House floor session, June 23, 2026 (legislative day 5) Video: https://vimeo.com/1203628002 (a timestamp t plays at https://vimeo.com/1203628002#t=s) Page: https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-06-23/house-floor 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. [0:28:08] Well, good morning. [0:29:04] All members, all members will please come to the floor. [0:29:11] All members. [0:29:38] All members will please grab your coffee and come to the floor. All members. [0:29:50] All members please come to the floor. Mr. Clerk, will you please ring the bell? [0:30:37] All members will please come to the floor. [0:30:55] All members please come to the floor. [0:31:04] It's a good time to come to the floor because we're gonna have the roll call vote right now. We're going to have the morning roll call. All members present will please vote green to signify your presence in this chamber, and Mr. Clerk will unlock the machines. [0:32:03] All members voted. All members have voted their presence in the chamber. [0:32:12] If so, Mr. Clerk, will you lock the machines? Doorkeepers, if you'll close the doors and keep them closed. [0:32:28] On a moment of personal privilege, if you will, before we move on our chaplain, I wanna thank y'all, Dale and Adu, for, for that honoring us yesterday with the resolution. Thank y'all. That means a lot, and it made me a pretty good guy at home, too, so. So thanks for that. We'll see how long that lasts. It's all good, though. Thank y'all for that. I'm, I'm humbled by that and we most very much appreciate that. Thank you. As our, as is our custom, we will begin our day with scripture reading and prayer by our chaplain, after which we will pledge allegiance to the flag of our country. [0:33:04] Our chaplain this morning will be introduced by a lady very familiar, familiar to this House, and we're gonna miss her when that day comes. Lady from the 70th House District, Representative Chair Lady Lynn Smith. Chair Lady Smith. [0:33:25] Good morning, colleagues, Speaker, guests, staff. Thank you, and let's start our day with a wonderful, wonderful minister who's gonna be speaking to us. It's my honor to introduce the chaplain of the day, Reverend Jim Ellison, his wife Beth, and believe it or not, two members of his church got up probably before I did and are here as, um, cheerleaders for him. Um, and that is, uh, Num- Laura Crimes and Dana Horn. [0:33:55] So they got up before I did. Anyway, Jimmy Ellison, Representative Re- Reverend Ellison is the pastor of a church named Newnan City Church in Newnan, Georgia. And they came to our church just before COVID hit in 2017 And so to start a congregation that right now is building a phenomenal church right near me, to, to have you understand the following he has been able to establish. [0:34:29] One of his, um, members told me that, "I think he has a real gift for bringing people to Christ", and he does. And so his message today is going to be, to me, something that will help bring us to Christ, and maybe, Mr. Speaker, a solution. So, thank you. [0:34:52] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [0:34:53] Yes, sir. [0:34:56] Good morning. [0:34:58] Good morning. [0:34:58] Friends, I bring you greetings from the Southeast Region Conference of the Free Methodist Church, from our resident bishop, Bishop Keith Cowart, our superintendent, the Reverend Mike McAvoy, and the wonderful people of Newnan City Church, located in the heart of the great city of Newnan, Georgia. Speaker of the House, Representative Smith, members of this house, thank you for the privilege of serving as chaplain of the day. [0:35:30] I'm honored and I'm grateful to stand before you this morning and address such a distinguished group of servant leaders. As leaders of our great state, you have an audacious task before you, especially today. I don't need to remind you that the decisions you will make in this special session of the Georgia General Assembly will impact the 11.4 million individuals who call Georgia home, and who have entrusted you with the wellbeing of their families. [0:36:08] You carry a great responsibility that covers almost 58,000 square miles. It reaches to Brasstown Bald, as well as the shores of beautiful Savannah, to below the NAT line in beautiful Jesup, Georgia. May God guide you and bless you as you fulfill your work for the people of our great state. Hear now a reading from the holy scriptures. The words of Solomon found in Proverbs 4. "Listen, children, to a father's instruction. [0:36:45] Pay attention and gain understanding. I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching. When I was a boy in my father's house, still tender and an only child of my mother, he taught me and said: 'Lay hold of my words with all your heart. Keep my commands, and you will live. Get wisdom, get understanding. Do not forget my words or swerve from them. [0:37:15] Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you. Love her, and she will watch over you.' Wisdom is supreme, therefore get wisdom." Now, friends, the grass will wither, the flower will fade, but the word of our Lord will stand forever and ever. Amen. This morning, I want to echo Solomon's words. Wisdom is supreme. [0:37:48] Therefore, get it. Get wisdom. My main point this morning is simply this. Practicing godly wisdom will change your life, and you have an opportunity to change our state. This is what we need. This is what our great state needs, is wisdom. Wisdom from you, our leaders. I believe attaining wisdom is the key to a well-lived life. More than strength, more than courage, more than power, I pray God grants you wisdom during this special session, especially today. [0:38:28] Based on your past experiences, based on your current circumstances and our current circumstances as a state, based on the future hopes and dreams that you have for the people of our state, I pray you ask yourself prior to each vote, "What is the wise decision for Georgia and the people who call her home?" Oh, God, grant this group your wisdom today. [0:39:01] And this wisdom, may we not forget that it is a gift. It is a gift from Almighty God. I've come to believe that true wisdom and discernment comes only from our Father in heaven. I've come to appreciate wise people, and I'm sure you have, too. Most of us can name one, two. Maybe a grandparent or a grandfather, a, an aunt, an uncle, someone that taught you Sunday school. Maybe someone that was a neighbor. Most of us know someone. [0:39:33] We know someone who, who is a person of wisdom and discernment. I'm constantly amazed at how God surrounds me with godly people who love God and who share their wisdom, his wisdom, with me. In my 58 years on this earth, wise counsel has taught me what I've come to know as truths. Truths along this journey we call life. No matter the circumstances in which we find ourselves, no matter the challenges or the joys we face, wisdom and discernment affirm three basic truths. [0:40:13] One, life is worth living. Life is a gift from God, something to be treasured, not abused. A life fully lived is found in serving others and daily growing into a better person. Life is worth living. Secondly, people are worth loving. There are those who will lie to you. There are those who will cheat you, who will hurt you, and yes, still, as a whole, people are worth loving. [0:40:49] To share in a healthy relationship with a spouse, a child, a parent, a friend, a neighbor, is truly a gift and worth the risk of love. The very core of humanity is good. The very core of humanity is decent. Err on the side of grace. Err on the side of believing in people. People are worth loving. And thirdly and lastly, God is worth trusting. [0:41:22] When life and people disappoint, friends, God is faithful. When our minds can't comprehend the whys in this life, we have a hand in which to place ours. We can place our hand in the hand of God. He is worth trusting. At the end of the day, wisdom and discernment will remind you life is worth living, people are worth loving, and God is worth trusting. [0:41:53] My prayer for you this day is that, like Solomon, we will ask God for wisdom and discernment. I wanna close with the wonderful hymn of Harry Emerson Fosdick, God of Grace and God of Glory. God of grace and God of glory, on Thy people pour Thou power. Crown Thine ancient church's story. Bring her bud to glorious flower. [0:42:24] Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour, for the facing of this hour. Will you please stand as we pray? [0:42:44] Let's pray. We're grateful. [0:42:44] Gracious God, we are grateful for Your wisdom. And Lord, we are praying, we are praying today for wisdom and discernment to reign here in these halls. Lord, may all decisions today ultimately honor You and honor the people that we serve in this state, Your people, the ones that You love. Lord God, our plans, God, our thinking, and we ask this in the name of Jesus, our Savior. [0:43:21] Amen. [0:43:22] Amen. [0:43:23] Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. [0:43:26] I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [0:43:39] Amen. Nice job. [0:43:42] Thank you, sir. [0:43:42] Appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. [0:43:45] You're welcome. [0:43:48] Doorkeepers, you may open the doors. Members, you, uh, may join Brother Jim and Miss Beth in the South Ante Room and thank them for their service today. [0:43:58] Yeah. Yeah. [0:43:59] And, uh, have a photo. Brother Jim, thanks for that message, and thanks for talking to us about wisdom. This House does display great wisdom on many, many times during the, our time together here, so thank you for reminding us of that. [0:44:13] Yes, sir. [0:46:30] Members, we do have a doctor of the day today, and that's Dr. John Gleason. Dr. John has been here before. We appreciate his service as always. Dr. Gleason was invited by Chair Lady Deborah Silcox. We appreciate her doing that, looking out for us, and we appreciate Dr. Gleason. [0:46:57] Chairman Scott Hilton, the Chair of the Committee on Information and Audits recognized. Chairman Hilton. [0:47:02] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your Committee on Information and Audits has reviewed the journal of the previous legislative day. We counted every page by hand, and we have found it to be correct. [0:47:11] Thank you, Chairman Hilton. Chairman Hilton, the Chair of the Committee on Information and Audits, reports that the journal of the previous legislative day has been read and found to be correct. Is there any objection to dispense with reading the journal? [0:47:29] Representative Evans, is there objection? [0:47:32] No objection, but parliamentary inquiry. [0:47:35] I couldn't hear you. [0:47:36] No objection to the suspension of the reading, but I have a parliamentary inquiry on the journal. [0:47:41] State your inquiry. [0:47:42] Um, the chairman stated that he hand counted every page by hand, and I was wondering if he could tell us how many pages are in the journal. [0:47:53] He, uh, yes, what happens? [0:47:56] Mr. Speaker, I got a couple different counts each time, so, uh ... [0:47:59] Uh- Uh, I think you need to leave that alone. [0:48:03] That's my case. [0:48:07] Okay. [0:48:10] I'm gonna have to go over your remarks with you from now on, I can assure you of that. [0:48:17] Hearing no objection to reading of the journal is dispensed with. Is there any objection to the confirmation of the journal? Hearing none, the journal is confirmed. [0:48:36] Mr. Clerk, will you read the resolution establishing the order of business for the day? Representative Efstration of the 104th moves the following reestablishes the order of business in our first part of the period: unanimous consents, introduction of bills and resolutions, first reading and reference files bills and resolutions, second reading of bills and resolutions, third reading and passage of uncontested local bills and resolutions, morning orders. [0:49:10] Is there any objection to adopting, adoption of the resolution establishing the order of business for the day? Hearing none, the resolution's adopted. [0:49:22] First reading the bills and resolutions, Mr. Clerk will read. House Bill 86EX by Representative Green of the 154th, bill be titled an act to provide a homestead exemption from City of Donaldsonville ad valorem taxes. [0:49:41] Intergovernmental coordination. House Bill 87EX by Representative Smith of the 138th and Rice of the 139th. Bill be titled an act to provide a homestead exemption from City of West Point ad valorem taxes. Intergovernmental coordination. House Bill 88EX by Representative Huddleston of the 72nd, Smith of the 138th, Buckner of the 137th, and Jenkins of the 136th. Bill be titled an act to provide a homestead exemption from City of Hogansville ad valorem taxes. Intergovernmental coordination. House Bill 89EX by Representative Smith of the 38th, 138th, Huddleston of the 72nd, and Jenkins of the 136th. [0:50:18] A bill be titled an act to provide a homestead exemption from City of West Point ad valorem taxes. Intergovernmental coordination. House Bill 90EX by Representative Camp of the 135th and Mathiak of the 82nd. Bill be titled an act to provide a homestead exemption from Spalding County ad valorem taxes. Intergovernmental coordination. House Resolution 51EX by Representative Hugley of the 141st, Park of the 107th, Williams of the 168th, Frye of the 122nd, Reese of the 140th, and others. A resolution urging Governor Brian Kemp to immediately release funds. [0:50:56] Appropriations. That completes first readers. [0:51:05] Second reading. May I do another second reading? Excuse me? Second reading. Yes, I'm doing it. You gonna do it, Master? Yes. Second reading the bills and resolutions, Mr. Clerk will read. [0:51:20] House Bill 84EX by Representative Green of the 154th. Bill be titled an act to provide a homestead exemption from City of Morgan ad valorem taxes. [0:51:32] House Bill 85EX by Representative Stinson of the 150th. Bill be titled an act to provide a homestead exemption from City of Reynolds ad valorem taxes. That completes second readers. [0:52:21] Reports of standing committees, Mr. Clerk will read. Representative Victor Anderson of the 10th District, chairman of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, submitted the following report. Mr. Speaker, the Committee on Governmental Affairs has had under its consideration the following bills of the Senate. It's instructed me to report the same back to the House with the following recommendations. Senate Bill 3EX, do pass by committee substitute. Respectfully submitted, Representative Victor Anderson of the 10th District, chairman. Representative Lauren McDonald of the, of the 26th District, chairman of the Committee on Intergovernmental Coordination Local, submitted the following report. [0:52:56] Mr. Speaker, your Committee on Intergovernmental Coordination Local has had under its consideration the following bills of the House. It's instructed me to report the same back to the House with the following recommendation. House Bill 75EX, do pass. House Bill 76EX, do pass. House Bill 77EX, do pass. House Bill 78EX, do pass. House Bill 79EX, do pass. House Bill 80EX, do pass. House Bill 81EX, do pass. House Bill 82EX, do pass. House Bill 83EX, do pass by substitute. [0:53:26] Respectfully submitted, Representative Lauren McDonald of the 26th District, chairman. That completes the reading of the reports of standing committees. [0:58:28] Members, members will come to order. [0:58:33] Our next order of, of business today is the local calendar. There are nine bills on the local calendar that relates to homestead exemption and require a recorded two-thirds roll call vote for passage. Third reading and passage of uncontested local bills. If there's no objection, we will vote on the local calendar as a whole with a recorded vote. Hearing none, it is so ordered. Mr. Clerk will read the local calendar, please. House Bill 75EX by Representative Burchett of the 176th, Lanier County. [0:59:06] House Bill 76EX by Representative Stinson of the 150th, Taylor County. House Bill 77EX by Representative Stinson of the 150th, City of Butler. House Bill 78EX by Representative Ford of the 170th, City of Tifton. House Bill 79EX by Representative Ford of the 170th, Tift County. House Bill 80EX by Representative Bonner of the 73rd, Fayette County. [0:59:29] House Bill 81EX by Representatives Hagan in the 156th City of Santa Claus. House Bill 82EX by Representative Hagan in the 156th Telfair County. House Bill 83EX by substitute by Representative Cox in the 28th Forsyth County. [0:59:51] Is there any objection to the previous question be ordered on the local calendar? Hearing none, the question's ordered. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee, which was favorable to the passage of the bills? Hearing none, for the, the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall these bills now pass? All those in favor of the passage of the bills on the local calendar will vote yes. All those opposed will vote no. And Mr. Clerk will unlock the machines. [1:00:43] Have all members voted? For what purpose does Representative Hagan rise? Parliamentary inquiry. State your inquiry. Mr. Speaker, isn't it true that, uh, for anybody who votes no against Santa Claus, I do hope they get nothing but coal in their stocking this year? [1:01:05] Better not give him the key to, give her the key to your house. She might get that, so... For what purpose does Representative Wilkerson rise? Parliamentary inquiry. State your inquiry, sir. Is it not true that Ms. Kringle says she does not wanna pay higher sales tax, so Santa Claus voting against that bill would be very appropriate, and we are saving Ms. Kringle and the kids a bunch of money? [1:01:29] I'm not exactly sure what the gentleman said, but I'm sure he believes it. All right. I'm trying to hear these members. What they're saying is important, so [1:01:46] I, I certainly appreciate the inquiry. Uh, for what purpose does Representative Bonner rise? Parliamentary inquiry. State your inquiry, sir. Mr. Speaker, is it not true that this calendar includes House Bill 80EX, a bill that was voted on and supported by every member of the Fayette County Commission, both Republican and Democrat, and signed by every member of the Fayette delegation, both Republicans and Democrats? I'm sure the gentleman knows of what he speaks 'cause he's in that delegation. [1:02:18] Last one, Minority Leader Hugley is recognized. For what purpose does the lady rise? Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker. State your inquiry. Isn't it true, Mr. Speaker, that these local bills are not debatable at this point in our process, and everybody knows that? And so, uh, we're gonna go another round, and everybody knows that, too, but isn't it further true that the basis of these bills was Senate Bill 33, which is unconstitutional on its face? [1:02:54] Correct. I'm sure the lady certainly believes of what she speaks, and I'm glad the rounds are almost over. All members voted. All members voted. [1:03:12] If so, Mr. Clerk will lock the machine. [1:03:30] On the local calendar, the yays are 96 and the nays are 71. These bills have failed to receive the requisite constitutional majority and have therefore failed. They did not reach the 120 level. [1:03:46] For what purpose does Leader Efstration rise? Mr. Speaker, I move that the House reconsider its action in failing to pass the local calendar. On the local calendar for today? Yes, sir. [1:04:06] So our posture is, I don't know about y'all, but I have my fingers crossed that today is our last day to be here, so the proper time to vote this motion of reconsideration will be right now. [1:04:26] So we'll vote this local calendar the gentleman moves. We'll vote the, uh, reconsideration on this calendar that we just considered that failed. And so the gentleman has served the, made a motion, and we will re- the House reconsider its action in failing to give this local calendar requi- requi- words, requisite majority. [1:04:50] On the gentleman's motion, the House reconsider its action in failing to give the local calendar the requisite majority. All those in favor of reconsideration will vote yes. All those opposed will vote no. And Mr. Clerk will unlock the machine. [1:05:29] Have all members voted? All members voted. [1:05:44] This vote is a majority of the quorum and the ... [1:05:50] Mr. Clerk, will you lock the machine? This motion is the majority of the quorum. The yays are 97, the nays are 72, and the House has reconsidered its action on today's local calendar. So we will retake today as our order of business, the local calendar. Mr. Clerk, I don't think you need to read it, re-read the local calendar. Would that be correct? [1:06:15] No, sir. [1:06:18] I think the members all understand what's on the local calendar. [1:06:28] Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered on today's local calendar? Hearing none, the previous question is ordered. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee, which was favorable to the passage of the bills? Hearing none, the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall these bills now pass? All those in favor of the passage of the bills on the local calendar will vote yes. Those opposed will vote no. And Mr. Clerk will unlock the machines. [1:07:13] Have all members voted? For what purses, purpose does Rep- Representative Romman rise? [1:07:20] Parliamentary inquiry. [1:07:21] State your inquiry. [1:07:22] Isn't it, is it not true that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results? [1:07:29] That may be in the dictionary and it may not be. I'm not sure. I haven't looked it up. But I'm sure the lady believes what she speaks. For what purpose does Representative Draper rise? Did you have a parliamentary inquiry? [1:07:43] No. [1:07:43] That's good. Great move. For what purpose does Representative Hilton rise? [1:07:49] Parliamentary inquiry. [1:07:51] State your inquiry. [1:07:52] Is it not true that this week the city of Brookhaven, Georgia, announced a 40% increase in their property taxes? Is it not further true that by voting red, you are suppressing voters' cherished right to vote on property tax relief? [1:08:08] For what purpose does ... One more. Representative Moore rise, because I failed to hear from her a couple of times- [1:08:18] Good morning [1:08:18] ... the last couple days. For what purpose does the lady rise? [1:08:20] Well, good. I'll just take my time. Parliamentary inquiry, please. [1:08:24] State your inquiry, ma'am. [1:08:25] Is it not true that we spent another $65,000 today, uh, when we could have given that money to the Georgia Down Payment Assistance, instead of wasting our time on trying to tax of our, our constituents here in Georgia, that Georgia does provide a grant for qualifying first-time homebuyers? Shame on us. Isn't that true, Mr. Speaker? [1:08:50] I know the lady's been trying to say that for the last couple days. So I'm sure the lady believes of what she speaks. [1:09:01] The whip wouldn't get you in, but I did. [1:09:07] Have all members now voted? If so, Mr. Clerk will lock the machines. On the passage of the local calendar, the yays are 97, the nays are 72. These bills on the local calendar have failed to receive the requisite constitutional majority, have therefore failed. [1:09:33] What purpose does Representative Efstration... The gentleman is recognized. Representative Efstration. [1:09:39] Mr. Speaker, I move that the House reconsider its action in failing to pass the local calendar on Monday, June 22nd, 2026. [1:09:49] That's the gentleman's right, and this would be the proper time. On Monday, June 22, 2026, the House failed to pass the local calendar as a whole. The gentleman from the 104th served notice of a motion to reconsider the action of the House in failing to give the local calendar as a whole the requisite majority. Now is the time for the gentleman to pursue the motion. [1:10:19] Now, on the gentleman's motion that the House reconsider its action in failing to give the local calendar whole, as a whole, a requisite majority, all those in favor of reconsider will vote yes. Those opposed will vote no, and Mr. Clerk will unlock the machine. [1:10:52] You don't have it yet. There you go. [1:10:55] Have all members voted? All members voted. If so ... [1:11:03] Committee report. [1:11:05] No, we, we, [1:11:14] we- [1:11:14] All members voted on reconsideration of the local calendar from our previous legislative date. All members voted. If so, Mr. Clerk, lock the machine. The yays are 97, the nays are 72. These bills, having failed to receive the requisite constitutional majority, have therefore failed. [1:13:12] So members, we will follow the rules of this House, and the Chair thought we were done with that reconsideration. We just voted then, uh, on reconsideration. Now, we will vote one more time. I promise. We will vote on the re- reconsideration and final passage. This will be the last vote on, on the local calendar. On yesterday's local calendar. [1:13:47] There were nine bills on the local calendar yesterday relate to homestead exemption and require a two-thirds roll call vote. We will not read them again. Third reading and passage of uncontested local bills. There's no objection to vote on the local calendar as a whole will, will occur with a locat- lo- with a recorded vote. Hearing none is so ordered. We're not gonna read the local calendar again. You know what's on it. Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered on the local calendar? Hearing none, the previous question is ordered. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee, which was favorable to the passage of the bills? [1:14:22] Hearing none, the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall these bills now pass? All those in favor of the passage of the bills on yesterday's local calendar that have been reconsidered will vote yes. All those opposed will vote no. And Mr. Clerk will unlock the machine. [1:15:18] This is it. [1:15:24] Mr. Clerk, have all members voted? All members voted. This so, Mr. Clerk will lock the machine. [1:15:32] On the passage of the reconsider- consideration of yesterday's local calendar, the yays are 97, the nays are 72. These bills have failed to receive the requisite constitutional majority and have therefore failed. [1:16:14] I'm gonna recognize the Rules Chairman for an announcement. [1:16:21] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask the members of the Rules, like to ask the members of the Rules Committee to meet me upstairs in 402 immediately. Thank you. [1:16:33] This House will stand at ease until a little after 9:00 when the Rules Committee returns. House will stand at ease till a little after 9:00. [1:57:03] All members, all members will come, come to the floor. All members will come to the floor. [1:57:11] Mr. Clerk, will you ring the bell so they'll understand we're ready to get started again? [1:57:47] Yeah, I hear that bell in my nightmares sometimes. [1:57:55] All members, all members come to the floor. [1:58:02] Doorkeepers, if you will, um, make sure everyone on the floor is appropriate. We'll get started. [1:58:18] This House has been at ease while the, um- Rules Committee met, and I think we're but ready to go back and start in our next order of business, and that would be morning orders. Representative Hugley, Leader Hugley is recognized for a morning order. We'll have up to 10 minutes for morning orders. So ladies, suspend just for a moment. [1:58:46] Give the member in the, in the well your attention, please. Representative Hugley. [1:58:53] Thank you, Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentlemen of the house. I'd like to ask you to stand for a moment of silence, uh, to honor the life of Reverend Robert Lee Abrams. Uh, Reverend Robert Abrams was the father of our former minority leader, Stacey Abrams, and the family has described him as a man devoted to faith, family, service, and civil rights. The funeral is going to be on Saturday, but we all know how difficult it is to lose a parent. [1:59:31] So I want, uh, our former leader to know that we s- extend to her family our deepest condolences, and we are here for her still. So let's have a moment of silence. Thank you. [1:59:51] Representative Hugley, her father was a pastor, right? So one of our former colleagues, member of this family, so friend to members in this chamber. So certainly keep that family in your prayers. It is tough to lose a parent, I can assure y- you of that. Representative Cummings. [2:00:20] And then Representative Clark, you'll be on deck. [2:00:26] We have a photo? [2:00:33] Yeah. [2:00:33] Oh, we'll swing back. [2:00:51] We'll just move you down, and if they come back, we'll... Representative Clark. [2:00:58] One minute. [2:01:11] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues, today I rise to honor an amazing man and an amazing father, my father. He was a family man, always making time for family. He loved the game of golf, and even, uh, got my son into playing golf, even though he looks like a football player. He was a world traveler, and he passed that love of travel down to me and my kids as well. He was a doctor who dedicated his life to helping people, and he passed that love along to me also. [2:01:46] He was an alpha man through and through. [2:01:49] Yes, he was. [2:01:50] Sadly, on May 6th of this year, his battle with prostate cancer came to an end. And at his funeral, I got a chance to meet people from all throughout his life, and I learned so much about him. And the running theme that I heard from all of these people was just how well he treated people. Many remembered him for being a scholar, but most remembered him for his kindness, his compassion, and his willingness to step in and help whenever and however he could. [2:02:28] Um, before I close, I want to also remind every gentleman in this room, and any person within earshot that is over 45, please get your PSA tests. Please get your prostate cancer screening. It could save your life or at least give you more time with your family. Um, Thursday will be my dad's first heavenly birthday, and, um, if he was still here, he would've been turning 70. [2:03:00] So I just wanna also say happy birthday, Dad. Um, if we could just take a quick moment of silence. [2:03:12] Thank you all so much, and thank you for everyone who's offered condolences. I really do appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [2:03:20] Representative Clark, thank you for taking care of your dad. I know that was a special time. We appreciate you and appreciate your admonition as well. [2:03:31] And you know what, Representative Clark? I can assure you he's proud of you. [2:03:40] Not ready yet. [2:03:44] Representative Adeyina and the Gwent- Gwinnett. [2:03:52] Colleagues. [2:03:56] Give them just a minute, sir. They're all coming. [2:04:06] Almost ready. [2:04:10] Down there. You want down here? [2:04:14] Sorry. [2:04:16] Can you move it down here? [2:04:17] Uh... All right. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Dr. Jasmine Clark Today I rise to acknowledge the, and honor the memory of your late father. The bond between a father and daughter is one of life's most profound relationships. For Dr. Clark, her father was more than a parent. He was a source of love, wisdom, encouragement, and unwavering support. He helped shape the values of service, resilience, and compassion that she demonstrates each day in this chamber and throughout our communities. [2:04:50] Though his passing brings sorrow, his legacy lives on through Doc- Dr. Clark's dedication to public service, her commitment to education and science, and her tireless advocacy on behalf of the people of Georgia. The lessons he instilled and the love he shared continue to guide and inspire her. And I know that because despite everything she was doing, she spent every Sunday with him in the last few days prior to his passing. On behalf of the Georgia House of Representatives, we extend our deepest condolences to Representative Clark and her family. [2:05:24] May they find comfort in cherished memories, strength in one another, and peace in knowing that a life well-lived leaves an enduring impact on generations to come. Please join me in keeping Representative Jasmine Clark and her family in our thoughts and prayers during this time of remembrance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [2:05:42] Thank you, members. [2:05:43] Members, it was good for you. And, um- [2:05:46] Very appropriate [2:05:49] ... frankly. [2:05:49] The gentleman has yielded the well. [2:06:01] Thank you for honoring our colleague and remembering her father and their, their relationship. Representa- Representative Anissa Jones. Representative Jones. [2:06:14] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise with gratitude for the strength, determination, and achievements of the people we serve. At the same time, I believe we owe them an honest conversation about how we use their hard-earned tax dollars, the trust in government, and the valuable time that could be spent addressing those challenges. Everyone here needs to understand that I am really big on economic development, and today I have the privilege of honoring and recognizing Alex C. [2:06:53] Habersham, if you don't mind standing up, and the 35th anniversary of the Macon Middle Georgia Black Pages. Since 1991, the Black Pages has served as an economic en- engine connecting consumers with Black-owned businesses, promoting en- ent- uh, entrepreneurship, and strengthening the economic empowerment of Macon and Middle Georgia. While some time, uh, while some time we've been here, Alex has spent 35 years building bridges, bridges between businesses and customers, between opportunity and aspiration, between dreams and reality. [2:07:32] The Black Pages has become a trusted resource that highlights more than 1,000 businesses and serves as a catalyst for economic growth throughout our region. His work teaches us an important lesson. Real power is not found in manipulating, but is found in empowering people. Let us congratulate Mr. Alex C. Habersham and the Macon Middle Georgia Black Pages on 35 years of service. And Speaker, I yield the floor. [2:08:04] Welcome to the People's House. Representative Cummings, are you- [2:09:11] Repre- [2:09:13] Yes. [2:09:14] You ready, Representative Cummings? [2:09:17] And we have a guest. House will come to order. Representative Cummings is recognized for a morning order. [2:09:30] Good morning. [2:09:30] Good morning, everyone. [2:09:31] Good morning. [2:09:32] We're here this morning to honor the mother of Senator Donzella James, her, and her sisters, Mamie and Lisa, who are here somewhere. I'm not sh- um, sure. I see Mamie up there. Not sure where Lisa, um, Lisa is. But Morrissey Watts Thomas was a grandmother, a mother of five generations, and her life was tragically taken on June the 2nd in a car accident. [2:10:04] That night, um, Senator James happened to be with me at a event, and so she did not find out about the accident until she left. [2:10:16] Blessedly, her sister Lisa did survive, and she is, um, here with us today. But I wanted to take a moment to recognize, um, if you see the picture of, um, Mrs. Thomas, this is how she was all the time. And I remember the first time I met her, I think I asked three times how old she was, because I couldn't believe it. I mean, she was moving around, talking, um, she just had the gift of gab, of memory. She would talk to their grandchildren about their parents, and she was just a wonderful, wonderful, very energetic, um, woman, woman. [2:10:53] I can say this because Eleanor said it at the, um, wake. She was in better shape than her daughters. And she used to... She liked that. But, um, I just... I'm really happy. I'm going to thank, um, Speaker Burns and the other people that signed the, um, resolution yesterday. It was a lot of people, because life really is precious, and no matter what's going on down here, you know, we all have experienced, um, loss in our lives at some point, like Jasmine and, um, like, you know, other people. [2:11:24] So I just want to present this resolution to you and your family, let you know that you are in our thoughts and prayers, and that we're with you. Thank you, Speaker. [2:11:36] Moment of silence. Moment of silence. A moment of silence. Excuse me. [2:11:45] Thank you. I yield the realm. [2:11:48] Thank you. Representative- [2:11:49] Oh, can her family stand up for one minute? They're up there. If you could stand up. [2:11:54] Family members up there. Good to have you all with us. [2:12:00] Senator James, our thoughts and our prayers are with you and your family. And thank you to members, and thank you, Representative Cummings. [2:12:12] Thank you. [2:12:12] Representative Rhonda Taylor. Okay, I see you. Just give him just for a second, Representative, Representative [2:12:30] Taylor. [2:12:54] Representative Rhonda Taylor is recognized. Give the lady in the wheel your attention, please. [2:13:00] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good morning, colleagues. Good morning, colleagues. [2:13:05] Good morning. [2:13:05] Good morning. [2:13:07] Firefighter Juan Antonio Smith II faithfully served as a firefighter with Rockdale County Fire Rescue for two and a half years. Juan Smith, 26 years old, was killed on Friday, June the 12th in a rollover crash involving a Rockdale County Fire Rescue apparatus while responding to a call. He leaves behind family members, loved ones, his girlfriend, and a child that they were expecting. [2:13:38] Juan is des- was described as a valued member of the Fire Rescue family and a dedicated public servant who answered the call and to, to protect and serve others. The Rockdale County community will, as we grieve his loss, will gather on Friday for a celebration of life. Please keep the family, the loved ones, and firefighters and members of the Rockdale County Rescue in your prayers, and I ask for a moment of silence. [2:14:07] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I yield the realm. [2:14:09] Thank you for that remembrance. What a tragedy. Thoughts and prayers are with that entire family. That completes our morning orders. [2:14:32] We're going to roo- moo- [2:14:58] We're going to move on to the rules calendar. I think everyone has, um, , excuse me, a copy of SB 3EX on your desk, and I think we're almost completed, uh, working on the minority report. [2:17:39] Okay, members, if everyone will come to the floor, we'll move on with the rules calendar. [2:17:47] Mr. Clerk, will you read the caption to Senate Bill 3EX? [2:17:54] Senate Bill 3EX by Senator Burns, the 23rd and others being entitled an act to amend Chapter 2 of Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated relating to elections and primaries generally. This bill having been referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs, that committee recommends that this bill do pass by committee substitute. [2:18:17] You ready? Chairman Victor Anderson is recognized to explain Senate Bill 3, 3EX. [2:18:27] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues, I'm here to present Senate Bill 3EX, and we're t- working from LC47-4417S. [2:18:42] Before I kind of go through the bill, I just want to say this is the culmination of a lot of work. A lot of us in governmental affairs, the Blue Ribbon Study Committee on Election Procedures, a lot of us talking individually. This is not something that just was pulled together in the last two weeks. We've had variations of this. We've had different components of this bill and various bills considered over the last few years. This is where we are now. This is how we solve the purpose that we're here, and we all get to go home. [2:19:13] But let's go through the bill real quickly. Section 1, the first thing Section 1 does is it creates the Election Equipment Specification and Standards Committee. This is a joint committee made up of Senate members, House members, and appointees from the governor, tasked with identifying the specifications and procedures and equipment to be recommended to the legislature and to the next administration for implementation and consideration as the next uniform voting system in the state of Georgia. [2:19:54] The committee is charged with preparing this re- recommendation report by January 31st to present to those bodies so that we have time as a legislature to enact any legislation required and to appropriate the appropriate funds if needed. The bill also explicitly defines who can and cannot participate, mainly who cannot. And [2:20:23] it says that the current Secretary of State is not a part of this process. Does not say that the people working for him. As a matter of fact, our state elections director and the staff of that department are actually recognized here as advisory support if deemed needed by the committee. [2:20:45] Section 2 of this bill is where we get into a, the, the mechanism to assist our electors in the confidence that they need to allow us to utilize the existing system through this election cycle. We're introducing the concept of a mandatory hand count of ballots, but it's only under certain scenarios. It's only for either the gubernatorial or the s- lieutenant governor's race, and it's only if either of those races are within a half a percent or less, the, the, uh, the margin of, of victory versus the, the total vote count. [2:21:28] So it's very narrowly defined. It's very clearly outlined. It utilizes language from existing code as far as existing protest procedures and defines it only in that particular scenario. Rather than making this a at request, we make it mandatory. And to follow that up, we also specify in here that the state will, through a grant, fund to the counties the cost for doing this mandatory count. [2:22:02] Section 3 adds to our already existing risk-limiting audit program in the state. This is a program that takes a sampling of particular races. Currently, law requires the top of the ticket and then one other ticket, uh, one other race selected by a committee made up of the governor, the speaker, the lieutenant governor, uh, the secretary of state, and others. We're adding to that, depending on the t- the, the year and the number of races of the election cycle, as many as five or six additional risk-limiting audits. [2:22:36] Risk-limiting audits happen quickly. It's a sampling. It's a count of basically one batch, and it's a randomly determined batch. If those audits fall within certain parameters as far as, uh, discrepancy, that triggers additional auditing. It's usually a recount. Section 4 of the bill is why we're here. It says the implementation for Section 7 of Senate Bill 189 for 2024 will be delayed until January 1st of 2028. [2:23:12] That allows the recommendations from the s- the, uh, selections committee that's being appointed here to get to the legislature, the legislature to review it for legislation and appropriation, and a new secretary of state and a new administration to review those recommendations and the legislation to advance with procurement. We envision a new uniform voting system in Georgia to be in place before the presidential preference primary of 2028. Mr. Speaker, that's the bill, and I will stand for some questions. [2:23:46] Gentleman has no questions. [2:23:48] Thank you, and I ask for your favorable consideration. [2:23:52] Thank you for the presentation. We have some members signed up that are speak opposed to the bill. I'm going to, uh, allot 10 minutes for those opposed to the bill. We'll b- we'll begin with... There she is, Representative Oliver. Thank you, ma'am. And then Representative Bazemore. Give the lady your attention, please. [2:24:14] Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, chairman of the Government Affairs Committee, who has carried a difficult task forward in many, many different ways and many, many hours of work. We appreciate him and the honest efforts that we have set forth and present to you today. I rise to talk a little bit about why I am opposing this bill and ask for your consideration of my thoughts. When I go out of the house and get in my car, go to the train tracks, and come down to the Capitol, I try to keep in my mind and in my heart, uh, Micah 6:8. [2:24:53] We are called upon to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly. We have very different views of justice that are honest different views of justice. Uh, example of that is the death penalty. Some people think death penalty is just, some people don't. Uh, I do see instances of kindness, uh, in many days when I'm in this building. I think we are weakest in the, uh, direction that we be humble. [2:25:25] The verse that I bring to us today or bring to myself as prepare for this special session is a different verse from the Book of Ephesians. I wear the all the armor of God to fight the wiles and sins of the devil, and special sessions sometimes bring forward sins of the devil. I have say this from experience that any time we, in this modern era, but also historical eras, when we come to deal with the delicacy of our election process, we must be quite careful, very careful as to how we intentionally, some of us, wanna tip the balance here and there. [2:26:13] Before I talk about the specifics, the improvement of the specifics of House Bill 3x- excuse me, Senate Bill 3x, and where the bill has been improved from what was introduced, uh, but still has, uh, problems that we need to address, I do have to bring to you my thoughts very briefly on the fact that we are failing in this special session to override budget vetoes issued by Governor Kemp. [2:26:46] I know and you know how hard the chairman of appropriations works. We know how hard the staff works, and we know how many of us spend hours on behalf of our constituents, for our retirees, for our domestic violence victims, for the rural hospitals, and I am very, very sad that we have not stood up and exercised our power on veto override or appropriations. [2:27:20] But let me move now to the issue of mandatory hand-counted ballots, and let's look at this in terms of history. One of the books that I recommend to folks coming newly to Georgia is the history of, written by President Jimmy Carter in his book, Turning Point. It was about his first election, which happened in 1963 to the State Senate across the Rotunda. [2:27:52] It is a incredibly detailed and helpful example of hand-counted ballots hidden by a probate judge, not released to anybody, and when released, done so in alphabetical order. It is a really interesting examination of a tiny piece of history of hand-counted ballots. I will recognize fairly, honestly, that line twenty-two is an improvement from the bill that we intro- that was introduced on the Senate side, that the recommend- the committees, uh, work on analyzing the duties we have of purchase new machinery are recommendations. [2:28:34] I'll recognize that on line seventy-one, the bill is limited for the mandatory hand counts to only the governor or lieutenant governor's race, where there is a one per- half percent deviation. And I will recognize that on line eighty-three, the state shall reimburse the counties for the expense of any hand-counted ballots. But ladies and gentlemen It is a false narrative that hand-counted ballots improve the con- the validity of our elections. [2:29:14] It is exactly the opposite. Hand-counted ballots have been used intentionally for wrongful results, and they have the potential to be used for wrongful results in the future. I'm not sure if this bill is clear enough on whether or not a discrepancy between, uh, certification by the county based on a computer va- a, a computer calculation or a hand-counted violation, excuse me, hand-counted, uh, validation of ballots will prevail under the language of this bill. [2:29:50] I think it is ambiguous as to where the power exactly existed in the local areas about what count shall be valid. But ladies and gentlemen, there are many, many different ways that we are m- leading our constituents away from the truth when we try to tell them that a mandatory hand-counted ballot process improves the integrity of our election process. History tells us differently. [2:30:22] I will vote no. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [2:30:27] Lady yields the well. Representative Bazemore is recognized. You have about three and a half minutes. [2:30:33] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My colleagues in the House. I rise today in measured but serious opposition to this bill. At its core, the legislation would require a statewide hand recount in races for governor and lieutenant governor whenever the margin is less than one half of one percent. That may sound narrow at first, but in a statewide election in Georgia, that threshold could mean approximately twenty thousand votes. [2:31:08] To put that in context, this is more votes than the margin in Georgia's 2020 presidential election, and I want to be very clear about that election. President Biden's victory in Georgia was properly certified. It was reviewed, audited, recounted, litigated, scrutinized, and challenged more than any election in modern Georgia history. Every lawful process that existed under Georgia law was used. [2:31:42] The system was tested. The system was examined. The system worked. That should matter to every member of this body, regardless of power. Po- uh, party, excuse me. We already have election procedures. We already have checks. We already have audits. We already have recount laws. We already have county election officials, poll workers, bipartisan observers, public oversight, judiciary review, and certification processes. [2:32:20] Georgia did not lack a process in 2020. Georgia had a process, and that process held. So the question before us is not whether we support election integrity. Of course we do. The question is whether the bill actually improves election integrity or whether it creates a new opportunity to cast doubt on legitimate election results. [2:32:51] I believe it does the latter. A statewide hand count is not a small administrative step. It is a massive undertaking. It places enormous pressure on county elected election workers. It creates more chances for human error. It creates more opportunities for confusion. It creates more room for outside pressure, political intimidation, and, um, bad faith actors to seize on inevitable minor discrepancies and turn them into conspiracy theories, and that is exactly the problem. [2:33:32] Hand counts sound simple, but elections are not simple. Statewide elections involve millions of ballots. They involve different counties, different facilities, different staff, different levels of experience, and enormous public pressure. Human beings get tired. Human beings make mistake. Human beings can be pressured. Human beings can disagree over marks, procedures, and paperwork. [2:34:05] Machines do not get tired. Machines do not distrac- get distracted. Machines do not change their judgment after twelve hours in a counting room. And where we want to verify machines and functioning properly procedures that test the system without turning every close election into a statewide invitation for doubt, and I yield the well. [2:34:31] Lady's yielded the well. That concludes the remarks and explanation of SB33EX. Is there any objection to the previous question being ordered? Hearing none, the previous question is ordered. We do have a minority report, and, um, we certainly-- we-- there is a scrivener error in the request, but we're certainly gonna take up the minority report, and here's our posture. The minority report will have up to twenty minutes. We-- and there will be a chairman's time up to twenty minutes, and I sincerely hope- Neither side takes that much time. [2:35:10] So, um, I'll defer to the members on that and ask them to, uh, make their points and make them just as quickly and expeditiously as they can. So with that, we're recognized for the minority report. Representative Sanchez, the gentleman's recognized. [2:35:28] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members, I really thought this would be the first session I'm in where I wouldn't have to speak at the well. But alas, on the very last day, here I am. Y'all forced my hand. I guess you really love me as being up here speaking. Um, but in all seriousness, this bill is the most important bill that we're working on here in the special session. And I am very, very dedicated to wanting this QR code issue fixed. I so want to vote for this bill. [2:36:00] But it seems like we have a knack for doing everything in our power to make it as difficult to vote for these bills as possible. Uh, I would have voted for the original bill that came out of the Senate, even with some of the issues that it had. I just don't understand this obsession with hand recounts. I really don't get it. [2:36:23] We, we, we've mentioned that we used hand counts in the past. That doesn't mean we have to use hand recounts now. It's not like I ride a horse to the Capitol. I drive a car. Uh, hand recounts are objectively worse form of recount than what we have right now. There is not a single state in the union that mandates re-- hand recounts. In fact, Texas recently tried to do a hand recount, and then they immediately repealed it. [2:36:58] And you wanna know why? Because they can have anywhere from a nine percent to a twenty-five percent error rate, because it delays the counting of the votes, and because it's a huge cost and administrative burden for something that is objectively, based on the evidence, a lower quality process. I am all for recounts. I think, you know, automatic recounts for tight elections are great, but the hand recount is not a necessary part of that. In fact, it is not in any way going to establish confidence in our elections. [2:37:29] It will do the opposite. [2:37:33] Based on the evidence, hand recounts will inevitably get a different result from the original count, not because of fraud, but because of human error. Because we'll have thousands of people counting millions of ballots. [2:37:50] Risk limiting audits are the gold standard because they use random sampling to confirm the overall result without introducing too much room for human error. [2:38:03] Now, in parts of the code section, it talks about if there's a discrepancy, we'll correct the error by computing justly. But what will that look like in practice? Do we interview every single counter, ask them how they did it? Do we hand recount again? Or do we simply run it through the machine again to confirm the original result? Probably what we'll most likely do is run it through the machine again, and wow, look at that. The count was the same as the original count, making the hand recount completely pointless and a waste of taxpayer money. [2:38:37] That's the very most likely scenario. So I don't understand how we can say that this restores confidence in the voters when there's objective evidence that shows the-- quite the opposite. I guess we have to appease the election conspiracists, though, so I guess that's why we have to do this. So as sad as I am too, I really wanna fix this QR code issue, but I have to vote no on this bill as it's currently written. Uh, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll yield the rest of my time to Representative Jasmine Clark. [2:39:06] Representative Clark is recognized for-- to speak with the minority report. [2:39:11] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Um, I wanna start out by talking about a very serious error in this bill. The way this bill is written, it basically tells you what the outcome of an election has to be. The way it is written, it says that the difference between the number of votes received by the winning candidate and the number of votes received by the candidate that did not win shall, shall be not more than one half of one percent of the total votes which are cast in any qualified contest, period. [2:39:53] It basically tells you straight up there cannot be a difference between-- of, of more than, or of less than, uh, point five percent between those two contests. Now, I'm not exactly sure what happens if the voters don't comply with the way this is written, but the way it is written, that is what this bill says. Given that, we should be voting no on that alone. But I'm going to talk about also why this hand counting provision is going to create a lot of issues. [2:40:34] One, we have plenty of data and evidence that points to the hand counting error rate being much higher than machi- machine tabulation errors. Wisconsin twenty eleven, two times higher error rate for the hand count. Rice University, thirty percent more errors on only two races. Texas, just in twenty twenty-four, they had arithmetic errors where the number of ballots cast did not equal the number of ballots counted, or each person counting got a completely different number than the person sitting next to them. [2:41:17] Or, and this happens because we are human beings, someone meant to say four hundred and fifteen, but instead the person that was writing things down wrote four hundred and fifty-one. In Nevada, twenty twenty-two, there was a twenty-five percent error rate. Not only that, the amount of time that it took just to count batches of fifty, three hours for one batch of fifty, because they kept getting the numbers wrong, and they had to start all over. [2:41:49] Here's the thing, we in this body are all humans, and human error is inevitable because of that. We are not robots. Unlike machine tabulators that must undergo QA testing, we don't have a test for human tabulators, and we need a lot of them in order to count a lot of these races. And so with the volume of people needed, we just don't know who's doing the counting. [2:42:21] Some people might be really good at mundane tasks, repetitive tasks over and over and over. Some might not be as good. Some might be good at making sure that they double-check their numbers. Some may not be as good, but guess what? They will all be in the same room counting those ballots. And that's just because we are humans. There's nothing wrong with that. We are not computers. So the question is, do we really want the most unreliable form of counting votes to be the thing that could potentially be the final vote? [2:43:00] And in this process, we have a hundred and fifty-nine counties. How do we ensure uniformity in how we are going to count these ballots? What works in one county may not work very well in another. How do we protect election workers as well? Because we've seen this show before. Last time we had to do this, election workers faced death threats. We had a member in the chamber across the hall be misidentified and have to find security for her family for facing death threats during this process. [2:43:43] There are a lot of security issues that come when we choose to undermine the, um, what we consider the security of our elections by decreasing confidence in our elections. Now, here's the thing, I listened to the committee. I sat in that room. It was hot as I don't know what, but I was in there. And I heard the bill sponsor say out of his own mouth that this process was meant to increase confidence. [2:44:15] Well, I can tell you right now as a person who understands that humans are flawed, that this does not increase confidence. This bill does the opposite. The thing is, you just cannot build a healthy democracy by catering to people who will just never accept the results of an election if it does not favor them. You do not protect go- voter confidence by constantly telling voters that you need to distrust the vote and distrust the process. [2:44:54] And you not-- cannot claim to respect elections while creating these mechanisms that undermine them at the same time just because the outcome is politically inconvenient. That is the opposite of what you're saying that you're trying to do. We are here doing this instead of doing the things that Georgians actually really wish that we would be doing. We're not lowering grocery bills. We're not lowering gas prices. [2:45:26] We're not helping families afford their rent or their childcare or their healthcare. We're not improving our schools or supporting our local communities. That's not what we're doing. Instead, we are spending time re-litigating the twenty-twenty election and the election denial that came from that, and we're dressing it up as if this is election integrity. This is not it. Georgians deserve better. [2:45:57] This bill does not honor that work. It undermines the work of building confidence in our elections. One, I respectfully ask that you look at lines seventy through seventy-five that basically tells us that every election at the top of the ticket must come within point five. It's written right there on the paper, shall or shall. [2:46:27] And I ask you to reject this bill, and let's return our focus to the needs of the people of Georgia. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [2:46:36] Ladies, you're-- well, thank you for your presentation. Minority report. I wanna remind you of something now. You did a great job, but you, you-- remember, when you get up the road, you're gonna have to be a little bit shorter, a lot shorter as a matter of fact. You'll do great. That concludes our minority report. We'll now have chairman's time up to twenty minutes. Chairman Anderson is recognized. Hope you won't take that long. [2:47:05] Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and no, sir. I just wanna bring up a few points. First of all, I want to mention, uh, in the minority report, there's a, an illusion to the fact that local election officials were, were not adequately consulted on this. A couple of points. First of all, and not to mention, and I look around, I see a lot of my colleagues in governmental affairs, we, we ha- We are notorious for allowing public comment, sometimes way too long and sometimes way too varied, uh, so we get a lot of public comment in, in our standard, just normal committee meetings. But we also had the Blue Ribbon Study Committee on Election Procedures this past year. [2:47:39] Met six different locations around the state, had over 132 different individuals come and testify before the committee, and many of those, in every community we went into, the local elections officials came, and they talked to us about the issues. They talked to us about how they were going to comply with Senate Bill 189 Section 7 if this legislature did not do something. Uh, not to mention the fact that this bill is fully supported by GAVRIO, the Georgia Association of Voting Registration and Election Officials. [2:48:10] So, uh, that's just a, a couple of things there. It was good to hear that, uh, uh, from some of my colleagues that, uh, risk-limiting audits are considered a gold standard because with this bill, we've increased risk-limiting audits in this state between 300 and 400%, depending on the race. That is a significant increase and a significant step towards making sure that our elections are proper and our elections are integrous. Everything in this bill related to auditing is basically a mirror or a copy-paste of existing language, existing procedures, existing protocols. [2:48:54] How do we determine what count is accurate? There are existing procedures for that. We put a lot of faith and a lot of authority in our local election superintendents, and a lot of times, if there's a question, it's up to their determination. So we put a faith in our people. This bill recognizes that. [2:49:16] There's nothing in this bill that says that the default is the hand count total. It says that the determined result is the, is the total. That could be the hand count, it could be the scan tally, and that, again, there are procedures to handle that. Let's talk about what happens if we don't pass this bill or a bill in this session, and there are many options, different things that could happen. [2:49:47] A lot of us have discussed what if this, what if that. There's an extremely high probability if we don't pass legislation to address the, the conflict that we have starting in just a couple weeks, less than a couple of weeks now, then we may be hand-counting ballots in 159 counties in the state of Georgia. That is a high probability. So I, I ask for your support. This bill is not the ultimate solution. [2:50:21] This bill solves an immediate conflict we have and lays out a path to achieve the most election integrity, the most accuracy, the most transparency that we can have going forward when we implement the next uniform voting system in Georgia, and we have to do that within the next couple of years. This gives us a path forward to get that process started. So Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield the balance of the, uh, chairman's time to my colleague, Chairman Leverett. [2:50:58] I was afraid you were going to bring a lawyer into this. [2:51:03] Chairman Leverett is recognized to speak to the bill. You have more than adequate time, I'm sure. So gentleman's recognized. [2:51:10] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Uh, from one lawyer to another, right back at you. Thank you. Um, ladies and gentlemen, House, I, I would urge, uh, passage of this bill. I know there are some concerns about it, uh, but I think what we tried to do in committee was take what had been, uh, presented to us and use existing statutory structures and try to fit what had been sent to us in those structures in, in a, I think, a more manageable, workable form based on comments that we got from election officials. [2:51:41] That, that to me is the, is the primary concern, is I want to make sure what-- You, you have a lot of nice theories and ideas and abstractions, but it needs to work in the real world. We vote in the real world. Elections are managed in the, in three-dimensional space, so we, we have limitations as humans in how we do that. And so I appreciate the concerns everyone has about, um, you know, um, a hand counting of ballots. But it's, it's a great irony to me that those, to, to, to Chairman Anderson's point, those who are urging a vote against this bill are going to cause the very thing that they decry and disdain, which is hand counting. [2:52:20] If you don't pass this bill, that's what we're gonna be doing based on the, the current statute. If you pass this bill, yes, there will be hand counts, but we're trying to do the hand counts in, in situations where it makes sense to do so. The initial bill that came to us basically was, uh, uh, what was that movie? Uh, E- Everything Everywhere All at Once. You know, every, every election, every time, every place, you had to have hand counts, um, of the two top races. [2:52:50] We've tried to limit that in this bill so that it's only if, if the, the races are within a certain margin, and then only certain races would be counted. We tried to follow language of an existing statute governing tabulation recounts to provide for the hand recounts. And to me, the big problem with the bills that came to us was it required that hand counting happen prior to local certification. which is just, I think, six days after the election. Well, now we're, we're following the existing statute and providing for the hand counts after certification so communities have more time. [2:53:22] That was the main thing I heard from our election officials is hand counts are time-consuming. You gotta organize, you gotta get ready, and then the process itself takes time. And this, the bill as amended allows them that time and also provides them funding to get it done. So, um, I, I, I, I believe that what we have here is a reasonable compromise that is very workable and Gavrio does support it as it is, as it is. So I would, uh, urge everyone to please vote in support of this measure, and I'll yield the well. Thank you, Mr. [2:53:52] Speaker. [2:53:58] Gentleman's yielded the well. That completes our discuss- discussion on SB 3 EX, both pro and those that are opposed. All members will please come to the floor. Is there any objection to adopting the committee substitute? Hearing none, the committee substitute is adopted. Is there any objection to agreeing to the report of the committee, which was favorable to the passage of the bill? [2:54:32] Hearing none, the report of the committee is agreed to. Shall this bill now pass? All in favor of the passage of the bill will vote yes. All those opposed will vote no. And Mr. Clerk will unlock the machine. [2:55:13] Have all members voted? All members voted? If so, Mr. Clerk will lock the machine. On the pass- passage of Senate Bill 3 EX, the yays are 94, the nays are 79. This bill, having received the requisite constitutional majority, is therefore passed. For what purposes does Leader Efstration rise? [2:55:42] Make a motion. [2:55:43] State your motion. [2:55:44] Mr. Speaker, I move that SB 3 EX be immediately transmitted to the Senate. [2:55:51] Representative Efstration moves that Senate Bill 3 E- EX be immediately trans- mittted to the Senate. Is there obj- objection? [2:56:00] Objection. [2:56:01] There is objection. Gentlemen move? [2:56:04] Move. [2:56:05] He moves. All those in favor of immediate transmittal will vote yes. Those opposed will vote no. And Mr. Clerk will unlock the machine. [2:56:31] Have all members voted? All members voted? If so, clerk will lock machines. On the gentleman's motion that Senate Bill 3 EX be immediately transmitted to the Senate, the yays are 144, the nays are 28. This bill is on its way to the Senate. Thank you, members. [2:57:04] We do have some afternoon orders. [2:57:52] The House is moving on to afternoon orders. There'll be 10 minutes for each caucus in total, and each caucus can police themselves. Chair recognizes Representative Moore for the first afternoon order. [2:58:18] Madam Speaker, thank you. Members of the body, before I begin my rant, I'd like to wish my dad a happy 95th birthday today in heaven. Hallelujah. I was campaigning on Monday. He was rooting for me Monday night. I won Tuesday night. He passed away. God bless you in heaven, Grandpa. Uh, Madam Speaker and members of this delegation of this body, today is day five. [2:58:50] We've spent another $65,000 today, and our total ticker is $390,000, which means we could have funded for community and business developments throughout One Georgia Authority, which the State of Georgia has, and we could have allocated money for our counties instead of wasting money being in here doing what we're doing. We also could have helped some of the veterans of the State of Georgia And we also could have helped some of our foster children and people with disabilities. [2:59:25] Again, shame on us for misappropriation of funds. Thank you. [2:59:31] Chair recognizes Representative Al Williams for mor- afternoon order. [2:59:45] Thank you, Madam Speaker. I know most of you have been wondering why you haven't seen me yet. Most of you have been cheering because you haven't seen me. But I rise particularly just to make a statement. Leadership is never easy, regardless to your politics. And here in the House, all of us represent about 60,000 people or so, close thereof as we come. [3:00:17] Tempers have flared a little in this special session. At points, flared quite a bit, but we've just about survived another one. But I rise to give some praise to my leader, First Lady Leader Carolyn Hugley, who's talking while I'm talking. Don't be so modest. I'm talking about you. You have, you have led during this special session with particular grace, and you have done it in a very ladylike and leadership way, and we're forever thankful because you have the coolness to keep those of us together that sometimes get a little heated. [3:01:09] But thank you for your leadership, thank you for what you've done during this session, and thank you for knowing that we have been elected to speak for our constituency. And the constituency of Musso- Muscogee County might be a little different from the citizenry of Liberty County, but somewhere we find a way to come together and vote for the good of us all. So thank you for this session. Look forward to seeing you in late February or January, whichever. [3:01:43] But thank you so g- so much again. Madam Speaker, with that, I yield the floor. [3:01:48] Chair recognizes Representative Romman for an afternoon order. [3:01:56] Chair recognizes Representative Santos for an afternoon order. [3:02:25] Thank you, Madam Speaker, members of this body. I rise for the last time on this floor. [3:02:34] I came here with a simple belief that everyone deserves someone in their corner, especially the people the world too often, sorry, overlooks. [3:02:54] Sorry, y'all. Ah, you're good. You're good. The survivor- Yeah ... the child- All right ... the senior, the family with no one else in the room. Thank you. Many of you know- All right, y'all. Observe this ... that I'm not returning. Get your phone away from this woman I'm not here to relitigate that because these seats were never ours. They belong to the voters. But I do leave with a concern that should matter to every member of this body, regardless of party. [3:03:33] In my election, a super PAC funded from outside our community spent more than $706,000- 700 ... against a freshman legislator. That was more than I and all four of my opponents raised combined, and it was over a single vote, a vote that Democrats and Republicans in this chamber cast alongside me. The money did not come for all of us. It came for me. [3:04:04] So this is not about my party or yours. It is not even about how any of us voted. It is about whether unlimited outside money should be able to decide which elected officials pay a price for doing their jobs. Mm-hmm. $706,000 could have helped people in our communities. Instead, it was used to deceive voters. In my case, that included an AI-generated image that was never real. [3:04:37] And when that happens, voters do not get the real you. Mm-hmm. They get whatever the most money can buy. Mm-hmm. So I leave you with two challenges. Protect the integrity of our elections in the age of artificial intelligence, and bring greater transparency and accountability to outside money in our campaigns. That work now rests in your hands. Thank you to the gentlelady from the 141st, Leader Hugley, for her steady leadership. [3:05:11] Thank you to the Speaker of this House for his service, and thank you to every member who listened, even when we disagreed. To my children, thank you for sharing me with this work and everything I fought for here. [3:05:46] I fought with hope of leaving you a better Georgia. [3:05:51] Yes. [3:05:55] And to the people of District 117, [3:06:02] thank you. Serving you has been the honor of my life, and this is not the end of my service. I leave this chamber with my head held high, my integrity, my faith intact, and my commitment to our community that's stronger than ever. To everyone, please keep the faith, keep showing up, keep fighting for what's right. God bless this body, and God bless the people of Georgia. [3:06:30] Well done. [3:06:31] Yay. [3:06:32] Mr. Speaker, I s- I yield the floor. [3:06:43] Good job. Good job. Good job. [3:06:46] They're watching. [3:06:46] We will not forget. We won't forget, Mary. [3:06:49] Thanks. [3:06:49] And revenge is better when it's served cold. [3:06:54] Oh. [3:06:54] Thank you, Representative Santos, for your service to your district and to Georgia. You will be missed. [3:07:04] Sweet mate. Next door. [3:07:09] Oh, I guess I'm down the street. [3:07:10] We'll make sure you come back, okay? [3:07:13] Yes. [3:07:13] Two years. Two years. [3:07:14] You know where to find me. You know where to find me. Good job. And it's a smooth bliss behind. [3:07:22] You fight like a fighter. You're a fighter. Brother. [3:07:27] Sergeant. [3:07:28] Those couple to you. [3:07:42] Sorry, I got work call. Um- [3:07:45] The chair recognizes Representative Gissler for an afternoon order. [3:07:56] You got one. [3:07:56] Thank you, Madam Speaker, and thank you, Representative Santos. Um, I was hoping that the speaker might be back there, um, because I wanted to congratulate him on his, uh, milestone anniversary coming up. And I want to share with this body, I had a bit of a milestone of my own last Sunday. Um- [3:08:12] Speak from the back. [3:08:13] Sorry. I, uh, I went to lunch with my daughter on Father's Day, and the milestone that I hit was that she paid the bill. Um, so yay to me. But while we were talking about, over lunch, um, uh, we were talking about what's going on in the session down here, and I told her about the ELHO stuff. And I asked her, "Do you want me to vote to raise sales taxes so that people like me can save a couple hundred bucks a year on my, on my, uh, property taxes?" It took about a half a second to say, "No. That, I don't want that." Um, and so let's be real about this because that's maybe saving a couple hundred bucks. [3:08:49] It's only talking about county and city property taxes, not school taxes. Uh, and it's only a maybe because the FLOS penny's been out there long enough that we have seen jurisdictions in this state take that FLOS penny but then jack up their millage rate so there is no tax cut. That very same thing can happen here. Um, I also want to mention that I do have concerns over the constitutional challenges. We've talked about the or- origination clause. I'd a- advise members to look at the reconsideration clause as well. Uh, the language in Senate Bill 33 left this house in House Bill 1116, and that was rejected by the Senate. [3:09:23] The other question I would ask is why now? Uh, we could pass these le- these local bills this time, or we could pass them next January. January 2028 is when that tax becomes effective. Um, I see the light flashing, and I think I'm running out of time. But I will say to the members, we did pass $850 million of property tax relief this year. That was bipartisan. Both parties voted for that. We can all go home and talk about that. Um, and if we really cared about affordability, we would, uh, we'd override some of these budget cuts, the $100 million for em- employee, the state employees' retirement system, as well as $80 million in healthcare services because medical bank- medical debt is the number one cause of bankruptcy in the country, and I yield the floor. [3:10:05] Chair is going to indulge the last two members who asked for afternoon orders. Please limit it to 30 seconds each. Chair recognizes Representative Ruwan. Romman. [3:10:19] Incredibly short. Um, thank you, Madam Speaker, Pro Tem, colleagues of the House. Uh, this might be the last time that I ever address you, so you're welcome to cheer for that. Um, but Here's what I would love to leave you with. I firmly believe that this body has the opportunity to truly be great and a leader for our state, but that is going to require all of us coming together at key opportunities to put Georgians over party. We had the opportunity to do that yesterday, and we didn't take it. [3:10:49] But I hope that fleeting moment leaves you with the inspiration to try every opportunity you can to do what's best for our state. It's been an honor to serve with you, and thank you, Madam Speaker Pro Tem. [3:11:04] Chair recognizes Representative Carter for an afternoon order. [3:11:15] Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'm gonna be real quick. Today, we rise to celebrate the life and legacy of the incomparable Wilma Rudolph. Wilma Rudolph refused to let her circumstances de- determine her future. As a child, she battled polio and was told that she might never walk again. Yet, through faith, determination, and relentless perseverance, she became the fastest woman in the world. And today, we want to take a moment and remember Wilma Rudolph because today would have been her birthday. [3:11:46] I yield the floor [3:11:50] Chair recognizes Representative Jenkins for an afternoon order, if members would please rise. [3:12:10] Madam Speaker, friends of the house. Today, I rise to remember Ellis Crook. Uh, Ellis passed away yesterday. Uh, he was born in 1931. He was celebrating his 95th birthday on the 1st of June. He was a long- His entire life, he was a resident of Senoia. He was a Korean War veteran. He ran Crook's Grocery Store that was started by his father as a dry goods store back in 1913. [3:12:40] Uh, and he owned a, a gas station and, uh, and several other businesses in town. Uh, he was in the insurance business. He was a published author. He was the author of Senoia Boy, which was published in, uh, 2020, and is available on Amazon. I first met, uh, Ellis Crook back in 1994 when I first bought my first home in the area. And at that time, as a lot of folks that grew up in the outer metro Atlanta know, a lot of these little farm communities, you know, grew into suburbia, and that's, that's what Senoia did as well. [3:13:12] But at that time, it was the only store, it was the only gas station. And like a week ago, uh, Mr. Crook was in there checking out, um, customers. He was stocking the shelves. He worked there every day. Um, as a politician, uh, when, when after redistricting, Senoia became part of my district. He was, uh, one of the people we had to go talk to. Uh, and I can't imagine the number of would-be politicians who filed through that store to go talk to Mr. Crook like we all did. [3:13:43] But he treated me, uh, great, and, uh, it was just an honor to know him. Uh, what I can say from the military, as I've lived all over the world, there's very little difference in one patch of ground to the next. But it's people like Mr. Crook that make these places home. Um, they, they called him the heartbeat of Senoia. Uh, reading about, uh, what people have had to say about him this morning as I was preparing r- my remarks, you know, someone drew the attention to back in, when Hurricane Opal, uh, hit back in '95. [3:14:17] He had a little generator in there with his lights on. He was checking people out with a pen, a pencil, and a, and a tab- and a tablet, so people could buy their groceries. Uh, a story of a woman who was in the middle of a divorce. Her house was in foreclosure, and she was checking out, and her card was declined, and she burst out into tears. And he told her, "Just, just fill the basket and go feed your girls. Don't worry about it." Uh, and told her to come back the next day and fill her shopping cart. Uh, that was Mr. Crook. Um, and, uh, a great man in our community, and he'll be missed. [3:14:50] Uh, Josh, would you like to say a few words? [3:14:53] Sure. [3:14:54] Go ahead. [3:14:54] Yeah, sure. So, I thank you. Uh, I, I represented Senoia when I first came in prior to redistricting. Uh, Mr. Crook was, uh, absolutely a pillar of the community. He is, he and his family and what he did in that community are, are what makes small towns great, uh, much like all the, the communities that each of you live in. So he will be sorely missed, and fortunately, his legacy in Senoia will live on, uh, long beyond his passing. Thank you. [3:15:23] I would just add to that, he was a phenomenal person, but what he really was was an entrepreneur. And he kept his eye out there and successfully built several businesses in Senoia. He's even branched with one out now in Newnan, Georgia. But, um, he is a phenomenal person and worth recognizing today. Thank you. [3:15:43] Thank you. And, and a moment of silence for Mr. Crook. Thank you. [3:15:58] Okay, to the remaining members, if you could keep your comments to about a minute each. The chair recognizes Representative New for an afternoon order. [3:16:12] Good morning, everyone. I wanna say happy 26th anniversary to my wonderful hub- husband. He is my best friend, and every single day I am so incredibly grateful for the life that we've built together. Thank you for your love, your constant support, and most of all, thank you for choosing me. I love you, Boyd. I'll see you soon. [3:16:41] Chair recognizes Chairman Parsons for an afternoon order. [3:16:52] Thank you, Madam Speaker. Uh, we lost a former member of the House, uh, just a couple weeks ago, John Hammond from Marietta. Um, John was just a couple months older than, than I am, and we were friends. Uh, we became friends back in the early '70s. Uh, we both worked on Jimmy Carter's first presidential campaign, as a matter of fact. I didn't work on the second. I think he worked on the... I think he probably did. Uh, he was a, he was a Democrat. [3:17:22] He was a, uh, got his l- law degree from, um, uh, Washington and Lee, uh, University. And he had served on the, uh, Marietta City Council. He served here in this, uh, chamber for, I think, two, um, two terms during the early '80s, I believe it was. And we remained friends, and, uh, I hate, uh, very much that we've lost him. Our political philosophies and our paths ah, diverged at some point, but we remained friends. [3:17:56] And I always knew we were friends even, um, no matter how much we might have come to disagree on different things because he would al- when he would say something pretty negative a- about me on social media, it was always my friend Don Parsons, so I knew we were still friends. [3:18:12] But, uh, I miss him, and he, and he deserves to be honored today. So if we could have a moment of silence for him, I would appreciate it. [3:18:23] Thank you. Thank you, Madam Speaker. [3:18:25] Chair recognizes Chairman Cheokas for an afternoon order. [3:18:42] Thank you, Madam Speaker. I just wanted to share with the House members something I'm very proud of. As you know, Millard and Linda Fuller started Habitat for Humanity, uh, in Americus, Georgia. The late Millard and his widow, Linda, are friends of mine. I served as chairman of the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate f- on the board for over seven years. And I was given, on my retirement, this golden hammer plaque, which I am very, very proud of. [3:19:18] I worked on the Sumter County Initiative, which built over 300 homes, uh, in Sumter County. To qualify for a Habitat house, you must put in sweat equity and apply for a zero interest loan, a mortgage through Habitat to buy the home. Millard and Linda Fuller realized that home ownership breaks the cycle of poverty. [3:19:48] Overburdening these new homeowners with ever-increasing property taxes on their homes, their castle, is unsustainable, and it's just plain wrong. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I yield the will. [3:20:05] Chair recognizes Representative Clifton for up to one minute. [3:20:16] Thank you, Madam Speaker. I will be as brief as I can to get through what I'm trying to say. Um, I've heard a lot today from the other side on why we should not give property tax relief to people at home. I wanna go through a quick chronological recap on where we came and went. Earlier this year, Chairman Blackmon had a property tax bill, HB 1116, to eliminate property taxes by 2032. Gave six, or I believe seven different avenues to do it, and it was a p- process throughout that was gonna happen. [3:20:46] When the Dems came, they said, "No, we're not gonna do that because of local control. Local control, local control." While I didn't agree with that, I understood the situation. Next, we had another bill that Gary Richardson carried, which was actually a single part of that original bill that was not a have to, it was a may. If your county has economic excess funds, you may give that back to your taxpayers through homestead property relief. [3:21:17] As soon as that bill, as soon as, uh, Chairman Blackmon's bill died, I went over to the, to the Democratic caucus and had a conversation. At which point they said, "That sounds like a great bill. What's the issue?" Well, the issue is this constitutional amendment. This was Wednesday before crossover, and I was told, "We'll get back to you." On Friday, as soon as we started, I walked in face-to-face with leadership, said, "Where do we stand?" They said, "One, we're not gonna give you a win. And number two, we believe the majority of people that own homes do not vote for us." And therefore, that bill was not allowed to be brought up. [3:21:49] Now we're here in a special session, and we have local bills that allow the citizens to vote after the locals have already presented a resolution that they want this, and the Democrats now say no because no new taxes. Where was the new taxes when we voted to have economic excess given back? What are the Dems for if it's not for property tax? I can tell you what they're for. They're for universal healthcare for all that's supposed to be affordable. Let me tell you about my trip that I just took to Canada, where the universal healthcare was more than 50%. [3:22:21] That's not affordable. So Dems are okay taking your money as long as they can give it out to other people at, at cost of over 50% income tax. But if they're gonna take your money and give it back to you with relief, absolutely not. That's not okay. So my message is simple. If you own a home or ever want to own a home, in November, I highly suggest you vote Republican, 'cause the Democrats have made it very clear what they will do. I yield the will. [3:22:53] Can you stop it? The chair recognizes Chairman Bonner for a quick afternoon order. Quick. [3:23:05] Thank you, Madam Speaker. Hey, uh, colleagues, uh, l- I'll try to tone it down a little, but I, I think the, we all know that property taxes are too high. There is no debate about that, and this burden disproportionately impacts the elderly and those on a fixed income. In fact, it undermines the American dream of home ownership. We learned today that the city of Brookhaven is considering a 40% tax increase. That type of increase will do what it is doing across our state, driving people out of their homes and communities. [3:23:37] The repeated actions this session by the minority party have been disappointing to say the least. Now, I'm not naive enough to believe that you care much about what I have to say or think about that, but I'm here to speak for the roughly 60,000 citizens of House District 73. We followed the established procedures for local legislation. The Fayette County Board of Commissioners sent us a resolution requesting the LHOST, signed by both Republican and Democrat members of that committee. We submitted legislation to the clerk, signed by all members of our delegation, Republican and Democrat. [3:24:12] And today, the minority party decided to deny my community the opportunity to reduce their property tax burden within the borders of our own county. There have been plenty of local bills over the years that I did not support, but I voted for them because they were requested by that community. I can't tell you what's best for Clinch, Talbot, Washington, or Gilmer County, but I do know the people of Fayette County deserve the right to vote on a measure to reduce the onerous burden of property taxes, and that's all the LHOST does. It places a measure on the ballot. [3:24:44] It is the most fundam- foundational concept in a democracy. So often we hear the cry of local control in this chamber. Well, the locals have spoken. The people have petitioned their government for relief, and the minority party has denied that petition for purely political reasons. For generations, homeownership has been one of the greatest wealth-building tools the American middle class has ever known. This is how families put down roots- [3:25:10] Gentleman will please wrap it up [3:25:12] ... and leave something behind and move from proverty, pro- poverty to stability. By denying the right to reduce property taxes, we are denying our citizens access to the American dream. We owe Georgians more, and we will continue to fight for access to that opportunity. Thank you, Madam Speaker. I yield the will. [3:25:33] Chair recognizes for a last morning order, uh, Chairman Petrie, if he's in the chamber. If not, the chair recognizes representative or Chairman Williamson for an announcement. [3:25:54] Thank you, Madam Speaker. Uh, there will be a, a little bit of an early lunch for the majority caucus in room 403. Uh, the food's ready whenever you wanna come. We'll start our meeting 11:30. Thank you, Madam Speaker. [3:26:08] The House will stand at ease until noon. [4:36:51] Okay, all members. All members, please come to the floor. Mr. Clerk, how about ring the bell and let them know we're, we're ready to come back in session. [4:37:47] Mr. Clerk, are you ready? House will come to order. Mr. Clerk will read the caption to a group of privileged resolutions. Mr. Clerk. [4:37:55] Honoring the life and memory of Ava Olivia DierBecker and Ferris Vincent DierBecker. Honoring the life and memory of Reverend Robert Lee Abrams. Honoring the anniversary of the United States Supreme Court Olmstead decision. Recognizing and honoring the Morocco national football team for competing in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Recognizing and honoring the Democratic Republic of the Congo national football team. [4:38:27] Recognizing and honoring the South African national football team for qualifying for and competing in the FIFA World Cup. Recognizing former State Representative Simone Bell for his distinguished public service. Recognizing and commending Councilwoman Rochelle Brown for outstanding leadership. Recognizing and commending Alex C. Habersham. And recognizing and commending the 50th Southern Regional Conference and centennial celebration of the Southern Regional of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. [4:39:00] And for other purposes, that completes the reading of the privileged resolutions. [4:39:27] Is there any objection to adopting the prison privileged resolutions? Hearing none, the resolutions are adopted. [4:39:47] Chairman Hawkins, I think you have an announcement the members of this house need to be a- made aware of. Give the gentleman your attention. This may apply to you. Chairman Hawkins is recognized. [4:40:02] Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Mr. Speaker, uh, the Health Committee will meet today at 2:00, between 2:00 and 4:00, in Room 403 [4:40:14] Ah, there will be a door prize. Representative, Representative Franklin has been very generous. You know what business he's in. Unfortunately, you do not ne- uh, you do not have the ability to ch- to choose the color, but good luck. Thank you. Wait a minute, is he giving away a car? Is that what you said? [4:40:35] Yes. [4:40:35] Mr. Speaker. A door prize. [4:40:39] Oh, I'm coming to the meeting then. I mean, yeah. [4:40:44] All right, everyone got the, understand the announcement? [4:40:50] Members, the, uh, Senate just passed the, uh, elections bill. So. [4:41:08] Whoo. [4:41:08] SB 3EX. We had healthy debate and consideration over the last few days and on elections and what this House would, would, would, believes is the best way to conduct our elections and be a part of that. So thank you for all the discussions, both the pros and cons. That makes us stronger and gives us better legislation, so I appreciate everyone's voice in that. And, and especially you, um, Chairman Anderson, I know you've worked diligently on the bill, and all of those who served on our Blue Ribbon Study Committee that, uh, were a part of elections reform in Georgia. [4:41:47] But especially you, sir. Congratulations and thank you. [4:42:05] Whoo. Yay. [4:42:05] A couple of quick thank yous. Number one, thanks, Cindy Dickey. Thanks, Cindy and Robert Dickey for beautiful peaches. Um. [4:42:20] These peaches are the reason we're the Peach State, 'cause they're delicious, they're beautiful, and he does a great job, and he, uh, he loves his peaches, every one of them, don't you? I know you do. Understand the feeling. Thanks, Chairman, I appreciate you. We do appreciate your generosity in sharing the peaches with all the members here. Okay, we've had a lot of staff that came back here with us as we've been in the, been in this chamber for the last week, approximately, last few days. [4:42:51] I wanna thank all of our staff, whether they be the door keepers. I'm not gonna call them all out by names or anything else. Door keepers, our administrative assistants. And all the support that helps make this thing work. [4:43:12] We've had a lot of people on Capitol Hill ov- over the few days that we've been here, and I wanna thank, uh, our Capitol Police, our Georgia State Patrol. All of our security that kept everyone safe. Everyone behaved and got along and did their thing. So thanks to all our securities here on this, on the Hill. Staff, security, um, all of those that make this thing work, but most of all, I wanna thank you, the members, who put your lives aside, all the things that are important to you and, and to your families, to come here and do the people's work. [4:43:52] This House is absolutely, absolutely [4:44:05] the best place to live, work, and raise a family, in this House. And we here, we've got some young, young parents. There's one over there. He's not so young, but his baby's young. Tyler Paul has a, has a young child and so many more of you in this House. And that, I think what the camaraderie and the spirit of this House helps make ensure that we're good family members here and we're good family members when we go back home. So I wanna thank all of you. Give yourself a round of applause and thank you. [4:44:43] I think that time has come, and I'm g- very pleased and honored to recognize and turn this microphone over to a veteran of this House who we're gonna miss very... [4:44:59] First, I'll say thank you to, uh, my dear friend, Senator Larry Walker, and his great work. Step up if you will, sir. [4:45:19] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. [4:45:21] Nice to meet you. [4:45:23] He was, as we all know, he was trained well by a father who was a leader of this House. [4:45:35] We appreciate you, sir. We look forward to working with you in the future. And, um, we're gonna do a little bit better job of this in the, in the, in the future, on, maybe in January, but we wanna make sure we honor the former majority leader in this House in appropriate manner to, uh, his father, Larry Walker Jr., who we, this, um, this state lost a dear champion and a, for the people of this state and, and the family lost a dear, a dear father and husband and grandfather in that family. [4:46:06] So we wanna remember that family and do it appropriately in, in a few days from now. So with that, we'll announce two birthdays. Today, where is Representative Inga Willis? [4:46:27] She's gone. [4:46:28] She left. Let her know we recognized her and we do appreciate her. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I wanna go ahead and do this one. He, uh, he'll be having surgery in a few days from now, but he's already gone too, but Representative Chairman Jesse Petrea has a birthday tomorrow. So, we wanna make sure and let ... Jesse's gonna have his knee replaced in a couple of weeks. [4:46:53] That's it. I'm glad to be a part of y'all's family, be a part of the House. Thank y'all for honor- honoring me, and thank you for your hard work as we all pull together to get good outcomes for the people of our state. All right, I'm gonna turn this microphone over to a lady who's been here for several opportunities to hear those blessed words. [4:47:12] Yeah. [4:47:14] Chairlady Lynn Smith, I'm gonna let you recognize the majority leader. [4:47:19] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I have a cheat sheet, imagine that. On the, uh, does the majority leader have a motion? [4:47:28] I do, Madam Chair. I move that this House stand adjourned sine die. [4:47:36] A, a little bit more homework. All those in favor say aye. [4:47:40] Aye. [4:47:41] All those opposed will say no. [4:47:42] No. [4:47:45] All right. The ayes clearly have it. We stand adjourned sine die. [4:47:59] Thank you. You're my friend. [4:47:59] Good stuff. I appreciate you. [4:47:59] I appreciate you. [4:47:59] You bang that gavel pretty good too. [4:48:02] Oh. It's all because it's in class. [4:48:05] Yeah. Good job. Thank you. [4:48:07] Oh, I'm gonna miss my family. [4:48:09] Yeah, you, you'll still be calling [4:49:43] on me.