Senate Public Safety Committee, March 11, 2026

Transcript

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1. 0:16:01

   meeting of the Senate Public Safety Committee to order. Thank you all for being here today. We have got, uh, several bills on the calendar that we'll be focusing on. Uh, most of them should be fairly straightforward. Uh, we are gonna begin, as we always do, with a quick blessing, and I'm gonna ask our very own, uh, Senator Randy Robertson to please open us up in a word.

2. 0:16:24

   Don't be nervous. I've done this before.

3. 0:16:29

   Just bow your head with me if you would, please. Dear Heavenly Father, we approach you today, Lord God, as your humble servants. We ask that you open our minds, open our hearts, Lord God, and open our ears as, as we hear the recommendations today, Lord God, with, with our focus always set on doing what's best for those who sent us here to serve. Lord, we ask all of these things in the name of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

4. 0:16:52

   Amen. Thank you, Senator. Appreciate it. Uh, just to remind everybody, uh, we're a little, uh, off on our time today 'cause it's a committee day. We are gonna be meeting next week, both on Monday, uh, and on Wednesday. We have not set those calendars yet, but for committee members, uh, we will get that together shortly, uh, so you have copies of any changes. We are also gonna assign some bills to subcommittee. Uh, that will happen, uh, via a letter to the subcommittee chairman and copied to all the committee members on as well. So please, uh, be on the lookout with, uh, your interns and admins.

5. 0:17:25

   That'll be coming forth soon. All right, we're gonna begin a little bit out of the order, uh, here. Uh, I do wanna remind everybody, uh, who we haven't told that we had a tiny scrivener's error, that, uh, it's not HB 1243. It's gonna be HR 1243. Not to be confused. Uh, but the first bill we're gonna hear today is something that is just enormous. It's the biggest, most controversial bill probably we'll ever hear. It's actually a scrivener's error from Representative Corbet. Why don't you come on down and tell us about House Bill 1202?

6. 0:17:56

   Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. I bring before you House Bill 1202, ALC 39-49-10. And it's just that simple, you know, a scrivener's error. We're striking 35-6A-15 and inserting 35-6A-16.

7. 0:18:11

   And tell us exactly what, uh... Can you just give us a 10-second thing of how it happened and what the difference between those two code sections are?

8. 0:18:18

   I can tell you the, the section 15, uh, uh, allows the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council to administer grants to, uh, counties and cities. Uh, code six, uh, section 16 allows them to, uh, uh, authorize grants to the Georgia Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Advisory Board.

9. 0:18:35

   Perfect. Okay, questions from the committee members. No. Seeing none, what is the will of the committee? Move the bill. Uh, uh, all right, uh, hang on. I think I gotta recognize, uh, Senator Goodman first.

10. 0:18:47

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For my dear friend from Echols County, I wanna make a motion do pass.

11. 0:18:52

    I got a motion to pass. I got a second from Senator Payne. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. All right, and I believe I'm carrying that for you.

12. 0:19:01

    Yes, sir.

13. 0:19:02

    Uh, best of luck in the Senate Rules Committee.

14. 0:19:04

    Thank you.

15. 0:19:04

    All right, very good. All right, that was 1202. That's correct. All right, next up we are going to, uh, have my Fulton delegation mate, who I've worked with for so many years, for HR 1243. Uh, Chairman, Representative Martin, come on down. I wanna thank you for all the great work that you have done on Next Generation 911, also working with, uh, Chairman Bearden, who chaired our subcommittee here-

16. 0:19:30

    Yeah.

17. 0:19:30

    ... of course. Uh, and, uh, we look forward to hearing about, uh, this great, uh, resolution you have put forth to bring us, uh, up to the modern ages for all things 911. And, uh, I know who's with you, but please introduce yourself for the record.

18. 0:19:44

    Hello, my name's Alicia Rucker Wright, and I'm the Deputy Executive Director for the Georgia Emergency Communications Authority.

19. 0:19:49

    Thank you. Mr. Chairman, please.

20. 0:19:52

    Thank you, Senator, and, and thank you, members. Um, y- yes, today the, the senator's correct. I bring you HR 1243. Uh, this is a, a resolution, uh, a constitutional amendment, uh, to create a state fund. Um, and I, I can just read the, the, the specifics, but it is exclusively used for the expansion, maintenance, operation of 911 systems throughout the state, including the transition to Next Generation 911. Our study committee met last, uh, summer a- across the state, and, uh, what we found out is we were behind in many areas of doing that.

21. 0:20:26

    But we also found out that these things that we carry around and we pay $1.50 don't stay in the same place. Um, many of them are billed in one county, but they spend all their time and make calls in another county. And, uh, in order to facilitate the proper, uh, dissemination of that money, that we have a ubiquitous 911 s- system and a Next Generation 911 system across the state, that needs to become a state fee. And, and the constitutional amendment is necessary so it goes into a trust fund that can only be spent for those purposes, and what this would do would, would be create that.

22. 0:21:00

    What we also are gonna need to happen is to have enabling legislation, and that would come next year, for those of us that are invited back by our voters to do that next year, because we will have a full-throated discussion with our cities, counties, and our PSAP operators to make sure that that money is distributed in a manner that is good for all of Georgians across the state. I w- I would suppose it would be something along the lines of how many people do you cover, how many calls you have, what kind of special events you may have, but all of those things will be taken into consideration.

23. 0:21:31

    So we would bring back before this body, for enabling legislation, the distribution of those funds and how, how that would work. I would say many, many times we hear constitutional amendments, but where's the enabling legislation? Why aren't we getting the cart ahead of the horse? Um, so the, if I can explain this, this creates the fund to do this. Until that enabling legislation passes, in other words, until we hear from our cities and our counties and our PSAPs, and we make sure we're doing this right, this, this fund will get no money. It will continue to operate the way it is now.

24. 0:22:02

    But it, it, should we not be able to do that this year in 2028, it becomes the long pole in the p- tent. It would slow down the move to Next Generation 911. If we can pass this and move it forward this year, we can trust those people to have that full-throated conversation over the summer and bring us back legislation that we can all agree on and move forward next year, uh, that would keep in line with the purchasing, uh, process. We feel like we can do this, and we're committed to the $1.50 fee. This will not be a tax increase on Georgians. It would just move to the state, and we look forward to the, working with the counties and cities.

25. 0:22:36

    And I, I can't say enough about, um, Alicia and her group and, and all the folks that have worked with us this summer. Um, and then we've had conversations with, with our Senate counterparts. Over in the House, I think we passed this unanimously. I wanna thank Leader Hugley, um, uh, for signing on with, uh, Speaker Burns on this. This, this was something that we brought forward. Sometimes we have things that we, uh, don't agree on here. I think everybody agrees if you're a first responder, having the ability to see on video what you're driving into, what you're rolling into, what firefighters are gonna have to go into, is something that's good for all of Georgia, and this is our first step.

26. 0:23:13

    I would ask your favorable consideration, and answer any questions.

27. 0:23:17

    Thank you again, uh, Chairman Martin. I do believe this is gonna be one of the most important things that we accomplish this year, and we know we are a bit behind, uh, in rolling out Next Generation 911. Alicia, thank you to you and your entire team, uh, for walking alongside of us. And I do, again, wanna point out Chairman Bearden and the great work he did on the subcommittee. Uh, this is, I believe, fairly straightforward, but are there questions from the committee members to the bill's author?

28. 0:23:37

    At the appropriate time.

29. 0:23:39

    I think it is the appropriate time. Senator Jackson.

30. 0:23:42

    Did you need to say something?

31. 0:23:43

    You go ahead.

32. 0:23:44

    Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for, um, bringing this. I, uh, move do pass.

33. 0:23:48

    Motion do pass. I've got a second from Senator Halpern. She beat you, sorry. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. Passed unanimously.

34. 0:23:59

    And, uh, with your, um, uh, approval, Mr. Chairman, we'd let your, uh, subcommittee chairman carry this in the Senate-

35. 0:24:05

    I-

36. 0:24:05

    ... if he would do that for us

37. 0:24:06

    ... I think that's a great choice, uh-

38. 0:24:07

    Would you, uh, do that for us, Senator?

39. 0:24:08

    Senator Bearden, you okay doing that? Great.

40. 0:24:09

    Thank you.

41. 0:24:09

    Perfect, uh, choice. Thank you.

42. 0:24:11

    Thank you, Senator. Thank you, committee.

43. 0:24:12

    It had a chance here for a minute, didn't it?

44. 0:24:13

    Sorry.

45. 0:24:14

    It all down the-

46. 0:24:14

    It had a chance for a minute, yes, sir. No good, no, no good deed goes unpunished.

47. 0:24:19

    All right. Well done. Well done.

48. 0:24:20

    Former, former House member, uh, and chairman.

49. 0:24:23

    Uh-oh.

50. 0:24:24

    Had a chance for a minute.

51. 0:24:27

    All right. We're gonna now go up to House Bill 1086.

52. 0:24:32

    All right.

53. 0:24:32

    Come on down, Representative Chastain, my fellow firefighter.

54. 0:24:38

    Yes, sir.

55. 0:24:44

    I wanna thank you for, uh, working on this bill. I know you spent a lot of time with our stakeholders all over the state. Uh, and, uh, catch us up. Now where, where are we in our, uh, our classes? Are we in, uh, MBQ2 yet or not?

56. 0:24:56

    Uh, just finished and, uh, graduated from Firefighter 2.

57. 0:24:59

    All right.

58. 0:25:00

    Passed my exam, so, yes, sir.

59. 0:25:00

    So Firefighter 2, that's, uh, great to hear. We're, uh, glad to have more first responders who'll be part of our esteemed First Responder Caucus here, uh, in the Capitol.

60. 0:25:09

    Thank you.

61. 0:25:09

    Uh, we'll turn it over to you. Why don't you, uh, tell us all about House Bill 1086-

62. 0:25:13

    Okay

63. 0:25:13

    ... LC 63-0086S.

64. 0:25:15

    All righty. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. Uh, Hou- House Bill 1086, this was brought to me by a 30-year, uh, fire chief down in Florida who, uh, retired up in Blue Ridge, a gentleman by the name of Lee Hollins, and he actually pushed this, helped push this legislation through in Florida. And this picture that I just gave you was taken this week, uh, down in Disney. And the, to the left of the, the doorway is this, is what this bill's all about, the little Maltese cross, and this is what we're trying to do in Georgia. Uh, this bill would require, uh, any, anyone that owns the building, a commercial building that's built with the, the lighter gauge trusses, wood trusses or even the, the lighter gauge steel that are known to fail quicker under, under fire.

65. 0:25:55

    And this little emblem would let a, would, uh, let a first responder know when they enter that building that that building has either, could have floor trusses or roof trusses that may fall in quicker than a normal solid truss. And that's really all it does. It's, uh, it, it passed Florida 118 to zero and 38 to zero, and it's been endorsed, as you mentioned, Mr. Chairman, by almost every fire association in the state, and the, and the safety fire, uh, deputy commissioner has endorsed it as well.

66. 0:26:20

    Thank you so much, Representative. And, you know, on a personal perspective, uh, having, uh, been part of the fire service for 38 years, a lot of years, uh, this is probably the biggest fear we have when we run into a burning building-

67. 0:26:32

    Yes

68. 0:26:32

    ... uh, not knowing what type of construction's there and what the collapse could be. And the fact that, uh, you were able to take this concern from someone who did it in Florida, work with, uh, our safety fire folks, uh, the insurance commissioner's office, all of our firefighters, fire chiefs associations, uh, and to have everyone come together on this important piece of legislation, uh, is very personal to me, but also, uh, it will save lives.

69. 0:26:53

    Yes, sir.

70. 0:26:53

    There's no doubt in my mind. So thank you for bringing that forward. Are there questions from committee members? If not, I'm gonna have somebody give a motion whose son just happens to be a firefighter.

71. 0:27:03

    I'd be honored to, Mr. Chairman, and I will honor, honorably give a motion do pass.

72. 0:27:08

    A motion do pass from Senator Payne. I've got a second from, uh, Senator Goodman. Are there any further discussion from the committee members? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, please say no. Passed unanimously, and I believe I'll be handling that for you-

73. 0:27:21

    Yes, sir

74. 0:27:22

    ... here in the Senate.

75. 0:27:22

    Be honored.

76. 0:27:23

    Great.

77. 0:27:23

    Thank you.

78. 0:27:23

    Thank you very much.

79. 0:27:24

    Appreciate you.

80. 0:27:24

    Great job. Great bill. All right. We are, uh, moving along fast. Next up, uh, if I could have Secretary Cha- I mean, uh, Representative, uh, Tim Fleming please come up to the front to tell us all about House Bill 1391.

81. 0:27:43

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. I bring House Bill 1391 to y'all. This is a specialty license plate, uh, for the Georgia Public Safety Foundation. Uh, Georgia Public Safety Foundation, um, is, was established to, uh, take care of our Georgia State Patrolmen, our Georgia Capitol Police, and our Motor Carrier Division compliance officers. The foundation supports their families and these officers in the time of need. They also provide scholarships, uh, to children and grandchildren, uh, of those men and women who serve us on a daily basis across the state. And this would simply create a new plate for them with a portion of the proceeds going back to the foundation.

82. 0:28:18

    Thank you, uh-

83. 0:28:18

    And I'm just going around. Uh, Senator Goodman is... He has it.

84. 0:28:22

    That's a, that's a good-looking, uh, license plate. Yeah, they did a, they, they did a good job on the design of that. Uh, wanna thank, uh, Representative Fleming. Uh, for those that are not familiar with the, the Public Safety Foundation, I would encourage everyone, both here and listening, uh, to consider looking into the great work they do and, uh, making a, uh, charitable contribution if you so feel led.

85. 0:28:41

    Excellent.

86. 0:28:41

    They have a great event that happens every year. We got one coming up, not this Saturday, but the next. What's that?

87. 0:28:46

    The one at his place is building?

88. 0:28:47

    Yeah. But we want them, we want them to sell stuff. Yeah.

89. 0:28:51

    Real class.

90. 0:28:52

    That's right. This is a, is a great bill, and, uh, most of us have communities that have Public Safety Foundation, fire, police foundations-

91. 0:28:58

    That's right

92. 0:28:58

    ... locally as well. Uh, so I would encourage everyone, not just for our state, but also our local ones, to get involved and be a part of that. Uh, very straightforward, uh, bill. Are there questions from the committee members to the bill's author? I have one from Senator Jackson.

93. 0:29:11

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, this just came from the image that you passed. It says at the top, a digital license. I just wanna clarify-

94. 0:29:19

    Oh, they just-

95. 0:29:19

    ... that that's not what we're doing.

96. 0:29:20

    They sent me, they sent me... No, it's a dim, digital image, and I had that printed off, so yeah.

97. 0:29:24

    Okay.

98. 0:29:24

    'Cause we, we did it in the House. I had it put up on the screen. So-

99. 0:29:27

    Okay. Thank you

100. 0:29:27

     ... yeah, that's not a digital-

101. 0:29:28

     I just wanted to make sure we weren't-

102. 0:29:29

     No, no ma'am

103. 0:29:30

     ... doing that.

104. 0:29:30

     Okay. Senator Jackson is our most thorough one. She always catches- ... the, everything that, uh, we, uh, we don't see, so. We passed legislation to, for digital license plates about four years ago. We still have those.

105. 0:29:39

     I didn't know that.

106. 0:29:39

     Yeah.

107. 0:29:39

     Yeah.

108. 0:29:40

     Yeah. They're still around. I, I think there's one, uh, in Senator Robertson's office. It's blinking.

109. 0:29:45

     I just wanna make sure we were like forcing that group to have to have a-

110. 0:29:48

     No, ma'am

111. 0:29:48

     ... digital license tag.

112. 0:29:50

     Yeah.

113. 0:29:51

     So.

114. 0:29:51

     All right, I'm going to recognize Senator Wicks. Uh, Mr. Chairman, I move, make a motion to pass. All right. I got a motion to pass. I have a second from Senator Dickerson. Is there any further discussion of the committee members? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye.

115. 0:30:04

     Aye.

116. 0:30:05

     Opposed, please say no. Passes unanimously.

117. 0:30:07

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, committee. Appreciate it.

118. 0:30:09

     All right, and, uh, who is carrying this wonderful bill for you?

119. 0:30:11

     You are, Mr. Chairman.

120. 0:30:12

     I thought you it was.

121. 0:30:12

     Thank you.

122. 0:30:15

     It was a good choice.

123. 0:30:16

     God bless.

124. 0:30:16

     Uh, all right. We are moving right along here. And last, but certainly not least, we have House Bill 1181. Come on down, Representative Howard. We're looking forward to hearing all about your bill today.

125. 0:30:32

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. I've got House Bill 1181. It's LC 64-0042. And, uh, this is just a bill that cuts, uh, some red tape, uh, for Georgia citizens, especially those in our military communities. Um, families often live away from extended family. Had a situation come up. Um, a mother lives in one state, passed away, wanted the Georgia resident to inherit the car.

126. 0:31:04

     But the executor of the estate, another child, lived in Texas. So under Georgia law, you would h- current Georgia law, you would have to get the car titled in that state where the executor is, and then get it titled in Georgia, which is an expense for the estate. It's an expense for the family. It's another hoop to jump through. So what I would like to do is, um, get rid of that middle step where you have to have that car titled and pay the taxes in that third state where the car will never, ever be, and just take it straight, uh, to Georgia.

127. 0:31:41

     It passed, uh, committee and the House, uh, unanimously. Um, and, and I think this would just be a good, uh, step, and I'd appreciate any questions and your favorable consideration.

128. 0:31:52

     Mr. Chairman, I think this is a good red, red tape rollback bill. I, I, you know what? I think this is a good red tape rollback bill, and I'm, I'm very grateful you brought this forward. It's very thoughtful, and certainly in someone's difficult time, the worst thing we wanna do, uh, is have them to go through extra, uh, expense. And going through an estate and, uh, probate is difficult as it is. We don't need to make it more-

129. 0:32:12

     It's like a full-time job to-

130. 0:32:14

     Well, I, I'm looking at Senator Goodman, but I got two veterans in this committee that I think would be more appropriate to have do a motion- Oh ... and a second. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna start over here. Um, would you like to make a motion on this, uh, bill? Motion to be approved. Would you like to make a second? I'll second. Senator second where? Yep. All right. Any other questions? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye.

131. 0:32:33

     Aye.

132. 0:32:33

     All opposed, please say no. Passes unanimously. Very good.

133. 0:32:36

     Thank you so much.

134. 0:32:36

     And who's gonna carry this wonderful bill for you and then-

135. 0:32:39

     Um, my brand-new senator, uh, Senator McNeel.

136. 0:32:43

     That's a excellent choice. And, uh, he has not had a bill on the floor yet. This could likely be his first. Ooh.

137. 0:32:49

     Ooh.

138. 0:32:50

     And I would just say, first bill as a sen-

139. 0:32:51

     Y'all be nice to him.

140. 0:32:52

     We, we, we... Well, we probably won't, but that's okay. Just so you know, when he's getting mad, it's not your bill. All right. Before we conclude, uh, if I could just have everybody's attention, uh, for the committee members and those who are in the audience, uh, we are getting down to the last few meetings that we could have for any bills to pass. Uh, so committee members, you can see all the bills. Uh, if you have a question, to quickly access them, you can do it on the General Em- Assembly website, or you can come see Will or Kiki. If there's a particular bill that you are passionate about or you have some concerns about, please talk to us ahead of time.

141. 0:33:24

     We are going to be putting these into some different buckets of different themes for those days. We're also gonna have some, as I mentioned earlier, that'll go to subcommittee. Uh, by the way, if it goes to subcommittee, that doesn't mean it's going there to die. It's going there 'cause we wanna vet it a little further. Uh, and then we will try and figure out what is there. Not every bill that came over from the House is likely going to pass out. Uh, and some may com- combine together if they have similar, uh, things that we think as a committee we prioritize. Uh, are there any other questions or comments from the committee members?

142. 0:33:54

     Seeing none, this meeting's adjourned.