. And from Dallas, we have Bella Winkowski. Y'all give these pages a big round of applause. We appreciate you being here, serving the great Senate and the great state of Georgia. Mr. President, the journal has been read and found to be correct, so I move we dispense with the reading of the journal.

84. 0:22:11

    Thank you, Senator. I appreciate that, and we greatly appreciate all the pages that are here today. Thank you so very much for being here, taking time out of y'all's day. Get you a day out of school. Hope we get you some extra credit with the, with the, uh, the school that you're coming from. So glad to have you. Is there objection to dispensing of the reading of the journal? Chair hears none. The reading of the journal is dispensed with. Is there objection to the confirmation of the journal? Chair hears none. The journal is confirmed. All senators have bills or resolutions to introduce, please bring them to the secretary's desk at this time.

85. 0:22:47

    First reading and references of Senate bills and resolutions. Secretary.

86. 0:22:52

    Senate Bill 479 by Senators Kemp of the 38th and others, a bill to be entitled an act to amend Subpart 2 of Part 1 of Article 16-

87. 0:22:58

    Education

88. 0:22:59

    ... Senate Bill 480 by Senators Albers of the 56th and others, a bill to be entitled an act to amend Article 3 of Chapter 5 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated.

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    Judiciary.

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    Senate Bill 481 by Senators Parent of the 44th and others, a bill to be entitled an act to amend Article 7 of Chapter 4 of Title 49 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to-

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    Health and Human Services

92. 0:23:17

    ... Senate Bill 482 by Senator Strickland of the 42nd and others, a bill to be entitled an act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 35 of the Official Code of Georgia-

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    Public Safety

94. 0:23:24

    ... Senate Bill 483 by Senators Parent of the 44th 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-

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    Public Safety

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    ... Senate Resolution 729 by Senators Jones of the 2nd of the 22nd. A resolution commending and honoring former President Barack Obama during Black History Month.

97. 0:23:42

    Rules.

98. 0:23:43

    Mr. President, that completes the order.

99. 0:23:49

    First reading and references of House bills.

100. 0:23:52

     House Bill 632 by Representatives Bonner of the 73rd and others, a bill to be entitled an act to amend Chapter 12 of Title 43-

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     Veterans

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     ... House Bill 657 by Representatives Hagan of the 156th and others, a bill to be entitled an act to amend Title 37-

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     Health and Human Services

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     ... House Bill 676 by Representatives Clifton of the 131st and others, a bill to be entitled-

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     Judiciary

106. 0:24:09

     ... House Bill 957 by Representatives Clifton of the 130-

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     Public Safety

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     ... House Bill 1215 by Representative Parrott of the 158th and others, a bill to be entitled an act to amend Code Section-

109. 0:24:19

     Judiciary

110. 0:24:19

     Mr. President, that completes the order.

111. 0:24:24

     Secretary will read reports of standing committee.

112. 0:24:27

     Mr. President, the Senate Committee on Finance has had under consideration the following legislation, and has instructed me to report the same back to the Senate with the following recommendation: Senate Bill 476, due pass. Senate Bill 477, due pass. House Bill 134, due pass by substitute. House Bill 463, due pass by substitute. Respectfully submitted, Senator Hufstetler of the 52nd District, Chairman. Dear Mr. Secretary, pursuant to Rule 2-1.6, I hereby give notice that I will introduce a minority report to be read along with the majority report of Senate Bill 476, which passed out of the Senate Committee on Finance on February 9th, 207- 2026.

113. 0:25:00

     Sincerely, Senator Orrock, 36th District member. Dear Mr. Secretary, pursuant to Rule 2-1.6, I hereby give notice that I will introduce a minority report to be read along with the majority report of Senate Bill 477, which passed out of the Senate Committee on Finance on February 9th, 2026. Sincerely, Senator Orrock of the 36th District member. Dear Mr. Secretary, pursuant to Rule 2-1.6, I hereby give notice that I will introduce a minority report to be read along with the majority report of House Bill 134, which passed out of the Senate Committee on Finance on s- February 9th, 2026.

114. 0:25:32

     Sincerely, Senator Orrock of the 36th District member. Dear Mr. Secretary, pursuant to Rule 2-1.6, I hereby give notice that I will introduce a minority report to be read along with the majority report of House Bill 463, which passed out of the Senate Committee on Finance on February 9th, 2026. Sincerely, Senator Orrock of the 36th District member.

115. 0:25:52

     Mr. President, the Senate Committee on Rules has had under consideration the following legislation, and has instructed me to report the same back to the Senate with the following recommendation: Senate Bill 395, due pass by substitute. Respectfully submitted, Senator Brass of the 6th District, Chairman. Mr. President, the Senate Committee on State and Local Government Operations General has had under consideration the following legislation, and has instructed me to report the same back to the Senate with the following recommendation: Senate Bill 437, due pass by substitute. Respectfully submitted, Senator Dixon of the 45th District, Chairman. Mr. President, that completes the order.

116. 0:26:22

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

117. 0:26:41

     Thank you, Mr. President, and good morning, y'all. I ask for unanimous consent to excuse the senators from the 5th and the 7th for business outside the Capitol.

118. 0:26:55

     All right, 5th and the 7th for business outside the Capitol. Without objection, the senators are excused. Recognize the senator from the 31st.

119. 0:27:05

     Good morning, Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent to excuse the senator from the 56th for business outside the Capitol.

120. 0:27:10

     Without objection, the senator from the 56th is excused. Recognize the senator from the 22nd.

121. 0:27:16

     Thank you, Mr. President. I ask for unanimous consent to recogn- to, um, excuse the senator from the 41st for business outside the Capitol.

122. 0:27:24

     Without objection, the senator from the 41st is excused. Any more motions to excuse? Secretary will call the roll. Senators, signify your presence by voting the yay switch. Senator from the 33rd, what you got?

123. 0:27:41

     39th, the 7th- 30- 39th, 7th- 44th ... 44th.

124. 0:27:48

     Hold on.

125. 0:27:48

     For business-

126. 0:27:49

     39th-

127. 0:27:49

     ... outside the calendar

128. 0:27:51

     ... 7th, 44. How many?

129. 0:27:53

     That's it.

130. 0:27:54

     That's it?

131. 0:27:54

     Yes, sir. Thank you.

132. 0:27:57

     All right, without objection, they're excused. Signify your presence by voting the yay switch. Secretary, unlock the machine.

133. 0:29:31

     It is now time for our morning devotion. All senators, please take your, cease all conversations, and I would ask that the doorkeepers secure the chamber at this time. I now recognize the good senator from the 50th to lead us in our pledge and introduce our pastor of the day. Senator?

134. 0:29:54

     Thank you, Mr. President. If we can pledge. I pledge allegiance

135. 0:29:59

     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.

136. 0:30:11

     And the Georgia flag. I pledge allegiance

137. 0:30:13

     to the Georgia flag, and to the principles for which it stands, wisdom, justice, moderation, and trigger.

138. 0:30:26

     Thank you, Mr. President and members of the Senate. It's a honor today to introduce my pastor of Purpose Church, which is a little church behind the fire station off of Habersham Mills Road in Habersham County. Uh, this is Pastor Ryan Ginn, and he serves as a, as the senior pastor of Purpose Church, where he is passionate about helping people grow in their faith, discover their God-give- given purpose, and serve their communities.

139. 0:30:57

     His ministry is centered on sharing biblical truth, strengthening families, and reaching the next generation with hope and encouragement. Under Pastor Ryan's leadership, Purpose Church actively serves Northeast Georgia through outreach events, youth initiatives, family programs, and partnerships with local schools and organization. Organizations, excuse me. He believes the church is called to be a light in the community by meeting both spiritual and practical needs while demonstrating the love of Christ through service and unity.

140. 0:31:31

     Pastor Ryan serves alongside his wife, Kayla, who's here today, in ministry and leadership. Together, they are devoted to investing in families and encouraging people to live lives marked by faith, generosity, prayer, and service to others. He also serves on the Ha- Habersham County Boys & Girls Club board, where he helps support programs that provide mentorships, leadership development, and positive opportunities for local youth.

141. 0:32:01

     Pastor Ryan considers it a sacred honor to pray and encourage leaders who serve the citizens of Georgia and is committed to promoting unity, wisdom, and godly leadership within the communiti- communities he serves. On a personal note, uh, Pastor Ryan came to Habersham County two years ago. He has poured, him and his family have poured so much into our church, and church membership has grown 10 times since he walked through the door. So it's a treat to hear from him, and I'm honored to introduce Pastor Ryan Ginn.

142. 0:32:33

     All right. All right.

143. 0:32:39

     Man, what an honor it is to be here today. I am, uh, very, very grateful for this opportunity, and, uh, I just wanna tell each of you that, uh, it's an honor and a privilege to be able to share a moment of courage, uh, with every single one of you, uh, here, uh, today, because I know this is, is, is, it's a humbling experience to stand before men and women, uh, that are entrusted with leadership that shapes families, communities, and the future of this great state of Georgia. I also wanna take a moment and just tell you that I've been married now for 20 years.

144. 0:33:13

     My beautiful bride and my family are here today, and man, I'm honored. The kids were looking forward to skipping school and being a part of this today. So I'm, I'm joined here by my, uh, beautiful bride, Kayla, my son, Eli, and my daughter K- uh, Ellie, and I'm so thankful for them being, uh, here today. And of course, you know, with this opportunity, Senator Bo Hatchett, uh, it's a privilege that he would ask me to do this. But on top of that, I, I can tell you this from personal experience, just getting to know Senator Bo over the last, uh, year or so, is that he leads with integrity and trust, and I'm thankful for your leadership.

145. 0:33:49

     Thank you very much You know, I stand here today not only as a pastor, but as someone who believes in true wisdom, who believes in strength, and also believes in guidance ultimately that comes from God. Scripture actually speaks on this in Proverbs 11:14. It says, "Without wise counsel, a nation falls, but in abundance of counselors there is safety." In other words, God's word teaches us that leadership was never meant to be carried alone. It wasn't meant to be done by yourself.

146. 0:34:21

     Leadership flourishes when it's grounded in wisdom, when it's surrounded by godly counsel, and it's guided with and by humility. You know, the decisions made in this chamber carry a tremendous influence. They impact real people. They impact real families and real communities. And leadership is not simply about authority or position, but rather leadership is a stewardship given by God, a responsibility to serve the people, a responsibility to pursue what is right and to protect the future of those who were called to lead.

147. 0:34:58

     You know, one of the greatest things about scripture that I love is that Jesus Christ himself even came to earth to serve and not be served. And I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be here today to speak to men and women like yourself that are honored to serve this great state of Georgia. You know, another powerful truth is found in scripture in Micah 6:8. And it says this: "He has shown you what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? He requires you to act justly. He a- He requires you to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." You know, these are not just leadership suggestions necessarily, but they are spiritual principles that have shaped strong and faithful leadership throughout history.

148. 0:35:42

     What does it mean to act justly? Well, I can tell you, it means seeking what is right according to God's word, to God's standard of truth, a justice that brings truth and protects communities. What does it mean to love mercy? Well, it means, it, it means to remind us that leadership is not only about laws and, and policies, but it's also about people create, being created in the image of God. And behind every decision in life, or should I say in every decision, there is a life that matters to him. Mercy allows us to lead with strength while also leading with compassion.

149. 0:36:16

     To walk humbly with God reminds us that no leader carries ultimate wis- wisdom on their own. As a matter of fact, as a child, I've been praying this all my life, and I know many of you in this room, you do this because of the weight that you carry. I pray for wisdom daily. I pray that God gives me wisdom to carry that out and to do the right thing. You know, leadership often carries a weight very few pe- very few people see. Public service, it requires sacrifice, long hours, difficult decisions, and even conversations.

150. 0:36:52

     And in those moments, human strength, it can't be done alone, and that's where we lean on a scripture that you probably heard majority of your life in any church service or any Bible that you've read is Isaiah 40:31, that, "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary, and they will walk and not faint." That promise reminds us that as leaders, we seek God, and if we do, he provides clarity, he provides strength.

151. 0:37:22

     But senators, he also provides endurance. My encouragement today is simply this: lead with integrity because God sees both public decisions, but he also sees our private character. Serve people faithfully because leadership is a calling to care for other people. Seek God's wisdom before making decisions that affect the lives of so many, and remember that leadership has the power to reflect God's word, but also God's justice, compassion, and truth to the people you serve.

152. 0:37:57

     Your service matters. Your leadership matters. And the influence you carry gives the opportunity to impact the lives of so many that reach far beyond this chamber. Thank you for all that you do. I sincerely mean that. Thank you for what you do for this state. We absolutely are a part of one of the greatest states in this nation, and I'm so thankful. Let us pray.

153. 0:38:25

     Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day and for this opportunity to gather in this place of leadership and responsibility, and we thank you for every individual here and for the calling you have placed on their lives to serve the people of Georgia. Lord, we're, we ask that you grant them wisdom as they make decisions that affect their cities, their towns, and families across this state, and give them clarity in moments of complexity, unity in times of disagreement, and also peace when the weight of responsibility feels heavy.

154. 0:38:56

     Strengthen them with leadership that feels at times demanding, but also encourage them when the progress feels slow. Surround them with wise counsel, sound judgment, and hearts c- too committed to be committed to what is right. And Lord God, this legislative body to make the decisions that promote justice, compassion, and the wellbeing of all the people throughout this state of Georgia. We thank you for your presence, your guidance, and your grace. It's in your precious name we pray, amen.

155. 0:39:27

     Amen.

156. 0:39:30

     Good job.

157. 0:44:16

     Good job.

158. 0:46:00

     All right, we have our doctor of the day. And as always, we appreciate our doctors coming here and, uh, donating their time and, and efforts, uh, to, uh, come to the Capitol and f- and, uh, provide their services for us if needed. So with that, I will call on the senator from the seventh to introduce our doctor of the day

159. 0:46:21

     Thank you. All right. I have the pleasure of introducing the doctor of the day from my district. Dr. Indran B. Indrakrishnan is a nationally recognized gastroenterologist at Gwinnett Digestive Clinic PC in Lawrenceville, Georgia. His passion for cancer awareness earned him unanimous support in a Georgia Senate resolution for his exemplary service to the community, including increasing the public awareness of colorectal cancer screenings. Very important.

160. 0:46:52

     Uh, Dr. Indrakrishnan has performed thousands of colonoscopies and endo- endoscopies in his effort to help patients improve their gastrointestinal health. Uh, he gained his extensive gastroenterology training at various prestigious medical institutions such as King's College-affiliated hospitals in England, St. Louis University Hospital in St. Louis, and Queen's University group of hospitals in Canada. And along the way, he had the good fortune to study under gastroenterology standouts such as Dr.

161. 0:47:22

     Roger Williams and Ivan Beck. During his training, he became a fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology, the American College of Physicians, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Dr. Indra- Indrakrishnan is also a graduate of the Georgia Physicians Leadership Academy in a program that identifies and trains physicians leaders in Georgia. He put his training in good use and received a gubernatorial appointment by Georgia Governor Nathan Deal to the Georgia Board of Physician Workforce, and he's a peer reviewer for the Georgia Composite State Board of Medical Examiners.

162. 0:47:59

     Dr. Indrakrishnan lives in Duluth, Georgia, with his wife Ga- Gaya Three, a certified public accountant, and his daughter, Harini, an undergraduate at Emory University. All right. All right.

163. 0:48:13

     Thank you.

164. 0:48:17

     Thank you. Good morning, all of you. So today, I want to say few words about the word C, the cancer. Last week, I requested our Governor Brian Kemp to declare a proclamation, a Georgia Cancer Day, and he very kindly obliged. Be the first time in the history of Georgia a Cancer Day been proclaimed covering all the cancers.

165. 0:48:49

     So for that proclamation event, um, I brought a lady by the name of Ms. Cathy Lemmon, who lost her son at the age of thirty. He was my patient, but the diagnosis was late. He went through the treatment in one of the renowned cancer institute in the world, Winship Cancer Institute, which is not far away from the state capital. But we lost him few days after he celebrated his thirtieth birthday.

166. 0:49:21

     Yes, I meant thirtieth birthday. Cancer does not discriminate. It can affect any age, old, young,

167. 0:49:35

     any ethnicity, whether you're from a rural area or urban, rich or famous, it doesn't matter. We, all of us, are at a risk of cancer.

168. 0:49:49

     There are certain cancers which we call, physicians call a death sentence, where detecting early is not going to help. Their lifespan is not going to be changed. But on the other hand, there are few common cancers which, if detected early, we can change their life for better, and in ca- in fact, even cure them.

169. 0:50:20

     I want to say a few words about those cancers. Number one is breast cancer. Doing a mammogram on a regular basis would help detecting a breast cancer early. Then colon cancer, which is in my department. Colonoscopy saves lives. And the people who don't like colonoscopy, there's a relatively a new test called Cologuard, which where they do the, um, screening, a Cologuard doing the stool test for a DNA, the cancer cells.

170. 0:50:56

     And then, of course, prostate cancer, and, uh, prostate cancer for, um, uh, doing the blood test for pros- prostate cancer and a physical examination, and also, uh, cervical cancer Pap smear. A good lifestyle changes also can deter the cancer risk, like healthy food habits, physical activities, reducing the, uh, alcohol intake to minimum can definitely get the cancer risk down.

171. 0:51:30

     So with this, I wish you all the best and a healthy life in the future, this year. This year being a election year, you might have been got a little bit more stressed out. Stress too can increase the cancer risk. So take it easy, and wish you all the best, and we'll see you next year. Thank you. Good job. God bless. Good

172. 0:53:43

     job. We have some, uh, very special guests here today. We've got our, our friends from the State of Georgia Farm Bureau is here today, and, uh, they're well represented out in the hallways. We have their leadership team behind us, and we got a special presentation for them here today. Secretary, read the caption

173. 0:54:01

     Senate Resolution 630 by Senators Goodman of the 8th and others. A resolution recognizing February 10th, 2026 as Georgia Farm Bureau Federation Day at the Capitol, and for other purposes. Whereas from its humble beginnings in the Nor- in Northwest Georgia, the Georgia Farm Bureau Federation has grown to 158 county chapters with a current membership of 235,000 led by volunteer farmers. Now therefore, be it resolved with the Senate that the members of this body recognize February 10th, 2026 as Georgia Farm Bureau Federation Day at the State Capitol. Mr. President, I complete the order.

174. 0:54:34

     Is there objection to the adoption of the resolution? Chair hears none and the resolution is adopted.

175. 0:54:43

     I would like to call upon the s- good senator from Coxdale, Georgia- Whoo. Whoo ... from the 8th District of this great state of Georgia, the ag chairman himself, Mr., Mr. Russ Goodman. Come on up here. Thank you. Well, thank you, Mr. President. It's an honor to be here today with my friends from Farm Bureau. Of course, Farm Bureau, what? 230-something thousand families across this state are members of Farm Bureau, which if you, if you look at that, it's, uh, probably close to a million people.

176. 0:55:17

     One in 10 Georgians, probably close to that number. And so I appreciate all the work that they do on behalf of our state's number one industry. Uh, I'm actually on the board of our local Farm Bureau. Um, I made a mistake one time, Mr. Tom, and, uh, missed a meeting, and when I came back, they had made me president of the local, of the county Farm Bureau. So you learn that lesson pretty quick. But, uh, anyway, thank you for everything we do. Also have, uh, my very good friend and constituent, Daniel Johnson, back here, who is, uh, um, sorry that you don't have a better senator, Daniel. Uh, but, uh, we also have Mr.

177. 0:55:47

     Ralph Caldwell here. And so thank y'all for being here. Thank you for everything you do to advocate on behalf of our state's farm families. And I'm gonna turn it over to a dear friend, to all of us, a dear friend to all the farmers in this state. Uh, of course, uh, his, uh, lovely wife, his b- his, uh, better half, Ms. Jane, is here. They've been married for 44 years, and they actually met at a Farm Bureau meeting. But M- Mr. Tom is a great American and, uh, if y'all will, give him a, a warm welcome. All right.

178. 0:56:19

     All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank all of y'all real quick. I'm not gonna stand up here all day. But we wanna tell y'all thank you for what you do for agriculture. Always keep in mind the profitability of farms in this state. High commod- high input prices and low commodity prices has got your farmers in a pretty rough state right now. Keep in mind that agriculture is the largest contributor to the economics of Georgia. What we contribute gives y'all all the money y'all get to spend while you're sitting in this chamber and send back home.

179. 0:56:56

     Thank you for what you do. We just want y'all to know how important ag is. At lunch, at 12:00, we have about 600 people from all over the state of Georgia. There's one from each and every one of y'all's districts. Some of them are up in the gallery right now. They vote. This is a important election year, and y'all all know it. This, this chamber may not even look the same after November. Uh, I spent 26 years in that chamber on the other side of the Capitol, and I understand how important elections are.

180. 0:57:33

     Good luck to all of y'all that are running, and we appreciate what you do for agriculture. Come eat dinner with your people that actually go in a voting booth and click the button for each and every one of y'all. Thank you very much. Hear, hear. Hear, hear. I had to explain to him what dinner was. Oh, man. We need to work on that. We, we know what dinner is.

181. 0:59:14

     We have some more guests here that we would like to recognize. Uh, Secretary, read the caption. Senate Resolution 660 by Senator Jackson of the 41st and others. A resolution recognizing February 10th, 2026 as Interfaith Children Movement Day at the Capitol, and for other purposes. Whereas rooted in faith values and guided by principles of equity, justice, and human dignity, ICM works to ensure that all children in Georgia, regardless of income, race, geography, or background, have access to opportunity, stability, and well-being. And whereas ICM engages in legislative advocacy, policy analysis, coalition building, and civic engagement to address structural barriers impacting children and families.

182. 0:59:48

     Now therefore, be it resolved by the Senate that the members of this body recognize February 10th, 2026 as Interfaith Children's Movement Day at the Capitol. Mr. President, I complete the order. Is there objection to the adoption of the resolution? Chair hears none and the resolution is adopted. Recognize the senator from the 22nd, the minority leader.

183. 1:00:11

     Thank you, Mr. President. I rise today on behalf of Senator Kim Jackson, recognizing February 11th, 2025 as the 14th annual day at the State Capitol for the Interfaith Children's Movement. Since 2001, the Interfaith Children's Movement has brought together people of faith from across our state.

184. 1:00:31

     Since 20- since 2001, the Interfaith Children's Movement has brought together people of faith from across our state to advance policies to improve child well-being, promote justice, and expand opportunity for Georgia's children. Their work has helped move real protections forward from access to healthcare, meaningful juvenile jus- justice reforms, and has strengthened collaboration between community leaders, advocates, and policymakers. Quite frankly, colleagues, this is the type of organization that represents the kind of steady, service-driven leadership our children and families need.

185. 1:01:03

     And today, to actually say a few words, is the executive director of the Interfaith Children's Movement, Res- Reverend Cassondra Henders- Henderson, and she has actually brought students here with her today, and I believe there are over 200 students with us, and some are in the gallery. Could we please give a warm welcome to our students in the gallery, and please stand, of the Interfaith Children Movement?

186. 1:01:24

     Thank you.

187. 1:01:27

     Reverend Henderson. All right, Reverend. Good morning, friends. Mr. President, Minority Leader Jones, members of this esteemed body, we are so grateful for the recognition of our movement and the work of our movement that is grounded and rooted in a simple truth, that how we treat children tells the story of who we are and who we are becoming. For 25 years, our movement has been telling a great story about children in our state, but this story gets deeper and grows very strong if we work together.

188. 1:02:06

     Georgia has become known as a great place to do business, and we believe that Georgia can also become known as being a great place to raise a family, but we must work together in order to make that happen. Right now, when people are in need, they come to two institutions first, to the government and to communities of faith. Now, I understand that we have stipulations that keep our work divided, but that is about proselytizing, not healthy partnership.

189. 1:02:38

     And if we can work together rather than dividing across our political lines and our religious lines, if we can find one piece of common ground and have that ground be child wellbeing, whether you add your pinky toe or your heel or your whole foot, if we can find common ground to stand on, we can make our state the kind of state where all children thrive. We thank you again for this honor, for this recognition, and we invite you to be a part of the great story that we are hoping to tell together, the story that makes Georgia a great place to raise families and to raise children.

190. 1:03:16

     Thank you again. All right. Good job. Good job. I-

191. 1:03:25

     Here, go ahead. Okay. One more side note. I have four friends down here with me, and I wanted to just shout them out. Madison Drew is a senior at North Cobb High School. We have Aya, um, Ca- Cafid, who is a student at the Muhammad Schools of Atlanta. We have Liam Newman, who is a student, he's a sixth grader. And we have Joshua Vargas, who is an eighth grader from Liberation Academy. All right. We thank them for joining us today.

192. 1:05:36

     All right. We have some more special guests here today. S- uh, Secretary, read the caption. Senate Resolution 727 by Senators Anderson of the 43rd and others. A resolution recognizing the Eta Omega chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated and for other purposes. Whereas the Eta Omega chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated was founded in Atlanta, Georgia on December 1st, 1919, and was the first of any Black Greek letter organization to be founded and chartered in the State of Georgia. And whereas Eta Omega was comprised of brothers upholding the principles of Omega at Atlanta University, Clark University, Morehouse College, Gammon Theological Seminary, and college graduates in the Atlanta area.

193. 1:06:16

     Now therefore, be it resolved by the Senate that the members of this body recognize the Eta Omega chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated, commending, commend the chapter's long history of public service and extend best wis- wishes for the organization's continued success. Mr. President, that completes the order.

194. 1:07:00

     Is there objection to the adoption of the resolution? Chair hears none, and the resolution is adopted. Recognize the senator from the 43rd to speak to the resolution. Senator?

195. 1:07:13

     Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning, colleagues. Today is Omega Psi Phi Day at the Georgia State Capitol. Omega Psi Phi Fraternity was founded on November 17th, 1911 by three Howard University students, Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper, and Frank Coleman, and their faculty advisor, Dr. Ernest Everett Just. It was the first national fraternity to be established at an HBCU. The fraternity's purpose was to attract and build a strong, effective force of handsome men dedicated to its cardinal principles of manhood, scholarship, perseverance, and uplift.

196. 1:07:55

     Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated was, was incorporated in Washington, DC on October 28th, 1914. In 1924, at the urging of fraternity member Carter G. Woodson, the fraternity launched Negro History and Literature Week to publicize the growing body of the scholarship of African American history. Encouraged by public interest, the event was renamed Negro Achievement Week in 1925 and given an expanded national presence in 1926 by Woodson's Association for the Study of Negro Life and History as Negro History Week.

197. 1:08:30

     Expanded again to the full month of February from 1976, this event continues today as Black History Month. The fire and fervor within this organization, this culture, this manhood, has continued on throughout American history and Black history. From the '80s through the '90s, into the new millennial and up to today, Eta Omega chapter men have continually played active roles in Atlanta's progress. Today, I have the leadership of the Eta Omega chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated, Chapter President Dr.

198. 1:09:05

     Kirk McDonald.

199. 1:09:07

     Will Reeder, Alex DeMon Jr., and Kenneth Mitchell. Under the strong leadership of Chapter Basileus Kurt McDonald, the Eta Omega chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated will continue to fulfill the cardinal principles of manhood, scholarship, perseverance, and uplift. Please welcome Dr. McDonald to the platform.

200. 1:09:34

     Good evening, honored guests. I have the distinct, um, I have the pleasure of being the 49th Basileus of Eta Omega chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated. We've been here since 1919, the first Greek letter organization here in the state of, state of Georgia and in the South. We are honored to serve our community in multiple ways. We've been serving our community through economic empowerment, through community service, through food banks, and, uh, multiple other aspects that we do. Today is actually the Omega Day at the Capitol, and we have several of our brothers across the street, so several of you guys are gonna get an opportunity to go ahead and meet them.

201. 1:10:09

     This has been a true honor to be here. Thank you very much.

202. 1:10:13

     All right.

203. 1:10:17

     Additionally, I have to give a, um, acknowledgement to Trooper Burgess, who serves at our welcome desk. He's a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated, so if you see him, speak to Trooper Burgess and congratulate him.

204. 1:10:32

     Yeah. All right. Well, thank you. It's nice to meet you.

205. 1:10:36

     Oh, anytime. We'll get a picture. Yeah. Glad to have y'all.

206. 1:12:01

     Are there any unanimous consents? Does any senator wish to rise on a point of personal privilege? I recognize the senator from the 9th from a point of personal privilege.

207. 1:12:29

     It was so good, I forgot to come up here yesterday, say my words.

208. 1:12:34

     She did. She did.

209. 1:12:34

     No, I was busy. Thank you, Mr. President. And I wanna thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes yesterday. I had a fantastic day. So, uh, I rise today

210. 1:12:49

     in honor of Black History Month. And it is my honor to do a personal point of privilege for Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman was born into a system that treated human beings as property and called that injustice legal. Through the Fugitive Slave Act, the federal government empowered slave catchers to hunt down Black people and return them to bondage. Harriet Tubman rejected the legitimacy of that system outright.

211. 1:13:24

     She did not wait for permission to do what was right. Instead, she risked her life to guide enslaved people to freedom, believing that no law which dehuman- dehumanizes human beings deserves obedience. Today, ICE operates under a different legal framework, but many of the tragedies we witness echo the same history. Families are separated. People are detained for years without certainty or compassion.

212. 1:13:55

     Individuals flee- fleeing violence or poverty are treated as threats rather than human beings. Ra- raids spread fear through schools, workplaces, and churches. Like the slave patrols of the 19th century, modern immigration enforcement disproportionately targets vulnerable communities and relies on surveillance, detention, and force justified by a claim that they are executing the law.

213. 1:14:28

     But history is clear. They were not just executing the law then. They were humane and inc- and cruel executions of the law, just like we're seeing now. The Underground Railroad was not merely w- the Underground Railroad was not merely a network of routes. It was a network of people who chose humanity over compliance. Harriet Tubman showed us that freedom is not handed down by institutions.

214. 1:15:00

     It is built when people come toge- together to refuse to look away. Our generation must build a new Underground Railroad, not of tunnels, but of community, advocacy, advocacy, protection, and policy. One that insists families deserve safety, dignity, and the right to exist without fear. For those of you not following the news now, I know some of you have seen the current video of President Obama and the First Lady Obama being shown as apes.

215. 1:15:39

     In a country stained with legacies, with the legacy of slavery and tainted by the horrific events of Jim Crow, we had a president in Barack Obama who won almost 53% of the vote and 365 electoral votes to win the biggest presidential landslide and mandate in American history. President Obama stands as one of the most influential Americans in US history, yet during Black History Month, when it, when this full, this full body cannot even honor and defend his legacy because they have deemed it too controversial.

216. 1:16:20

     Is it so hard to denounce blatant racism?

217. 1:16:26

     We have a resolution SR729. I do hope it re- receives a hearing and passes out committee for a vote. This resolution simply says what should be obvious to everyone. This body condemns with a bar- bipartisan vote this blatant gutter racism by an administration that has so- shown us many times that they are okay with racism, and we have many in this body that still support this administration.

218. 1:17:10

     During Black History Month- Month, we celebrate not only where we come from, but we need to commit ourselves to where we need to go. Harriet Tubman, I'm gonna bring this back, Harriet Tubman showed us the way. She pushed against cruelty, she pushed back against inhumanity, and found a way to help those who were most vulnerable and who needed it.

219. 1:17:41

     Now, it is our responsibility today to continue the spirit of her legacy and keep walking together as a community. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

220. 1:21:11

     Recognize the senator from the eighth. I believe he has some special guests here on the floor.

221. 1:21:21

     Thank you, thank you, Mr. President. Just want to take this opportunity, uh, to let everyone know that today is the Okefenokee, uh, National Wildlife Refuge, Okefenokee Swamp Park, uh, Day at the Capitol. And so we have, we have some special guests. We have two very special guests over there with our alligators. We got Bog and Forest. So we really appreciate Bog and Forest being here. Um, I also want to recognize, uh, Kim Bednarik and Michael Lusk and Philip Salsy and, uh, Veronica Kelly and, uh, Ms.

222. 1:21:54

     Katie and Mr. Jolie. Thank y'all for being here. Uh, that's down in my district. It's a, a great asset to this state. 407,000 acres. You could put four and a half Atlantas into the swamp park. They have over 400,000 visitors a year, and it is the largest national wildlife refuge east of the Mississippi. It is truly a treasure that we have, uh, that we have it in our state, and, uh, honored to, uh, be able to represent y'all and thank you for everything you do, not only on behalf of the swamp, but on what that means for tourism for South Georgia and our entire state.

223. 1:22:33

     So Mr. President, uh, thank you for allowing me the opportunity. Thank y'all for being here. And with that, I will yield the floor.

224. 1:22:42

     All right, we've got our good friends from the Okefenokee Swamp and they actually do have a little gator tail over there. I tell you what. That is a live gator, huh? Two live gators. Two live gators. All right.

225. 1:23:00

     Recognize the senator from the 17th.

226. 1:23:31

     Thank you v- very much, Mr. President. Colleagues, I rise to recognize the life and legacy of one of my former teachers at Fountain High School in Forest Park, Georgia, Mr. Henry Garner. Mr. Garner w- was a member of Philippa Temple AME Church here in Atlanta and taught over 30 years in the Clayton County Public School System. An active member of the Honor Fountain Professional Club, a retired education association, he was dedicated to the many students he served.

227. 1:24:12

     He was a loving father and husband, and he was devoted to his family, friends, and the community at large. So today, we celebrate his long and wonderful life. He was born on June the 19- N- June 1924 and was 101 years old this month.

228. 1:24:41

     So today, we celebrate him. Mr. Henry Garner and his life will be remembered. Mr. President, I ask for a moment of silence in honor of Mr. Henry Garner.

229. 1:25:05

     Sorry about that, Senator. The senator has asked that this body rises for a moment of silence.

230. 1:25:17

     Amen. Thank you and I yield the way.

231. 1:25:20

     Thank you, Senator. Recognizing the senator from the 14th.

232. 1:25:35

     Hey, Mr. President. How are you, brother?

233. 1:25:37

     I'm well.

234. 1:25:38

     Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, we've been talking a little bit as a country about being neighbors recently. I would humbly submit the Super Bowl ends up being a little bit of a cultural forum in which we can discuss the issues of the day and there was a really pleasant, nice ad about, uh, being neighbors. And everybody has a cellphone, everybody gets information on demand, uh, usually the information you wanna hear. And sometimes that information says, "You're great and the people who are not like you are not as great as you are." And then that information polarizes us and divides us.

235. 1:26:19

     I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. Uh, but we live in a time where neighborliness is a little bit under threat, a lot under threat. And there's a distrust of government that has been sowed, that we have been experiencing for decades now, this idea of making government smaller because government's not doing what we want it to do, et cetera, and wouldn't it be great if government just got out of our way?

236. 1:26:50

     Uh, that sounds like a good idea to anybody who is not aware of what government does for us. And maybe it takes something like healthcare falling out from underneath us, the enhanced subsidies in DC that were not extended, or maybe it takes deployments of armed federal troops for us to start realizing that our neighborliness is under threat and that our government is not reflecting a commitment for us to live as neighbors.

237. 1:27:20

     Um, this may sound like a dramatic frame for an income tax conversation, but it is not. The income tax is half the budget and if you eliminate half the budget, you gotta replace it somehow unless your intention is actually to destroy government. What people need to know who are watching the tax conversation is affordability is a buzzword, you know, rising costs is buzzwords. There are politicians who would like to respond to the moment that we're in by just using more buzzwords as solutions, like tax cuts.

238. 1:27:56

     Wouldn't it be great if we could just cut taxes and solve the affordability problem? The problem is we know who's paying the taxes. It's not the low end of the income spectrum that would maybe see a $20 or a $200 rebate if the income tax were fully repealed. The people who are really benefiting from this are the very high income earners above hundreds of thousands of dollars per year who would see an income tax rebate of $20,000 on average each per year if the income tax were fully repealed.

239. 1:28:34

     Who's ever flown on a plane? I'm just, I got, it's still green. Who's flown on a plane before? Anybody in here flown on a plane? Anybody ever had somebody in front of you on a plane lean back the seat? And then your knees get hit or you like can't eat or you can't use a laptop, and you get really mad because the person in front of you is leaning back their seat.

240. 1:28:56

     Most people in that situation get mad at the person in front of them. But who should they be mad at? They should be mad at the airline for not allowing extra space in the seat, for building the plane in such a way that we're all crammed in there like sardines. The airline would love for people who are sitting back to back to get mad at each other instead of getting mad at the level of service that's being provided. And the same thing is true when it comes to neighborliness and our government and the way we use taxes.

241. 1:29:33

     Senate Republicans would love for you to get mad at your neighbor who is not working hard enough or paying enough taxes so that when they cast distrust on government, you don't blink because you think to yourself, it's my neighbor's fault or it's the government's fault. The reality is that income tax repeal is just a sales tax hike and it is a scam designed to make you distrust your neighbor and distrust your government because it doesn't become obvious until your healthcare subsidies fall completely away or your housing is completely unaffordable and the government's doing nothing about it.

242. 1:30:18

     It doesn't become obvious until those moments how important government actually is. So the warning to voters paying attention to this income tax debate is in twenty twenty six, Republicans are gonna tell you that repealing income tax is a way, is a way for you to save two hundred bucks or twenty bucks. But what's really happening is they'd like to defund the entire government and they'd like to give their rich buddies twenty thousand dollars back and act like they're doing you a favor.

243. 1:30:50

     Thank you for your rapt attention. Thank you so much for participating in my speech act. It's lovely to see all you senators and everybody in the gallery today. Thanks, Mr. President.

244. 1:31:02

     Recognize the senator from the thirty-fourth.

245. 1:31:20

     Hey, senator. How you doing?

246. 1:31:22

     I'm doing good. Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning, colleagues. I rise to recognize Fayette County's Chamber of Commerce and its leadership cohort, its commitment to growth, civil mind leaders, and strengthen the future of Fayette County through their work bringing together professionals, public servants, and community partners to learn and lead with purpose. I... Oh, there they are.

247. 1:31:53

     Hello, Fayette County. I just wanted to recognize you all. Thank you, colleagues.

248. 1:32:55

     Chair recognizes the senator from the sixteenth for a point of personal privilege, and up next will be the senator from the twenty-eighth. If you wanna start making your way to the podium, please.

249. 1:33:26

     All right. Chair will recognize the senator from the forty-third

250. 1:33:32

     for a point of personal privilege, and if the doorkeepers would please help the senator from the twenty-eighth make her way to the front.

251. 1:34:12

     Oh, my goodness. I will do it.

252. 1:34:18

     Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning, colleagues. I want to recognize Newton County Industrial Development Authority Day is today at our state capitol. Along with me is a gentleman from the forty-

253. 1:34:36

     Second.

254. 1:34:36

     -second. See, these numbers mix me up. The gentleman from the forty-second, as we share the wonderful county of Newton. Along with the Newton County Industrial Development Authority today, we have our Newton County Farm Bureau and Georgia Technical Piedmont College.

255. 1:34:53

     Our sponsors for today are Archer, Meta, Rivian, Snapping Shoals, Thomas & Hudson, and Ver- and Verescence. We have gifts for you if you would drop by Capitol Room 125 to get this wonderful towel.

256. 1:35:15

     Wow.

257. 1:35:16

     Ah, ooh, ah.

258. 1:35:17

     Thank you, Kay.

259. 1:35:19

     Ooh, ah. And the thing that you all love the most, the wonderful Bridgestone in Newton County golf balls. I would like to thank the senator from the 42nd for being trend alliance. Thank you.

260. 1:35:46

     Chair recognizes the senator from the 28th. Are you gonna speak from your desk?

261. 1:36:03

     I did want to come up and speak, but, uh, no walker, no scooter, they just disappeared, so thank you very much for allowing me to speak. I wanted to be up there because we have hundreds of our citizens who are having problems with HOAs that are here today, and I wanted to recognize them. They're dedicated, you know, to hard work every day, and they wanna keep the roof over their heads.

262. 1:36:35

     Housing represents basic dignity and scrutiny for families, seniors, veterans, and working people who often risk losing everything because of policies that lack fairness and compassion, namely the predatory HOAs and COAs and PPAs. Yes, I said predatory because they are working to foreclose on people, especially those who have already paid for their houses, because they get much more.

263. 1:37:11

     And as we did our research, we realized that most of the people that are going on the courthouse steps and purchasing these, uh, HOA homes are corporate or international. They have never even been in this state of Georgia. They've never been in that neighborhood, and they have nobody in that neighborhood. They have a, a management company that they're, uh, working with, so they fan, fan this out.

264. 1:37:42

     We need to do something on, uh, so many different issues, and there are many bills now that, uh, many of the senators in this room and over in the House have introduced to stop the foreclosure on people's American dream, their home. And we wanna also make HOAs accountable, and it's no regulations on them. It's nothing but the covenant that people have to sign when they're closing for that property.

265. 1:38:16

     They sign it, and most of them don't even know what it is or why they're doing it. They're just told they have to do it to buy that house. So it's our respon- it's my responsibility as a legislator to hear them. We've had five, uh, hearings already. The first one we had, we, uh, had standing room only and we had to reschedule, and each time we had to have people in the hallways looking at what we were doing inside because the fire marshals would not allow any, uh, anybody else in those rooms.

266. 1:38:53

     In other words, it's not just my constituents, it's all of our constituents. We found out it's not this neighborhood or that. It's happening all over, in all 159 counties. Please, please help us on this. And I'd like to recognize if we still have, uh, uh, people, yeah, some people up in the, in the gallery that are here today. S- please stand. And they're over in the House in the gallery. Please give them a round of applause because they took time off today.

267. 1:39:29

     Thank you for taking time off and coming and staying with us and, uh, come down and, and call some of your legislators out and, and, uh, talk to them personally, uh, because they would love to hear just exactly what's happening in their communities. So, uh, in, um, by encouraging all of the legislators on the House and Senate side to take another look at what's going on, because housing stability strengthens communities and strong communities strengthen Georgia.

268. 1:40:04

     So on this HOA Day, let us recommit ourselves to justice for every homeowner and tenant in our state. Thank you f- for listening and knowing that it is a horrible situation going on and we must do what we can to stop it. Pass these bills. Thank you. Thank you people for coming today. I-

269. 1:40:32

     Ch- chair recognizes the senator from the 25th for a point of personal privilege.

270. 1:40:49

     Thank you, Mr. President. It gives me great honor to come and recognize the Logger of the Year who happens to be from Butts County. If you wanna know what real work is in the state of Georgia or anywhere, you talk to a logger. Mr. Cornelius Toby McDowell is over here on the wall. I'd like to invite any of you to come over and speak to him, shake his hand, thank him for the hard work. Timber industry is a big industry in Georgia, as we all know, and what he does every day is putting his life on the line and out there working hard to make a living and to promote the great state of Georgia.

271. 1:41:34

     If y'all would come over and I have a resolution and, uh, recognizing him as the Logger of the Year. I have Senator Lee Anderson over with him. Senator Anderson introduced the Logger of the Year last year. So, uh, thank you again. If I could get him a warm round of applause, please. Thank you.

272. 1:42:05

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

273. 1:42:36

     Mr. President, I rise to recognize Black History as it unfolds even before our eyes today. In 1895, the Atlanta compromise, known as the accommodationist or accommodation, was a proposal set forth right up the street in Piedmont Park. An African American leader, Booker T. Washington, in a speech he gave at the Cotton States International Exposition, he urged Black Southerners to accept segregation and temporarily refrain from campaigning for equal rights, including the right to vote.

274. 1:43:23

     In return, he advocated that Black people receive basic legal protections, access to property ownership, employment opportunities, and vocational industrial education. Upon the speech conclusion, the white attendees gave Washington a standing ovation. Why? Because at this time, there was a backlash of what was called Reconstruction. There was an attempt to give the formerly enslaved Black Americans an opportunity to fully participate in the American dream.

275. 1:44:02

     But that dream was cut short as people began to dehumanize African Americans, to have mass violence, to have lynchings, and to have all types of injustices in, in play, put upon those of color. I say this because it took almost, from that time, 1895, all the way to 1954, we had a policy called Separate but Equal, and it took a guy by the name of Thurgood Marshall, who was an African American civil rights lawyer, a jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 to 1951.

276. 1:44:54

     He, along with Charles Hamilton Houston, formulated a strategy to use sociological data to show how unequal Separate but Equal was, and it emanated right here in Georgia, and it took all the way from the slave, the, the former century to 1954 for this country to say, "Wait, it is unequal." And I say that because we are now trying to expose those same conditions that ex- existed in 1895, where we had persons standing up to say, "We will retreat if you just treat us more humanely." And I stand because there was an inhumane act done just this past week when the leader of our country stated

277. 1:45:52

     and depicted the first African American president and that first African American First Lady as apes, and that's what was going on in 1895, and that is what was supposedly peace, and that peace was a false peace, a false justice because it allowed people to be violently destroyed because they were treated as inhumane. And when we can see our brothers and sisters as less than human, when we don't stand up and condemn when someone will call someone an ape, being the first African American president, then we are complicit when we don't speak up, and that's why I'm calling for all of my colleagues to sign off and condemn the racist depiction of our pr- first president, our first First Lady as an ape.

278. 1:46:51

     I'm asking you to do this because if you don't condemn it, you are complicit in it. If you don't condemn it, you are saying that you agree with dehumanization of others. You are agreeing...

279. 1:47:06

     That Atlanta is not a city too great to hate. You are saying that you will agree that you can dehumanize as the slaves were. The slaves were dehumanized to live in slave quarters, to now allow adequate and affordable housing. The slaves were dehumanized and not given healthcare, expansion of Medicaid, take away healthcare.

280. 1:47:38

     More than two hundred thousand of Georgians losing healthcare right now. When you dehumanize people, you can justify not educating them. You can say it's against the law to educate a slave, and it's against the law to educate our great people of Georgia when we take away the educational opportunities. Join me in condemning those acts of dehumanization. Thank you, and I yield the will.

281. 1:48:15

     Chair recognizes the senator from the 36th for a point of personal privilege.

282. 1:48:44

     Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, colleagues, um, it's a busy day down here at the State Capitol, but it was really busy yesterday when we saw a bill get filed on Friday, posted at midnight, two bills, and then taken up on Monday morning, first reader. And lo and behold, by that afternoon, yes, afternoon at 3:00, we were in there being asked to vote on this bill.

283. 1:49:17

     That's a, that's a real speed-o-rama. And I've been down here long enough to know when something has wings on it like that, honey, you better bring it back down to earth and get very real about what's in that bill, and in this case, what's in the two bills that makes wonderful, grandiose promises to Georgians. But I'm afraid close scrutiny, uh, tells another story. Um,

284. 1:49:46

     it's an, uh, it's typical in election years, uh, for wonderful, um, bills to be rolled out that just sound like, uh, uh, it's gonna be manna from heaven, uh, every time you turn around. But when you take a closer look, uh, I, I will say to you that this, this, uh, legislation dealing with our income tax structure, uh, I will assert it blows a six billion dollar hole in our state budget. And even with the, the, uh, effort to repeal every tax credit, that only gets us, uh, to three billion dollars, so there's still a three billion dollar, uh, hole in the budget.

285. 1:50:28

     And so that means if you do the basic math, we have to either find new revenue, or make massive cuts, or look for something else to tax. What would that be? Well, I'll tell you. In Texas, in Florida, in Tennessee, uh, it's, it's a consumer tax. It's a sales tax, which disadvantages middle and low, uh, and low income, uh, households. Why is that?

286. 1:50:59

     Because a sales tax, uh, taxes consumption and, uh, you run through your, uh, money a whole lot quicker when you're middle and low income, uh, families, uh, than you do... It's just a very small percentage of, of, of those with wealth. So it's a gr- it's a regressive tax policy. Uh, and when you look at these sales taxes that are, I think, inevitable, and we've seen it in other states, the, I think there are only nine states that have done any version of this, uh, out of, out of the, out of the 50 states.

287. 1:51:33

     But we, we could see Georgians paying 12 to 15%, uh, on consumer purchases, uh, i- i- in sales tax. And, and so when you say it cuts taxes, not raises taxes, it's like, well, wait just a minute. Um, if, if you, if you see groceries, school supplies, clothes, prescription drugs, business purchases, uh, purch- purchasing, uh, uh, uh, services from, uh, an attorney or a tax advisor, et cetera, all, all those sorts of, uh, professional, uh, fees, you, you, you, you, you wind up with

288. 1:52:16

     the promise of money coming in your front pocket, but being taken out of your back pocket. Hello? And that sometimes, and sometimes, that, that sometimes you call that play money coming into the front pocket while the real money is being pulled out of the back pocket. So I, I, I, I say to you, let's look at some of the tax credits. Uh, and it's fine to call all our tax credits cor- corporate welfare, but that's not really an accurate, uh, description of a childcare tax credit, is it?

289. 1:52:48

     Many Georgians are now spending a third of their income on childcare. Uh, it, it will be more expensive. Affordable housing tax credit. Boy, let's look at this one. We're in the, it, we're facing a housing crisis in this state. Nobody, nobody will, will dispute you on that. But guess what? It gets worse, uh, w- when you... reduced by half the Affordable Housing Tax Credit. Uh, rural doctors, rural hospitals, rural jobs, we didn't expand Medicaid, so then we're stripping away support that we gave doctors and hospitals in our most vulnerable areas that are underserved with, with, um, med- med- medical professionals and medical institutions.

290. 1:53:27

     So I say to you, um, buyer beware. Buyer beware. Uh, look at the details, not at the big, uh, promises that are being made. Uh, we would be torching our s- our state budget and our state's economy were we to go down this path in the real world. Buyer beware.

291. 1:54:02

     So I have the privilege of having some of my hometown folks here with us today. They're in the gallery. Uh, members of the Perry Youth Leadership and the Perry Leadership Group, and I wanna tell them hello. Glad y'all are here. Y'all give them a welcome, please.

292. 1:54:25

     And now I recognize the senator from the 19th for a point of personal privilege.

293. 1:54:36

     Thank you, Mr. President. You sit in this chamber and hold your tongue and listen to attack upon attack and realize it's not true, and say, "Well, I'll just sit there and let this attack roll." But then it continues again and again and again, and you realize if someone doesn't stand up and stop the water from rolling downhill, well, the folks sitting out in the audience will believe it, and that's exactly what happened here today. You've heard member after member approach this podium and say that if your state income tax were reduced, you, taxpayer of Georgia, watched your state income tax be reduced, that hailstones would fall from the sky and the world would fall apart.

294. 1:55:17

     But I submit to you balancing your budget that you know that's simply not the case. You're trying to pay for gas. You're trying to pay for groceries. You're trying to pay for childcare. You've seen your power bill increase nine times in the past two and a half years. You've been told that the emperor was wearing clothes and things were getting better, but they weren't. And the folks who walked up here to this podium told you if somebody were to make it better, oh, no, hailstones will fall from the sky.

295. 1:55:50

     That is simply not the case. One of our Senate colleagues was correct. A bill went through this chamber or through the Senate very, very swiftly this weekend. That bill eliminated the state income tax on individuals making $50,000. It eliminated the state income tax on families making $100,000. And my question to you is, how is that bad? They want you to believe if you're a family who, maybe you're a teacher making $70,000 in Fulton County, maybe you're a firefighter in DeKalb County who's making $65,000.

296. 1:56:25

     Under the Senate Republican plan that came through the, the Senate Finance Committee yesterday, you're elim- your state income tax would be eliminated, yet the minority party wants you to think that that leaves you in a worse place. One of the members of the minority party walked up and said, "Well, that's gonna give you an extra $20, maybe $200 a year." Well, guys, I knew they were good at saying lies. I didn't know they were so bad at math. If you eliminate the state income tax on a family, on an individual making $50,000 at a 5.19% tax rate, that is five- $2,595 in that individual's pocket.

297. 1:57:10

     If you're a family, 'cause maybe you're a police officer and you're married to a store clerk, and together you make $90,000, you're gonna see your income tax completely eliminated under the plan pushed forward by Senate Republicans on Monday. If you're someone, though, who makes more than that, and you go, "Well, how does this plan help me?" Well, let me tell you how. By eliminating the income tax on the first $100,000 for families, if you're making a half a million dollars, you're only taxed on 400,000.

298. 1:57:42

     If you're making 250,000, you're only taxed on 150,000. But if you're making 90,000 'cause you and your spouse are average Georgians who make on average around $45,000 a year, your income tax gets eliminated completely. For someone making over $100,000, that's $5,190 in that, their pockets. That's not $200. That's enough to make a car payment a couple of times over. That's enough to invest in your child's education a few times over.

299. 1:58:15

     That's enough to pay for a babysitter, maybe only for two or three weeks at the current rate, but that's real money. To sit back and say that doesn't help families is to have cotton in your ears when they're screaming to us that affordability is the biggest issue in our state.

300. 1:58:36

     And when this issue comes to the floor, whether it be this week or next week, I hope that my friends in the minority party and across the aisle will realize that this bill helps families and that voting the party line to not help families too is a recipe for disaster and a map to stay in the minority for the next decade. Thank you, Mr. President, I yield the well.

301. 1:59:04

     Senator's yielded the well. Chair recognizes the senator from the 44th for a point of personal privilege.

302. 1:59:28

     Thank you, uh, Mr. President. I'm, I rise to recognize that today is Dyslexia Awareness Day at the State Capitol, and the halls are buzzing with advocates who have been, um, hand-in-hand working with us on the, on our, our path to address, um, kids with dyslexia in our public schools and also pushing us a bit along the way. Um, dyslexia is the most common learning disability that exists, and it, it affects one in every five Georgians.

303. 2:00:02

     It causes difficulty with phenome segmentation, which is the ability to break words down into individual sounds. So therefore, those with dyslexia may have a weakness in decoding words and reading fluency, but there is no connection with intelligence, and early remediation is key. All of this has been recognized by the General Assembly in the last few, uh, years.

304. 2:00:34

     I actually was with former Senator Fran Millar at a, um, education PTA, North Central DeKalb PTA education group meeting when someone, a mom raised her hand and said, "Why don't we do anything with dyslexia?" And Senator Millar, very much to his credit, said, "Why don't we?" And hence was born the very first bill to s- start to try to get our hands on this issue.

305. 2:01:11

     And that was about eight years ago. And since then, we have made a lot of progress. Belatedly, we ma- we've made a lot of progress. There is, friends, a long way to go, but I am excited that we are on the right path, and a lot of that does have to do with the advocates with Decoding Dyslexia, who have had steadfast advocacy on behalf of Georgians with dyslexia.

306. 2:01:42

     It's important for us to tackle this not just because it's the right thing to do, but when you've got a student population where two-thirds of kids have not been able to read fluently at grade level, and a huge part of that is kids with dyslexia, it's not only our responsibility, but it, to address it, but it behooves us, this is our future workforce. This year, we-- I'm, I'm so happy to stand with, um, the senator from the fourth, um, the speaker and other members of the House in support of the Geor- Georgia Early Literacy Act that will put a literacy coach in every K through three school.

307. 2:02:31

     This work, um, couldn't be more important. What we need to do is, uh, recognize how fundamental it is. Um, and it's, it's, it's that reading is fundamental, right? And, and as we go through the budgetary process to recognize that along with other priorities, this does need to be a top priority. And I really do commend the speaker, senator from the fourth, and many others who have been, been trying to push us forward.

308. 2:03:07

     So let's honor these dyslexia advocates by continuing their work with our critical funding and support for high quality literary resources. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

309. 2:03:23

     Thank you, Senator. Thank you for your work on this issue and thanks for, uh, speaking of that this morning. Uh, chair recognizes the senator from the thirty-fifth for a point of personal privilege.

310. 2:03:52

     Thank you, Mr. President. I come today because I was elected, newly elected, to consider a little nuance and appreciate the idea that maybe the best ideas don't come from one party. Maybe the best idea is just the best idea. But I have one question, one question about this income tax situation. Where is the work?

311. 2:04:27

     Show me the work. If you can't show me how you get to your number without showing me how it's not going to affect families in Georgia on the back end, how can I trust you? We have to remember that we live in a society where trust is very low in our government. If I'm going to go with the plan of somebody and groups of people who are already following a President Donald Trump, trust is already low.

312. 2:05:00

     Trust is already low. So if we come in and say, "Hey, here's a tax plan. You're gonna save five thousand dollars for you and your family," that sounds great at first. But if it's going to cost my family seven thousand dollars on the back end, that's a problem One thing as a business owner that I can't stand, and other business owners understand this, when somebody comes in and they sell you something, they can't tell you how they get there.

313. 2:05:32

     "Here's this new product. Here's this new dental product. You're gonna need it for your office. It's amazing." Well, show me the work. "Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, there's a, there's a, uh, we did a study," and it gets, then it starts getting a little interesting. Show us the work. Our educators, if you have somebody that has a habit of having low trust and all of a sudden they have a wonderful answer to the question in math, your teacher wants you to show the work because trust is already low.

314. 2:06:09

     So let's not be amazed that we don't have bipartisan consensus on this plan. There's not even consensus among Republicans. On the other side of the hallway, they say, "You know what? That's a ridiculous plan. We have a better tax plan." They're talking about property taxes. Here we're talking about income taxes. The everyday person in Georgia doesn't care how we get there. We do wanna make sure that we take control of the cost of things. Both of these Republican pel- plans are trying to take care of revenue, but both plans don't do anything when it comes to sales tax.

315. 2:06:47

     Everyone is talking about affordability on the things that they buy. Go to the grocery store, and every time I go, I get a little irritated more and more every day. And with the plans that I've seen, the only way to make up for the revenue hole is that you have to have more sales tax. That means the ground beef is gonna cost even more. That means that the toilet paper is gonna cost even more. That means that the eggs are gonna cost even more. And for our seniors, you're not getting much benefit from this tax plan that's been introduced, but you're gonna have to pay a whole lot more every time you go to the grocery store.

316. 2:07:29

     Notice that that conversation isn't happening. Notice across the hall when they're talking about property tax, what you don't hear about is, "Oh, our schools are already struggling, but, and I know they're paying more and more for health insurance. We're not gonna help them with that. We're just gonna ask them to keep doing more with less." Do we ever get tired of this? Again, I know I'm new here, but just a message from the people on the ground is that they don't care who has the best plan.

317. 2:08:00

     They just want a real plan, not an election year plan.

318. 2:08:09

     Not an election year plan, and then we'll pay for it when things fall apart next year when you can't vote us out. They want a real plan. Show us the work. You can't do that when you drop a bill at a Friday after everybody leaves, Super Bowl weekend, and then have it pass through and then committee without a fiscal note, can't do that. Show us the work. I yield.

319. 2:08:38

     Senator from the ninth, what purpose do you rise? Hold on. I have an amendment. Uh, thank you, Mr. President. I rise just to recognize a guest we have over here, Mr. Reginald Hall. He is from Hog Hammock in Sapelo Island. For those of you that don't know, that part of Sapelo, uh, Sa- Sapelo Island is the last intact Gullah Geechee community and is in the Sea Item, Islands of Georgia, and is where the first enslaved, uh, West Africans settled. And him and his family have, are still there, and they have been fighting, um, just to keep their community intact.

320. 2:09:12

     Um, they face threats not from nature, but man-made threats. And, um, just trying to, he's always advocating just to hold onto the way of life they, they, they have there in, in their land. So please go introduce yourself to him. He really needs our support as he is fighting for his community. Thank you, Mr. President.

321. 2:09:32

     Chair recognizes senator from the 16th for a point of personal privilege.

322. 2:09:52

     Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate it. Wanted to speak, colleagues, on our US Constitution empowers the states to recognize gold and silver as legal tender. And today, the technology exists that makes metals fully functionable, uh, functionable as everyday currency. Other states, Texas, Florida, Arkansas, are already moving in the direction with bipartisan support. Texans voted on this overwhelmingly with 1.6 million voters, 77% calling for gold back money.

323. 2:10:26

     This is an initiative that strengthens trust, it reduces pri- pr- uh, p- taxation, and provides citizens with the potential of federal overreach and future t- taking of private gold. By authorizing gold and silver as legal tender, establishing a state-backed electronic transfer system, and removing state taxes, we give our citizens stable constitutional money in certain times. This is a c- US constitutional right.

324. 2:10:58

     All we have to do is act on it as the citizens. That bill number's SB424. Four is for Georgia and 24 is 24 karat gold. Thank you, Mr. President.

325. 2:11:13

     In order for us. Chair recognizes senator from the 22nd, minority leader, for a point of personal privilege.

326. 2:11:31

     Thank you, Mr. President. I rise today to say that, uh, minority party is gonna look forward to the fact that we're gonna have an opportunity to point out the flaws of these particular tax bills or tax schemes, however you wanna kinda qua- qualify them. Basically, this bill that we're talking about today is gonna be quite simple. If you like tax hikes and loss of jobs, you're gonna love this particular bill. Wanna talk about teachers and plumbers and things of that nature. The savings that you may think you're getting are gonna go right out the door with higher sales taxes. The fact of the matter is that Florida and Texas, two states that basically have done something similar, their sales tax is much higher than Georgia's.

327. 2:12:06

     The only state that may be a little bit lower is Alaska. Alaska's sales tax may be a little bit lower because they struck oil. Have we struck oil? That's how they're able to actually f- uh, fund their budget. The fact of the matter is, within the southeast, Georgia has one of the lowest sales taxes within our particular region. That will all change after this particular bill. And we start talking about sales taxes, it won't just be on your groceries. It'll also be on things like your barbers are gonna be collecting your sales tax. And yes, Mr. President, believe it or not, I actually still get a haircut every week, and I can't imagine having to pay my barber, who charges enough as it is, to actually pay him sales tax every week.

328. 2:12:41

     You start talking about a lawyer. You got a lawyer. You need a lawyer to do a house closing or something of that nature. Guess what? You're gonna have to ha- pay him or her sales tax, too. So the savings that you may believe you're finding are gonna go straight out the door, 'cause you're gonna be paying sales tax on everything under the sun. And so all of those savings will be gone. But it does not stop there. You don't have to worry about necessarily even paying income tax, because the fact of the matter is, Georgia's gonna lose jobs, because one of the aspects of this particular bill is getting rid of every tax credit you ever heard of that actually has put jobs within Georgia.

329. 2:13:13

     Oh, man, people have talked about for years and years, Georgia's the number one state to do business. How did we get to that particular point? One of the ways we got to that point was through the use of tax credits when we started talking about manufacturing credits and things of that nature. That gives people jobs, and now we're gonna just snatch all of that away, destroy the economic engine that has made us the number one state to do busi- business. That economic engine is actually people with jobs. So all of those people are gonna lose their jobs. So what are you gonna tell those people about this tax scheme that you actually have going on now, where they're actually going to lose jobs that were brought here because of those particular credits?

330. 2:13:48

     But it doesn't end there either. Because one of the things last year, I remember that our lieutenant governor talked about the fact that one of his single piece of legislations was the fact that he actually did a childcare tax credit. Well, that's gonna be gone, too. So when you start talking about savings and childcare, Georgia has some of the highest childcare costs within the nation. But one of the things that actually offsets those costs is our childcare tax credit. That will be gone, too. So any savings you think you'll see will be going to your barber, will be going to groceries, will be going to your lawyer. W- Your childcare will g- actually go up.

331. 2:14:18

     It will be lost. And then if you're lucky enough to actually still be employed in this particular state, then you actually then will actually have an opportunity to take care of your family, hopefully. It- But it doesn't end there either. Because let's actually talk about the fact when you start talking about rural communities, one of the things that has actually helped rural communities is the physician tax credit. That is now gone. Everybody talks about rural, rural, rural, and one of the things that we said would actually help get doctors into this particular state was a rural tax credit. We're gonna get rid of that, too. So rural communities, if you think you're having trouble right now getting medical care, imagine what it will be like when this particular bill goes into effect and no physician's actually there to serve you at all.

332. 2:14:57

     It doesn't end there. The bottom line is, if you are in favor of higher taxes and job loss, then you'll love this bill. We cannot wait to actually debate this particular legislation. But if the majority was so right, then why would you have a bill, present a bill in one hour that basically causes all of this job loss and tax hikes if you were so right? Why would you only have an hour to do that? So let's bring on the fight. We can't wait. Thank you. I yield to the

333. 2:15:29

     chairman. Members of the Senate, uh, middle Georgia lost a great leader last Friday, unexpectedly. Um, Ron Shipman of Macon passed away Friday evening. He was a public service giant in my part of the world. He served as president and executive director of the Macon Water Authority. Uh, prior to that, he was an executive with the Georgia Power Company. Um, during his tenure, he worked alongside board members, employees, and community partners to advance critical water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure projects that supported the health, safety, and economic vi- vitality of middle Georgia.

334. 2:16:07

     He was described as a leader who served the community in many capacities, and his passing is a profound loss, not only for the Macon Water Authority, but for middle Georgia as a whole. Today, we wanna especially lift up his wife, Anita, the Shipman family, and all who knew and loved him. His career reflected a lifetime of service, work that strengthened essential infrastructure, supported economic development, improved, improved the quality of life for countless Georgians. His legacy will endure in the community he helped build, the community he helped build and the people he inspired through his leadership.

335. 2:16:43

     And so I ask for you to join me in a moment of silence as we remember and honor, uh, the service of Ron Shipman.

336. 2:16:57

     Thank you. And we extend our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones. Thank you very much. Chair will recognize the senator from the 31st for a point of personal privilege.

337. 2:17:17

     Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be brief. It sounds like the, the tax men and women showed up in the well today from the minority party, our typical cradle-to-grave government that they promote. And I think all we heard was, "Gimme, gimme, gimme. Gimme your wallet. Gimme your pennies." Even though they don't exist, they still want your pennies. They want your dollars.

338. 2:17:39

     And all they wanna do, do is grow the size of government. They wanna debate details while the other day they voted against every property taxpayer in this state, which you can't reverse. Like, that's what you all did, and you wanna talk about affordability.

339. 2:18:00

     Every single day you wanna talk about you want the unlimited access to the taxpayer, to the mom and dad trying to go to work every single day. You wanna take their money from childcare. You wanna take their money from paying the bills and putting gas in the tank to go to work or get their MARTA Breeze pass to get on the bus and travel into Atlanta to make ends meet every single day. Gimme, gimme, gimme. That's what, that's what we're hearing from the Democrats today.

340. 2:18:32

     They're from the government and they're gonna help you. I'd like to see them help, but the hypocrisy is just unbelievable. Every s- every single year y'all come in here and you vote for the budget, the budget that has taken the income tax rate down again and again and again. Are y'all gonna actually vote against the budget this year?

341. 2:18:57

     So as y'all keep coming down here and talking about affordability, affordability rests with the citizens of Georgia. Not growing the government, not growing county government, not growing city government is getting government out of the way. So while we're crying about details, and the details are there, just, just remember the citizens are paying attention to who's not just saying what, but who's actually doing what. So Mr.

342. 2:19:28

     President, I look forward to the continuous debate over affordability in this state. And at least one thing both Republicans in the House and the Senate are doing is I would rather be having a debate over lowering taxes than grow- than a debate over growing the size of government. With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.

343. 2:19:51

     Does any other, any other senator wish to rise on a point of personal privilege? I think we've got two or three that have not come to the well. Um, last call.

344. 2:20:06

     Is there objection to the adopt- adoption of the resolutions on the con- oh, excuse me. You have before you a consent calendar of privileged resolutions. Does any senator wish to remove a resolution from the consent calendar? Is there objection to the adoption of the resolutions on the consent calendar? The chair hears none and the resolutions on the consent calendar are adopted.

345. 2:20:33

     Are there any motions to withdraw or, and com- or commit? Withdraw and commit.

346. 2:20:42

     The secretary will read the caption of Senate Bill 384.

347. 2:20:56

     We're on to our rules calendar. It's 12:05, so maybe it's about time.

348. 2:21:02

     Senate Bill 384 by Senator Hatchett of the 50th and others. A bill to be entitled an act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 9 of Title 14 and Title 40 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to motor vehicle emission inspect- inspection and maintenance and motor vehicles and traffic respectively, so as to provide for an optional five-year motor vehicle registration and revalidation for certain motor vehicles, to revise and provide for definitions, to provide for conforming changes, to provide for related matters, to provide for an effective date, to repeal conflicting laws, and for other purposes.

349. 2:21:31

     The Senate Committee on Public Safety recommends that this bill do pass by substitute by Senator Albers, chairman.

350. 2:21:40

     The Senate Committee on Public Safety offers the following substitute to Senate Bill 384, a bill to be entitled an act to amend Article 2 of Chapter 9 of Title 12 and Title 40 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to motor vehicle emission inspection and maintenance and motor vehicles and traffic respectively, so as to provide for an optional five-year motor vehicle registration and revalidation for certain motor vehicles and for other purposes. Mr. President, that completes the order.

351. 2:22:03

     I recognize the senator from the 50th to speak to Senate Bill 384.

352. 2:22:16

     Thank you, Mr. President, and good afternoon. I rise today to bring you Senate Bill 384. Uh, what this bill does essentially is when you go to the tag office to renew your vehicle's tag, right now you only have one option, which is an annual renewal. What this does is it creates an optional five-year motor vehicle registration for non-commercial vehicles. Uh, it maintains annual emission compliance.

353. 2:22:48

     Essentially what this does is just allow more convenience for Georgians who are working, who don't always have time to run by their tag office. It's completely optional. You don't have to do it. But, uh, I think it's a good bill that we can all get behind, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

354. 2:23:15

     Chair recognizes the senator from the 31st. What purpose do you rise?

355. 2:23:21

     Senator, is it, is it not true that this is another example of getting the government out of the way of the taxpayer?

356. 2:23:28

     I agree.

357. 2:23:33

     No other questions, Senator.

358. 2:23:35

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

359. 2:23:37

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

360. 2:24:09

     The chair hears none. The report of the committee is agreed to. Is there objection to the main question being ordered? The chair hears none and the main question is ordered. The question is on the passage of the bill by substitute. All those in favor of the bill will vote yay. Opposed, nay. The secretary will unlock the machine.

361. 2:24:58

     On the passage of the bill, the yeas are 45 and the nays are zero.

362. 2:25:34

     This bill, having received the requisite constitutional majority, is therefore passed by substitute.

363. 2:25:47

     Senator from the 33rd, what purpose do you rise?

364. 2:25:50

     Thank you, Mr. President. I ask for unanimous consent to excuse the senator from the 26th for business outside the Capitol.

365. 2:26:00

     Is there objection? No objection. The senator from the- ... 26th is excused.

366. 2:26:12

     All right, the secretary will read the caption of Senate Bill 435.

367. 2:26:23

     Senate Bill 435 by Goodman of the 8th. A bill to be entitled an act to amend the Official Code of Georgia Annotated so as to rename the Georgia Development Authority as the Georgia Agricultural Development Authority to make conforming changes to provide for related matters to repeal conflicting laws and for other purposes. The Senate Committee on Agricultural and Consumer Affairs recommend that this bill do pass. Senator Goodman, chairman. Mr. President, that completes your order.

368. 2:26:53

     Chair recognizes the senator from the 8th to speak to the bill.

369. 2:27:01

     Thank you, colleagues. We have the opportunity here to correct a great wrong that was done about 66 years ago. The Georgia Development Authority was created from r- funds from the Rur- Rural Rehabilitation Act. It was known as the Georgia Livestock Development Authority for a long time and co- uh, the legislature actually created, uh, they were gonna give it bonding authority for water and sewer, and they didn't realize they already had another one. In the meantime, they took the agriculture, uh, out of it, and, uh, w- we obviously already have the Georgia Finance, Environmental Finance Authority.

370. 2:27:33

     And all this bill does is ask that we put agriculture back in the name because our friends at the GDA are getting phone calls from mayors and county commissioners wanting, uh, to borrow money for infrastructure, and the Georgia Development Authority is for farmers. And GEFA is for, uh, our municipalities and counties. Uh, with that, Mr. President, I will yield the well or I'll answer any questions.

371. 2:27:55

     Chair recognizes the senator from the 29th.

372. 2:27:59

     Thank you, Mr. President Pro Tem. Senator yield? I do. Senator, is it not true that this is the most important piece of legislation to ever pass out of the Georgia General Assembly? The senator knows of what he speaks. Thank you.

373. 2:28:14

     Are there no further questions, Senator?

374. 2:28:16

     Thank you, Mr. President. I urge your favorable consideration.

375. 2:28:20

     Does any other senator wish to speak for or against the measure? The chair hears none. Is there objection to the previous question being ordered? The chair hears none and the previous question is ordered. Is there objection to agreeing to the report of the committee, which is favorable to the passage of the bill? The chair hears none. The report of the committee is agreed to. Is there objection to the main question being o- ordered? The chair hears none and the main question is ordered. The question is on the passage of the bill. All those in favor of the bill will vote yay. Opposed, nay. The secretary will unlock the machine.

376. 2:29:13

     Senator from the 14th, what purpose do you rise?

377. 2:29:16

     Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. President.

378. 2:29:17

     State your inquiry.

379. 2:29:19

     Mr. President, do you like to eat?

380. 2:29:22

     Clearly, yes.

381. 2:29:24

     Further parliamentary inquiry.

382. 2:29:25

     What's your inquiry?

383. 2:29:26

     Mr. President, well, if you like to eat, isn't it important to support Georgia farmers, Mr. President?

384. 2:29:31

     Absolutely. The senator knows of what he speaks.

385. 2:29:33

     Thank you very much.

386. 2:29:53

     On the passage of the bill, the yeas are 47 and the nays are 0. This bill, having received the requisite constitutional majority, is therefore passed.

387. 2:30:33

     Recognize the senator from the 1st.

388. 2:30:38

     Could you recognize him?

389. 2:30:41

     Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the Senate agree to the House Amendment to the Senate Substitute to House Bill 54 as amended by Amendment 1.

390. 2:30:49

     Secretary, read the caption.

391. 2:30:57

     House Bill 54 by Representative Clarks of the 100th and others. A bill to be entitled, "An Act to Amend Title 16, 31, and 43 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to crimes and offenses, health and professions and businesses respectively, so as to authorize advanced practices, registered nurses and physician assistants to order home healthcare services to patients of licensed home health agencies, to provide for definitions, to provide for the approval of continuing education regarding death cer- certificates for certain physician assistants by the Georgia Composite Medical Board and for certain advanced practicing registered nurses by the Georgia Board of Nurse- Nursing to provide for related matters to repeal conflicting laws and for other purposes." Senate Substitute 54, Amendment to Health Agencies.

392. 2:31:37

     Senate Substitute to House Bill 54 to amend, a bill to be entitled, "An Act to Amend Title 16, 31, 43, and 48 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to crimes and offenses, health, professions and businesses and revenue and taxation respectively, so as to authorize advanced practice, registered nurses and physician assistants to order home healthcare services to patients of home health agencies and for other purposes."

393. 2:32:08

     Senator Watson of the 1st offers the following amendment. Amendment Number 1, amend the Senate substitution to HB 54 as amended by House Amendment by amending AM3321112 as follows, by adding after line 26 the following, by inserting before to provide on line seven the following, to amend code sections 31-7-3.5 and 43-34-15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to treatment of minors for gender dysphoria and penalty for violations and prohibition on certain therapies and procedures for treatment of gender dysphoria in minors, regulations, exceptions and accountability respectively so as to prohibit certain medications and for other purposes.

394. 2:32:53

     Mr. President, Senator Tillery. Mr. President, Senators Tillery of the 19th off- and others offers the following amendment. Amendment 1A, amend the amendment to the Senate substitution to House Bill 54 as amended by House Amendment by amending AM332114 as follows, by replacing nine, line nine with the following, medications to amend Chapter 1 of Title 50 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to general provisions relative to state government so as to prohibit the expenditure of state funds or use of certain facilities relative to gender-affirming care, to provide for construction and for other purposes.

395. 2:33:26

     Mr. President, that completes the order.

396. 2:33:34

     Re- recognize the senator for the 1st. Speak to the motion.

397. 2:33:47

     Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, this is an issue that we voted on about four times here in this, uh, chamber. Uh, and this will, uh, simply put, uh, put four words, uh, into, uh, House Bill 54. It basically strips out the language relating to, uh, that underlying bill and puts in, uh, four words, and those four words are relating to, uh, puberty blockers. And let me give a little bit of background relating to this. Uh, we passed legislation, uh, sponsored by, uh, the senator from, uh, by myself and the senator from the 13th relating to, uh, treating minors with gender dysphoria.

398. 2:34:31

     Uh, we forbid in the state law that, uh, physicians could not prescribe, uh, hormones, i.e. estrogen or testosterone, and could not do surgery again on minors, uh, in the state of Georgia. And, uh, at that time, we left in puberty-blocking medicines, and this is where we're re-adding that into that law, uh, into that law, that section. You may recall that prior we had a very long bill, several different pages that, uh, described, uh, other issues relating to that.

399. 2:35:05

     That has already been passed into law, and this is the only thing that lacks, uh, being put into the law. What was testimony, uh, showed in, uh, HHS is that, uh, if minors are left on puberty blockers or put on puberty blockers, then, uh, they are close to 95% go ahead in making, uh, their transition from male to female or female to male. But the, uh, fact is if that they do, if they're allowed to go through a natural process called puberty, then, uh, they are much less likely.

400. 2:35:40

     Most do not go, uh, and, uh, transition to another sex. Nobody in this chamber, uh, thinks that gender dysphoria should go untreated. Um, mental health professionals are certainly available and, uh, should be, uh, treating this underlying mental health, uh, issue. Uh, certainly after the age of 17, so 18 years and above, if you're an adult and you choose to do that, then that is on you. Uh, this does not, uh, cause anyone, uh, that is an adult not to get this, uh, treatment.

401. 2:36:14

     But minors, uh, you are, you can look at that, uh, as, uh, enabling. Uh, and I think that, uh, is not an understatement. Uh, some people would call it grooming. I think that may be a little bit of an overstatement, but some people feel that way. Um, let me just, uh, touch a little bit on the healthcare and the science related to this. Puberty blockers that are used, uh, they are off-label. Uh, they are not approved by the FDA for this. There are side effects we have discussed, uh, in detail including osteoporosis.

402. 2:36:47

     Uh, but let me just, uh, digress. What is the on-label usage of puberty blockers? Where they're not used in puberty blocking, uh, except under, uh, exceptions of which the bill already allows exceptions to this, but they're used, uh, mostly in, uh, prostate cancer and so forth to block the, uh, male hormone that, uh, prostate cancer feeds on. So, uh, there are significant side effects, uh, and the risk, uh, is not worth the benefit by any means and again does not, uh, mean that it does not get treated, just, uh, treated as a mental health disorder and then at age 18 if you continue to desire that you can.

403. 2:37:28

     Uh, Mr. President, I would ask for your favorable consideration. I'll go ahead and discuss amendment 1A, uh, which, uh, the senator from the 19th, uh, will come down and discuss but that is a friendly amen- amendment, uh, and I would have no problem with that if they both pass. Um, Mr. President, I'll be happy to entertain any questions. You do have a couple questions, Senator. Recognize the senator from the 14th.

404. 2:37:51

     Thank you, Mr. President. Does the senator yield? Yes. Senator, if I'm not wrong, we had a bill about home health relating to advanced practice registered nurses, and the current version of the bill before your amendment has nothing to do with gender dysphoria. Is that correct? Uh, it is in the same section, uh, but no, it is a healthcare related, uh, section of the law and, uh, is not relating to home healthcare. When you say section, what do you mean exactly? What do you mean the same section? Listen, I've, I've had legislative council look at this and they feel as if it is in the ...

405. 2:38:21

     This is germane. Okay, so then I- That's what you're getting at. Does senator further yield? Yes. Uh, so what I'm understanding is that you are looking for a way to introduce puberty blockers legislation and you're saying legislative council told you this bill might be an acceptable vehicle for that. Am I understanding that correct? Yes. Okay, thank you. So I guess my next question is why, if we have a bill about home health and healthcare in general and advanced practice registered nurses, why on a day like today with a bill like that are we suddenly talking about trans people?

406. 2:38:55

     I'm not suddenly talking about this. This is an issue that's been going on for about four years. Do you further yield? Yes. So the senator is saying that for four years the senators ha- you have had a policy priority of talking about trans kids. Is that right? No. Okay. But you're saying ... Senator yields? Yeah. Senator's saying but it's true that this is not just a new thing for you. This is something that you've been working on for four years, correct? Uh, this issue I will tell you about four years ago I, I really did not realize the scope of, of this issue.

407. 2:39:28

     It's something that I've certainly learned a lot about, uh, more than I would like to know, uh, but to recognize what it is and to recognize that this piece of, of law needs to be adjusted and to the point that we should add back in, should add, uh, puberty blockers to this particular law. Senator further yield? Yes. Senator, are you aware of any Democrats that are trying to introduce any legislation about puberty blockers? The ...

408. 2:39:59

     I, I would not be privy to that. You might be. Okay. So why then do you think that the Republican Party and specifically you for the last four years have been dedicated to legislating about trans people? You know, this, uh, I, you know, you can spin the words however you like. Dedicated is not a word that I would use. Uh, so, uh, you'll have to speculate on your own. Thank you, Senator. And at the appropriate time, Mr. President, I would like to make a point of order relating to the procedural validity of this.

409. 2:40:32

     Thank you, Mr. President. Any other questions? Uh, you do ... No, no more questions, Senator. Okay. Thank you very much. Uh, again, uh, amendment one is my amendment, uh, and would ask for your favorable consideration and amendment 1A is a friendly amendment that I would ask your favorable consideration and, and the senator from the 19 will discuss that. Thank you very much. Point of order, Mr.

410. 2:40:54

     I'll give, I'll get your point of order. I was gonna

411. 2:41:01

     ... Senator from the 19, if you'd like to speak to your amendment and then I'll ...

412. 2:41:13

     Thank you, Mr. President, members of the Senate. Amendment 1A is essentially Senate Bill 39 that passed out of this chamber last year and, uh, was not brought up, uh, before sine die in the House. As you remember, we found in discussions with the budget that the state was actually paying for transgender surgeries with state taxpayer funds. Senator from the 29th introduced a bill that te- handled that in the prison setting, but Senate Bill 39 addressed it with all state taxpayer funds should state taxpayer dollars be used to pay for transgender surgeries.

413. 2:41:45

     And the decision of this body, although not unanimous, was that no, those state taxpayer dollars should not be used to pay for transgender surgeries. That bill went across to the House, got it caught up in the things that happened between the House and the Senate chambers and did not come up on the House floor for a vote. So it is now section, the section of it that handled state funds is pulled out and made as amendment 1A and now is, uh, there for your consideration. I appreciate your favorable consideration, those who voted for it before and those who voted against it. I appreciate you considering it again this time.

414. 2:42:17

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

415. 2:42:21

     Recognize senator from the 14th. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President. I have a point of order. I think this is a procedurally invalid amendment, uh, because ... And I'd like a ruling from the chair on germaneness, and the reason is we have an underlying bill about home health and an amendment that's supposed to be about gender dysphoria. Now suddenly we're plunged into this very predictable policy debate from 2024 and beyond. So it seems like the purpose of the underlying bill has very little to do with the amendments that have been, have been added, and I would just like the chair to, to make a ruling on whether this is really relevant or not.

416. 2:42:53

     Okay. All right. One second.

417. 2:43:34

     Thank you, Senator. Um, after reviewing it, since this is a, um, a healthcare bill and we routinely, retu- re- re- usually are, are putting, uh, uh, adding language or taking away language, uh, to House bills, and, uh, since this is, uh, pertaining to healthcare and the underlying issue that this, that the senator from the 1st is trying to get to is pertaining to healthcare as well. So I'll, I'll rule it germane. Thank you, Mr. President. I appeal the ruling of the chair.

418. 2:44:05

     I figured that would be the case. All right.

419. 2:44:10

     He's,

420. 2:44:14

     Senator from the 14th has moved to challenge the ruling of the chair. Chair has ruled that the measure for HB 54 is germane. All those... Question is shall the ruling of the chair be sustained? All those in favor of the ruling being sustained will vote yes. I recognize the senator from the 19th.

421. 2:44:39

     Thank you, Mr. President. Point of order.

422. 2:44:40

     State your point.

423. 2:44:41

     Could you walk us through what a vote yes and a vote no would do? Would a vote yes sustain the ruling of the chair or a vote no? Help us understand what we're doing right here.

424. 2:44:50

     A v- a vote yes would sustain the ruling of the chair. That's correct, Senator. That is correct.

425. 2:45:01

     A vote yes is for me and a vote no is for senator from the 14th.

426. 2:45:06

     Another

427. 2:45:11

     vote. That's great.

428. 2:45:19

     All right, here we go. All those in favor will vote yay. All those opposed nay. Secretary will unlock the machine.

429. 2:46:29

     On the appeal of the ruling of the chair, the yays are 30 and the nays are 17, and so the ruling of the chair is sustained.

430. 2:46:41

     Recognize the senator from the 38th. Speak to the bill, m-

431. 2:47:00

     Thank you, Mr. President. Well, Georgia, the Georgia State Senate has brought culture wars back. We just spent all this morning talking about affordability and taxes, and now we are sliding in two amendments to a bill to take away the rights of Georgians and take away the rights of parents to make decisions with their physicians about their children. We are about to decide whether men that sit in this chamber should tell parents what they should do with their children, whether women in this chamber are better suited at telling parents and doctors what is best for their child.

432. 2:47:48

     Legislating fear does not reduce the costs of Georgians' everyday lives. Legislating fear just continues to divide us. This is not how we move forward in a country and a state that is calling on us to work together and reduce their costs. What we are now doing is separating those of us who feel comfortable with who we are from those of us who struggle with identifying with who they believe they are.

433. 2:48:23

     That is not how we should be legislating in this body. Precedent has already shown us that lawsuits will be coming to this state. People will sue as a result of these amendments being added to this bill shall we pass it. I strongly urge those of us in this chamber to stop these culture wars. Stop making it feel as if there are some of us in this state that should not have the right to make their own decisions about their body.

434. 2:48:54

     It is not upon us to make these decisions. I strongly urge us to vote no on these, both of these amendments. This is not making food more affordable. This is not lowering the cost of taxes. This is instead telling parents that your child should not have the same rights as other children in this state. Your child should be forced to live in a body that they do not feel comfortable with.

435. 2:49:25

     At some point, this has to stop. I don't care how you feel about trans children in this state. At some point, we just need to leave them alone. Stop it. I am no better than a parent or a physician to make a decision about a child. I would be darned if I counted on anybody in this room to tell me what I should do with my children.

436. 2:49:55

     You would feel the same. I should not walk into your child's doctor room and tell you what to do with your child. So we should not be entering somebody else's child's doctor room. I strongly urge you to vote no on these amendments because we have much more important business to discuss to re- reduce the cost of childcare, to reduce the cost of food, to reduce the cost of milk. That is what people care about. Other people just want to be left alone and be able to live their lives.

437. 2:50:29

     We are better than this. So please vote no on this bill. And Mr. President, I will take any questions if there are any questions.

438. 2:50:45

     I can't have questions, so vote no. I think you have a question. I do have a question? Okay. Sorry about that, Senator.

439. 2:50:52

     Uh, y- recognize the senator from the second for a question. You wanna go to the... Well, I recognize the senator from the 55th for a question.

440. 2:51:01

     Will the gent- will the gentleman yield?

441. 2:51:03

     Yes, sir, I do.

442. 2:51:04

     I have a very unusual question, but I wanna ask it. I couldn't ask it of the previous s- ... the author of the amendment. But I read on Amendment 1A, no state funds shall be expended for healthcare benefits coverage, including coverage for gender-affirming care. As gender-affirming care, would that include, for example, if I as a man want to get testosterone, if I'm low on my testosterone, to affirm that I need some testosterone, would that be included?

443. 2:51:42

     Uh, that is a great question, um, but my understanding is that would not be included because we rather attack folks that are not like us. That's much more comfortable to do than to stop the care of those of us who do need some testosterone. You can still do that. It's just the folks that are uncomfortable with what, who they believe they are, that's who we're attacking. We're not going to attack those of us in this room. It's much easier for us to attack those who are not in this room.

444. 2:52:21

     All right. Thank you, Mr. President.

445. 2:52:22

     You have no more questions.

446. 2:52:22

     I yield the floor.

447. 2:52:26

     Bringing on senator from the second to speak to the measure.

448. 2:52:42

     Thank you, Mr. President. Colleagues, boy, I tell you, we getting better and better at this right here. Let me tell you why, colleagues, I'm opposed to Amendment 1A authored by the senator from the 19th, uh, who is my friend. I'm gonna tell you why. Because this amendment is anti-freedom. This amendment will allow the legislature and the general assembly from this point moving forward to decide what we want the state health benefit plan to pay for and what we don't want it to pay for.

449. 2:53:18

     So if next week you decide you don't want to fund asthma, you take it out. If you don't like sickle cell treatments, next week you'll take it out. If you don't like taking care of folks that have cancer, you could just take it out. The general assembly now has the power by voting on this amendment to decide what people can do with their health insurance. Now, I have heard many of you talk about the Affordable Care Act and Obamacare. You can keep your doctor, and y'all have railed against that.

450. 2:53:48

     What's the difference between that and this? If the legislature can decide what you can get treatment on, how you can then be treated, then there is nothing stopping us from making that determination of what you can cover and what you won't cover. Well, I think it's a slippery slope, colleagues, that we will intervene in what a person's health insurance can cover. That's negotiated in-network, out-of-network, all that stuff. Listen, you may have an issue with people who are transgender.

451. 2:54:22

     Got it, understand. But always remember, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That's the golden rule. And I don't want anybody telling me that my health insurance can't treat asthma. You may not want your health insurance to tell you it can't treat geriatrics. You may not want any of that stuff, but guess what? If you vote on this amendment, what's to stop a bill next month or when we're coming back in the next legislative session? What happens when the balance of power changes, where the majority is now the minority and the minority is now the majority? What do you do then? Will you come make the same argument that I'm making today, that if you're focused on this issue and you say state funds, well, guess what?

452. 2:54:58

     W- we're state employees. We're on the state health benefit plan, so you get to decide what type of treatment I get. I didn't know that you all had medical licenses. I didn't know that you were MDs. I didn't know that you were my primary care physician. And you may say, "Senator, but that's not what this bill's about. It's a very specific issue." Oh, no, it's always about a bigger picture. And for folks to talk about big government, well, this is making government a hell of a lot bigger because if you want a small government, you let folks make the choice as to what they were gonna have offered in their health insurance.

453. 2:55:31

     But now you want to come and bring big government to tell you what your insurance can have, and it's only if you receive state money, so if you're on a state health benefit plan, if you are a state employee. Talk about folks that worked for the state for 25, 30 years and retired and still own the state insurance. They've worked for this state for 25 to 30 years, and maybe they're at a point in life where they're making a different determination, and you want to walk back on the contract where those folks have retired and say, "Well, now, ah, we feel a little different about this." That's not a good way to do business, and I would leave you with this: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

454. 2:56:04

     That's the golden rule, and I wouldn't want anybody making changes to my health insurance because you may not like the condition I suffer with today, and that's a slippery slope because it might be trans folks today, but it could be somebody else tomorrow. And with that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.

455. 2:56:28

     Bringing it down to senator from the 14th.

456. 2:56:39

     Good afternoon, colleagues. It's February 10th, a little after 12:30, and here we are talking about trans people again, not because Democrats brought it up. We were about to talk about home health and advanced practice registered nurses, increasing healthcare access, the kind of bipartisan legislation that people around here brag about Georgia General Assembly being good at. And all of a sudden, amendments to target trans people

457. 2:57:07

     Now, I don't think the timing is any surprise, right? It's February, so qualifying for your primaries starts in a few weeks. I think there's two things that you think that these amendments will do for you. Number one, will put you in a good, uh, position for your primary to show your base that you're taking on the, the hard-hitting issues right before qualifying so maybe people will think twice about running against you. And the second thing you think it's gonna do is get Democrats into a tailspin. You think Democrats are gonna come up here and freak out, you can clip it and use it later and say that we're obsessed. But I think the, the procedural record today shows who's obsessed.

458. 2:57:41

     I think, let, let's be clear about what just happened. We had a normal healthcare bill at a time when people's enhanced subsidies had been ripped away, 200,000 Georgians lost their health insurance since the holidays. In just a couple months, hundreds of thousands more are expected to drop off the rolls. So we had a good access healthcare bill. What happened today is that Georgia Republicans swooped in like fighter jets over the Super Bowl, dropping anti-trans amendments to make this entire debate about trans people.

459. 2:58:15

     And we put the vote on the board. The president of the chamber said, "Yes, we should be talking about trans people today." And we put the vote on the board, and every Republican senator whose present said, "Yes, we should be talking about trans people today." And every Democrat voted, "No, we should not be talking about trans people today." Republicans voted, "Yes, let's keep talking about trans people." Democrats voted, "No, let's stop talking about trans people." So if there are people watching this and wondering who's obsessed with continuing to talk about trans people, it's the Georgia Senate Republicans.

460. 2:58:47

     They won't leave it alone. It feels very 2024 in here right now. And let's be clear about the second part of what you think you're getting out of this, which is that Democrats will do a, some kind of a tailspin and you can clip our speeches and make us look, you know, deranged or something. Who looked deranged in the Omaha mayoral? The one where the Republican candidate ran a bun- a bu- a bunch of anti-trans messaging as his mayoral platform. He got trounced. Trounced by a Democratic candidate who said, "I care more about potholes and good government, and this Republican candidate cares more about what's going on in your bathroom." Trounced.

461. 2:59:26

     Omaha. What about the governor's races? Spanberger, Sherrill, Virginia, New Jersey. Multi-million dollar attack ads about how they're obsessed with trans people. What do they do? They just ran on their record. They're the adults in the room. They said, "I care about real issues like healthcare access, cost of living." So let's, I mean, th- this is a real easy playbook for y'all to run, but I want you to know maybe it worked in 2024, I think voters are tired of it. And I think you should expect that after a day like today when the votes are on the board, Republicans vote, "Yes, let's keep talking about trans people," Democrats vote, "No, let's stop talking about trans people," in a year where there's an affordability crisis and that's what's on the ballot, I think you guys are gonna realize just how to fuel, how out of fuel this strategy actually is.

462. 3:00:13

     Thank you, Mr. President.

463. 3:00:19

     Senator, senator from the 44th.

464. 3:00:40

     Thank you, Mr. President. Um, First Amendment would eliminate all, uh, discretion for doctors and parents for children. Some of my colleagues have already eloquently expressed why all of us should hesitate to think that the 56 of us in this room know better than those esteemed professionals and the parents of the children that we are discussing in forcing through a bright line rule that leaves no room for particular situations.

465. 3:01:16

     That is a very dangerous thing to do in the medical field. Uh, bans are extreme and should only be done from a legislative point of view in cases where there is absolutely no reason or rationale that a given treatment could be useful in any situation, period. And that simply is not the case with what we are talking about in, uh, the senator from the First Amendment.

466. 3:01:47

     Amendment number two, eloquently spoken to by the senator from the second,

467. 3:01:54

     is basically saying that adults who are making their, their own decisions, full-grown adults who are paying for healthcare, should not be permitted to get the same medical treatment that is available to everybody else. And we've, we've been through a list of, of cases, afflictions from the senator from the second, asking everyone directly, what is the difference between this and these other things that you expect and deserve to have treated?

468. 3:02:28

     Again, a very dangerous thing to substitute our judgment for that of medical professionals and to declare that our, any one of us has a moral judgment on an adult's decision in their own medical care that we will make for other people. And clearly, if you're not gonna allow an adult who is paying for their healthcare to have a medical procedure when no other medical procedure would be off the table for that individual, then you're just simply saying, "We are not gonna allow transgender people to exist.

469. 3:03:11

     We will do everything in our power to just deny their existence."

470. 3:03:17

     And I would suggest to you that that is not what Georgians believe. That's not what Americans believe. But I think the bigger picture is the fact that we have had so many of these culture war bills here in this chamber for the last four years in particular, and that is because that it's, it's the culture war bills are the easy things to do to pick on vulnerable populations and try to distract your voters and the voters of Georgia from the failure of the Republican agenda in this country and in this state to deliver a good quality of life for Georgians.

471. 3:04:12

     You can try to keep your base happy by working them up about some supposed boogeyman that has no basis in reality and hope they don't notice several really important facts. I would ask that all of you look at today's Wall Street Journal. It makes abundantly clear in some very easy-to-read graphs exactly what has happened in our economy for the last forty-five years, and that is that the benefits of American economic output in the last forty-five years have all gone to businesses, shareholders, and a few executives, while regular workers, regular folks have barely gotten any of that pie.

472. 3:05:09

     Shareholders, executives, business is like this over the last forty-five years. What the workers get, what the average guy gets, what average Joe gets has fallen precipitously.

473. 3:05:27

     And therefore, it is no accident that we have had culture war bill after culture war bill in here to distract from the fact, from those facts, and that there has been no ideas offered by a Republican majority that's been in power for twenty years on how to reverse that situation. Instead, what we're getting is, "We'll cut your income taxes." But that doesn't work because the second you do any math, you see that all the people who have gotten screwed over in the economy and are making less than they ever made in real dollars forty-fi- from forty-five years ago are the ones who will end up paying more.

474. 3:06:12

     And see, what's going on is that everybody knows it. Georgians are tired of politicians that lie and say one thing and do another. And the reality with this tax legislation is that it is getting panned not just by Democrats in this chamber. The other chamber won't stand up for it. Many Republicans in here won't stand up for it, and that is for the simple reason that it's a scam and the math doesn't work at all. And so because we don't wanna acknowledge that that's true, now we d- we fall back to our old tactic of let's just go back to the culture war bills.

475. 3:06:50

     Let's just go back to the culture war bills because we don't wa- you know, it's, it's not going so well. We're... The, the, the wool isn't getting pulled over everyone's eyes with these affordability agenda tax bills the way we hope that they would. So that's out the window, and now it's back to the let's just pick on people agenda, the things that very few people care about, the things that af- impact very few people, because the other stuff is hard. The other stuff requires real work, and it's hard, and the solutions aren't easy.

476. 3:07:22

     So because I guess we don't wanna just sit in here for forty days and do absolutely nothing, we gotta come up with something to fill our time, and that's just to pass all these bills that do nothing but pick on a few vulnerable adults, uh, and children and do nothing for anybody else. I wanna read to you

477. 3:07:48

     some very telling statistics from an article that ran in The Current, uh, a few months ago. So over the last twenty years, Georgia's per capita income has fallen precipitously, which is the same thing that I referenced from today's Wall Street Journal that has happened to average workers. That same thing has happened here, but it's worse because our average per capita income has fallen precipitously in the rankings of states.

478. 3:08:24

     So we are worse off. Georgians have less money in their pocket now than they did in the year 2000.

479. 3:08:38

     Georgia's PCI, that's per capita income, between 20- 2000 and 2020 fell against the national average, and we rank all the way back to 40th. We are worse off twenty years into the 21st century than we were forty years earlier. And I'm quoting from this article. This is not me. Listen to this quote, "It's impossible to ignore the fact that the reversal in Georgia's PCI performance coincided with the Republican takeover of Georgia state government." Governor Sonny Perdue, who defeated incumbent Democratic Governor Roy Barnes in 2002 to become the first GOP governor of Georgia in more than a century, presided over the biggest drop in per capita income performance in Georgia in modern times, if not ever.

480. 3:09:37

     By the time Perdue left office at the, at the end of 2010, the number of counties in Georgia that are in the bottom national quartile of wealth had nearly doubled, and the percentage of the state's population living in the counties where the bottom had fallen out on real spending dollars for Georgians had more than tripled. So I would suggest to you that that's exactly what's going on.

481. 3:10:08

     There is no affordability agenda out of this chamber. There is no reckoning with the fact that Republican policies have contributed to the vast increasing income inequality that we have, where people struggle to get by while the executives and the shareholders take home all of the gains. I would suggest to you that our political system is not reckoning with that. I think we all need to understand that this is exactly why Americans are so angry.

482. 3:10:45

     They are furious that, that this foundational element of American life, where the vast majority of American workers in the last number of years, in the last forty-five years, has gotten completely screwed while the elites have made all the money,

483. 3:11:08

     is why our society is struggling so much. And it is our responsibility as leaders to try to contend with that. But the minute they, that everyone can figure out that this, these tax bills are a scam, it's right back to, let's just fill our time by picking on transgender kids.

484. 3:11:36

     The baseline time spent in this chamber dealing with things that would make Georgians' lives better with serious issues, things that impact a lot of, impact the vast majority of people, it's just been nonexistent. And it is, it is a waste of Georgians' time for us to sit up here and spend our time on, on nonsense like this to pick on people instead of admitting what it is that Georgians actually want us to do and want us to focus on.

485. 3:12:18

     And I am hoping that as we turn to different leadership within this state, that we get serious again about being legislators and legislating for the common good, and stop trying to pull the wool over everybody's eyes by throwing shiny objects up, picking on people bill after bill after bill who don't deserve it. They deserve our, our res- our, our respect as human beings.

486. 3:12:54

     They have dignity as human beings, and using them as a punching bag to distract from your economic failures is something that everyone in here should be ashamed of. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

487. 3:13:04

     Recognize the senator from the twenty-second.

488. 3:13:18

     Thank you, Mr. President. So it was always clear, there was never a doubt that when folks were losing on the question of things that really impact Georgians' lives, go back to the tried and true method of picking on folks. And what had been happening is they had been getting whipped on the issue of what we call affordability, the re- basically how to improve Georgians' lives. Came up with the tax scheme and said, "This will do it. They'll back down. They'll stop talking about the real issues. They'll stop giving the real facts. They will be intimidated by it." But our caucus wasn't.

489. 3:13:51

     And we gave it right back to them. And so they said, "You know, these guys are not gonna stop telling the truth to Georgians. So let's do the old tactic. Let's try to distract. And let's bully." And as I tell people all the time, it's not us bringing up these issues. It's them. But I don't like bullies. And I'm not gonna allow my fellow citizens of Georgia to be bullied. So absolutely, I always stand up for them. So when you see me standing up, it's not that I brought up the issue, but I'm certainly not gonna allow, and this caucus will not allow our fellow citizens, people who wanna take care of their families, people who wanna do right by their wives and husbands, to be bullied.

490. 3:14:29

     And that's why we're up here when we fight against these issues. Not that we bring it up, because we want people to be able to live the lives where they want to live their lives. We don't want the government in person's personal life all the time. They want that. And when th- that comes up, we're gonna fight against it. So that's what you see. You don't see us prioritizing it. You see us making sure the bully can't take advantage of our fellow citizens. But here's the bottom line. Those in rural Georgia who need healthcare ignore this and ask, "What does this have to do about improving rural healthcare?" Those who cannot afford childcare through all throughout this state ignore this and ask, "What does this have to do with improving childcare?" Those who seek a better job within this state ignore this and ask, "What does this have to do with getting a better job in this state?" Those who care about issues w- such as child poverty, because our child poverty rate is higher than the national average, ignore this and ask, "What does this have to do with the ending child poverty?" Those who want better schools, ignore this and ask, "What does this have to do with improving our schools?" So we're here to make sure everyone realizes in Georgia we're always gonna stand up to the bullying, and we're gonna be here for you to care about the issues that actually matter to you.

491. 3:15:43

     With that, I yield the will.

492. 3:15:48

     Recognize senator from 35th.

493. 3:16:08

     All right. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, again, I'm about a month into being a state senator, and I come in with a open heart, open mind. Really appreciate all the conversations, thinking that we got reasonable folks. Um, but I'm standing up here because I thought we were talking about advanced practice nur- uh, registered nurses and phys- physician assistants and home healthcare.

494. 3:16:40

     I actually thought, like, I was, like, getting prepared. I was like, "Oh, we're gonna talk about home healthcare." This is what people think we do here. And then these yellow pieces of paper started showing up, and we're like, "What are these yellow pieces of paper with all these signatures of support? Oh, this is about trans kids and trans people." And here I am, new, but I thought we were talking about home healthcare, where we can actually do some good work, 'cause we only have 40 legislative days.

495. 3:17:16

     I'm really glad we're talking about healthcare, because we haven't been talking about healthcare, and now we're talking about healthcare. This is good. And then these yellow pieces of paper show up to talk about trans kids.

496. 3:17:38

     I understand that this may be a g- a political game for a lot of you here. It is not a game for people at home. This isn't playtime. Like, folks are just ki-ki-ing and ha-ha-ing about... Like, folks really can't afford healthcare right now.

497. 3:18:04

     How many people do we know in that sandwich generation where you're trying to take care of your, your elderly mo- mother and father and, and godparent, and you're trying to take care of your babies, and childcare is through the roof, and y- you're trying to go to your public schools, and you have concerns about some of the public schools, and, and do I do private? Do we drive across town? What about the, the little one that has to get pre-K? And you know pre-K costs more than private school, and you're just hoping to get to public school so you can get a, some kind of relief.

498. 3:18:35

     And in the middle of this, they think we're here coming up with solutions about healthcare. But

499. 3:18:46

     they find out, well, I'm finding out, that we, we come here and we put up these little yellow pieces of paper with the signatures of a lot of you in here to say, "No, no, no. Let's not talk about solutions in home healthcare. Let's talk about trans kids." And they tell their, um, legislative aides to go hurry up and go da, da, da, da, da. And they send a text message, "Oh, let's, we can get them here." And then they have people running around this building doing their bidding.

500. 3:19:18

     And, and these are really, in general, I find you, y'all really good folks. But then, as I mentioned in my first, uh, time coming up here, you know a tree by its fruit.

501. 3:19:32

     You know a tree by its fruit.

502. 3:19:44

     Love God. Love people. For real.

503. 3:19:52

     This is not a game.

504. 3:19:57

     I, I can rattle off a long list of things that folks sent us here to focus on.

505. 3:20:05

     Everything costs way too much. You see wealth all around you, but you don't feel it or see it in your own account.

506. 3:20:17

     People feel behind.

507. 3:20:22

     Trust in government is l- is super low.

508. 3:20:27

     Ridiculous amounts of money just flying around in government: local, state, definitely federal.

509. 3:20:37

     We'll have domestic violence bills here, and then we don't say anything about the Epstein files. People do not care who has the right idea, like which party came up with it. They just want us to do something good.

510. 3:21:01

     Let's stop playing games, y'all.

511. 3:21:06

     And I know y'all have been here many, many years, and you're probably thinking, "Oh, the new senator, he'll learn how it works around here."

512. 3:21:16

     But I'm a certain kind of stubborn, and I know who my God is.

513. 3:21:23

     You know a tree by its fruit, and if we're gonna talk about home healthcare-

514. 3:21:30

     To help out folks who are struggling at home, what you don't wanna do is throw a trans bill on top of it with all of your signatures to prove that you thought this was a great idea for whatever reason. I yield the will.

515. 3:21:51

     Recognize senator from the 37th.

516. 3:22:09

     Thank you, Mr. President. Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, I, uh, rise today, I appreciate the thoughts of some of our colleagues. Uh, you see the diversity of, of opinions in the state, to be sure, on display here today. I rise to speak to folks in the political center. Um, there's been accusations that, that have been flying around about intentions here. I, I wo- I would agree with my, my colleague from the 35th, this is not a game, um, and that healthcare does cost too much. Um, the proposition before this Senate is, is a relatively simple one.

517. 3:22:44

     If you look on lines 19 through 27, this, this proposal does nothing to limit

518. 3:22:54

     what's referred to as gender-affirming care that's privately funded by individuals. This proposition simply does one thing. It prohibits state tax dollars appropriated through our state budget from going to fund sex change drugs

519. 3:23:12

     for Georgians. It prohibits the use of state funds, state facilities, and state employed physicians and healthcare professionals from pa- paying for that with the tax dollars of everyday Georgians. That's all this does. Folks that I s- I, I know in my district and around the state across the political spectrum recognize public tax dollars shouldn't fund sex change drugs for people. If they wanna do that, they can do that themselves. This bill does nothing to limit individuals funding that themselves.

520. 3:23:45

     It simply says state tax dollars can't be used for that purpose, state facilities can't be used for that purpose, and state paid and employed doctors can't be part of that with state money. That's all this does. People I talk to in the political center that wanna bring people together recognize this is solid policy. I reject the premise this is bullying. I re- reject the premise that this is playing a game, and I reject the premise that somehow rejecting this proposal helps lower people's healthcare costs.

521. 3:24:15

     Friends, it, it's offensive to folks who are paying higher healthcare costs, employees, teachers, to recognize that, that a, that a, that a small portion, even a small portion of their, their, their money is funding sex change drugs for Georgians out of the state treasury. This is a common sense proposal. I talked about, uh, I'm really reaching out to members of the, of our majority party and minority party, Democrats and Republicans. Friends, this simply says s- the state treasury, state tax dollars can't fund sex change drugs.

522. 3:24:50

     That's all this does. This represents the common sense across our spectrum. I think every senator should support Amendment 1A. There's no bullying, there's no gamesmanship here. It's a simple proposition that in, that, that supports the integrity of our tax dollars. Let's come together and support this proposal.

523. 3:25:15

     Senator's yielded. Senator from the 9th.

524. 3:25:32

     Thank you, Mr. President. We were almost home free. We had one last bill and then this lands on our desk. A perfectly good piece of legislation, which was HB 54, we all agreed to it, and the only reason these yellow sheets are here now is because last year this is a whole bill attacking trans individuals.

525. 3:26:04

     This bill didn't make it in the House. They don't want it. "Hey, we don't have time for that. We have to do some other work." So that's why it's back over here trying to get attached to a really good bipartisan bill so that we can attack trans kids again in this chamber, not the House. Over here is where we're doing the bad work. This bill only did three things. The bill that we want to pass, the bipartisan legislation that's on this yellow sheet that we all agreed to and is back to us now just to say, "Yes, we all agree", is now gotten corrupted.

526. 3:26:40

     This bill only did three things: gave practitioners and physician assistants the, the authority to provide home healthcare services, required training on death certificates, expands, uh, caregiving tax credits, which would help patients and their families and healthcare providers. Yet here we are attacking trans people in our trans community again. For what?

527. 3:27:10

     Let me tell you something. People back home ask me, and, uh, these, these folks in the center that you're talking about, "Senator Merritt, you're always going after Republicans.

528. 3:27:24

     W- Why can't y'all meet halfway? Why can't you work on bipartisan stuff? Why can't you reach across the aisle a- and, and, and, and, and work with them on good pieces of legislation that actually responds to stuff that we want?"

529. 3:27:38

     So I'm gonna tell you why. It's 'cause of stuff like this that just corrupted a very good bill that I fully agree with my colleagues on, that would expand healthcare and give healthcare services at a time that has already been mentioned where people are asking us to respond to healthcare and do something. This is not something. No one in my district is asking, is, is, "Hey, can you, you know, put more, uh, can you ban more trans bills?

530. 3:28:10

     Can you, can you please? 'Cause that is such a priority for us right now."

531. 3:28:17

     No, my folks are worried about eating. They're worried about paying rent. They're worried about paying groceries. They're wor- worried about rising healthcare, healthcare costs. They're worried about being able to take care of grandma at home and a child with special needs at home. Not this. Not one is asking me to, to go after trans community. And maybe y'all think, "Hey, well, you know, we rolled out all those ads when Kamala was running and it, and it really hit." Well, it's a new day, and people care about new things this election cycle, and you right now have a, have one of the most hated administrations in the White House.

532. 3:29:03

     And if you don't believe me, go Google it. Hated. Not just by Democrats, by everyone, because they are not ... So much focus is on culture and attacking people and attacking trans and attacking others and who gets to live here and who doesn't. No one cares. This administration is not responding to affordability. People are hurting. But yes, by all means, let's spend more time attacking trans individuals.

533. 3:29:36

     Enough is enough. Let's do real work. I'm encouraging all of my c- my colleagues on the o- other, on the other side of the aisle, say no to this crap. No. And let's pass a clean bill that was sent over here to us that actually responds to something. And with that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.

534. 3:30:03

     Recognize the senator from the 40th.

535. 3:30:07

     If senator for the 1st be ready, maybe on standby to close debate.

536. 3:30:15

     Thank you, Mr. President. 15 days. 15 days is a record w- when we didn't mention transgender people once in this chamber, and I can tell you it's been great. I've been relaxed, and I realized that the last five years, 'cause I have trans children, the last five years, all this debate has been so incredibly stressful for me and my family, but these last 15 days, it's been great.

537. 3:30:51

     In fact, I've been able to work on a piece of legislation that we can come together on. It, it's this bill that many of you s- have signed today. It's about keeping kids safe online. It's a core piece of mental health protection for our kids, and it's got Republican signatures on it, and it's got Democratic signatures on it. This is the kind of stuff we can do here together. But these ...

538. 3:31:22

     You know, we've worked on this transgender issue for five years. Isn't that enough? So all I'm saying is the fif- the last 15 days have been great. Thank you. I yield the floor.

539. 3:31:37

     Senator from the 1st.

540. 3:31:40

     Would you like to close debate? Senator from the 1st, close debate.

541. 3:31:56

     Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, you know, I'd first like to, uh, read a statement from, um,

542. 3:32:04

     the American Society of Plastic Surgeons position statement. Just came out February 3rd. Um, so the clinical management of children and adolescents, which is what we're talking about, minors, presenting with gender dysphoria or general, or gender incongruence with a, has undergone rapid change, and, uh, American Society of Plastic Surgeons offered guidance to members providing gender surgery surfaces, services for this population, and that's the position statement.

543. 3:32:37

     And this is what it is. Understanding the larger patient assessment process, both through the Cass Review and HHS report, emphasize that the natural course of pediatric gender dysphoria remains poorly understood. Available evidence suggests that a substantial proportion of children with pre-pubertal onset gender dysphoria

544. 3:33:01

     that experience this significant reduction of stress by the time they reach adulthood, absent medical or surgical intervention. So in other words, if you don't give hormones, if you don't do surgery, or if you don't use puberty blockers, they'll go through a natural puberty and outgrow this. And as I mentioned earlier, we discussed enabling, and some people even called it grooming.

545. 3:33:34

     Evidence regarding, I'll continue on, evidence regarding adolescent onset presentation, presentations become increasingly common since the mid-2010s. HHS report, uh, underscores that this uncertainty has significant ethical implications when the likelihood of spontaneous resolution is unknown and when irreversible interventions carry known and plausible risk adhering to the principles and benefit and malfeasance related to that. Precautions, a precautionary approach.

546. 3:34:05

     You know, today we've heard a lot of discussion unrelated to either of these amendments. We've heard the golden rule, we've heard the Super Bowl, we've heard, uh, about sports, we've heard about, uh, taxes, whether this is germane, affordability, why America is angry, is one quote from the 44th, from the senator from the 44th.

547. 3:34:33

     Let me read you a quote from that senator

548. 3:34:43

     that relates to what was said,

549. 3:34:48

     uh, earlier. Let me find it here. Apologize for my fingers. Um,

550. 3:35:07

     this is a conversation that happened on a Zoom call with our senator from the 44th discussing why she had voted with the Republicans because she thought that that issue, uh, was not a political winner for the Democratic Party.

551. 3:35:31

     So in discussing political games and trust in government, I would encourage you to go back and look at that. Let me just simply say we're finishing up what should, should have been done after learning over three years of working on this piece of legislation, and this is the important part relating to that. Amendment 1 adds in those four words relating to puberty blockers. Uh, amendment 1A adds in that no state funds will be used for, uh, transitioning like this in minors, I'm sorry, in adults, but you're still, as the senator from the 37th pointed out, you can still do it with your own money, uh, from that perspective.

552. 3:36:13

     Um, with that, Mr. President, I will yield the weld and ask for favorable consideration. Thank you.

553. 3:36:24

     Senator's yielded. All right, we'll move on to, the question is on the adoption of amendment 1A. Amendment 1A. Is there objection? Objection. Objection. All those in favor of amendment 1A will vote yay. All opposed vote no. Secretary on the machine.

554. 3:37:42

     Oh, I'm sorry. Senator from the 44th, what purpose do you rise?

555. 3:37:45

     Parliamentary inquiry.

556. 3:37:46

     State your inquiry.

557. 3:37:48

     Isn't it true that when I had a conversation with a constituent that was just referenced by the senator from the 1st, that was a bill dealing with prisoners?

558. 3:37:59

     Uh, the senator's passionate about what, about what she speaks. All right, on the passage of an adoption of the amendment 1A, the yays are 30 and the nays are 18, and this amendment has prevailed.

559. 3:38:15

     Now the question is on amendment number one as amended. Is there objection to amendment number one as amended? Objection. We have objection, so we'll put it on the board. All those in favor of amendment one as amended will vote yay, opposed nay. Secretary on the machine.

560. 3:39:41

     On the passage of amendment one as amended, the yays are 30, the nays are 18, and this bill has prevailed.

561. 3:39:54

     Recognize the majority leader for a motion.

562. 3:40:01

     Mr. President, I move that the Senate stand adjourned till 10:00 AM on Wednesday, February 11th.

563. 3:40:09

     Majority leader has moved that the Senate stand adjourned until Wednesday, February 11th at 10:00 AM. Secretary, read the announcements.

564. 3:40:18

     The Rules Committee will meet upon adjournment in room 450 of the Capitol. The Children and Families Committee will meet in room 450 of the Capitol at 2:00 PM. The Retirement Committee will meet in room 310 in the CLOB at 2:00 PM. The Education and Youth Committee will meet in room 307 of the CLOB at 3:00 PM. The Higher Education Committee has been canceled. The Insurance and Labor Committee has been canceled. The Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee will meet in room 450 of the Capitol at 4:00 PM. Mr. President, that completes the order.

565. 3:40:47

     All right, the majority leader has moved. All those in favor on the motion to adjourn will signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, no. No. The ayes clearly have it. Have a good day.