Listed below are the bills we are tracking in 2019 in the Georgia General Assembly. Keep in mind, a bill must be introduced in one chamber (either House or Senate), be heard in a Committee from that chamber, and if passes must go to the other chamber by Day 28 (March 7) and go through the process again. If it passes both chambers it must then be signed by the governor to become law.

Senate Bill 221 — Georgia version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). This legislation prohibits the government from substantially burdening a person’s free exercise of religion. Status: The Committee did not take up this bill as planned on Monday, March 4, as the bill sponsor asked for more time for a fair hearing. If your Senator is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, please contact him/her ASAP ask to vote “yes” on RFRA.

House Bill 481 and Senate Bill 218 — Defines a person as someone with a heartbeat, which will prevent abortions when an unborn infant has a heartbeat. Status: Introduced in the House (and a companion bill was introduced in the Senate). Please contact both your House member and Senator and ask him/her to vote “yes” on this important pro-life legislation.

House Resolution 327 —  A resolution (not a bill) to change the Georgia constitution to allow casino gambling. Click here to see state Rep. Wes Cantrell’s Facebook post about the problems with casino gambling in Georgia (you may have to login to Facebook to see it – not sure). Status: Reported favorably out of Committee on March 1, and now will go to the full House for a vote.

House Bill 426 — So-called “Hate Crimes” legislation will enhance the punishment for crimes involving bias or prejudice. Presumes that law enforcement will know the motivation of any crime. Status: Passed out of Committee on Feb. 26, and expected to get a vote in the full House. See additional information below:

• Violates equal protection by treating some victims as more worthy of protection than others.
• Punishes thoughts, not actions. “Hate crime” bills ignore that the act is already a crime; instead, they ramp up punishment because the perpetrator was thinking something the government disapproves of. Empowering the government to assess and approve/disapprove thoughts is a very totalitarian concept.
• Injects identity politics into Georgia criminal law.
• Will inevitably be used against Christians, as has happened in Canada and the UK (see below).
• For the first time in Georgia Code, enshrines “sexual orientation” as worthy of special protection.
• Does not define “sexual orientation,” leaving that term open to expansion. The American Psychological Association and other LGBT activists are already pushing to have pedophilia reclassified as a sexual orientation (see this article for a good explanation: https://thefederalist.com/2019/02/21/pedophile-project-7-year-old-next-sexual-revolutions-hit-parade/). When that happens (and it will), and if the hate crimes bill passes, Georgia criminal law will give special protection to pedophiles.
• NOT NECESSARY. The burden should be on the proponents to show that victims who fall into these special categories are currently not being protected. The proponents have made no effort to do so. In fact, because true “hate crimes” are so rare, they are the most widely faked episodes in American criminal law. As someone has said, when it comes to hate crimes, demand greatly exceeds supply. See https://www.fakehatecrimes.org/.

See also:
https://www.christianpost.com/news/canada-anti-transgender-speech-hate-crime-prison-fine.html

https://www.christian.org.uk/news/christians-unfairly-targeted-for-hate-crime-prosecutions/

Senate Bill 15 — “Keeping Georgia’s Schools Safe Act” has the intention of preventing, discovering, responding to, and recovering from threats, warnings, and developing situations regarding any public or private school. We spoke to the bill sponsor about concerns regarding the autonomy of private, Christian schools. Status: Private schools were removed from this version of the bill before it was presented in Committee. It was voted on in the full Senate on Feb. 27, and now goes to the House for consideration.

Senate Bill 45 — Creates the Georgia Horse Racing Commission that will regulate pari-mutuel betting on horse racing. Click here for the testimony Citizen Impact gave at the Committee hearing for this bill. Our good friend, Mike Griffin, wrote this article about it: https://christianindex.org/horse-racing-proposed-again/. Status: Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee hearing held on Feb. 13 where testimony was given for and against. It was voted out of Committee, but has not had a vote on the Senate floor.

Senate Resolution 184 — Proposes an amendment to the Georgia Constitution to allow casino gambling. Status: Introduced on Feb. 15.

House Bill 530 — While this bill may have had good intentions, it burdens home school families with unnecessary regulations. Rep. Wes Cantrell posted the Facebook comment (below), because he initially signed on as a cosponsor (he has since removed his name). Status: has not had a Committee hearing.

Senate Bill 163 — Allows a home school student to be eligible to participate in extracurricular and interscholastic activities sponsored by his or her resident school. Status: Reported favorable out of Committee on March 4, and not goes to the full Senate for a vote.

Senate Bill 83 — Provides public schools students with expanded opportunity to receive credit for elective courses in “History and Literature of the Old and New Testament Eras.” Status: Passed out of Senate Education and Youth Committee on Feb. 28.