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2018 Legislative Session

Why are conservatives afraid of more voters?

Yesterday, the Georgia House of Representatives passed a bill that would carve out a new city, called Eagle’s Landing, from the existing city of Stockbridge, along racial lines. The bill was amended slightly from the Senate’s version, so now it’s headed back to the Senate for another vote. So far, it seems the vote has been split on party lines — it’s clear that Republicans in the state legislature are determined to carve out a

2018 Legislative Session

Ga. conservatives try to chip away at voting rights

Georgia conservatives have long displayed a dangerous pattern of chipping away at the rights of Georgians. They’ve worked to strip away LGBTQ rights through a number of measures and have continuously attacked women’s access to abortion. But they haven’t stopped there — they’re actively working to chip away our voting rights as well. They know that more voters means less power for conservatives. Conservatives have pushed strict voter I.D. laws, which disproportionately targets students, low-income

2018 Legislative Session

Sen. McKoon targets abortion access for vulnerable youth

It’s an election year, so Republicans in Georgia want to make sure they shore up their conservative cred in advance of the primaries on May 22 and the general election on November 6. And what better target to accomplish this than by targeting abortion access? Anti-choice policy makers know they cannot outright make abortion illegal, given that seven in ten Americans oppose policies to overturn Roe v. Wade. So instead, they try to pass laws

2018 Legislative Session

Bills to watch in Georgia: Gun control, anti-LGBT adoption and more

Last week in the Georgia Legislature marked the passage of Crossover Day, the final day for bills to pass out of the chamber in which they were introduced. The bills that don’t pass from senate to house or house to senate are considered dead. Here’s a rundown of the bills that made it through that we’re keeping a close eye on — the good, the bad and the “needs improvement.” We’re keeping a close eye

State Rep. Betty Price smiles at the camera as her husband, Tom Price, shakes hands with Vice President Mike Pence.
2018 Legislative Session

Call me “Petty” Betty Price

Rep. Betty Price recently told a cyclist’s widow that she opposed a bill to curb distracted driving because of “spite.” She later defended the comments as “commonplace talk among state lawmakers,” according to the local WSB-TV reporter who broke the story. I think my civics class forgot to teach me the part of lawmaking where petty power plays determine the fate of bills. I also missed the follow up lesson teaching that that behavior is completely

2018 Legislative Session

Guns in Georgia: What to expect in the 2018 legislative session

Across the country, state legislators are revisiting gun legislation in the wake of yet another tragic mass shooting. But what are Georgia legislators doing, and how do their efforts stack up? Right now, there are three separate proposals in the Georgia Legislature that would allow people to carry firearms without a permit into parks, historic sites and recreational areas. Passage of any of these bills would continue the dangerous pattern of expanding gun owners’ rights at