Hello everyone, and welcome to the inaugural edition of the Liberty Watch Report, published by the Libertarian Party of Georgia! This project is designed to keep people informed about what’s happening in the Georgia General Assembly. If you didn’t know, the General Assembly meets for 40 legislative days each year to make laws. Things can get a bit complicated, but most of the time the process follows a regular flow.
First a legislator files a bill in either the House of Representatives or the Senate, then the bill is read and referred to a committee. If the committee recommends that the bill be passed, then it gets placed on the calendar to be voted on. If it passes the full body, then the process starts all over again in the other chamber. Only once it passes both chambers does it get sent off to the governor to be signed into law.
This time we will be covering the first week of the 2024 legislative session: days 1 through 5. Keep an eye out for legislation with an asterisk (*), it means that the legislation is related to the Libertarian Party of Georgia’s 2024 legislative agenda! This year we’re focusing on protecting the right to privacy, making gold and silver legal tender in Georgia, passing Defend the Guard legislation, rolling back occupational licensing, eliminating Certificate of Need, expanding ranked choice voting, lowering ballot access requirements, and supporting election integrity. Of course, that doesn’t mean that we won’t weigh in on other issues as well!
What's New?
HB 842 - "Georgia Shoot First Act" creating a duty to retreat; referred to the Committee on Judiciary Non-Civil
HB 873 - Creates juvenile treatment court divisions; referred to the Committee on Juvenile Justice
HB 875 - Prohibits firearm ownership by people convicted of family violence offenses or who are under a family violence temporary protective order; referred to the Committee on Public Safety & Homeland Security
*HB 880 - Allows military spouses to use existing occupational licensing from another state in Georgia; referred to the Committee on Regulated Industries
HB 887 - Prohibits insurance coverage decisions from being made solely by AI; referred to the Committee on Technology and Infrastructure Innovation
HB 890 - Provides that relying on AI is not a defense against allegations of discrimination under Georgia law; referred to the Committee on Technology and Infrastructure Innovation
HB 891 - "Home School Extracurricular Activity Act" provides a tax credit for homeschoolers; referred to the Committee on Ways & Means
*HB 894 - Prohibits QR codes on ballots; referred to the Committee on Government Affairs
*HB 895 - Excludes precious metals from capital gains tax; referred to the Committee on Ways & Means
HB 897 - "Medical Freedom Act" removes the authority the Department of Public Health and county boards of health to require vaccinations and prohibits businesses from requiring customers to be vaccinated or wear masks; referred to the Committee on Public Health
HB 903 - "Voluntary Do Not Sell Firearms Act" creates a registry that people put their own name on to become prohibited persons; referred to the Committee on Public Safety & Homeland Security
*HB 904 - Creates additional restrictions regarding licensing around certain professions; referred to the Committee on Regulated Industries
HB 910 - Requires that websites operated by commercial entities containing a substantial portion of material harmful to minors verify ages while not retaining information; referred to the Committee on Judiciary
HB 915, HB 917, HB 918 - Amends the FY 2024 Budget; referred to the Committee on Appropriations
HB 916, HB 919, HB 920 - Creates the FY 2025 Budget; referred to the Committee on Appropriations
HB 923 - Makes entering someone's property without consent an act of criminal trespass; referred to the Committee on Judiciary Non-Civil
HB 924 - Prohibits insurers from discriminating against healthcare facilities and providers regarding the administration of drugs; referred to the Committee on Insurance
HB 925 - "Protecting Religious Assembly in States of Emergency (PRAISE) Act" prohibits any government entity from closing a place of worship during an emergency if there are any closure exemptions; referred to the Committee on Public Safety & Homeland Security
HB 926 - "Second Chance Workforce Act" creates 'certificates of good standing' which make criminal history records inadmissible, revises arrest and other procedures regarding motor vehicles and drivers' licenses; referred to the Committee on Judiciary Non-Civil
HB 929 - Excludes net capital gains from Georgia income tax (filed)
*HB 930 - Prohibits releasing booking photos to the public until conviction (filed)
HB 932 - Makes it murder to manufacture or distribute fentanyl which causes death (filed)
HB 936 - Requires public schools to designate multiple occupancy restrooms as exclusively for male or female based on sex at birth (filed)
HB 937 - Prohibits ride share companies from prohibiting drivers who are lawful weapons carriers from carrying (filed)
HB 940 - Requires retail stores to accept cash for purchases (filed)
HR 768 - Creates the House Study Committee on the Elimination of State Income Taxes; referred to the Committee on Ways & Means
HR 780 - Proposes an amendment to the Georgia Constitution to clarify that only US citizens can vote in Georgia; referred to the Committee on Judiciary
SB 340 - Exempts sales of firearm safes and firearm safety devices from sales and use taxes; referred to Finance Committee
SB 344 - Exempts firearms, ammunition, gun safes, and firearm accessories from sales and use taxes for 11 days each October; referred to the Finance Committee
SB 346 - Prohibits companies owned or operated by Iran from bidding on or submitting proposals for state contracts; referred to the Committee on Government Oversight
SB 349 - "Save Our Homes Act" creates a referendum regarding homestead exemptions from ad valorem taxes; referred to the Finance Committee
SB 350 - Prohibits the sale of consumable hemp products to people under 21; referred to the Committee on Judiciary
SB 351 - "Protecting Georgia's Children on Social Media Act of 2024" requires local boards of education to adopt social media policies and prohibits providing access to social media platforms to minors under 16 without parental consent; referred to the Committee on Education and Youth
*SB 354 - Exempts people who just shampoo or "blow-dry style" hair from requiring an occupational license (filed)
*SB 355 - Prohibits the use of ranked choice voting except for military and overseas voters (filed)
SB 358 - Removes the Secretary of State from the State Election Board and authorizes the board to investigate the Secretary of State (filed)
SR 443 - Appoints Rick Jeffares to the State Election Board; referred to the Rules Committee (filed)
What's Happened?
SB 172, HB 368, HB 434, HB 456, HB 502, HB 571, SB 333, HB 290, HB 455, SB 205, SB 151, SR 122, SR 323, and SR 344 passed their committees
HB 571 was added to the rules calendar to be voted on
HR 779 was adopted by both the House and the Senate, setting the calendar for the session
Governor Kemp gave the annual State of the State address before a joint session of the General Assembly. Read our response here!
What's the Gist of It?
It was quite a week, and things are just getting started! Since it was the opening week, a fair bit of time was spent just getting things set up. Bills that were introduced in 2023 but didn’t pass are still alive this year and of course legislators have a bunch of new bills that they spent the week introducing. As you can see, there are bills covering many of the hot button issues like firearms, artificial intelligence, medical freedom, and elections. There are also already a few bills related to LPGa’s agenda for the year, but expect to see more in the coming weeks!
What Can You Do to Help?
Get to know your representatives in the General Assembly! If you don’t know who they are, you can click here and enter your address to find out. It really does affect their behavior when they have their constituents talking to them about the issues. Also, please give us any suggestions or feedback that you have about the Liberty Watch Report. We want reading this to be a valuable use of your precious time.
What's the Libertarian Position?
HB 880 - Accepting the licensing from another state is a no-brainer to at least reduce the number of hoops that people have to jump through just to make an honest living, especially people who get moved around because their spouse is in the military. See Section 2.9 of the LPGa Platform.
HB 894 - Doing away with QR codes on ballots that voters can’t read would be a step in the right direction to improve election transparency and confidence. See Section 1.3 of the LPGa Platform.
HB 895 - Exempting precious metals from the capital gains tax would go a long way towards restoring their historical and constitutional use as monies, providing Georgians with a safe haven from reckless federal monetary policy. See Section 2.7 of the LPGa Platform.
HB 904 - Increasing occupational licensing requirements is going in the wrong direction. We need to be making it easier for people to work, not more difficult. See Section 2.9 of the LPGa Platform.
HB 930 - People are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. Having law enforcement posting someone’s face in public before that guilt is proven can be extremely damaging to their reputation and potentially dangerous. See Section 1.3 of the LPGa Platform.
SB 354 - It’s absurd to require a government license before letting someone shampoo hair. Doing away with that requirement is another no-brainer. See Section 2.9 of the LPGa Platform.
SB 355 - Why are they trying to prohibit ranked choice voting when Georgia doesn’t even have ranked choice voting to begin with? Note that the bill includes an exception for military and overseas voters, so clearly even the authors understand that ranked choice voting has benefits. See Section 3.6 of the LPGa Platform.
What's Coming Up?
The next legislative day won’t be until Monday, January 22. Instead, this week will be spent on the budget, with hearings scheduled Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
I hope you don't mind, I'm thinking of making my own post, using this as a resource, adding my own personal commentary on some of these. I may even get a few posts out of this long list! Thanks for your hard work!
What a great resource! Thank you so much for this excellent work!