Senate Government Oversight Committee, March 17, 2026 Video: https://vimeo.com/1174472951 (a timestamp t plays at https://vimeo.com/1174472951#t=s) Page: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-17/senate-government-oversight This is a machine transcript of the General Assembly's video, made by a speech-recognition model. It is not an official record and can mishear words, names, and numbers. Speakers are not identified. The video is the record: every timestamp links to the moment it plays. [0:16:41] I'm gonna go for 15 and, uh [0:16:45] 'Cause I have a meeting. I have another bill to present for. [0:16:48] Senator Albers, if you'll lead us off in prayer, that'd be great, sir. Which number are you? [0:16:52] Number 10. [0:16:53] Gotcha. [0:16:54] Uh, please bow your heads. Lord, we thank you for this, uh, this beautiful day, Lord, uh, and the St. Patrick's Day, as we're, uh, mostly wearing our green. We ask not to be pinched by the chairman, uh, and that you give us your wisdom and discernment for, uh, making good decisions for the people of Georgia. For it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. [0:17:10] Amen. Chairman's not wearing green either. [0:17:14] Uh, we're gonna start off the day with House Bill 1415 by Representative Leader Sebaugh. [0:17:24] We wanna talk about a little Stone Mountain action, huh? [0:17:30] Don't do that. [0:17:32] Mr. Chairman. [0:17:35] Heard you wanted to keep this brief, so I'll ask is there any questions? [0:17:42] Thank you. I bring you House Bill 1415 on behalf of Governor Kemp. I'm working off LC 65-0069 EC. This legislation preserves and protects the original footprint of Stone Mountain Park that was assembled between 1959 and 1970. By doing so, we ensure the historic boundaries of this treasured state asset remain intact and protected for generations of Georgians to enjoy. Second, the bill provides flexibility for the responsible management of certain non-core properties that were acquired in later decades, properties that are outside the original footprint and not essential to the park's primary mission. [0:18:25] And third, this legislation strengthens transparency and accountability by bringing Stone Mountain Memorial Association real property transactions under the review and approval of the State Properties Commission. This aligns the association with the same oversight standards, uh, practices that apply to other state entities when managing public assets. So the purpose of the bill is to protect the park for the purpose of which it was originally intended. It strengthens oversight, and it promotes responsible stewardship of this important and treasured public resource. [0:19:01] And with that, um, happy to take any questions. And I, I, I mentioned I have Umi- Amy Dorman with me from the governor's office to, if I need to phone a friend. [0:19:12] Okay, we got a question. Wilke Roberts. [0:19:16] Yes, just to be clear, and it's very clean, easy peasy legislation. I just wanna clarify, if the property is sold, it'll only be sold for the purpose of public road right of way, is that correct? Is that what I'm reading? [0:19:29] Not anymore. Currently, that is the only way that a piece of land could be sold by Stone Mountain Memorial Association. This bill carves out the land that was acquired prior to January 1st, 1951- [0:19:42] Correct [0:19:42] ... cannot be sold. But anything after that, uh, the park owns several residential houses outside of the park, an airport property, all of this, that would be eligible to be sold. Um, so it could be sold for more than just a right of way. It can just be a normal land transaction. [0:19:59] Right. But it does protect everything January 1, 1971 back. [0:20:03] Yes. [0:20:04] Okay, thank you. [0:20:08] Any other questions? Number six. Number six. Okay. [0:20:14] Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. And this is just, just so we can have, like, more regulation and oversight over these public lands. [0:20:19] Yes. [0:20:20] If you're gonna sell it, you kinda wanna be- [0:20:22] If we wanna sell it. Right now they don't. Actually, uh, I'm probably the only person that has every deed, um, for all the land that is owned, because I went back and did all the historical digging, and I had to go through the county clerk's office. I went through some state properties in the BLP system, but nothing is under one roof. And so doing this will then require a full inventory of the property so that we can actually manage these assets properly. Um, and then it provides additional oversight over any land that would be sold going forward, or acquired, um, so that we know that we're selling it for fair market value and, and we can just be better stewards of that, making sure that there's no backdoor deal or something like that. [0:21:00] Okay. Thank you. [0:21:04] And sadly, since you came to office, I'm probably the only person with, uh, copies of all the deeds too- [0:21:08] Mm-hmm [0:21:09] ... to that, that you brought to me. Uh, number 11. Okay, got a motion. Second. Second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, raise your right hand. [0:21:25] Unanimous. [0:21:29] Well, L- Leader Sebaugh, who you want, uh, to carry this for you in the Senate? [0:21:34] Uh... [0:21:35] Drew Echols. [0:21:36] Drew Echols. Does Drew know that? [0:21:38] Oh, sure. [0:21:38] He does. He does. [0:21:39] Uh... [0:21:39] He's excited. [0:21:40] Uh, uh, uh, sorry it's going down on the f- on the floor, but- [0:21:43] Yeah, we shall have it on the floor. [0:21:44] Yeah. Or to the rurals, to the rurals. Yep, that's it. [0:21:48] Yeah. [0:21:48] Jumped the gun. Appreciate it very much. [0:21:50] All right. [0:21:50] Thank y'all. [0:21:50] Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, committee. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Top of the evening to you. [0:21:57] I even wore the look. [0:22:00] Da, da, da, da, da. Where's my looks? [0:22:02] Just the natural blue line. [0:22:05] Okay, Representative Taylor, come, come on up. I was looking away. [0:22:16] If you'll give us your bill number and LC number and we'll go ahead and let you get going. [0:22:20] Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. Today, I bring you House Bill 1192, LC 52-0972. This bill relates to the accounting, funding, and reporting by the Departments of Human Services and Community Health. We all know that healthcare and social services for the citizens of Georgia are extremely important. Providing these services has many application, and it touches a variety of our areas and needs. As the size of our state has grown, so have the needs. The purpose of this measure is for the legislature to review the accounting practices and the procedures for the Department of Human Services and Community Health. [0:22:56] The bill will require all federal and state funds to have separate accounts. Uh, this will provide for better transparency. The bill will also require the departments to report annually to both the House and Senate and both the Health and the Appropriations Committees. As you can see, the bill is very simple, very straightforward, and, um, I think it's gonna help us do our job, which is overseeing, um, what they're doing and how they're spending the money. I'd be happy to answer any questions. [0:23:21] You do have one. Uh, Will Roberts. [0:23:24] Thank you. Thank you, Representative Taylor. I appreciate this. So basically what you're saying is if we budget money for personnel, we budget money for operations, that money stays where it belongs. It cannot cross over into the other, and if we budget in operations, the money goes to specific responsibilities within operations and cannot be co-mingled for operational, uh, functions that it was not specifically budgeted for. [0:23:54] Right. That's what we're looking for. We're looking to be able to identify. If you get, um, grant money for healthcare- [0:23:59] Right [0:23:59] ... it's gonna be used for physicians, or it's gonna be used for whatever the purpose it is so we can account for it. [0:24:04] But it's not just grant money. It's, it's- [0:24:06] No, it's all money [0:24:06] ... it's state appropriations, correct? [0:24:07] It's state, it's all the appropriations. We wanna make sure that they're using it the way- [0:24:11] The- [0:24:11] ... it was intended. [0:24:12] I, I really like your bill. The only thing I don't like is it doesn't have every other government agency's name in it, too. So this is, this is a very good piece of legislation. [0:24:21] Thank you. [0:24:21] I thank you for bringing it here. [0:24:23] Thank you. Um, I, I believe there was someone that w- would like to add something to it. I'm not sure who prepared the amendment. Did someone, uh, prepare an amendment? No? Um, I, I feel like- [0:24:34] You got a couple more questions, though. [0:24:35] Oh, okay. That's fine. [0:24:36] Who's on number three? [0:24:37] Yeah. [0:24:37] Is that you? [0:24:38] That's me. [0:24:39] Okay. [0:24:39] Um, my question is, I would assume that they're already paying attention to their money coming and going, and I wanna know what additional burden that might place for them- [0:24:50] It, um- [0:24:50] ... to... I just don't want them to, uh, be distracted from the work they're supposed to be doing. [0:24:56] Right. [0:24:56] Is this information they already have? [0:24:59] It, it is, and it's, it, it's helping with the transparency. We've had questions about some categories. Has this been funded? How are these funds being used? And I would think on a, a larger, big picture, we've seen other states have issues where money is being spent, and we wanna make sure that we're accountable to the people of Georgia in how the money is... We're supposed to oversee it. [0:25:17] Right. [0:25:17] And we wanna make sure that we can. And it will make it more transparent if we have it in the separate accounts, and then to report to us, so we can see where it's going. I wouldn't wanna come up a few years later and find out money had been spent in a way that we were not aware of. Thank you. [0:25:36] Senator Kemp. [0:25:37] Uh, thank you for bringing this. Um, to piggyback off of what Senator Robertson was, uh, just saying, are, are you aware of any other state agency that has to do this now? And also wondering what the impetus is for- [0:25:50] I, I- [0:25:50] ... wanting to do this. [0:25:51] I do appropriations for healthcare, and I just know this is information I needed. I'm not aware of the other, uh, agencies, of what they're doing. I just, because I had my eyes on this, I saw a need. [0:26:02] Okay. Thank you. [0:26:03] Thank you. [0:26:07] Any other questions? Don't see any. What's the pleasure of the committee? [0:26:13] Motion to pass. [0:26:14] Got a motion to pass. [0:26:16] Second. [0:26:16] Senator Robertson, and a second by... Who was that that seconded? [0:26:20] Chairman. [0:26:20] Oh, it was the chairman. All those in favor, raise your right hand. And it's unanimous. Congratulations. [0:26:29] Thank you. [0:26:30] You will go to the rules. And who are you gonna have carry this piece of legislation? [0:26:32] Um, I haven't asked anyone yet. Is there anyone i- that would be interested in carrying it? [0:26:37] I know someone mentioned they'd love to see this, every agency on the, in the state on that bill. [0:26:42] I would be happy to. [0:26:43] Thank you. I appreciate that. I will bring you a copy of it. Thank you. Appreciate it. [0:26:48] Be- before you take off running, not, you can run. Uh, you, you're free. Thank you so much. [0:26:53] Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. [0:26:54] Uh, just real quick, we did, or I did, created a subcommittee. Uh, s- Senator Dixon's gonna be, uh, over that subcommittee. Members on the subcommittee will be Senator John Albers, Senator Marty Harbin. Just wanna let him know, he's not here. Senator RaShaun Kemp, Senator Kay Kirkpatrick, Senator Kenya Wicks. We got two bills that's gonna be going into subcommittee. When th- those gonna be heard? [0:27:23] Thursday. [0:27:23] On Thursday at- [0:27:25] 3:00 [0:27:25] ... at 3:00 in this room. Um, two- [0:27:30] 2:00. [0:27:31] 2:00 or 3:00? [0:27:32] All those finished. [0:27:33] What are the bills? What are the t- other two bills? Hannah? [0:27:40] Um... [0:27:40] Yeah, Thursday at 2:00. Yeah. Okay. Mr. Chair, they lost it. [0:27:50] She'll be on. [0:27:51] Yeah. Maybe not. Okay. [0:27:53] Speak loud. [0:27:53] Is this gonna be, uh, uh, Senator Dickerson's first chair of the committee? [0:27:59] It is, so- [0:28:00] Or are we allowed to haze him appropriately? [0:28:01] 100%, and that's why I put the members on the commit- subcommittee. I thought it would do the best hazing. [0:28:06] Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. [0:28:08] We have House Bill 158 by Representative Franklin and House Bill 689 by Representative, Representative Carpenter. Uh, one's dealing with housing, establishing a homelessness prevention program. The other one is commerce and trade, filing of registration statements with the Office of the Secretary of State. And we just want to give those a good look before we bring them in front of full committee and get them prepared to go to, to rules, if they go to rules. [0:28:44] Anything else? Good. We are dismissed. And everyone have a great day. [0:28:50] 14 minutes, [0:29:02] man.