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2018 Legislative Session

As new bill loses its bite, Georgia Power is let off the hook for Plant Vogtle again

A bill from Sen. Chuck Hufstetler that would have finally slammed Georgia Power with the consequences of its Plant Vogtle disaster suddenly lost its bite in the Georgia Legislature last Thursday. The provisions that would hold Georgia Power accountable for Plant Vogtle were slashed from the bill. The Regulated Industries and Utilities committee unanimously passed the new legislation — easy to do once the most critical part of the bill had been stripped away. The nuclear

2018 Legislative Session

Sensing a shift in power, Republicans aim to carve new city along racial lines

Republicans in the state legislature are up to their same old tricks, using racist tactics to try to save their own hides. They’re currently trying to create a new, very white city in a part of metro Atlanta where people of color make up nearly three-quarters of the population. Stockbridge is a majority minority city in Henry County, just south of Atlanta. Henry County is on track to become a majority minority county — that

2018 Legislative Session

Sen. Josh McKoon deletes his own Twitter poll in embarrassing defeat

In an embarrassing move, State Sen. Josh McKoon deleted his own Twitter poll on multilingual driver’s tests after it backfired on Monday. He asked, “Should Georgia offer the Driver’s License Examination in 11 different foreign languages?” Before he deleted the poll, about 70 percent of people had answered in the affirmative — evidently not the response McKoon was hoping for. The poll was an effort to bolster support for his recent bill proposing amending Georgia’s

2018 Legislative Session

Anti-LGBT adoption amendment hurts parents and children, threatens Georgia’s chances at Amazon headquarters

Georgia’s adoption laws are in the process of being updated for the first time in 27 years. While many welcome the updates, some conservative lawmakers are holding the process back. At the tail end of the 2017 legislative session, Sen. William Ligon (R-Brunswick) added discriminatory language to the much-needed bill, causing it to stall. The amendment would have allowed adoption agencies to refuse potential parents based on the agency’s “mission.” This would have opened the door

2018 Legislative Session

Georgians want increased access to medical marijuana

Georgians want increased access to medical marijuana. A new AJC poll shows that more Georgians than ever, 77 percent to be exact, support changing state laws to allow harvesting and distribution of medical marijuana. Under a 2015 law, licensed patients can possess up 20 ounces of cannabis oil to treat certain forms of 14 approved illnesses, including AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy. More than 2,500 patients are currently on the registry. But

2018 Legislative Session

What you can expect to see in the General Assembly this year

This year’s legislative session started Monday and promises to be a fast-moving one for a few reasons. First, according to law, legislators cannot receive campaign funds during the session, and the packed session schedule leaves little time for campaigning. This, in addition to recent Democratic wins in areas that used to be Republican strongholds, means Republicans are stressing like never before. Considering the elections and the issues that have been in the national spotlight over